Santa Fe New Mexican
‘A more holistic approach’
The Adinkra symbol sankofa is commonly depicted as a bird walking forward with its head turned backward. Originating from the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa, the symbol literally translates to the phrase “go back and get it.” For the New Mexico...
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‘LIFE IS POLITICAL’
When developing this year’s Pride concert, Aaron Howe knew he wanted the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus to make a statement. The chorus, a nonprofit, cannot be partisan or tell people who to vote for. But — aligning with the tradition of gay and lesbian...
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‘It’s time’: Wirth declines to seek new term in 2028
After serving 22 years in the New Mexico Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said Tuesday he won’t seek reelection in 2028 and will pass the baton as floor leader — unleashing a change in political power and igniting what promises to be a...
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‘Where’s the humanity?’
Today, 79-year-old Carmelita Topaha is a nationally recognized professor of Indigenous pottery at Santa Fe Community College. But just over a decade ago, she was in her late 60s, honing her work with micaceous clay as a student at the Institute of...
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Fine pairing takes root
As the agricultural director for the Pueblo of Santa Ana, Ryan Garcia didn’t have to think long when asked why he thought officials at Lescombes Family Vineyards were interested in striking a deal on grapes for new varietals. “They like our story,”...
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A Catholic revival?
While the coronavirus pandemic raged in 2020, just one person was participating in a class at Gallup’s Sacred Heart Cathedral for adults interested in joining the Catholic Church: an 80-year-old woman whose children and grandchildren were...
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A celebration of soccer
Throw a rock in any direction these days, and you’re bound to find a watch party of some sort taking shape. Partial credit goes to the NBA Finals and the feeding frenzy among New Yorkers hungry for a championship, but it seems it doesn’t take much to...
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FROM PERILS TO PEACE
The wall-mounted crucifix loomed above Phillip Romero as he recalled that wretched night in 1994 when a dozen members of the West Side Locos gang battered down the door of the room where he was partying in a Cerrillos Road Motel 6. In a flash, he was...
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Hearing every voice
The streets in Edgar Talavera Campos’ neighborhood are so dark, he told Santa Fe Mayor Michael Garcia, residents can’t see the gaping potholes — let alone dodge them. “Along Vereda de Valencia, we don’t have a single streetlamp,” he said in Spanish....
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‘WE REALLY COOK’
When students spring out of class and head for the cafeteria at Nina Otero Community School, Rosie Mendoza doesn’t call them by name. She calls them mi amor. “What does your mom call you? Mi amor,” she explains to students. “What does your mom do? She...
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‘Women are winning’
Men have long dominated politics in New Mexico. Over the last two decades, however, women have not only made inroads in the political sphere but have seized control. More than half of all lawmakers elected to the Legislature are female, and women —...
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FREE LIFESAVERS
Eight months after installing “naloxboxes” throughout Rio Arriba County, a county health official is ready to call the program a success. Overdose-related 911 calls and overdose deaths have both dropped since the October launch of the initiative to...
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A river doesn’t run through it
This week was not the first time Duke City residents saw the Rio Grande run dry. But after a particularly disappointing winter and warm spring — and following two prior dry years — the parched river in Albuquerque is a harbinger of challenges to...
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In for the long haul
After securing the Republican nomination for governor in Tuesday’s primary election and after more than a year on the campaign trail, Gregg Hull turned off all the alarm clocks when he got home around midnight to try to get some rest. But as they say,...
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Haaland vs. Hull in Nov.
DALBUQUERQUE eb Haaland, a darling of Democrats, clinched the party’s nomination for New Mexico governor Tuesday night — and a path to become the nation’s first Native American woman to serve as governor. But it won’t be a cakewalk. While Haaland...
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Chasing accountability
The Santa Fe Institute could be forced to hand over information on its links to Jeffrey Epstein under a subpoena from a legislative commission investigating Zorro Ranch. The prestigious scientific research center in Santa Fe is among 14 public and...
