artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
Santa Fe police officer, driver, killed in chase
Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran, 43, and an uninvolved driver who has not yet been named died yesterday in a crash on Interstate 25 while police were chasing a man suspected of kidnapping a woman in the city. According to a city news release, a kidnapping in progress was reported at 11:06 am to the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center at the Rancho Vizcaya Apartments where a male, armed with a knife, was taking a vehicle occupied by a woman. Shortly thereafter, SFPD located and attempted to stop the vehicle near Sawmill Road and St. Francis Drive. The driver fled in the vehicle and, while eluding, traveled onto Interstate 25 at St. Francis Drive, traveling northbound in the southbound traffic. Between the Old Pecos Trail exit and the Eldorado exit, the driver got on to the northbound lane of traffic traveling southbound; a crash occurred at Mile Marker 286 in the northbound lane involving at least four vehicles: two Santa Fe patrol units, the fleeing vehicle and an uninvolved vehicle. The female victim exited the fleeing vehicle and was taken to a local hospital. As of early Thursday morning, the status of the victim had not been released, and the suspect, who was described as wearing a red shirt, black pants and a black jacket, remained at large.
Duran, who was married with two teenage sons, joined the Santa Fe Police Department in January 2015 as a police cadet. He was assigned to the patrol section and served as a member of the department’s Emergency Response Team. According to SFPD, he is the department’s third officer lost in the line of duty. “Our condolences are with the family of Robert Duran, and the family of the other driver, lost in today’s tragic crash,” a statement from Deputy Police Chief Ben Valdez said. Both Mayor Alan Webber and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also issued statements in response to the tragic deaths. “Tragically we have lost one of Santa Fe’s finest, a devoted police officer who gave his life in the line of duty and in service to this community,” Webber said. “Our hearts are heavy, our community shocked and saddened by this tragic loss. We are thinking of his family. We send them our condolences and our love and extend our hands, our hearts and our hugs in sympathy…We also remember the innocent civilian whose life was lost in this tragedy. To her family and friends, we send our thoughts and prayers,” he added. “Let there be no doubt that the combined law enforcement officers who are now working on this will find the suspect,” he said. “Justice will be done.” Multiple local and state agencies responded to the incident (the Albuquerque Journal indicates the FBI also was involved). Both the state police, which is investigating the incident, and the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office are expected to answer service calls for Santa Fe today.
NM DOH: CDC guidelines won’t change state policy
In yesterday’s weekly COVID-19 news update, Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said the DOH supports new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that provide county-level guidance, but the state will neither be modifying its public health order nor creating new mandates in response. Under the CDC’s new metrics, counties are evaluated for hospital admissions; utilization of in-patient beds; and cases over seven days. Currently, 10 New Mexico counties, including Santa Fe, are considered “orange” or having “high” community levels, with the CDC recommending residents wear masks indoors. Neither hospital data point is provided by DOH at the county level, although Scrase said the state is in the process of aligning its data reporting with the CDC and will provide more information on data reporting at next week’s press update (at 1 pm, March 11, the two-year anniversary of New Mexico’s first COVID-19 cases). Based on SFR’s review of the CDC data, Santa Fe County’s orange designation is based on its case count, as neither its hospital intake or bed use is above the low or medium designation, respectively. “We’re not having any discussions about using this new system for making statewide policy decisions,” Scrase said. “I think it’s valuable information we all can use to make decisions.” As for the data itself, in response to a question from SFR, he said the CDC has not “completely opened up that reporting methodology” to the state but “we’re going to be working with them.” Santa Fe Public Schools are set to make masks optional on March 21 when students return from spring break. In a statement from SFPS Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez provided to SFR, he says CDC analysis “is one data point we take into consideration when making these decisions. Our testing data will also be considered and the trends.” March 21 remains the target data for ending the district’s mask mandate, but “we will review as we get closer.”
PRC asks Homeland Security for help with utility supply chain
Amid the climate of concern regarding future summer blackouts in New Mexico, Public Regulation Commissioners yesterday issued a letter to New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Acting Secretary Diego Arencon detailing COVID-related supply chain challenges facing New Mexico’s utilities and potential impacts to customers’ access to electricity. In response to inquiries from the PRC, one co-op says “supply chain shortages have caused extraordinary lead times for equipment and material critical to daily utility operations,” with some suppliers no longer even taking orders. Thus, another severe weather event “could result in an inability for that co-op to restore service to all affected customers due to equipment and material shortages.” The state’s investor-owned utilities also are “reporting significant challenges stemming from the ongoing global supply chain disruptions,” the PRC notes in the letter, which asks to partner with Homeland Security to “develop joint solutions to equipment and material shortages.” The PRC also sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General Hector Balderas, who recently announced the launch of an energy security investigation and think tank formation. The PRC’s letter, written in response to a PNM-related filing from the AG’s office, says it shares Balderas’ “concerns related to ‘the threat of rolling blackouts or brownouts this summer due to a lack of adequate energy resources across the state,’” and that it welcomes “the Attorney General’s constructive participation and input” as they relate to the ongoing concerns about PNM’s capacity to supply electricity as the company transitions from using the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station to renewable resources.
