Those Dems
Democrats from across New Mexico converged at Buffalo Thunder on Saturday for the state party's pre-primary convention, at which party leadership urged 1,200 delegates—who voted on candidates for the June 2 primary ballot—to do whatever they could to take back the White House and US Senate. US Rep. Deb Haaland told SFR she was encouraging supporters of Elizabeth Warren to work hard to support Democrats on the ticket, but that she hasn't decided who she will support in the presidential primary in the wake of Warren withdrawing from the race. "I am still sad about my candidate so I'm not in a big hurry," Haaland said, "but I will definitely work my heart out in this election year."
Meanwhile, in the crowded primary race for the 3rd Congressional District, delegates awarded Santa Fe lawyer Teresa Leger Fernandez 41.9% of vote, assuring her the top spot on the primary ballot. "The energy and the excitement that's been building, the way you do what we did today is you get people excited about your vision, your mission, your story," Leger Fernandez told SFR at the convention. Sandoval County Treasurer Laura Montoya received the next highest total, with 20.4% of the vote, according to the Democratic Party's release of preliminary results. As such, only Leger Fernandez and Montoya secured spots on the ballot for the primary election. The other five candidates can still qualify for the ballot by amassing additional signatures.
COVID-19 update
As of March 8, New Mexico still had no cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. According to the state Health Department, 57 people have been tested with negative results. However, the department plans to activate its operations center today, which officials say will help prepare for any outbreak-related emergency activities. You can watch the department's public forum on COVID-19 that was held last week in Las Cruces here and PBS Senior Producer Matt Grubs' Friday interview with epidemiologist Dr. Chad Smelser about the virus here.
Santa Fe Public Schools has added a coronavirus update section to its website, which includes a statement that the district has been developing "protocols for each department to ensure smooth operations and communication in the event of school closure and to limit the spread of infection." Those efforts include "increasing sanitizing efforts," planning for distance learning opportunities" in the event of school closures and "keeping district operations such as communications and payroll operational in the event of district-wide closure." Nationwide, there have been at least 539 cases across 34 states; Washington State, New York, California, Maryland and Oregon have all declared emergencies ($NYT).
SF Sheriff will enforce gun law
Like other sheriffs around New Mexico, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza says he, too, has concerns about the state's new gun law, the Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act. Unlike some of them, however, Mendoza says he intends to enforce it ($TNM). The law allows police to request a court order to confiscate weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. "The way I see it is, I don't just get to pick and choose which laws I'm going to enforce and which I'm not going to enforce," Mendoza said. The new law goes into effect May 20.
Gov signs economic development bills
On Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 136 into law, which will allow the State Investment Council to raise the cap from 9 to 11% on investments from the Severance Tax Permanent Fund into the New Mexico Private Equity Investment Program. The governor and state economic development officials have touted the bill as one that could "deliver $200 million of new investment to New Mexico companies." The program targets the state's startups. The governor also signed a bill that amends the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA), which will let the state Economic Development Department invest in land, buildings and infrastructure that "are not yet associated with a business expansion." The governor said in a statement the new measure "will give rural areas and business leaders an important tool to create jobs in their own community."
Listen up
The last episode of SFR's second season of the "Reported" podcast dropped over the weekend and focuses on last week's cover story on classroom equity in the Santa Fe Public Schools. Some schools are fully staffed, while others are missing eight core subject teachers. Standardized test and achievement scores are all over the board, some scoring high while others are barely making it by. Leah Cantor discusses the piece with host Katherine Lewin.
Slow down
The Santa Fe Police Department kicks off its Spring Blitz today, an event that sounds about as fun as it is for local drivers. The traffic enforcement operation will target specific roadways and intersections with police looking for speeding, red light and cell phone violations, among other activities that contribute "to distracted driving or otherwise unsafe driving," according to a city news release. Spring Blitz continues through May 31.
Capitol Barbie in NM
A new television pilot, Capitol Barbie, will start filming in Albuquerque, featuring all New Mexican talent and crew. Described as a "Mean Girls style political thriller," the script focuses on Latinos working in Washington. "The characters in the script are fictional but obviously having worked in politics I had a perspective about being a trans woman and a Latina on Capitol Hill that I definitely put into these characters too," Albuquerque-based filmmaker Riley Del Rey tells the Associated Press. "So some of the topics in this thriller may be controversial but of course it's how people really feel in their politics and ideology, just how they feel about women in the workplace, how they feel about abuses of power, how they feel about gender and race and politics."
For the rain it raineth every day
It's dark out right now, but today will be sunny with a high near 57 and northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow will be about the same, but tomorrow night's forecast calls for a 20% chance of showers. Those chances continue and then increase throughout the week, with the heaviest likelihood right now set for Friday, with an 80% chance.
Thanks for reading! The Word has thought of nothing but politics and contagion for the last week. Speaking of which, according to the Atlantic magazine, Michael Bloomberg could have bought a house for every homeless person in New Mexico for what he spent on his failed presidential bid.
