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Morning Word
Mag judge ordered off bench following DWI
First Judicial District Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Santa Fe County Magistrate Judge Dev Atma Khalsa removed from the bench yesterday, following Khalsa’s DWI arrest on Sunday. According to Municipal Court records, Khalsa’s arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow morning on charges of DWI, driving without a license and careless driving. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Biedscheid ordered Magistrate Judge John Rysanek to take over Khalsa’s docket after the latter conducted 8:30 am hearings. Further decisions about Khalsa’s status are pending action by the state Judicial Standards Commission and the state Supreme Court, although a court spokesman says there is no judicial branch policy addressing DWI. Khalsa, meanwhile, told the paper he would have a statement on his arrest “as soon as I can.” SFPD arrested Khalsa after officers responded to reports of a rollover crash on Interstate 25 northbound at the St. Francis Drive exit and found Khalsa, outside his vehicle, which was on its side in a ditch. A responding officer says Khalsa seemed disoriented, smelled of alcohol, became uncooperative at the hospital, denied having drunk anything and refused to submit to a blood draw to ascertain his blood-alcohol level.
Voting rights bill passes first Senate committee
The Senate Rules Committee yesterday passed the New Mexico Voting Rights Act, sending the legislation to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill resurrects several measures championed last year by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, including automatic voter registration; the Native American Voting Rights Act; and the restoration of felons’ voting rights upon completion of their sentences. Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark said in a statement yesterday her office supports the bill and said it would also improve administrative efficiency for clerks and the Secretary of State: “We are very proud that Santa Fe has the highest turnout among large counties and the highest number of drop boxes per population,” Clark said in a statement. “That is not a coincidence. More than 50% of our boxes are drive-up, making it extremely easy for voters to vote by mail-in ballot. Our four tribes also vote in high numbers, many by mail-in ballot, but we know that, for tribes in particular, boxes and postal mail continue to be a challenge. We want to ensure that all New Mexicans, no matter where they live, have equitable access to the ballot.” Clark said she also supports several additional election-related bills in the mix during this year’s session, including SB43, which addresses intimidation of election workers and is currently in the House Judiciary Committee. “Threats against election workers and administrators are threats against democracy,” Clark said, “and this legislation makes it clear that New Mexico has zero tolerance for these kinds of threats.” SB44, which would prohibit guns at polling places, also is in the House Judiciary Committee.
Court: Juveniles can’t waive right to appeal
The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday that juveniles can challenge a judge’s decision to sentence them as adults for certain felonies even if a plea agreement waived their appeal rights. The case involved Christopher Rodriguez, who was one of five friends who shot and killed 60-year-old Steven Gerecke in 2015. Rodriguez, who was 16 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to committing several felonies, including aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon. That crime made Rodriguez a “youthful offender” under the law’s definition, which entitled him to an amenability hearing to determine whether he would be responsive to treatment and rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system. After a hearing, Second Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless determined he would not be and sentenced Rodriguez as an adult to 31½ years in prison with 17½ years suspended. Subsequently, the court of Appeals said Rodriguez couldn’t appeal that decision under the terms of his plea agreement. In its opinion, the court concluded Christopher Rodriguez could appeal that decision, regardless of the plea agreement. As explained in a news release from the Administrative Office of the Courts, letting juveniles waive their rights to appeal a determination of their amenability to treatment “would reduce the amenability hearing to nothing more than window dressing,” the court wrote in its opinion by Justice Michael E. Vigil and, the release notes, “return New Mexico to a system replaced three decades ago with relaxed requirements for sentencing juveniles as adults.”
Virgin Galactic spaceship returns to NM
Virgin Galactic confirmed yesterday that VMS Eve is back in New Mexico after more than a year away and has successfully completed its second test flight in two weeks. According to a news release, Virgin Galactic pilots performed a series of functional checks in Mojave, CA airspace before flying to Spaceport America, NM. “These two check flights are designed to validate the performance of the vehicle following recent modifications,” the release says. “The enhancements, which were made last year to increase Eve’s flight rate capability, included a a new launch pylon, new horizontal stabilizers, as well as upgraded avionics and mechanical systems.” The VMS Eve will continue to have “functional test and pilot proficiency flights” from the Spaceport, as well as “ground-based testing with VSS Unity mated to the mothership. After that comes a validation glide flight and rocket-powered spaceflight that will run the vehicles through all final system and operational checks ahead of commercial service.” The company also posted a Q&A with Astronaut and Flight Test Engineer Colin Bennett regarding the tests and the lead-up to commercial service. The company is scheduled to announce its fourth quarter earnings today.
