Santa Fe New Mexican
ROCK in a hard place
Acommunity engagement meeting about a new homeless shelter planned for Santa Fe’s south side began with an acknowledgement of the elephant in the room. The elephant, of course, was the mountain of concerns people have about the operation of the shelter...
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New chapter in adult ed
As her lines approached, Emma López, 11, glanced anxiously at her father across the classroom. Orlando López, with a script of Charlotte’s Web in hand, gave a thumbs up before his daughter read the role of Charlotte she’d just been assigned. “Children...
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Edgewood under fire
Jean DeMarte is so concerned about a score of decisions Edgewood elected officials have made in recent years she would like to see the town government dissolved. At 72, DeMarte has an irregular heartbeat and is unsettled by the notion that Santa Fe...
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FAITHS ALIGNED
Children ran throughout Temple Beth Shalom’s social hall Thursday night, searching for a piece of matzah, or flatbread, that Rabbi Neil Amswych had hidden somewhere in the building. A way for the younger members of Santa Fe’s largest Jewish...
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‘A PLACE VERY SPECIAL’
BCHIMAY” eneath crosses set in the hills on the road to Chimayó, Joseph Suina spoke of the wounds he nursed during his second tour in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Suina, 82, a Marine Corps veteran and former governor of Cochiti Pueblo, had thought of...
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BACK TO THE MOON
FCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. our astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years. Carrying three Americans...
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‘Right on top of us’
Fred Diehl reacted with horror when he heard the house next door was being turned into a vacation rental with a lighted pickleball court. “The court would be 81 feet from my bedroom window,” said Diehl, envisioning partying vacationers with paddles...
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Filling a cavity in N.M.
Diana Halili’s path to becoming a dentist started as a child, when she attended dental appointments with her mother — who hated going to the dentist. That changed, Halili said, when the family found a provider who could dispel some of the terror her...
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Cleared for takeoff
New Mexico lawmakers didn’t fund some big-ticket items on Santa Fe’s wishlist for legislative capital outlay this year, such as upgrades to an aging wastewater treatment plant and infrastructure improvements for redevelopment of the city-owned midtown...
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‘We’ve lost a lot of our humanity’
When Patricia Cruz and her friends decided to make a sign railing against President Donald Trump, they were stumped. “There [are] so many things we could be protesting,” Cruz, a 69-year-old retired teacher, said as her group marched through downtown...
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‘This new era for IAIA’
Two paths have led Shelly Lowe to the presidency of the Institute of American Indian Arts. On paper, it’s her résumé. Before stepping into the role in August, Lowe spent roughly a decade working for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and before...
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‘A CHANCE TO PROCESS’
The Santa Fe school board voted unanimously Thursday evening to strike César Chávez’s name from a south-side elementary school effective immediately, temporarily renaming it White Tigers Elementary — a reference to its mascot. District staff will...
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‘It’s going to be grim’
As far back as anyone can remember, heaps of winter snow would reliably cloak the high-mountain ridges looming over this Northern New Mexico village. The snow never really arrived in Truchas this year, amid much prayer and alarm. Walter L. Sandoval,...
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$375M META LOSS
ASanta Fe County jury delivered a $375 million verdict Tuesday in a landmark case against the world’s largest social media company. After deliberating for less than a day following a six-week trial in state District Court, jurors found Meta had...
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Uphill push for ROCk
A Santa Fe nonprofit plans to move ahead with construction of a new 125-bed homeless shelter on the city’s south side despite a failed attempt to secure legislative capital outlay for the project. Interfaith Community Shelter — the founder and...
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‘It’s helped me so much’
Carlos Estrada struggled for seven months to find a job after leaving the Santa Fe County jail. He was hired only after applying for a position with Urban Alchemy, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that operates the city of Santa Fe’s homeless shelter on...
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SHELTER STILL IN TRANSITION
ASan Francisco-based nonprofit that has operated Santa Fe’s homeless shelter on a one-year emergency contract since August is running short on funds. By the end of January — with six months of service remaining — Urban Alchemy had less than a fifth of...
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‘We rejoice all the same’
It began as a whisper. With each person entering the doors in the early morning light — adorned in everything from the embroidered silks of South Asia to the vibrant dashikis of West Africa — the takbeer, a collective spoken prayer affirming the...
