COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 96 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 192,595. The health department has designated 174,339 of those cases as recovered. DOH also reported 369 cases from the holiday weekend: 170 on Saturday and 199 on Sunday.
Bernalillo County had 49 new cases yesterday followed by San Juan County with 10 and Doña Ana County with nine. Santa Fe County had three new cases. Individual counts for counties from the weekend had not been provided by press time.
While the state said there were no additional deaths on Monday, four were reported over the weekend, including one from Santa Fe County: a woman in her 80s who was a resident of the BeeHive Homes Edgewood facility. There have now been 143 deaths in Santa Fe County and 3,953 statewide. As of yesterday, 85 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently, 47.9% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 25.6% are fully vaccinated, according to the state's vaccine dashboard. In Santa Fe County, just over 48% of residents have had at least one dose and 28.9% are fully inoculated.
You can read all of SFR's COVID-19 coverage here. If you've had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
Mayor lambasts critical ads
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber yesterday issued a statement decrying a critical ad from Union Protectiva that appeared in SFR last week. The 106-year-old organization has previously run three ads critical of the mayor—a previous one appearing in the Santa Fe New Mexican called upon him to protect downtown monuments. The most recent ad, titled "Mayor Webber's Dark Side," also takes Webber to task for last fall's destruction of the Plaza obelisk and for failing to properly secure the Don Diego de Vargas statue. The ad also takes aim at a new reconciliation task force for public art, which it describes as Marxist, and points out the city's late audits and a union vote of no-confidence for the mayor, among other topics. In his statement, Webber says numerous elements of the ad are false, such as those accusing him of being an "outsider" in Santa Fe and supporting removal of Gilberto Guzmán's Multicultural mural "just to please rich outsiders." The various charges, Webber's statement says, "…are wrong. The facts are wrong. Even worse, their intention is wrong: Their purpose is to inflame divisions in our city."
Webber also said a flier circulated by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3999 used anti-Semitic imagery to depict him with a "large, exaggerated nose… This has no place in Santa Fe," Webber's statement says, "not just with regard to me, but for everyone in our diverse city." AFSCME Vice President Gil Martinez tells the Albuquerque Journal he drew the cartoon himself and disputed the allegation, saying the image was not intended to depict Webber and that was unaware that the exaggerated features as described were considered anti-Semitic. "This is really offensive to even think that way," Martinez said. "[Webber's] campaign looked for something like that and they found it. They're gonna keep on looking again just to make stories." Jewish Federation of New Mexico CEO Rabbi Rob Lennick, however, said he also found the cartoon "very disturbing," and agreed with Webber's statement. "To see that propaganda rear its head in our time is a reminder that we all have to work together to fight against all caricatures," Lennick said. Webber's statement also called upon city Councilor and mayoral candidate JoAnne Vigil Coppler "to disavow these kinds of ugly tactics." Vigil Coppler told the New Mexican she had not seen the Union Protectiva ad as of yet, but indicated she was open to discussing having a "positive campaign."
Gov signs 50 bills
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday signed a slew of legislation in advance of a Friday deadline—any bills passed during the regular session need to be signed by Friday or will be considered pocket vetoed, aka, kaput (the deadline does not apply to the recently passed bill legalizing recreational marijuana, for which the governor has until April 20 to sign). Several bills signed yesterday support the state's children in one form or another. Alongside tribal leaders, the governor signed impact aid legislation that will provide school districts with federally impacted land access to more than $60 million to better serve their students, including many Native Americans. House Bill 222, the Special Education Ombud Act, creates a new office to serve as both advocate and watchdog for public school students and families navigating the special education system. Another new law prohibits discrimination, discipline or disparate treatment of New Mexico students based on their hair style or cultural or religious headdress, anti-discrimination legislation that exists in seven other states. Senate Bill 17 establishes the Family Income Index, allowing for additional funding for schools with concentrated poverty, and Senate Bill 140 updates New Mexico child support law and brings it into federal compliance.
In other realms, the governor signed SB 32, the Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, or "Roxy's Law," banning traps and poison on public lands; SB 84, the Community Solar Act; SB 27, which expands the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund Act; and SB 71, the Patients' Debt Collection Protection Act, which prohibits collection agencies from going after indigent patients for payments.
