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More fires and evacuations overtake NM
Amid high winds and red-flag conditions, New Mexico saw more wildfires and evacuations yesterday. Closest to home, strong winds hampered fire-fighting efforts on the Hermits Peak Fire near Las Vegas, with officials saying most recently that fire activity increased significantly with gusty and erratic wind conditions. As of yesterday afternoon, numerous areas had been identified for evacuation. As of last night, the Big Hole Fire in Valencia County was at 900 acres and 0% containment, although mandatory evacuations had been lifted and shifted to become voluntary. A new fire, the McBride Fire, broke out in Ruidoso in the Lincoln National Forest yesterday, prompting evacuations that remained in place as of last night, when the fire had grown to 4,312 acres with 0% containment. The Nogal Canyon Fire, also in Lincoln National Forest, was reported at 350 acres and 0% contained as of last night, with evacuations remaining in place for residents of Nogal Canyon up to NM Highway 37. Wind gusts in the area had been reported as high as 90 mph. Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest also announced yesterday that a prescribed burn in the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed, originally scheduled to begin as soon as April 18, has been postponed indefinitely.
Santa Fe County manager announces retirement
At yesterday’s Santa Fe County Board of Commissioners meeting, County Manager Katherine Miller announced her retirement. Miller has been in her position for close to 12 years and previously served as cabinet secretary for the state Department of Finance and Administration, executive director of the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority and as finance director and procurement manager for the county, among other positions. A news release from the county credits Miller with leading the county successfully through the COVID-19 pandemic and “effectively managing $14,000,000 of CARES Act funding; distributing $4,000,000 in small business grants, and $2,000,000 in housing assistance.” The announcement clearly was not a surprise as the commission has already picked Miller’s replacement: County Attorney Greg Shaffer, who previously held positions with the county as assistant attorney and human resources and risk management director. He also served as a judge in the First Judicial District and as general counsel for the state DFA. In a statement, Shaffer described himself as “honored and humbled to be entrusted with this position” and said he was ready to “meet whatever challenges come our way.”
State Supreme Court seeks applicants for new commission
The state Supreme Court earlier this week announced a new permanent commission to improve how the justice system responds to people experiencing mental health related issues. According to a news release, the New Mexico Commission on Mental Health and Competency will include representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, tribal governments; advocates for behavioral health services and housing; those with a life experience in mental health issues; and criminal justice system partners: law enforcement, prosecutors and defense counsel. “The commission will develop a roadmap for New Mexico to better meet the behavioral health needs of adults and juveniles who come into contact with our state judicial system,” said Justice Briana Zamora, who will serve as the court’s liaison to the commission. The court is seeking applicants, who should send a letter of interest to Supreme Court Chief Clerk Elizabeth Garcia by email to nmsupremecourtclerk@nmcourts.gov, by fax to (505) 827-4837 or by first class mail to PO Box 848, Santa Fe, NM 87504. Applicants should limit their letters to two pages, indicate which position they are seeking and describe why they wish to serve on the commission; what they bring to the commission; and their professional experience with mental health and competency issues. Letters of interest should be submitted no later than 5 pm on May 27.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 129; 519,342 total cases
Deaths: nine; Santa Fe County has had 269 total deaths; there have been 7,383 total fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 55; Patients on ventilators: four
Breakthrough cases: According to the most recent weekly vaccination report, published yesterday, over the four-week period of March 14 through April 11, 39.3% of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 22.1% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 38.6% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. For hospitalizations, those figures change to 59.6%,18% and 22.4%. The percentages shift to 56.8%, 16.2% and 27% for fatalities.
Community transmission: According to the health department’s community transmission report for the two-week period of March 29 through April 11, only DeBaca County has low transmission. Twenty-one counties have moderate transmission; nine counties, including Santa Fe County, have substantial transmission; and two have high rates of transmission: Harding and Hidalgo. According to the report, Santa Fe County had 180 new cases during that two-week period and has a daily case per 100,000 population of 8.6. According to the most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “community levels” tracking system—which uses case rates along with two hospital metrics in combination to determine the state of the virus on a county level—31 of New Mexico’s counties—including Santa Fe County currently have “green”—aka low—levels, whereas Hidalgo County has a yellow, or medium, level. The CDC updates its map on Thursdays.