COVID-19 by the numbers
Reported Feb. 27: New cases: 430 (includes the weekend); 669,109 total cases. Deaths: six; Santa Fe County has had 398 total deaths; 9,026 total fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 65. Patients on ventilators: six
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent Feb. 23 “community levels” map shows the entire state has green—low levels—for the second consecutive week. Corresponding recommendations for each level can be found here.
Resources: Receive four free at-home COVID-19 tests per household via COVIDTests.gov; Check availability for additional free COVID-19 tests through Project ACT; CDC interactive booster eligibility tool; NM DOH vaccine & booster registration; CDC isolation and exposure interactive tool; COVID-19 treatment info; NMDOH immunocompromised tool kit. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453. DOH encourages residents to download the NM Notify app and to report positive COVID-19 home tests on the app.ICYMI, on Feb. 24, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for The Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test, the first at-home test for both influenza and COVID-19. The test’s price and US release date has not yet been released (it’s currently available in Canada, according to USA Today).
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
If you haven’t yet watched The Early Show with Alax, a new online series from New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education & Care Department, it’s time to catch up. ECECD will premiere episode two at noon today at the New Mexico State Capitol as part of Early Childhood Day (8 am to 2 pm, featuring a variety of free activities). Episode one, “Safe Sleep,” introduced Alax, “a live-action Galactic character from another solar system who wants to learn the important elements of caring for ‘little humans’ without judgment or prior caregiving knowledge” (performed by our favorite local puppeteer: Devon Hawkes Ludlow). In episode two, “Big Feelings. Tiny Humans,” Alax interviews PreK teacher and librarian Amy, who talks about how to manage and understand little kids’ big emotions. Episode two will be available online following the premiere in the Rotunda.
Spring breakers
Spring in New Mexico may involve hiding inside from the 85 mph winds, but that apparently doesn’t concern Afar magazine, which includes the state on its six “outdoorsy spring break adventure” list. “Springtime is the sweet spot for visiting New Mexico,” Afar opines, “which turns up the heat to mercurial in the summer and catches a surprising chill come winter.” March and April, the story suggests, present optimum conditions for visiting Chaco Culture National Park on glamping trips with with Heritage Inspirations, timed to coincide with the spring equinox and new moon. Also on the “visit New Mexico” bandwagon: The Travel has newly released guides to Santa Fe, Carlsbad and Alamogordo. In its “ultimate” guide to Santa Fe, The Travel promises “spice and tang on the tongue, crisp mountain air, raw earth beneath tired feet” as “just some of the sensations that delight the senses on a trip to Santa Fe.” The Travel does not recommend a specific optimum time for visiting Santa Fe, but does list in which months the seasons occur. In short: Everyone loves New Mexico, including actress Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus, The Consultant) who recently discussed her travel habits with Condé Nast and cited New Mexico as as underrated place: “There’s so many beautiful parts of New Mexico,” O’Grady says. “It’s magical. I lived in Albuquerque working on a show for a couple of months when I was 18, and [after filming] my husband and I did a cross-country trip with a camper trailer, camping in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. You can take that gondola up to the mountains, and the energy is palpable.”
Keeping the lights on with nuclear power
New Mexico’s energy future sounds slightly grim as depicted in the opening paragraph of a recent story in Wired magazine: “The Dream of Mini Nuclear Plants Hangs in the Balance.” The story opens in Los Alamos County, where Deputy Utilities Manager Jordan Garcia “is facing an energy crunch that is typical in the American West. For decades, the county-run utility relied on a cheap and steady mix of coal and hydroelectric power. But the region’s dams are aging and drought-parched, and its coal plants are slated to retire.” Can solar and wind provide enough energy for the county to meet its 2040 decarbonization goals? Doesn’t sound like it: “For us it’s pretty dire,” Garcia tells Wired. As such, Los Alamos County, along with other local utilities, signed on as a customer for the first small modular reactors created by a company called NuScale. This plan made sense to Garcia (Los Alamos, nuclear energy etc). Now, even as some smaller utilities ponder whether “whether to pull the plug on their nuclear dream” due to a price jump and skepticism about a nuclear renaissance, Los Alamos County is sticking with NuScale.
Farewell, February
“A plethora of hazards are expected over the next few days” for New Mexico, the National Weather Service says: potentially damaging winds, critical fire weather and more snow. In Santa Fe, today will be sunny, with a high temperature near 47 degrees and “breezy,” with a west wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the morning. Chances for snow and higher winds begin tomorrow (on the bright side: Friday and the weekend look potentially mild).
Thanks for reading! Courtesy this interactive story from Emergence Magazine, The Word spent a portion of yesterday highly engrossed by the pollinators of Slovenia.
