artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
NM adult-use cannabis sales hit new high
Statewide sales for adult-use cannabis topped $33 million in June, another record-setting figure, according to new data from the state Cannabis Control Division. The dollar figure translates into more than 775,000 transactions at the 1,047 dispensaries across New Mexico. Medical sales last month were just slightly higher than the month prior at approximately $14.3 million; however, as SFR reported in May, the number of medical cannabis patients has consistently dropped since enactment of the Cannabis Regulation Act legalizing recreational use in April 2022. Total adult-use sales since legalization are now approximately $397 million; medical sales: around $230 million. The average transaction cost for each category is close to $43 for adult-use and around $52 for medical. Santa Fe continues to have the third most adult-use sales figures overall—with approximately $2.1 million in sales last month, just a smidge higher than the month before. While officials touted the success of the nascent market as it hit its one-year mark, close to 100 businesses recently asked Regulation and Licensing Superintendent Linda Trujillo and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s to stabilize the market by pausing issuance of new licenses.
Santa Fe National Forest implements Stage 1 fire restrictions
The Santa Fe National Forest on Friday morning enacted Stage 1 fire restrictions in response to the current high fire danger and “anticipated worsening conditions with persistent hot and dry conditions.” The restrictions follow the National Weather Service’s Albuquerque Field Office’s recently released 2023 Monsoon Outlook, which forecasts a late start to monsoon season, “indicating continuing high fire danger through the majority of July.” Stage 1 restrictions prohibit: building fires, campfires, charcoal grills and coal and wood stoves except within developed campsites or picnic areas that contain permanent fire rings or grills built and maintained by the Forest Service. Campfires are prohibited at all dispersed camping sites on the forest. Other rules: Stoves, grills, lanterns and heaters “fueled by propane or other liquified petroleum fuels that can be turned on and off” may be used in an area that is barren or cleared of all overhead and surrounding flammable materials within 3 feet of the device. You can only smoke in enclosed vehicles or buildings, at developed recreation sites or while standing in an area at least “3 feet in diameter that has been cleared of all flammable material.” Regardless of the Stage 1 restrictions, fireworks and the like are always prohibited on national forests.
Gov appoints new mag judge
Lawyer Morgan Wood will replace recently resigned Dev Atma Khalsa as a Santa Fe Magistrate Court Judge, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Friday. The governor chose Wood from 10 applicants, including the three people who ran against Khalsa in the Democratic primary in 2002. Wood’s appointment follows the state Supreme Court’s acceptance last week of Khalsa’s resignation following his arrest for alleged DWI last year; he has maintained his innocence via his attorney and has his next scheduled status conference this week on July 12. Wood, 49, has worked in the First Judicial District Court since September 2020, and currently serves as a prosecutor in the Children’s Court; she has 18 years of criminal law experience in the state, according to a news release. Wood also served as district defender in Santa Fe for the Public Defender’s Office, and spoke with SFR in 2017 about the uptick then in federal immigration cases. Wood, who graduated from the University of Denver College of Law in 2004, is expected to start at Magistrate Court at the end of the month and will undergo 80 hours of judicial training before assuming the bench.
River rights
Politico Magazine visits New Mexico to report on “the forgotten sovereigns of the Colorado River.” Albuquerque, journalist Rowan Moore Gerety posits, “wouldn’t exist,” at least not as a city of half a million people, were it not for the Colorado River, despite the city’s lack of proximity to said river. Albuquerque’s reliance on the Colorado River comes—as does water delivery to all the states in the West—courtesy of “geography-defying infrastructure” (canals, pipelines, reservoirs). It also comes at the expense of Native American tribes such as the Jicarilla Apache Nation. To explore the situation, Gerety visits Dulce to talk with Jicarilla Apache Nation water administrator Daryl Vigil, an outspoken advocate for tribal water rights. In the case of Albuquerque, Vigil argues that the Azotea Tunnel—part of the San Juan Chama water project that diverts water to Albuquerque—is “an investment in moving water out of Indian country.” Were it not supplying Albuquerque, he says, much of the Colorado River would flow into the Navajo River, which can become low enough in dry years to threaten the local water supply. The story offers a detailed analysis of the complex water issues impacting the 30 tribes with rights to the Colorado River, and how those are playing out legally—such as with last month’s US Supreme Court decision that ruled against the Navajo Nation in its water dispute.
Listen up
The most recent episode of PBS’ New Mexico In Focus program takes a deep dive into the state’s journalism ecosystem. Executive Producer and former SFR staffer Jeff Proctor talks with the Albuquerque Journal’s new executive editor, Patrick Ethridge, about his career and objectives for the Journal, as well as with Albuquerque City Council President Pat Davis, who now also owns four newspapers in the state. And New Mexico In Focus host Gene Grant speaks with a panel of local news leaders: Source New Mexico Editor Shaun Griswold; Deming Headlight Editor Algernon D’Ammassa and Gannett News Director Jessica Onsurez.
Seeing Our Lady
Author Rob Walker’s The Art of Noticing newsletter (“a newsletter about creativity, work, and staying human”) spotlights Santa Fe resident Nancy Egan’s photographic project Everywhere Guadalupe, devoted to capturing images of Our Lady of Guadalupe as she appears around Santa Fe. “A practicing Guadalupana I knew that there were several depictions of the Virgen throughout Santa Fe,” Egan writes on her website. “But it wasn’t until I began a photographic project with the goal of capturing a variety of these more personal shrines that I realized how deeply she is embedded in the cityscape.” Her list, she notes, has expanded to more than 20 depictions of Our Lady around town. Hat tip to Morning Word reader Lisa R for sharing Walker’s newsletter and Egan’s website—we always appreciate interesting reads and views. This one, as it happens, reminded us of the 10-year-old controversy here at SFR over Our Lady of Guadalupe summer guide cover in 2013, which harkened back to the 2001 controversy over Alma López’s digital depiction of Our Lady for an exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art (López has an archive of emails she has received about her Our Lady art). University of Texas published a collection of essays on the topic, Our Lady of Controversy, (which López co-edited with Alicia Gaspar de Alba) in 2011.
Case in point
Dwell magazine features a $4.3 million Las Campanas home, new construction that “combines organic elements with modern comforts and conveniences. A stone-lined drive and a landscaped motor court introduce the estate.” The “story”—it’s basically the Sotheby’s listing—notes that membership to the Club at Las Campanas, pending approval, comes with the home, as does the furniture, minus the art. Buyers also have the chance to buy a separate but contiguous 2.57-acre lot. Other highlights: a “striking chef’s kitchen” with “stacked-stone walls, granite and Silestone countertops, superior-caliber appliances, unique cabinetry and paneling, and a breakfast nook with views of the Santa Fe ski area.” Designed by Archaeo Architects and constructed by Prull Custom Builders, the three-bedroom/three-bath home also includes a media room, a library, “two luxurious guest suites,” plus an outdoor hot tub. This Wednesday, the Santa Fe City Council will take the first public comments on a High-End Excise Tax for Affordable Housing Ordinance, essentially a “mansion tax” that would place a 3% excise tax on property exceeding $1 million, with the first $1 million not subject to the tax. Both the City Council and then voters would need to approve the bill. Revenues from the proposed tax would benefit the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Some rain must fall
The National Weather Service forecasts a 20% chance for precipitation today, with scattered rain before 9 am and isolated showers and thunderstorms after noon. Otherwise, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 93 degrees and southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. So not a rainy day per se, but we’re listening to this song by The Ink Spots with Ella Fitzgerald song nonetheless.
Thanks for reading! The Word is torturing herself with pictures of island getaways.
