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Morning Word
Court sets eviction timeline
A statewide moratorium on evictions will phase out in the First Judicial District—which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties—on June 1, the Administrative Office of the Courts announced yesterday. While local officials and advocates don’t know how many people in Santa Fe will be impacted, they foresee the end of eviction moratoria—the City of Santa Fe is expected to end its as well—potentially leaving thousands of renters here at risk of court proceedings or, worse, losing their homes. In place of a moratorium, the state Supreme Court is set to phase in a voluntary court program aimed at keeping renters in their homes and landlords paid. Officials piloted the program in Curry and Roosevelt counties last month and will next lift the eviction ban in four judicial districts, including one that contains Bernalillo County, on April 1. If both renters and landlords choose to participate in the new court program, judges will pause their case for at least 30 days and appoint facilitators. Judges will dismiss cases if program participants reach settlements. But if landlords or renters opt out of the program, evictions will proceed.
Tragic crash leaves nine dead
Both the Texas Department of Public Safety and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating a Tuesday night crash in Texas that killed nine people, including six students and a coach from Hobbs’ University of the Southwest’s golf team. The students and their coach were returning to campus after a competition in Midland, Texas in a 2017 Ford Transit van when a pickup truck crossed into the opposite lane and collided with them. According to a NTSB spokesman, both vehicles burst into flame. The truck’s driver and an unidentified 13-year-old boy traveling with him in the 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup also were killed.”This will be a huge hurdle that we will all have to overcome, and it will be a very difficult time for many,” USW Director of Athletics Steve Appel said in a statement. “USW is a tight-knit family, and I am confident we will work together to get through this. We have amazing people and students here, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else to get through something like this.” According to the New York Times, the accident is one of the worst involving a sports team in recent years. The accident had particular painful resonance for other New Mexico coaches at small-college athletic programs. “On every single trip, there is a situation that you are lucky you avoided or it could have gone the other way,” Northern New Mexico College Athletic Director and head men’s basketball coach Ryan Cordova tells the Santa Fe New Mexican. USW has set up a donation site to support the victims and their families.
Feds give balloon fiesta a waiver
New Mexico’s state and federal leaders yesterday cheered the news that the Federal Aviation Administration granted the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta a one-year waiver from requiring balloonists to install electronic tracking systems in order to fly. That requirement, officials said, would have grounded many balloonists. Last month, members of the state’s congressional delegation, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller wrote to the FAA seeking an exemption, which was approved and announced yesterday. “When it comes to ballooning and Albuquerque’s traditions, we stand up for our city,” Keller said in a statement. “We’re grateful for the FAA’s work to find a path forward with us. Today, our pilots are cleared for takeoff and we’re ready to celebrate a half century of the Balloon Fiesta as planned.” The waiver will be in effect until March 2023. Under the FAA agreement, pilots will have to sign a letter of agreement that outlines “specific operational information for the airspace.” During the year-long waiver time, the FAA “will convene a safety risk panel to find a long-term safety solution.” The waiver also will apply for Colorado Springs’ airspace.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 197; 515,818 total cases
According to the state health department’s weekly report on geographic pandemic trends across the state, Santa Fe County has an average case rate per 100,000 population of 17.4 for the seven-day period ending March 13.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new “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—all of New Mexico’s counties currently have “green”—aka low—levels, except for Harding, Hidalgo and McKinley counties, which have medium levels. That assessment updates on Thursdays.
Breakthrough cases: According to the weekly vaccine report, between Feb. 14-March 14, 42.2% of COVID-19 cases were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 27.1% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 30.7% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. For hospitalizations, those figures change to 61.6%, 17.4% and 21.1%. The percentages shift to 66.6%, 20% and 13.6% for fatalities.
Deaths: 13; Santa Fe County has had 259 deaths thus far; there have been 7,116 fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 114; Patients on ventilators: 17
Vaccinations: 91.9% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.3% have completed their primary series; 45.2% 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 61.5% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 39% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 30.6% have completed their primary; Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87.2% 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
On the most recent episode of KTRC’s Film Talk Weekly, co-host and Santa Fe Independent Film Festival Artistic Director Jacques Paisner talks to Robert Mesa (Navajo/Soboba), who plays the first-ever Indigenous doctor on Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. James Chee. Mesa studied filmmaking at the Institute of American Indian Arts and also is a photographer and artist who has shown his work at Santa Fe Indian Market, among other places. Mesa said the cast on Grey’s Anatomy has been very welcoming to him (he’s on his second season now, the show’s 18th season), noting that for one episode depicting COVID-19′s impact on Native Americans: “They were very open to hearing my opinion and what I had to say.”
Interior Sec. Haaland looks back, forward
One year ago this week, former New Mexico Congresswoman Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) was confirmed as US Interior Secretary, becoming the country’s first Native American cabinet secretary. “It’s really hard to believe this week marks one year since I was sworn in” Haaland said yesterday during a press briefing with New Mexico journalists. “This past last year has been nothing short of engaging, inspiring and memorable,” she said, adding that if she “had to pick one word, it would be impactful.” Haaland spoke with reporters by phone from Austin, Texas, where she was scheduled to appear as a featured speaker at SXSW for a talk titled “Auntie Deb’s Guide to Equity & Inclusion.” She and fellow Native New Mexican Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo yesterday reviewed a variety of water and energy infrastructure projects in the state due to federal funding, with Haaland also discussing several Native American issues she has prioritized since she began heading the Interior, including addressing the ongoing issue of missing and murdered Native Americans and the traumatic legacy of Indian boarding schools. Haaland said she anticipates a progress report on that review of boarding schools next month. “We have been very cognizant of the fact that we need to create a safe space for people to share information and seek resources,” she said regarding a question about sharing information from the boarding school progress report with Native communities. “We recognize this is a very traumatic experience for many people and we want to make sure folks have the resources that they need to get through this.”
Ghosts in the desert
A ghost story filmed in New Mexico recently premiered at SXSW and is receiving strong reviews. Jethica, Deadline writes, “is full of quirky, dead-panned humor, with biting sarcasm that’s utilized in a way rarely seen in the genre.” From IMDB: “When Jessica’s stalker surprises her in New Mexico, she must seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him for good.” Director Pete Ohs (Youngstown) filmed the movie for less than $10,000, set, as Filmmaker magazine describes it, in an “aluminum-sided mobile home in the middle of a desolate patch of New Mexico flatlands.” Via an email interview, Ohs says he found the trailer on AirBnB “and built the story around it.” Actor Andy Faulkner says he incorporated his knowledge of New Mexico into the film’s character building: “Having lived a couple years in New Mexico in my early 20s, I noticed New Mexicans have a very slow, almost stoned, way of talking. That’s no knock on the lovely people of New Mexico, but I think that landscape really slows you down and you hang onto thoughts before blurting them out. That was the first idea for the character.” Faulkner had suggested to Ohs they make a film here, “and these landscapes are a big reason why we went there,” Ohs says. “During the shoot, I was happily building a stockpile of epic nature shots. When it came to the edit, they naturally found their place. Yes, they are establishing New Mexico but they are also communicating the isolation, the alone-ness.” Ohs edited the film livestreaming on Twitch; you can watch that here and a clip from the movie here.
Bundle up, buttercups
Santa Fe has a chance of snow showers before 9 am, followed by likely rain showers (overall chance for precipitation about 60%), a cloudy, “breezy” day (winds 15 to 25 mph) and a high temperature near 49 degrees. More chance for rain tonight, says the National Weather Service, with a possibility of snow between 9 pm and 3 am.
Thanks for reading! The Word anticipates watching Servant of the People this weekend (here’s some back story).
