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Morning Word
Thousands evacuate as NM wildfires rage
The Hermit’s Peak Fire near Las Vegas grew to more than 6,000 acres yesterday, fueled again by extreme winds. As of yesterday’s official update, multiple spot fires had spread beyond the prescribed fire project boundary and the fire was 10% contained. Firefighters continue to evaluate risks to surrounding communities while focusing on defending homes, structures,and infrastructure, and the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office has issued several evacuation orders. The McBride Fire in the Village of Ruidoso, which officials say has destroyed at least 150 structures, had grown to more than 5,000 acres by yesterday and jumped Gavilan Canyon Road, leading to the evacuation of all of Gavilan Canyon East. State Police announced yesterday afternoon they had located the remains of two individuals at a Gavilan Canyon Road residence that had burned in the fire after learning of an elderly couple who had attempted to evacuate the McBride Fire but were unaccounted for by family members. As of yesterday, the Big Hole Fire in Valencia County had been 40% contained at 904 acres. The Nogal Canyon Fire remained at 0% containment at 400 acres. According to a news release from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office, the state applied for and received fire management assistance grants for the Hermits Peak, McBride and Nogal Canyon fires, and the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Aging and Long-Term Services Department and forestry division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department are working together to coordinate firefighting resources, financial support and relief for communities, including food, water and shelter. “My thoughts are with the hundreds of New Mexicans who were forced from their homes by these wildfires, many of which were damaged or destroyed,” the governor said in a statement.
Cannabis division, dispensary battle over testing
The state Cannabis Control Division and medical cannabis dispensary Sacred Garden have until the end of today to agree upon a cannabis testing regimen, following an order issued yesterday by First Judicial District Judge Bryan Biedscheid. If unable to do so, Biedscheid says he will order another hearing in the dispute that began last month when a customer complained to the CCD about two strains of cannabis flower purchased at the company’s Albuquerque dispensary. The state in late March issued the business both a product recall and cease and desist order, citing mold contamination. The state, however, rolled out new testing protocol March 1, replacing general mold-and-yeast requirements with screenings for five specific fungi, all of them in the Aspergillus family. Sacred Garden founder Zeke Shortes says the state has shown “extreme hostility, near hatred” for his company, and that none of the strains in question tested positive for Aspergillus when sent to independent, third-party labs. “I care about how safe the medicine is,” Shortes says. “They’re trying to make a big deal out of a standard that doesn’t exist anymore.”
Meow Wolf: Sen. Heinrich’s wife will lead new foundation
Meow Wolf announced a new foundation yesterday, as well as the name of that foundation’s executive director: Julie Heinrich, a former senior vice president for Washington, DC marketing firm Weber Shandwick/Powell Tate; past communications officer for former Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca; and wife of US Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM. According to a news release, the Meow Wolf Foundation is in the process of formation, with additional information on its plans and initiatives forthcoming and a “focus on giving back to the communities of new and existing Meow Wolf locations, including but not limited to New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.” In a statement, Meow Wolf CEO Jose Tolosa said the foundation “is a demonstration of how Meow Wolf can be a force for good in our communities,” and that Heinrich “brings experience, passion and an understanding that our economies should also benefit people, communities and the planet.” Heinrich, in a Facebook post, said she remembered “the first time I went to [Meow Wolf’s] Santa Fe location and thought to myself...this is how I want to experience art. I want to get inside it and inside the minds of the artists who created it, with a localized flavor and capacity to interact. I adore that New Mexico was the fertile soil that grew this special company.” The new foundation, she noted, would “complement” Meow Wolf’s existing B Corp status: “Launching a foundation will provide a higher degree of transparency, structure, strategic giving and commitment to social and environmental change,” she wrote. “It will mean that as the business grows, we can give back and better serve our communities…while creating a really great place to work for employees.” A newly formed union announced last month it had reached a draft contract agreement with Meow Wolf after more than a year of negotiations.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 174; 519,510 total cases
Deaths: eight; Santa Fe County has had 269 total deaths; there have been 7,390 total fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 48; Patients on ventilators: six
Breakthrough cases: According to the most recent weekly vaccination report, over the four-week period of March 14 through April 11, 39.3% of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 22.1% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 38.6% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. For hospitalizations, those figures change to 59.6%,18% and 22.4%. The percentages shift to 56.8%, 16.2% and 27% for fatalities.