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Eyeing ‘innovation’ models
Top officials at Santa Fe Public Schools visited the competition one day last fall. They arrived at the private Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences curious about its project-based “expeditionary learning” approach, in which students in preschool...
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Remains of LANL worker missing for nearly a year found near Taos
TAOS — New Mexico State Police have identified human remains found off Rio Chiquito Road southeast of Taos as Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos National Laboratory worker who was reported missing June 26. A hiker discovered the remains in the McGaffey...
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Man quickly reconvicted of murder in 2018 slaying
A Santa Fe jury deliberated for less than two hours Friday afternoon before convicting a man for the second time in the 2018 shooting death of a local businessman during what prosecutors say was a break-in attempt. The state District Court jury of six...
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FIRING UP FUEGO SEASON
Over its 14 years of existence, the Santa Fe Fuego and the Encinias family have walked in lockstep. From the first pitch in 2012 to Thursday’s short-circuited season opener against the Grand Junction (Colo.) Razorback Suckers, the family has been part...
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PRESCRIPTION FOR PRODUCE
Yazil Rodriguez remembers “the carrot girl.” The toddler stood out among the participants of Northern Roots, a food program Rodriguez helps administer at Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, offering fresh fruits, vegetables and pantry items for...
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Moving on maintenance
An announcement earlier this month of the city of Santa Fe’s plans to close Salvador Perez Pool indefinitely, due to problems with its aging infrastructure, was met with disappointment by swimming enthusiasts. Officials shut down the pool in March for...
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Price of securing liberty
Paul Anaya and his friends and fellow soldiers in the Vietnam War flew combat missions in helicopters. On bad days, some of them didn’t come back. Anaya, who was 20 at the time, visited the Santa Fe National Cemetery with his family Monday morning to...
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‘Care they are owed’
Jack Brooke has done a lot of living in his nearly 88 years. As a child, he listened to the advent of rock ’n’ roll on a plastic radio. He s pent two years in the Coast Guard in the 1960s. He sold life insurance before building his own business as a...
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‘Are we going to have jobs?’
Mutazz Jaber thought for years he would go to law school right after obtaining his undergraduate degree. Then he realized it would be unwise to incur a pile of debt before gaining work experience and saving up some money. “So, I made the decision...
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A CAPITAL COMMENCEMENT
COMING SOON ◆ For more graduation photos, pick up the June 7 edition for a special section celebrating the Class of 2026.
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PASA DAY
Pasa’s annual entertainment preview Old 97s to play at Santa Fe Brewing Co. Photo exhibit shows democracy in danger Johnny Vee: From Nuckolls to Salad Fe
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Honoring sacrifice
Norbert Lovata had loved seeing the military veteran banners that since 2019 have lined Santa Fe streets between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Lovata, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army Security Agency — an intelligence branch that operated for...
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‘Can’t afford to get sick’
Johnny Mondragón first realized he was sharing his apartment with mice less than a week after moving in. The problem has only grown worse in the nearly two years since. Mondragón described finding mouse droppings all over the apartment — in his...
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Guard surge paying off?
More than nine months after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham intervened in what was deemed a “public safety emergency” in the Española Valley, millions of state dollars have been allocated to law enforcement agencies and increasing numbers of New Mexico...
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‘More than mourning’
Achorus of yells rang out Sunday evening on the Santa Fe Plaza. After three deep inhales, Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance Executive Director Kevin Bowen invited a gathered crowd to “let it all out.” Then came the screams — of despair, of anger, of...
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COP COMMUNITY
As Santa Fe police Officer Patrick Pinson’s family started to grow, they decided to move from their home in rural Pecos. They wanted to live closer to culture and amenities. They began house-hunting in Santa Fe in 2017 — after Pinson had been with...
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‘Intellectuals’ Coachella’
Renowned wordsmiths, voracious readers, the curious at large: The world of the written word is in the City Different this week for the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. But there’s another group visiting in numbers perhaps yet unseen in the...
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‘It’s not going away’
It was an odd introduction for an educational assistant. There is “great potential to make us dumber,” teacher Aaron Girdner told students in his Capital High School business pathway class as he acquainted them with the new tool on a recent day. And...
