Gov: Senior facilities “unacceptable”
More than 90 site visits to senior care facilities between May 17-May 19 revealed at least one violation in 88% of the places, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced yesterday in a news conference accompanying a report on the visits’ findings. Of the 91 facilities assessed in the report, 11 received a perfect store, 55 earned a 90% rating and four failed. Representatives from the health department, along with ones from the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, visited facilities in 13 counties, including Santa Fe, and evaluated the facilities’ environments, staff demeanor and the residents’ comfort. Some noted violations included places with strong odors, such as urine, feces or disinfectants. “Our seniors deserve the highest standard of care and respect,” the governor says in a statement. “These findings are unacceptable. My administration is committed to working collaboratively across agencies to protect our most vulnerable residents and ensure that every resident receives high-quality care and lives with dignity.” The governor also encouraged members of the public to join the state’s long-term care ombudsman program to help advocate for residents in long-term care facilities. “Our dedicated ombudsman volunteers advocate tirelessly for New Mexico’s seniors and adults with disabilities,” Aging and Long-Term Services Department Cabinet Secretary Jen Paul Schroer says in a statement. “By visiting assisted living facilities and nursing homes regularly, they protect residents’ rights, investigate complaints find resolutions, and uphold the highest standards of care.”
Report: Methane emissions higher than reported
The national Environmental Defense Fund yesterday announced aerial measurements showing oil and natural gas producers across the US are emitting methane at more than four times the rates estimated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Those findings come via MethaneAIR, which an EDF news release describes as “a specially equipped jet aircraft, measuring regions accounting for 70% of onshore contiguous US oil and gas production.” Its technology, the group says, is comparable to the tech used by its satellite MethaneSAT, launched in March and scheduled for full operation early next year. “Information used to track methane emissions today is based on extrapolations from very limited measurements,” Ritesh Gautam, a lead senior scientist on the MethaneSAT mission at EDF says in a statement. “Now we can take robust, reliable measurements directly at an unprecedented scale.” The new measurements include data for New Mexico’s oil and gas operations. “EDF’s recently released MethaneAIR data suggests that methane pollution from the Permian Basin far outpaces any other basin in the country,” EDF Regulatory and Legislative Manager Nini Gu says in a statement provided to SFR. “New Mexico should continue to demonstrate leadership by developing a state plan to implement the EPA Methane Rule in early 2025. An effective state plan would include tighter venting restrictions, fully phasing out natural gas-emitting pneumatic devices on an accelerated timeline, and a super emitter program to ensure large emissions observed by third parties are addressed.”
City road bond prompts dissent
Attendees at last night’s City Council meeting had mixed responses to a resolution from Mayor Alan Webber and City Councilors Michael Garcia and Carol Romero-Wirth to place a $25 million road work bond question on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. If approved by voters, the money would fund more than 50 road improvement projects in the city, including repaving Airport Road from Cerrillos to 599 and Cerrillos Road from Cielo Court to Airport Road.
A fiscal impact report on the resolution says, if approved, property taxes would increase approximately $25 per year for 20 years for a home with a market value of $500,000. Los Cerros Colorados Homeowners Association President Rod Gould said the roads need work and “the only way to catch up is to make a major investment...that means we as property owners must step up and assist.” Resident Jared O’Shell, however, asserted the city had neglected the roads leading to higher costs now. “Why don’t these people who failed to do their jobs pay for the roads and the people who have been asking them to do their jobs not?” he said. Public Works Director Regina Wheeler disputes that assessment, telling SFR “a good pavement program includes preservation, repairs and rehabilitation,” all of which her department does.”We do some of that preservation and repair in-house. That’s potholes or sometimes we’ll grind out a whole section of a road,” Wheeler says. “Of course with this bond, we’re saying these improvements are 20-year investments that with maintenance will last us that long. This is a fantastic thing for the City of Santa Fe.”