Vaccinations: 91.1% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.9% have completed their primary series; 46.3% of adults 18 years and older have had a booster shot; 12-17-year-old age group: 71.2% of people have had at least one dose and 61.7% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 39.4% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 31.6% have completed their primary. Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87.6% have completed their primary series.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
Littleglobe TV’s ninth episode, “Spring Forward,” goes live at 7 tonight and features poetry, music and video work from poet Hakim Bellamy, artist Mya Green, trumpeter Delbert Anderson and filmmaker/composer Dan Stephensen, as well as a whole slew of other folks, with stories exploring the Midtown campus site’s past, present and future. The episode is part of Littleglobe and Santa Fe Art Institute’s ongoing collaboration, LG+SFAI: Santa Fe Stories from the Inside Out; if you miss tonight’s episode on LGTV, catch it—and other past episodes—on YouTube after it airs.
Late Justice Ginsburg auction includes NM art
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s love for the Santa Fe Opera has been well documented and was, of course, reciprocated. An auction through the end of the month benefits the Washington National Opera, but includes some items from Ginsburg’s time here. The auction, being handled by The Potomack Company, contains 150 items from Ginsburg’s office and home, including six works by the late sculptor Glenna Goodacre that Ginsburg purchased at Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe. These include, for instance, a bronze figure of a Native American child with pipe, “sacred song,” which is pictured in Ginsburg’s Watergate condo within the auction catalogue. Another item is an untitled watercolor painted by Juan Hamilton, the principal beneficiary and executor of Georgia O’Keeffe’s will. According to the catalogue, Hamilton gifted Ginsburg the artwork in 2014, presumably when he gave her a private tour of Ghost Ranch. The Associated Press reports the auction could raise $50,000 to $80,000. “It’s an opportunity to own something personal of hers and support the opera,” Elizabeth Haynie Wainstein, the auction house’s owner, said. Non-New Mexico items include an earthenware plate by Pablo Picasso; a black mink coat with Ginsburg’s name sewn in a pocket; and a souvenir vase from the Capitol luncheon that followed former President Barack Obama’s first inaugural address.
Cheers!
Vine Pair, a digital site focused on imbibing, interviews Caley Shoemaker, co-founder and master distiller at Altar Spirits, which opened last summer in the Railyard and, as the story aptly notes, “wouldn’t seem out of place in San Francisco, Portland or Austin.” After working more than a decade for the international company Proximo Spirits, Shoemaker departed right before the pandemic and spent two years planning Altar Spirits, which she runs with her husband, beer industry expert and Altar Spirits’ sales director, Jeff Gust. Shoemaker chose Santa Fe for Altar Spirits, she says, because she had always “had a love affair with Santa Fe and thought it would be some place I’d live someday. When we started business planning and realized that New Mexico had actually newly legalized craft distilling in 2011, and then put a bunch of laws in place to make the legislative landscape for distilleries very favorable, it made sense to come here. And then as we started researching, there weren’t any distilleries close to downtown where you could sit and have a cocktail and see the process through the window.” Shoemaker also provides details into the spirits she makes: vodka is the “flagship” spirit, but Altar Spirits also recently released a gin that features “the three botanicals most prevalent in Northern New Mexico: juniper, piñon and sage. We really feel like that gin tastes like a sense of place.” Having a tasting room is good business, she notes, but “bringing people in to see our spirits, taste what we’re doing, spend some time with us” is also “a blast.”
Caution to the wind
Today will be sunny, windy and not as warm as yesterday. According to the National Weather Service, Santa Fe will have a high temperature near 49 degrees with a west wind 15 to 20 mph increasing to 25 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. As such, we are under both a wind advisory and a red-flag warning for fire again today.
Thanks for reading! The Word isn’t a giant beer drinker, but she’d make a happy exception for this beer being used to raise awareness about censorship and book banning (if one could buy it here).