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Pyrotechnics in the park?
Santa Fe officials are searching for a new site for the city’s Fourth of July celebration and fireworks display, which has been staged for a decade at a southside shopping center. The city has listed 11 possible locations for the show’s move, which...
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Breaking silence on Chávez accusations
Ana Murguia remembers the day the man she had regarded as a hero called her house and summoned her to see him. She walked along a dirt trail, entered the rundown building, passed his secretary and stepped into his office. He locked the door, as he...
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PUTTING A SPRING IN ST. PADDY’S DAY
Graham Spencer, 10, leaps while dancing to the music of the Albuquerque and Four Corners Pipe Band, comprised of the Great Highland Scottish bagpipes and Scottish snare, tenor and bass drums, on Tuesday at the St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Second...
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Selling N.M. on Jupiter
As New Mexicans weighed in on two natural gas-powered microgrids set to fuel the massive data center campus Project Jupiter, partners and allies of the project have been pushing to change hearts and minds. Americans are split on data centers but seem...
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Vital signs improving
Randy Murray has tried out nearly every kind of care La Familia Health has to offer. He first arrived at the Santa Fe organization about 15 years ago in search of grief support after the sudden death of his partner. He still sees one of La Familia’s...
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Fire season year round?
Chain saws buzzed. Axes thunked into trunks. The notched tree tipped slowly, then shuddered to the ground last week as a youth crew worked to clear wildfire fuel near the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary. For the Forest Stewards Guild youth...
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Family of injured man sues Santa Fe
Three members of a family caught up in a 2024 police chase and fatal shooting are suing the city of Santa Fe. George Anthony Theragood was shot in the arm, his wife April Jaramillo was detained and their son Juanito Theragood, then 20, was tackled to...
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Ski Santa Fe announces it will close two weeks early
Anyone paying attention to the Northern New Mexico weather this year probably wasn’t shocked at Ski Santa Fe’s announcement Thursday that it will end its season two weeks early. The ski area, which was supposed to stay open through April 5, received...
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BRAVING OUT QUARTERFINAL
Braves fans celebrate a 3-pointer during the Santa Fe Indian School’s Class 3A State Tournament quarterfinal against Navajo Prep at the Rio Rancho Events Center on Wednesday. Indian School won and advances to play St. Michael’s on Friday. See full...
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New sheriff in town
Each of the three candidates vying to become the next Santa Fe County sheriff has years of experience in local law enforcement. Former Santa Fe police Chief Paul Joye, who had his first campaign event last week, is arguably the best known of the trio...
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‘Life was just starting’
The front porch became the site of a makeshift memorial. Balloons, bouquets of flowers, candles and stuffed animals dotted the porch and yard of a smoke-damaged house on Pecos Street in Las Vegas, where three young adults — Austin Apodaca, 22, Geno...
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Justice visit draws crowds
Agood judge needs legal skill, strong writing abilities and the appropriate temperament, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told a crowd at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. But more than anything, Barrett said during her Sunday appearance...
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Dueling views on war
“MALBUQUERQUE ake Iran Great Again,” and “Thank you Mr. President” read a sign at a rally of dozens demonstrating on a street corner in favor of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Below the text, Iranian crown prince and dissident Reza Pahlavi smiled...
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Descanso disappears
USTANLEY nlike the stain Jeffrey Epstein brought on New Mexico, a roadside memorial placed outside the gates of the former Zorro Ranch to honor victims of the notorious sex offender has been wiped clean. The action could constitute a crime because the...
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Safety or surveillance?
Santa Fe police received several calls Thursday afternoon alleging a woman had used counterfeit bills at three businesses on Cerrillos Road. Instead of dispatching an officer to the area to look for her, they sent a drone. Detective Enrique Moreno sat...
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Marketing their campaigns
Days before they make their pitch to party insiders at their respective preprimary conventions, the five Republicans and two Democrats running for governor of New Mexico delivered their spiel to members of Albuquerque’s Hispanic business community...
