State cites, fines Rust producers for safety hazards on set
The state environment department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau yesterday issued Rust Movie Productions its highest citation for ignoring safety hazards on the Rust film set. The citation carries a $136,793 fine and comes more than six months after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding of director Joel Souza. Actor Alec Baldwin, also a producer on the film, was holding the weapon when it fired, though he has denied culpability and no criminal charges have been filed. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza says his department plans to issue an investigation update on Monday. “We’re nearing completion, but, again, we’re waiting on other agencies that are assisting us with evidence to finish their analysis,” Mendoza told SFR. “It’s a little out of our control.” First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who told Vanity Fair in February she was waiting on analysis of the firearm from the FBI before deciding on potential charges, did not respond yesterday to a request for comment from SFR. A statement on one of Baldwin’s social media accounts yesterday thanked OHSB for its investigation, which it described as exonerating Baldwin: “…by making clear that he believed the gun held only dummy rounds” and recognizing Baldwin’s “authority on the production was limited to approving script changes and creative casting.” The lawyer for the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, told Deadline yesterday the report also exonerates his client. “[OHSB] found that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was not provided adequate time or resources to conduct her job effectively, despite her voiced concerns,” Jason Bowles said.
Several lawsuits have been filed since the shooting, including one by Hutchins’ widower, Matt Hutchins, whose attorney also released a statement yesterday praising OHSB’s report for helping to “shed some light on the workplace safety issues that plagued Rust and led to the tragic and fatal events” and noting “our investigation has found overwhelming evidence of recklessness and negligence on the part of the Rust production team and others.” A summary of OHSB’s investigation, conducted by Compliance Officer Lorenzo Montoya, concludes the production “was responsible for a serious violation of the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Act,” and demonstrated “plain indifference to the safety of employees by ignoring recognized hazards inherent to the use of firearms and ammunition by failing to take appropriate corrective or investigative actions” after two misfires occurred a few days before the fatal Oct. 21 incident. “Our investigation found that this tragic incident never would have happened if Rust Movie Productions, LLC had followed national film industry standards for firearm safety,” Environment Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a statement. “This is a complete failure of the employer to follow recognized national protocols that keep employees safe.” Rust Movie Productions has 15 days to appeal, which a spokesperson tells the Associated Press it plans to do.
Santa Fe teacher receives national award
Gonzales Community School third-grade teacher Gabby Salazar Kahawai received a surprise during a school assembly yesterday: a national Milken Educator Award, described by the Milken Family Foundation as the “Oscars of teaching.” The $25,000 award honors teaching excellence among early to mid-career educators and inspire teaching excellence nationally. According to the state Public Education Department, 60 educators from around the US received the award this year; sixty-two New Mexico educators have been Milken recipients since the state joined the program in 1992. “This is a thrilling moment in Gabby’s career and one that all in our community celebrate,” Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez said in a statement. “We are so excited for her and all those she has impacted at the school and in our community.” Kahawai thanked her students in her acceptance speech, noting: “Every day I come to school and I just want to do my best for each and every one of you.” A second New Mexico teacher, Loving High School science teacher and coach Tyler Finch, also received a Milken award yesterday. State Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus attended assemblies for both educators, and issued statements congratulating them. About Kahawai, he said: “She is the kind of teacher who inspires both children and adults to do our best. Thank you, Ms. Kahawai, for being a guiding light for all of us. You make us proud.”
More fires begin in NM fueled by high winds
In response to yesterday’s high winds, firefighting crews focused on holding containment for the Hermits Peak Fire near Las Vegas, which remained 81% contained at 7,573 acres as of the last update. Fire managers held another community meeting last night to discuss both the Hermits Peak Fire and a new start, the Calf Canyon Fire, which began Tuesday in the Upper Gallinas area. Seventy-five personnel have been assigned to that fire, which at last count was 150 acres and 0% containment. The Cooks Peak Fire, located on private land north of Ocate in Mora County, is now estimated at 20,000 acres and 0% containment, with the latest report noting “significant winds continue to fuel the Cooks Peak Fire along with severe drought conditions and an abundance of fine fuels like grasses.” The Simona Fire, located near Jarales in Valencia County, remains estimated at 165 acres and 0% containment and continued to burn on both sides of the Rio Grande last night. And, yes, New Mexico is seeing a lot of fires for this time of year, with high winds playing a role in fires here and across the Southwest, and high winds expected again on Friday.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 193; 520,591 total cases
Deaths: seven; Santa Fe County has had 273 total deaths; there have been 7,434 total fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 47; Patients on ventilators: five
Transmission: Based on the most recent state report on geographic trends for the seven-day period of April 11-17, Cibola County has the highest case rate per 100,000 population: 17.1, followed by Los Alamos County at 16.7 and Santa Fe County at 11.4. Cibola and Los Alamos counties also had the two highest rates of test positivity, according to the state’s report on community transmission for the two-week period of April 5-18. The state report on transmission identifies both counties as having high transmission; Santa Fe County and seven others as having substantial transmission; and the rest as having moderate, except for De Baca and Harding counties, which are labeled “blue” or low. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “community levels” data, on the other hand, has the entire state as “green,” for low transmission. The CDC’s map will update later today.Breakthrough cases: According to the state’s most recent vaccine report, during the four-week period of March 21 to April 18, 40% of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 20.8% 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 55.7%,18% and 26.2%. The percentages shift to 45.5%, 22.7% and 31.8% for fatalities.
