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Morning Word
SFPD: Pursuit, downtown lockdown ends with arrest
As of early this morning, Santa Fe Police had not yet released the names of suspects or charges filed in an incident that locked down a downtown neighborhood yesterday. According to a news release, at approximately 8:36 am yesterday, SFPD responded to a shoplifting incident at Home Depot during which two males entered the store, stole a generator and “brandished a handgun” when confronted by security. Officers attempted a traffic stop near the Yucca Street and Rodeo Road area and initiated pursuit when the driver failed to stop. Officers ended the pursuit near Siringo Road and St. Francis Drive in the interest of public safety. Police relocated the suspect at about 3:10 pm and another vehicle pursuit ended when suspect parked the vehicle behind Whole Hog Café on South Guadalupe Street and fled on foot, leading to a police search and shelter-in-place orders in the area. Officers located the male suspect, whom they suspect was involved in the Home Depot incident. He resisted arrest and was tased (here’s a bystander photo of the arrest from Facebook). Police also took a second female occupant into custody without incident. “This is an active case and developing in real-time, the suspects’ names and the appropriate criminal charges will be released when available,” the news release said.
Details also remain pending from an incident early Sunday morning in which two adults and three teenagers were shot during a birthday party in the Paseo Feliz area; all suffered non life-threatening injuries for which they were treated at local hospitals, according to SFPD. As of Sunday morning, the suspect remained at large and no updates have been issued since, although SFPD told the Santa Fe New Mexican yesterday they believed multiple people discharged firearms at the party. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Detective Javier Vigil at jjvigil1@santafenm.gov or (505) 955-5412.
Lujan Grisham tops Ronchetti in recent fundraising
Campaign finance reports filed yesterday for the last two months show incumbent Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham raising slightly more money than GOP challenger Mark Ronchetti: nearly $2.6 million compared to about $2.4 million. Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie raised close to $30,000. The new filings show Lujan Grisham with approximately $3 million on hand heading into the Nov. 8 general election. Ronchetti has about $2.4 million. Ronchetti out-raised Lujan Grisham in the prior reporting period following the June 7 primary election when he brought in about $1.2 million versus Lujan Grisham’s $755,000. The most recent reporting period covers July 3 through Sept. 5. “The strength of these numbers is a reflection of two things,” Lujan Grisham’s campaign spokesperson Delaney Corcoran said in a statement. “First, our supporters are confident in the governor because she has a proven record of getting big things done…second, Democrats feel a sense of urgency because they know Mark Ronchetti will try to ban abortion and undo all of the progress that Governor Lujan Grisham and Democrats have achieved on free higher education, accessible child care, legalized cannabis, protections for LGBTQ+ New Mexicans and more.” In a written statement, Ronchetti’s campaign said Lujan Grisham “and her special interest left-wing allies have spent millions of dollars distorting Ronchetti’s positions and character.” The candidate described his contributions as coming from New Mexicans writing “small checks” at “dining room tables…from crime to education to out-of-control costs for gas and groceries, there’s a better way. It’s time for change and we have unbelievable momentum with just two months left,” Ronchetti said.
State touts educator paperwork reduction
Teachers will have 41% less paperwork, following an “overhaul” of public education administrative requirements announced yesterday. The streamlined protocols follow an executive order issued by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last May requiring the Public Education Department to reach the 41% reduction threshold for teachers and reduce administrative work from districts and charter schools by 34% by the start of the 2022-2023 school year. “Less time spent on paperwork means more time that educators have to spend quality time teaching our students,” the governor said in a statement. PED Secretary Kurt Steinhaus, former superintendent for Los Alamos Schools, said his former role taught him “how much time it takes to meet the state’s data-collection needs,” and “as education secretary, I also know we depend on districts and schools to supply essential data to guide our work. We have now struck the correct balance and right-sized our reporting requirements.” According to PED, an estimated 3,500 hours saved annually will let districts and charter schools “redirect the hourly equivalent of 1.7 full-time employees to more useful activities” and allow for the “reallocation of $136,000 per school district or state charter school from administrative work to time spent helping students and supporting school staff.”