COVID-19 by the numbers
March 2:
New cases: 440; 512,550 total cases
Top three counties: Bernalillo County with 102; Santa Fe County with 39 (11 from 87505, which ranked ninth amon ZIP codes for the most new cases); San Juan and McKinley counties with 38
Breakthrough cases: According to the most recent weekly vaccine report, between Jan. 31-Feb. 28, 48% of COVID-19 cases were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 27.9% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 24.1% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. For hospitalizations, those figures change to 65%, 18.3% and 16.7%. The percentages shift to 63.1%, 20.7% and 16.2% for fatalities.
Deaths: 16 recent, 11 recent; there have been 6,939 total fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 236
Vaccinations: 91.9% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.1% have completed their primary series; 44.5% of adults 18 years and older have had a booster shot; 12-17-year-old age group: 71.1% of people have had at least one dose and 61.1% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 38.6% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 29.6% have completed their primary; Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87% 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
The most recent edition of the Pet Chat podcast has many tips for pet owners and lovers. To start: Don’t forget your pet needs dental care too—at least once a year. The animal shelter’s veterinarian, Dr. Michelle Salob, joins hosts Murad Kirdar, public information officer from the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society, and Bobbi Heller, executive director of Felines & Friends New Mexico, to discuss animal dental disease and how to prevent it. March is Poison Prevention Awareness Month, and the show will include tips for keeping safe at home. Plus: Hear about Modelo Especial’s “Salute Your Service” fee-waived adoptions for veterans at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. Got pet questions? Email petchat@santafe.com. And while you’re in animal mode, be sure to check out this week’s “Heavy Petting” column in SFR, a monthly feature from Santa Fe Animal Shelter CEO Jack Hagerman.
Water signs in the desert
Thrillist rounds up the best nine Airbnbs for, yes, Pisces, with the help of astrologer Stephanie Whaley, founder of dating app Oromoon (which, naturally, employs astrology to make love matches). Pisces, Whaley says, are “empaths…Because they’re the last sign of the zodiac, and they’re carrying the 11 experiences before them on their shoulders. They’re dreamers, they’re visionaries, they’re incredibly creative.” In New Mexico, Thrillist recommends such visionaries stay at a “a Bali-inspired sanctuary for nature lovers” in Cañones (yes, we too expected Santa Fe to appear on this list). The home can accommodate four guests (it’s unclear if they should all be Pisces), and includes a “two-story light-filled Balinese-inspired living room with a view onto the arroyo and an ornate swing couch, a serene bedroom with a reading nook and balcony, and a wrap-around terrace with a hammock for lounging. And there’s almost no light pollution, so the sunsets and star-gazing are even more magical. A Piscean will also appreciate the shared amenities, specifically the two yoga/viewing decks, fire pit (also with views), creek perfect for wading and floating, bocce court, and the proximity to Lake Abiquiu…and hiking in Santa Fe National Forest.”
There’s no place like a second home
Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, recently described by the New York Times as “the right’s would-be kingmaker” (Thiel was one of Donald Trump’s largest donors in 2016) recently helped raise $17.4 million for Ember, a so-called proptech startup that provides a platform for folks to co-purchase second-property vacation homes. As described in a news release, Ember: buys homes in “destination locations”; creates a property-specific LLC so the home can be purchased in shares by co-owners; and provides an app and “white-glove property management” to relieve said owners of the “burdens of a second home.” The company says in addition to acquiring homes, it is also focusing on building ones “designed for co-ownership.” Currently Ember “is expanding rapidly with a focus on 20 markets in 10 states” and, in case you were wondering where this was all going, Santa Fe is one of them. FWIW, we’re not entirely sure how or if Ember differs from Pacaso, another company using a fractional home-ownership model, but here’s how a Planet Money story about how Sonoma residents experienced that model (spoiler alert: They did not like it).
Early spring showers?
The National Weather Service forecasts a partly sunny day with a high near 66 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Tonight, we have a 20% chance for showers (that’s rain, not snow) after 2 am, which turns into a “slight chance of sprinkles” Friday morning. Keep your eye on the weekend, when we currently have chances for thunder and rain and snow (oh my!).
Thanks for reading! The Word thought this NY Times story about the Voloshyn gallery, its owners and the Ukrainian artists it represents was remarkable.