Zia Station, the sequel
The Santa Fe City Council is holding two special sessions this week to discuss the proposed Zia Station development. A public hearing will be held at 6 pm tonight, at which the public will be allowed to speak, and written commentary will be accepted until 1 pm today (instructions on how to view and submit comment can be found here). On Thursday, April 8, the City Council will hear presentations and deliberate, and public comment will not be taken. ICYMI, the contested Zia Station proposal calls for a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that would include 384 dwelling units, 84,000 square feet of office and 36,000 square feet of restaurant/retail on approximately 21 acres. Among other requests, the proposal seeks to amend the boundaries of the South Central Highway Corridor Overlay to allow three-story buildings, which the developers say are needed in order to make 10% of the units affordable for 10 years. The city Planning Commission recommended the developers' requests in February. If the City Council approves all the requests, the developers will then need to pursue a separate process to vacate the current alignment of Galisteo Road, which will also be a public process with opportunity for public comment. The Santa Fe Housing Action Coalition will be hosting a virtual watch party for tonight's proceedings.
Listen up
No More Normal continues reflecting on the lessons learned during the pandemic, with an eye toward the future as we—knock on wood—begin to come out of the extreme reality that was 2020. In part 2 of a "A Year in Pandemic," government leaders and activists discuss adapting to post-pandemic life. Guests include: Archbishop John Wester; Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez; Steven Allen, director of the New Mexico Prison & Jail Project; Nadia Fazel, public health lead adviser for Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless; Brooke Tafoya, director of operations for New Day Youth and Family Services; Karina Pizaro, essential childcare worker; Melanie Yazzie and Cleo Otero from The Red Nation; Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver; DOH Communications Director Matt Bieber; and Henry Valdez, public information officer for the state Department of Finance and Administration. No More Normal is a collaboration between KUNM, SFR and New Mexico PBS.
For whom the bell tolls
A new documentary on writer Ernest Hemingway from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick premiered on PBS last night. But some inmates at the New Mexico state penitentiary had a sneak preview of the six-hour documentary as part of a course they are taking on the writer who loved it when you called him Papa. PBS News Hour highlights the inmates' course in a recent segment for its arts and culture series, CANVAS, speaking with University of New Mexico English Professor Jesus Costantino, for whom this is his first time teaching at a prison. "I jumped at the chance," Costantino tells PBS. "I had been chomping at the bit to do this. I'd heard so many great stories, and I was envious. I was like, this sounds like the kind of teaching I want to do." And Hemingway, he says, seemed like a good fit. "Here is somebody who talks a lot about communities of men. Here's somebody who talks a lot about the constant threat of violence. Here's somebody who talks a lot about that almost obsessive sense that death is nearby." CANVAS host Jeffrey Brown also speaks with some of the inmates in the class, some of whom are finding Hemingway's work very relatable. "Each and every single one of us is constantly trying to balance that in a male-dominated society in here, is your masculinity and how you carry yourself and present yourself and mingle with a whole bunch of other men," one inmate says.
Live from the Lensic
The Lensic Performing Arts Center delivers more local music via its Ghost Light sessions, whetting our appetites for a return to live music at the downtown venue. Three latest performances are all free to stream: New Mexico Music Award-winning singer-songwriter Tiho Dimitrov and vocalist Myrrhine Rosemary; friends/collaborators Char Rothschild and Willa Roberts from the Balkan ensemble EVET; and soprano Jane Trembley, a lifelong member of the Santa Fe arts community, accompanied on piano by Robert Tweten. Enjoy the free entertainment and then consider buying a ticket to help the Lensic keep on keeping on, such as Rufus Wainwright's "Ah! Live Again," show, streaming live from City Winery in New York City, available at 5 pm tonight or 7:30 pm tomorrow (April 7).
Let’s hope the answer is blowing in the wind
Today features both a red flag warning and a wind advisory, with areas of blowing dust after 3 pm. Otherwise, it will be sunny, with a high near 70 and that west wind will begin at 10 to 20 mph, increase to 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon and possibly gust as high as 45 mph.
Thanks for reading! The Word is enjoying 16-year-old Emma Stevens's version of The Beatles' 1968 song "Blackbird," translated into the Mi'kmaq language.