Election group launches in NM
An initiative designed to “build trust” in New Mexico will deploy nonpartisan election observers across the state, organizers announced yesterday. Observe New Mexico Elections, funded by The Carter Center, a nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded by former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, has a five-member cross-partisan advisory board that includes former Repubilcan New Mexico Gov. Garrey Carruthers, Justice Barbara J Vigil, former state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi, Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission Executive Director Leonard Gorman and Maureen Sanders, who a news release says has conducted legal election protection efforts for the Democratic Party. “My longstanding interest in ethics and good governance inspired me to answer the call to serve Observe New Mexico Elections,” Carruthers says in a statement. “As a former governor and university leader, I believe it’s crucial to uphold the highest standards of integrity in our public institutions, including our electoral processes.” Having served on the state Supreme Court, Vigil says in a statement, “I see my role on the advisory board of Observe NM Elections as a natural extension of that commitment. Ensuring the integrity and transparency of our electoral process is crucial for maintaining public trust in our democracy.” As part of Observe New Mexico Elections’ work, voters selected from all counties “learn about relevant laws and procedures in New Mexico’s electoral process and will report on how those procedures are implemented.”
Listen Up
On the latest episode of his podcast Talking Grammar, Albuquerque Journal staff writer Geoff Grammar talks to Albuquerque native, New Mexico State University alum and former KOB-TV reporter Gadi Schwartz, now a national correspondent and show host for NBC News, live from Paris, where Schwartz is covering the Olympics. His Albuquerque roots came out during a balloon ride in Paris, Schwartz tells Grammar. “They were telling me the history of ballooning…and I was nodding my head,” he says, but when his hosts asked him he had ever been ballooning before, all he had to say was: “I’m from Albuquerque.”
Campfire plus
Vogue magazine includes the Inn of the Five Graces in its round-up of the 20 best glamping “resorts” in the US. No, Inn of the Five Graces itself is not itself a glamping experience, but it offers its guests a luxury glamping package in Chaco Canyon. “You will be treated to an array of seasonal multi-course gourmet meals meticulously prepared by our talented executive Glamping Chef Josh Willette,” the promotional information reads. “Your accommodations will be far beyond the typical camping experience, featuring spacious canvas tents equipped with luxurious amenities including raised wooden bed-frames, memory foam mattresses, bedside tables, comfortable butterfly canvas chairs, plush rugs and enchanting southwest textiles. All the while, you’ll be surrounded by breathtaking remote scenery, providing you with the opportunity to explore a place steeped in prehistoric Puebloan mystery.” For those looking to upgrade their own camping desserts, writer Lynn Cline provides some suggestions from local chefs in a story for New Mexico Magazine, as well as tips for taking s’mores to the next level: “Elevate the traditional fireside treat by replacing the graham crackers with Oreos, trade the chocolate bar for peanut butter cups or roast artisanal marshmallows infused with salted caramel, lavender honey or other luscious flavors,” Cline writes. Yum!
Burning 101
City of Santa Fe historian Andrew Lovato provides the Zozobra low-down for Cowboys & Indians magazine in advance of the Aug. 30 100th burn. “The pageantry and color of the yearly burning of Zozobra are etched in the memories of generations of Santa Feans and visitors who have experienced it, but this year’s edition is about to take on a new grandeur,” Lovato writes. As for that first burning Zozobra’s creator Will Shuster undertook in 1926 at the old city hall, “By all accounts, it was an outrageous affair. Copper sulfate was swathed on burlap to create green flames, and according to Shuster, Zozobra’s head was undersized for his body. Bonfires were lit around the puppet and brightly dressed, merry pranksters cavorted to the strains of ‘La Cucaracha’ while waving colorful whips as Zozobra went up in flames.” Zozobra fever will be in full effect in the coming weeks, with multiple events heading into the burn, including the art exhibition Zozobra: A Fire that Never Goes Out, opening Aug. 23 at the New Mexico History Museum, with concurrent events at the New Mexico Museum of Art and Children’s Museum; ZozoFest on Aug. 24-25 at Santa Fe Place Mall; Zozobra: The Revenge, a musical fable with libretto by Doug Preston and music composed and orchestrated by Joe Illick (story by Shuster, obviously) Aug. 29-31 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. Keep an eye out also for Zozobra Appreciation Day on Aug. 31.
Summer’s lease hath all too short a date
The National Weather Service forecasts a 60% chance for precipitation today (and 50% tonight), with showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 3 pm and before midnight. Otherwise, it will be partly sunny today, with a high temperature 93 degrees.
Thanks for reading! Though generally meme-adverse, The Word succumbed to TikTok and then read about the Kamala Harris meme machine.