SFCC receives $500,000 for enviro training program
The US Environmental Protection Agency this week announced $1 million in environmental cleanup funds for New Mexico, with half going to Santa Fe Community College to provide free tuition for the school’s environmental technical training program. “Santa Fe Community College is deeply honored to receive the $500,000 EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant,” SFCC President Becky Rowley says in a statement. “For years, SFCC has been at the forefront of offering EPA Brownfields job training, equipping individuals with the skills necessary for meaningful careers. This essential program not only tackles environmental justice issues but also fosters economic growth by providing family-sustaining wages.” The new grant, she says, will allow the college to “significantly enhance our regional collaborations with community and tribal stakeholders across seven northern New Mexico counties.” The funding comes through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and will equip “students with essential skills for future employment and [bolster] a skilled workforce to benefit our communities,” US Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM, says in a statement. The EPA awarded the other half of the so-called Brownfield grant money to Raton for environmental site assessment. “This is an important step toward a cleaner community for the residents of Raton and the economic development opportunities in their future,” US Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, says in a statement.
Feds will hold Asha the wolf for breeding
The Mexican gray wolf known to the public as Asha, but to US Fish & Wildlife Service staff as F2754, will remain in captivity through next year as as scientists continue to attempt breeding her. An agency spokesmen tells the Associated Press that Asha—who has been held in a facility in Socorro since her 2023 capture in the Jemez Mountains—has shown signs of breeding and bonding with a captive male wolf (Arcadia) though has not yet had pups; both wolves and their pups could be released next year depending on how the next breeding cycle goes, she says. Advocacy organizations decried the decision for Asha, whose prior far-flung travels spotlit the tension between the federal government’s plans for the species’ recovery, and the species’ fundamental nature. “Asha deserves to be free and wild,” WildEarth Guardians Wildlife Program Director Chris Smith says in a statement. “She has done nothing wrong—she has followed her instincts into suitable wolf habitat in Northern New Mexico and is being punished for it. Asha belongs in the wild whether she breeds or not; there are some pretty telling layers to this.” Cyndi Tuell, Western Watersheds Project’s Arizona and New Mexico director, says Asha and “others like her, are showing us where the wolves want to be. The human-created maps, with imaginary lines on the ground where wolves are not allowed, ignore what science tells us—that the southern Rocky Mountains are home to the Mexican gray wolf. Making Asha’s freedom dependent on her ability to breed represents an outdated and unscientific philosophy held by wildlife managers that needs to change.”
NM Court: Parenting law applies to same-gender couples
The state Supreme Court yesterday ruled that New Mexico’s Uniform Parentage Act applies to same-gender married couples. According to a news release, the ruling holds that the law supports a legal presumption of parentage of children born during a marriage even if one parent “admits under oath to not being genetically or biologically related to the children.” The key consideration in determining parentage is the child’s best interest, the court, which issued a unanimous ruling, said. The decision supplied legal reasoning for a ruling in a legal dispute over parental rights and child custody last year in which the court determined Jeannine Kammann is a legal parent to twins born during her same-gender marriage to Maile Soon, who had undergone artificial insemination and given birth to the children in 2017. “When a child is born during a marriage, as here, the UPA provides a ‘presumption of paternity’ of the spouse if ‘he and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage.’ Despite this problematically gendered statutory language, Kammann’s gender is irrelevant and is not disqualifying,” the court writes in its decision. “For several reasons, we construe these statutes expansively to mean that a presumption of parentage, rather than a presumption of paternity, arises when a child is born during a marriage.” The court yesterday also issued decisions regarding “good time credits” for DWI homicides and the legal duties of lawyers to non-clients who lack representation.
City Different suspects
The Santa Fe Police Department has issued several alerts this week about ongoing investigations, and have asked for the public’s help in providing information. Earlier this week, SFPD announced a search for Katrina Quintana, 28, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued on multiple charges, including attempted armed robbery, resisting arrest and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. That warrant followed a July 21 incident on South Guadalupe Street, in which a car-theft victim reported Quintana crashed the stolen car into another car, was armed with a knife and had also stolen items from the car. Yesterday, SFPD said it is investigating a Tuesday night incident in which officers responded to a call on Hickox Street where a woman and her dog had been shot during what the victim characterized as a “road rage incident” that began on Alto Street. SFPD says the suspect’s vehicle was described as a white Toyota Corolla or Camry, and the suspect exited the vehicle, pointed a firearm at the victim and followed her on foot. During the altercation, the victim told police she heard gunshots. She was ultimately treated at a local hospital and released, but her dog did not survive the incident. Anyone with information should contact SFPD at 505 428-3710 or Detective Jill Feaster at 505 955-5281.
