Take Me Home, County Codes
Santa Fe County's revised Sustainable Land Development Code contains a problematic provision that ties building permits for existing lots and homes to sometimes crippling costs to improve the private roads that lead to them. As more building permits have been rejected pending tens of thousands of dollars in improvements to roads the county won't own or maintain, staff is dealing with a dramatic increase in requests to set the code aside. County leaders say it will likely have to be rewritten.
Contract scoping
As the feds consider a new contract to run Los Alamos National Laboratory, community groups are fighting to make their voice heard in the process. The lab has traditionally injected millions into quality-of-life efforts in nearby communities. Those criteria weren't included in a draft of the contract requirements, though the National Nuclear Security Administration says they'll be in the final request.
Duke City mayoral dash
Albuquerque mayoral hopefuls State Auditor Tim Keller and City Councilor Dan Lewis are headed to a runoff election next month. Keller grabbed 39 percent of the votes in a seven-person field. Lewis earned 23 percent. Candidates had to top 50 percent for an outright win, a change made after current Mayor RJ Berry won his seat in 2009 with 44 percent of the vote. Keller's numbers last night actually topped Berry's raw vote total from that election. Seven out of 10 voters stayed home, but these days, that's cause for celebration in a municipal election.
Sick leave sent home
More than 91,000 voters weighed in on a proposed measure that would have forced employers to provide sick leave for workers. The measure failed narrowly, by about 700 votes. Supporters say they plan to call for a recount.
Santa Fe cops home safe from Vegas shooting
Two Santa Fe police officers were among the thousands of fans at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas as a gunman rained bullets from modified rifles into the crowd. Like many civilians, Capt. Adam Gallegos thought the first shots were firecrackers.
As is
The Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to recommend the state Public Education Department reject modified science standards and adopt the Next Generation Science Standards as written. The state's proposed standards remove requirements related to climate change and evolution. The public hearing on the state requirements is Oct. 16.
UNM rejects faculty request
The University of New Mexico's Board of Regents will likely name finalists for the school's next president this month. That's after the board turned down a request by faculty to extend the contract of interim president Chaouki Abdallah for another year. Faculty had voted to recommend the extension to lend stability to the school. It could have also pushed the appointment of a new president into the first term of the next governor, who controls seats on the board of regents.
Falling on our heads like a memory
Like Annie Lennox, we love a good rainstorm. Our love will get rejuvenated over the next couple of days as storms roll in. These aren't just elitist, Santa Fe storms, as their impact will be widespread in New Mexico. It should be a sunny, pleasant weekend.
Get it write
OK, you aspiring writers, SFR's annual contest for your ilk is back! You have until Nov. 5 to send us your favorite original work—fiction or nonfiction—on the theme "Take it Back." Entries are $10, they have to stay below 1,800 words and must include these three words: racket, sweetened and dotard.
Thanks for reading! The Word now has to figure out how to shorten its 50,000-word opus on community engagement in a post-apocalyptic nation-state society that uses prayer flags as currency. And add the word "sweetened." Dotard's already in there.
Spread the Word at sfreporter.com/signup.