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 807 (includes the weekend); 614,669 total cases
Deaths: two; Santa Fe County has had 348 total deaths; there have been 8,485 fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 86. Patients on ventilators: seven. According to the state’s most recent statewide hospitalization report, 86 people have been hospitalized in the last seven days—about 12% fewer than the week before.
Case rates: According to the state health department’s most recent report on geographical trends for the seven-day period of Aug. 29-Sept. 4, Santa Fe County’s case rate was 19.4, compared to 19.8 the previous week. The state recorded 2,407 cases statewide—based on reported cases—over the seven-day period, a nearly 30% decrease from the prior week.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent update for COVID-19 “community levels,” New Mexico has no red counties, but Santa Fe County slipped from “green” (good) to “yellow” (medium) and is now one of six yellow counties. The state map, which updates each Thursday for the prior seven-day period, uses a framework that combines case rates with hospital metrics. The community levels site has accompanying recommendations at the bottom of the page. The CDC also provides a quarantine and isolation calculator.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; Curative testing sites; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments 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
“Space law” sounds like a good title for an action thriller, but it’s actually the focus of the most recent episode of Spaceport America’s podcast. Host and Spaceport Public Information Officer Alice Carruth talks with space lawyer and Spaceport’s general counsel Melissa Kemper Force who, prior to joining Spaceport America, worked in the Office of Space Commercialization (now Office of Space Commerce) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and has also taught space law at a variety of institutions.
A river (sometimes) runs through it
The City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe River Commission last week kicked off a fall lecture series on the Santa Fe River, the next one of which takes place at 5:30 pm today at Camino del Bosque at Calle de Pinos Altos. Presenters include state Department of Transportation MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) Coordinator Antonio Griego, Santa Fe County Sustainability Specialist Caitlin Weber and Southwest Urban Hydrology founder Aaron Kaufman, who will discuss meeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s MS4 goals using bio-retention basins and green stormwater infrastructure. Other topics this fall will include forest resiliency (with an upper watershed tour); acequia culture; and water conservation. To reserve a spot (all talks are capped at 25 attendees), contact Zoe Isaacson, the city’s acting river and watershed manager, at: zrisaacson@santafenm.gov or (505) 955-6853. You can get a head start learning about the Santa Fe watershed through this interactive story-map. And, speaking of water, the City of Santa Fe also is accepting applications from folks interested in serving on its Water Conservation Committee; learn more about that here (apply by 5 pm, Sept. 30).
A tale of two ski areas
Ski Santa Fe’s 2022/2023 season passes have gone on sale, but Sandia Peak Ski Area won’t open this winter, for the second year in a row. General Manager Ben Abruzzo, whose family owns both ski areas, cited another La Niña winter and employment issues in an interview with Outside magazine regarding the decision. “Winters have become short to the point of absurd the past two years,” Abruzzo said regarding Sandia. “They didn’t even start until the middle of January.” The Aerial Peak Tramway and Ten3 restaurant will be open this season, but the lack of snow, shorter seasons and hiring issues have caused the resort to lose money “at an accelerating rate” the last few years and made it hard to staff at safe levels, Outside reports. “We continue to have trouble finding adequate staffing with all of the COVID issues, and it’s exacerbated when you can’t have a full four- or five-month season,” Abruzzo says. “Not a lot of people want to come and work for just four weeks.” Sandia’s special-use US Forest Service permit, however, doesn’t allow it to remain closed indefinitely. With uncertainty about the future, Abruzzo says Sandia Peak Ski & Tram, which owns the ski area, tram and restaurant, is looking into permitting alternatives. “We can’t make it snow,” he said. “There’ve been a lot of changes and challenges we just can’t control.”
Cool it
The National Weather Service forecasts a potentially wetter, cooler day, with a 50% chance for showers and thunderstorms—mainly after 3 pm—some of which could produce heavy rain, with the likelihood of rain rising to 90% tonight. Otherwise, today should be partly sunny, with a high temperature near 76 degrees.
Thanks for reading! The Word will probably watch Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Emmy award acceptance speech from last night several more times before the day is through.
