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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 82 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 205,215. The health department has designated 193,878 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo County had 25 new cases, followed by Santa Fe County with 10 and Doña Ana County with eight. Two Santa Fe County ZIP codes appeared on the state’s top 10 list of ZIP codes with the most new cases: The Tesuque/Pojoaque 87506 area ranked fourth with four cases and 87508, which includes Eldorado and Seton Village, ranked 10th with three.
The state also announced two additional deaths; there have now been 4,334 fatalities. As of yesterday, 68 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently, 69% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 60.6% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 77.4% have had at least one dose and 68.2% are fully inoculated.
La Familia Medical Center will host a back-to-school vaccination event from 10 am to 2 pm tomorrow, June 26, at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center, 1 Prairie Dog Loop. Parental consent is required for minors; parents are advised to register eligible 12-17-year-old children at vaccinenm.org/registration using the event code AGHETP. For help in registering, contact La Familia’s COVID-19 scheduling line at (505) 982-6934.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here. If you’ve had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
Santa Fe deputies shoot, kill man in Midtown
Santa Fe had its second fatal police shooting within a 12-hour period, when a Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man on Siler Road, just north of Rufina Street, at approximately 11:30 pm Wednesday. The incident followed a deadly shooting at around 11 am Wednesday by Santa Fe Police. In the case of the sheriff’s shooting, a county spokesman says deputies encountered the vehicle and driver in the area of Lopez Lane after a reported assault and began pursuit after the driver tried to evade a traffic stop. When the driver eluded police, they called off the pursuit and issued an alert for the vehicle, which was spotted later in the evening by other deputies, who also pursued. They eventually forced the driver to pull over near the intersection of Siler and Rufina, according to both county and State Police accounts. At this point, the man exited the truck and pointed a handgun at deputies, according to a State Police news release. “Deputies fired at the suspect, striking him,” it continues. “The suspect succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced on scene deceased by the Office of the Medical Investigator.” Neither agency has identified the deputies nor the man they shot; First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, whose office will review both police shootings for potential misconduct, issued a statement Thursday morning, saying: “Our office pledges full transparency to the public.”
CYFD whistleblowers sue department
Two terminated Children, Youth and Families Department employees allege violations of the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act in a lawsuit filed yesterday, saying they were fired unlawfully after raising concerns about a variety of issues in the department, including its use of Signal text messaging in such a way as to allegedly violate the state’s public records law. Debra and Clifford Gilmore say they were recruited to work for the department and relocated from Washington State in late 2020 to take positions as the director of the Office of Children’s Rights and public information officer, respectively. The Gilmores say in addition to raising concerns about Signal, they also sounded alarms over the department’s failure to manage a multimillion-dollar child welfare system, as well as violations by Secretary Brian Blalock and Deputy Secretary Terry Locke of a variety of personnel laws. According to the suit, Blalock and Locke terminated the Gilmores’ employment in response to raising such concerns. “This is, in our experience and opinion, one of the most egregious cases of retaliation in response to employees raising legitimate concerns about unlawful or improper acts in government,” Bryan J. Davis, one of the Gilmores’ attorneys, said in a news release about the suit.
Lights, camera, etc.
NBCUniversal officially cut the ribbon on its new New Mexico production facility yesterday, in the works since at least June of 2019, when NBCUniversal signed a 10-year lease with Garcia Realty and Development. Now, a once empty Martineztown warehouse is a state-of-the-art television and film studio with two sound stages, offices and a mill. According to a news release, the company committed to $500 million in direct production spending over the next 10 years and 330 full-time equivalent jobs. The state estimates the total number of jobs, direct and indirect, will exceed 800 jobs annually. On its end, the state economic development department committed $7.7 million through the Local Economic Development Act, and the City of Albuquerque pledged another $3 million from its LEDA fund to the public-private partnership. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and NBCUniversal executives, among others, were on site for the opening. “Despite the pandemic, we’ve had one of our best and most productive years—if not our very best year ever—with the film and television industry,” the governor said in a statement. “NBCUniversal chose New Mexico because we are good for good business.” Comedy series MacGruber, based on a Saturday Night Live sketch and 2010 feature film, is filming in the facility through August.
Listen up
The most recent episode of Santa Fe Art Institute’s Tilt podcast, “Cultivating Community,” launches today and spotlights leaders from New Mexico Asian Family Center and Pueblo Action Alliance discussing the organizations’ creative strategies for addressing shifting community needs, and how they’ve continued their work during the isolation of the pandemic. Guests include: NM Asian Family Center Executive Director Sachi Watase and Pueblo Action Alliance Community Programming Director Reyes DeVore.
Haaland style
InStyle magazine sits down with US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), the nation’s first Native American cabinet secretary, to talk about her historic role and the spiritual guidance she receives from her ancestors. The interview will be featured in InStyle’s August issue, which hits newsstands on July 16. “I’m not always the smartest person in the room,” Haaland tells the magazine. “I was able to accomplish a lot just by working hard. It’s about concentrating on the opportunities and the positive things in your life. I know sometimes that’s difficult when you’re faced with a million challenges every single day, but my grandma taught me to go outside in the morning, greet the sun, and say a prayer to welcome that spirit into your life.” The interview, of course, highlights Haaland’s intelligence and commitment, but doesn’t shy away from fashion, with one particularly resplendent photograph of her in an Emme Studio dress, Hollis Chitto bag, Huckleberrywoman Designs earrings, bracelets from Four Winds Gallery in Pittsburgh, a Jamie Okuma ring and Haaland’s own ceremonial shawl and shoes.
Happy Pride weekend!
Start your Pride weekend off tonight in the Railyard at 6 pm for karaoke and a showing of Rocketman, then gear up for Saturday’s Pride Drive Parade starting at 11:30 am in the PERA Building parking. You’ll find the lineup for the weekend’s activities in this week’s SFR Picks. Human Rights Alliance President Kevin Bowen tells SFR it was unclear at one point whether Pride would happen this year. “What we originally started with has changed so much because of loosening restrictions—and some Pride celebrations haven’t even gone live this year, they’re still doing virtual. But we knew when we came back we’d have to do something special; we needed to regain lost ground.” SFR devotes its entire cover package this week to Pride, with stories on gender-expansive parenting; queer cinema, artists and identity; and an exploration of how trans sex workers navigate, educate, activate and otherwise work the system.
Now, where’s that umbrella?
Rain threatened yesterday but, at least in our hood, none manifested. Nor shall there be any today, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts a sunny day with a high near 88 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Saturday, however, the chances for storms rise to 40% and the temperature drops to about 83 degrees. That wet and relatively brisk pattern continues into Sunday when we have a 70% chance of thunderstorms and a high temperature of 73 degrees! Here’s hoping for a wet weekend!Thanks for reading! The Word apologizes for ending the week on a morbid note, but she found this story about writers’ tombstones fascinating. Here are some kittens to balance that out.