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
Given that the first week of recreational adult cannabis sales in New Mexico at the top of the month brought in nearly $10 million, stigma around cannabis use may not be top of mind for some. But two University of New Mexico professors who have done research on cannabis believe its beneficial uses need to be more widely recognized and understood. Daily Lobo Editor-in-Chief Megan Gleason talks with Jacob Vigil, associate professor in UNM’s psychology department, and Sarah Stith, associate professor in economics, a married couple who have done both joint and individual research on the topic. The audio interview is part of a collaboration between the Daily Lobo and KSFR. The cannabis-centric Growing Forward podcast takes an in-depth look at cannabis testing in its latest episode, an issue that has been in the news of late due to a court battle between the state and Sacred Gardens (you can read SFR’s coverage of that legal conflict and a whole lot more cannabis news in our most recent monthly cannabis newsletter Leaf Brief). And, yes, we meant to share all of this cannabis content yesterday for 420 cannabis celebration day, except we mistakenly thought 4.21 was cannabis celebration day (true story).
Christmas in Brooklyn
We made note last October when a native New Mexican opened a restaurant in Brooklyn where one could find allegedly authentic green chile breakfast burritos and green chile cheeseburgers. Now, Eater reports, Santa Fe BK in Williamsburg is preparing to launch dinner, and co-owners and spouses Melissa Klein and John Watterberg say they are excited to be part of “the growing conversation” about New Mexican food in New York. “For a long time it was one of the few cuisines that was severely underrepresented in New York,” Watterberg, who is originally from Albuquerque, tells Eater. Part of the growing interest came from the uber-popular restaurant Ursula in Crown Heights. Part of it has been recognition from New Mexico ex-pats. “There’s an emotional connection,” Wattenberg says. “So many people who clutch their hearts and are like, ‘Now my mom doesn’t have to send me green chile.’’' Hatch green chile remains central to the menu, and the owners also have benefited from some advice from Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque, who advised them to buy a Be & Sco tortilla machine. Klein and Watterberg say they’ve had less success securing New Mexican beer. “New Mexicans are really happy to keep to themselves and do their thing, and not feel this need to expand,” Watterberg says. “Like, we can’t get New Mexican beer for the bar—and there are tons of breweries—but they haven’t applied for licenses here.” You can, however, order from a menu of nine, hand-muddled margaritas. Oh, and the dinner menu includes enchiladas and burritos with both red and green chile, as reportedly the kitchen has learned green chiles turn red over time.
Be here now
This newsletter recently shouted out former long-time Santa Fe resident Dana Levin’s notices in The New York Times for her new poetry collection Now Do You Know Where You Are? (also appearing on LitHub’s list of new books to read this week). SFR caught up with Levin to ask the former creative writing chair at College of Santa Fe/Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s three questions about her move to St. Louis; her writing process for her latest collection; and how leaving Santa Fe after more than 20 years factored into her new poems (Levin says the collection includes a poem called “Pledge,” which is a love letter to Santa Fe). Poets & Writers recently posted ten questions to Levin in this interview. Now the distinguished writer in residence at St. Louis, Missouri’s Maryville University, Levin returns to Santa Fe tonight, albeit via Zoom, at 6 pm for a Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse reading and a discussion with Copper Canyon Press publicist and writer Ryo Yamaguchi (register here for the Zoom link).
Get a wind of this
The National Weather Service says today will be sunny with a high near 77 degrees with north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon (we find it hard to believe it won’t be windier than that, but that’s what the forecast says). Tomorrow, however, brings a high wind watch, with potential gusts up to 55 mph.
Thanks for reading! The Word thinks it’s a little funny Atlantic magazine’s top-read story right now is “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” but is also one of the people who read it.