Community transmission: According to the health department’s community transmission report for the two-week period of March 29 through April 11, only DeBaca County has low transmission. Twenty-one counties have moderate transmission; nine counties, including Santa Fe County, have substantial transmission; and two have high rates of transmission: Harding and Hidalgo. According to the report, Santa Fe County had 180 new cases during that two-week period and has a daily case per 100,000 population of 8.6. According to the most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “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—31 of New Mexico’s counties—including Santa Fe County currently have “green”—aka low—levels, whereas Hidalgo County has a yellow, or medium, level. The CDC updates its map later today.
Vaccinations: 91.1% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.9% have completed their primary series; 46.3% 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 61.7% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 39.4% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 31.6% have completed their primary. Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87.6% 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
Santa Fe’s School for Advanced Research kicks off the second of its six-part creative thought lecture series with a 2 pm free online discussion today on the topic of climate change and environmental justice. Ethnographer, political ecologist and Texas Water Resources Institute research scientist Sayd Randle will moderate the discussion with presenters Khalil Shahyd, managing director for environmental and equity strategies at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Environment, Equity & Justice Center; and Sonal Jessel, director of policy at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. The talk will also include a live Q & A. Register here.
Colorado ponders NM’s new cannabis market
Following New Mexico’s opening weekend for adult recreational cannabis sales, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham celebrated the $5.2 million in sales and also made a point of noting the state had “beat Colorado’s numbers for first-day sales.” Colorado also has been keeping an eye on New Mexico’s burgeoning industry. Denver’s Westword newspaper takes a look back at the last decade of sales in that state and speculates legalization here may end Colorado’s “pipeline of dispensary shoppers from not only New Mexico, but Oklahoma and Texas as well.” Indeed, as Westword points out, even before sales started here, El Paso media had alerted Texas residents to the nearest dispensaries by the border and the prospect of Colorado losing Texas shoppers—and revenue—to New Mexico could cut into Colorado’s already declining cannabis economy. But Colorado residents, or at least Westword readers, don’t seem worked over at the possibility of losing Texas shoppers to New Mexico. On a Westword Facebook post, readers chimed in with comments such as: “I fail to see the downside of fewer Texans coming to Colorado” and “Fewer Texans = win” (to be fair, not all the comments were quite so negative). All this to say, perhaps you would like to commemorate New Mexico’s entrance into adult recreational sales with a T-shirt? If so, SFR has you covered with original wearable art, designed by SFR’s award-winning Art Director Anson Stevens-Bollen based on the cover of our Cannabis Guide. Proceeds benefit SFR’s journalism (which recently won some awards in the 2022 Top of the Rockies regional journalism contest and you can read about those here).
Carless in Santa Fe
As this newsletter has recently noted, rising gas prices haven’t dampened New Mexico’s popularity as a potential road-trip destination. Forbes magazine, however, recommends Santa Fe in its line-up of spots to visit where one won’t need a car to enjoy the environs. The nine highlighted cities, Forbes writes, “have transit connections for an easy arrival plus make it easy to get around once you’re there. In other words, you can leave the car—and the gas bill—at home.” Arrive in Santa Fe, the magazine notes, by taking the Rail Runner from Albuquerque (we don’t know that we would describe this transit connection as easy, but OK). “From elsewhere in the region, arriving is slightly more difficult but still doable.” Once here, Forbes recommends staying downtown at the Hilton, where access to museums and restaurants are walkable and “the central square is an obvious hub of activity and makes it easy to skip a car in the capital of New Mexico.” A notable exception is the five-mile jaunt to Meow Wolf, Forbes notes, which will require a taxi or bus (we also have Ubers here, FWIW).
Wind down
Today could be a scant less windy in Santa Fe, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts sunny skies with a high near 64 degrees and north wind 10 to 15 mph becoming southwest 15 to 20 mph.
Thanks for reading! The Word thinks she would make an excellent professional baby namer (and is happy to name your baby for half the going rate).