Listen Up
What do Taylor Swift and the Santa Fe Reporter have in common? If we had a nickel for every time we’ve heard that question, we’d have zero nickels, but the Venn Diagram of Swifties and…SFRies comes together a week from today in the Railyard. What are we talking about? Well might you ask. SFR’s annual Best of Santa Fe Party goes down from 5 to 9 pm, Friday, Aug. 2 in the Railyard, alongside Lensic 360′s Santa Fe Salutes: Taylor concert at 7 pm, with this year’s winning DJ kicking off the show at 6 pm (you’ll find out who on July 31 when the BOSF 2024 issue hits the streets). Learn more about the shindig at 10 am today when Santa Fe Salutes Director Andy Primm and your semi-faithful Morning Word scribe join The Big Show host Honey Harris on the radio, 98.1 FM or streaming on Santafe.com.
Great expectations
Today, TIME magazine unveils its 2024 world’s great places issue, which showcases “100 most exciting destinations to visit now.” To compile the list, the magazine says, it “solicited nominations of places—including hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums, parks, and more—from its international network of correspondents and contributors, as well as through an application process, with an eye toward those offering new and exciting experiences.” Last year’s roundup highlighted 50 cities, but this TIME “decided to explore even more—and more specific—establishments that stand out in their field, and the world.” In short, the magazine notes, the “travel industry trends often reflect the id of humanity: what the collective we desires most when unburdened from daily stressors and responsibilities.” That list of places includes spots where one can engage in deep introspection, such as Santa Fe’s Modern Elder Academy, which makes this year’s list. Founder Chip Conley’s self-described “midlife wisdom school,” which opened in May on the 2,600-acre Rising Circle Ranch (formerly the Saddleback Ranch in Galisteo), offers a variety of workshops this summer, including ones on “navigating transitions” and “cultivating purpose.” TIME writes: “As you sip fireside margaritas under string lights, comfortable in your own skin, maybe midlife isn’t so bad after all.”
Festival season
The International Folk Art Market reports “record-breaking” $3.64 million in sales during its 20th anniversary market in Santa Fe July 11-14. “A tremendous outpouring of support and enthusiasm for folk art and the handmade helped us achieve the most successful market to date,” IFAM Executive Director Stacey Edgar says in a statement. Other figures released by the organization include: more than 18,500 visitors attended the festival in the Railyard Park, visiting with 167 artists—41 of them new to the market—and cooperatives from 51 countries. This year also marked IFAM’s first “community day,” allowing for free entry on Sunday. Tickets for next year’s market go on sale Jan. 1, 2025, and artist applications for next year are already open on IFAM’s website. Festival season is in full swing, with the 98th Traditional Spanish Market, one of this week’s SFR Picks, running from 8 am to 5 pm tomorrow and Sunday, July 27-28, with free entry on the Plaza. The oldest and largest show of its kind in the country will feature renowned and emerging artists, including Felipe Rivera, Arlene Sena Cisneros, Debbie Carrillo, Yvonne Aragon and many more, with devotional works, santeros, tin pieces, woodworking, retablos, jewelry and textiles for days. Meanwhile, the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts’ Santa Fe Indian Market is mere weeks away (Aug. 17-18), bigger and better than ever, with its marquee events on sale and selling out fast.
Flood watch
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch today starting at noon into this evening, and forecasts a 70% chance for precipitation today and tonight, mostly after 3 pm and before midnight. Otherwise, look for increasing clouds, with a high temperature near 88 degrees. Temperatures will remain in the high 80s throughout the weekend, with a 50% chance for rain on Saturday, and sunny skies on Sunday.
Thanks for reading! This newsletter will return Wednesday, July 31, after Best of Santa Fe goes to press. The Word may reward herself upon its completion by making frozen treats.
Speaking of treats and newsletters, Desert Chorale will offer one free pair of $45 2024 Summer Festival tickets to the first three folks who subscribe to their email list. Learn more about their programs, which run through Aug. 3, here.