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Española elects new mayor
ESPA—OLA ennis Tim Salazar appears to have handily unseated Mayor John Ramon Vigil. Unofficial election results provided by the city clerk after the polls closed Tuesday night showed Dennis Tim Salazar, a former city councilor, with almost 49% of the...
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Courts rope in cattle feud
The approaching desert dusk did nothing to settle Travis Regensberg’s nerves as he and a small herd of stray cattle awaited the appearance of a state livestock inspector with whom he had a 30-year feud. This was Nov. 3, 2023, and, as Regensberg tells...
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PASA DAY
◆ A peek inside Art Vault’s ‘Ephemeral Acts’ ◆ Washington Opera on Kennedy Center ◆ New home for Cormac McCarthy’s library ◆ Filmmakers: Titillating tale of ‘Pillion’
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Zorro Ranch remake reined in
At the entrance to the sprawling Santa Fe County ranch once owned by Jeffrey Epstein, a new front gate — with concrete turrets connected by an arch across the roadway — sits unfinished. State and county officials have ordered a pause on construction at...
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Windy Trump: U.S. winning
President Donald Trump declared during a marathon State of the Union on Tuesday that “we’re winning so much” — insisting he’d sparked an economic boom at home and imposed a new world order abroad in hopes it can counter his sliding approval...
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OLD TIMERS ON ICE
For some, ice hockey draws to mind high-speed collisions, yelling and knocked-out teeth. That isn’t the reality for the Old Timers — though their games often feature a healthy dose of trash-talk. “College-level and pro is called ‘check hockey’ where,...
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‘We just get the scraps’
As the afternoon bell rang at Lybrook Elementary/Mid School in Counselor, Amari Werito and his brother, Azarius, jogged to the Chevy truck where their father, Billton Werito, waited to drive them home. Pickup time is always tense. As the boys climbed...
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Underground potential
KC Peterson checked a gauge on an injection well at the Lightning Dock Geothermal Plant. “Everything’s normal,” the operations and maintenance tech said, marking the measurements on his clipboard at 4 p.m. Wednesday. He’s one of a seven-person team...
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Alternative arrangement
As temperatures dipped to dangerous lows and Santa Fe enacted a “Code Blue” in mid-January, Mayor Michael Garcia rode along with the city’s Alternative Response Unit as it offered support to people living on the streets. Garcia wrote in a Jan. 10...
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‘Delivering for New Mexico’
In years past, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has made no qualms about her disappointment in the New Mexico Legislature for failing to deliver on her priorities during a legislative session. Not Thursday. At the end of the last 30-day session of her...
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Kitchen table classrooms
The van Wyk kids’ virtual avatars scuttled across a wintry digital landscape, weaving among those of nearly 100 other cyber students from around the state — some shown in virtual wheelchairs — during a break between their online classes. “Where are...
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A ‘beautiful coincidence’
Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church in Los Alamos was gearing up Tuesday for its annual Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner. Accompanied by a jazz band, the free event also doubles as a way to give back; those who attend are asked to bring shelf-stable...
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Tapping into trust fund?
How will New Mexico pay for the governor’s unparalleled promise to extend free child care to all families? That’s been the multimillion-dollar question for state lawmakers during this year’s legislative session. Disagreements have cropped up in the...
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‘So many women here’
When Jamie Cassutt first won a race for a District 4 seat on the Santa Fe City Council in 2019, her victory marked a historic tipping point: For the first time anyone could remember, the council would have more women than men. Cassutt, who hit the...
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New judge would hear increased outside caseload
Santa Fe’s First Judicial District is experiencing a flood of lawsuits. In November, the First Judicial District’s chief judge, Brian Biedscheid, told a New Mexico legislative committee those cases — driven in part by medical malpractice suits and...
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Pining for protections
When Sam Hitt first saw his favorite white pine in the Santa Fe National Forest about a decade ago, he stopped dead in his tracks. He continued a bit down the trail, then returned. At the time, he didn’t know the tree was a white pine, but he was...
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DRIVING UP DISRUPTIONS
Before the dismissal bell rings to release students across Santa Fe Public Schools, Felipe Nevarez and a few other administrators from the district’s Transportation Department step into one of the many buses parked outside their office. “When short on...
