Noble announces
Santa Fe school board member Kate Noble has decided she'll run for mayor. The former city staffer says she's been pondering a run for about a decade. Noble says she wants to make the city's government "more effective and more real and actionable." Two big names still on the sidelines are former gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber and Public Regulation Commissioner Valerie Espinoza.
LANL critical of report, not mistake
Los Alamos National Lab says an error made by plutonium-handling staff last year wasn't a criticality accident that could have released radiation. Instead, the lab says two pieces of machined plutonium were placed too close to each other only according to administrative rules. The difference didn't keep a nuclear oversight group from red-tagging LANL for the error.
Supreme smackdown
New Mexico's highest court says a lawsuit filed by the bail bond industry that wants to throw out current rules governing pretrial release is not only frivolous, but it's a publicity stunt. Attorneys for the state Supreme Court asked a federal judge to sanction the attorney for the bail bondsmen. The pretrial release rules take business from the industry. The federal judge has said the lawsuit is not likely to succeed.
Falling down
"There's a hole in the bridge" is not a reassuring statement. But the state Department of Transportation says heavy rain on Saturday washed out a chunk of concrete on the Guadalupe Street exit off US Highway 285 north of Santa Fe. A contractor is working on emergency repairs and NMDOT hopes they'll be completed within days.
Superbasin
We're not sure that's really a word, but it's the collection of letters an oil-industry expert used to describe the Permian Basin, which stretches from West Texas into southeastern New Mexico. The company says there's 60-70 billion barrels of untapped crude oil in the basin. That's enough to feed every US refinery for a dozen years. At current prices, it would be worth $3.3 trillion. Of course, getting it out of the ground often requires water, and the Permian is definitely not a superbasin for that.
Step down
Attorney General Hector Balderas has asked Albuquerque school board member Analee Maestas to step down as the state investigates financial trouble at a charter school where Maestas used to be executive director. Nearly half a million dollars was deposited into the account of the La Promesa Early Learning Center's assistant financial manager. The former employee is also Maestas' daughter.
St. Vincent stabbing
Police aren't saying much about a Sunday night stabbing in the parking lot of Christus St. Vincent Hospital. The robber made off with an EBT card used for food assistance worth $50 and a makeup kit. The hospital treated the victim, which it says wasn't a patient, employee or victim ... apparently just someone in the parking lot at 11 pm on a Sunday.
Thanks for reading! The Word is digging fall so far. Coffee intake is way up, but that's only because it's toasty. And crisp.
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