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Bankrolling S.F. science
In Jeffrey Epstein’s telling, he came to Santa Fe for the scientists. The sex offender and financier bought a remote estate spanning over 7,500 acres called Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County, near Stanley, in 1993. The recent release of U.S....
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Innovation Hub aiming to make S.F. a tech player
Santa Fe is known as a global hub for the tourism industry. But David Perez wants to see it known for more than that. Through the New Mexico Innovation Hub that Perez has founded on the city’s midtown campus, the tech entrepreneur seeks to establish...
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Meta, N.M. face off
Attorneys sparred in a Santa Fe courtroom Monday morning at the start of a trial in which New Mexico’s top prosecutor seeks to convince a jury the nation’s leading social media company leaves children vulnerable to online predators. Global technology...
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Helping victims find calm
Though her 90-day orientation period is still underway, the newest staff member at Solace Sexual Assault Services — a black English Labrador named Betty — has already made an impact. “One of Betty’s superpowers is that she will be nonjudgemental,”...
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Census of the streets
Albuquerque’s downtown neighborhoods, like those in many metro areas across the nation, are a study in contrasts. Close to the interchange of Interstate 25 and Interstate 40, the area is dotted with distilleries and other trendy businesses, as well as...
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CAPITAL IN CAPTIVITY
The city of Santa Fe aims to convince New Mexico lawmakers to reauthorize $1.7 million in unspent state capital outlay awarded in years past despite proposed legislation to overhaul the system for divvying over $1 billion annually for local...
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Waiting a week for water
The handful of women holding court Thursday around a table in Shawna Gonzales’ living room were animated by deep anger and frustration. Families in the Valle Vista subdivision were experiencing at least their sixth day without Santa Fe County water...
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‘Supposed to be an incentive’
When Diane Metoyer, the office manager for Albuquerque-based Affordable Solar, asks for a customer’s Social Security number to help them apply for the state’s solar tax credit, they tend to balk. The hesitancy doesn’t usually last long: All Metoyer has...
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Search during DWI stop leads to suit
Body camera footage from a Rio Arriba County sheriff’s deputy shows a former state prosecutor reaching into a woman’s bra to retrieve a pink canister of pepper spray. The roadside incident during a traffic stop the night of Aug. 8 is now at the center...
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‘Living in this uncertainty’
The Santa Fe school board’s decision late last week to merge E.J. Martinez Elementary School with Chaparral Elementary has left some parents scrambling. The plan wasn’t among the three options board members had said they would reassess after punting a...
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‘Nowhere else to put them’
In the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department’s office in Hobbs, an 8-year-old boy wandered from room to room, desperately hungry, scrounging for food. An empty feeding tube was taped to his stomach, and a pacemaker implanted in his...
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‘Creating a false market’
Finding an original Fritz Scholder painting online for less than $10,000 is like finding an original Van Gogh in a thrift store. In other words: It’s highly unlikely. Nevertheless, authorities believe more than 20 people — including two in Santa Fe...
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QUAKE REPORTS FAULTY?
From two laptops on a table in his Española apartment, Kenneth Jones II monitors a tapestry of seismic activity more than a hundred miles away in Northern New Mexico. Jones, 56, finds the unending and multicolored livestream so absorbing he has not...
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Cure for med school debt?
By the time Lukas Kerr graduates from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine next year, he’ll be just over $200,000 in debt — not counting the interest accrued during his four years of medical school. It sounds like a lot, but it’s consistent...
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Seeking to control pet population
Apet food manufacturer fee that could provide an estimated $1.37 million annually to make spay and neuter programs affordable for low-income pet owners in New Mexico faces a July sunset date. Some state lawmakers are trying to throw the initiative a...
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‘A STATE OF SIEGE’
Undeterred by subfreezing temperatures, hundreds of immigrant rights advocates from across New Mexico gathered at the state Capitol in Santa Fe on Monday to call for a ban on local government-contracted immigration detention centers, stricter privacy...
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Residents target lawlessness
Even as an avid sportsman who lives near the Caja del Rio Plateau, Raymond Montoya is disturbed when he hears rounds of gunshots from his home late at night or in the early morning hours and then sees headlights and bonfires up on the desert mesa. The...
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