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‘Pretty big leap for a senior’
After two semesters, there it was: the head and shoulders of Our Lady Guadalupe, emerging from a block of basswood. “I feel like I’ve been living with her,” said Karen Swezey, a retired special education teacher who took the course at Santa Fe...
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Green-letter day at state tourney
GELEPHANT BUTTE reen was gold Tuesday, especially for the last team in the Class 1A/3A boys state golf championships. But so was red if you were Payton Woolf. And bronze is quickly becoming a metal Holden Hirsch would like to change for the...
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‘Been a long time coming’
More than two and a half years after entering into an exclusive negotiation agreement with a coalition called the Midtown Arts and Design Alliance, the Santa Fe City Council is set to vote next month on whether to approve a development agreement and...
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NOT EASILY RATTLED
Connor Sharp was supping at a Santa Fe restaurant when the call flashed over his phone: An Eldorado resident needed him to remove an irate and venomous prairie rattlesnake. Sharp, 35, was soon out somewhere in the juniper-covered foothills, the...
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‘I love to give love’
VALBUQUERQUE iviana Rivera knew from an early age she wanted to be a mom. “When we would play house, I was always the mom, and in my friend group, I was always the mom,” she said. “I think it’s just because I love to love people. I love to give...
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Maintaining the model
Afunding scare briefly threatened a treasured force in Santa Fe Public Schools late last month. A slate of volunteers, school staff and community organizers came to the April 23 school board meeting with a unified mission: convince board members not to...
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PASA DAY
This year’s Native Fashion Week designers Darrell Scott and Rob Ickes in Santa Fe Jacquelyn Helin plays Copland and others Douglas, Aletheia Preston on new project
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Reassurance, but few answers
NLAS VEGAS, N.M. ew Mexico Highlands University interim President Kimberly Blea attempted to assuage worries from faculty, students and staff at a campuswide forum Wednesday afternoon, after days of administrative upheaval at the university. The board...
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‘I WILL FIGHT THAT’
As he piloted his Toyota pickup down the familiar, winding Forest Service roads, Moises Morales spoke of generations of conflict between local ranchers and federal government employees who control grazing and timber permits. He served six months...
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Supporting S.F. strays
The city of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society have reached a new deal for services nearly a year and a half after their last contract expired. Annual costs under the new contract, which the City Council approved last week, will...
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Valuing city’s parks
Santa Fe residents’ desire for cleaner, better-maintained parks was on display during a recent meeting about this year’s Fourth of July fireworks show at Franklin Miles Park. Several people asked if the city would make improvements to the park ahead...
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Race heats up as early voting nears
TALBUQUERQUE he two Democratic candidates for New Mexico governor faced off in their only debate before the primary Saturday night. Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman clashed over a handful of environmental issues, with Haaland taking stronger stances...
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‘Taking our country back’
The rain had just stopped falling on 13-year-old Hermides Lopez. Members of immigrant rights group Somos un Pueblo Unido handed him a hot dog. A mariachi band played nearby and upbeat Spanish chatter filled the air. “It feels good,” said the Chaparral...
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PURCHASING POWER
The legality of a $400 million stock purchase has become the focal point of a private equity giant’s effort to take over New Mexico’s largest electric utility. The stock transaction — between Public Service Company of New Mexico parent company TXNM...
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Eye, and ear, on streets
For 40 years, Joe Schepps has operated the Inn on the Alameda, an upscale hotel a short distance from the bustling Plaza. A longtime Santa Fe resident, Schepps in recent years has advocated repeatedly for the city to take action to address loud vehicle...
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STILL STANDING
The Old Santa Fe Association started with a fight. A century later — after helping to shape the look and feel of Santa Fe’s downtown area — the organization finds itself on the brink of a potential battle over the future of historic preservation in the...
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City setting the stage?
After leaving the Center for Contemporary Arts when the rent went up, Santa Fe’s avant-garde theater company has set up shop temporarily in midtown. Exodus Ensemble will perform its newest production, CYRANO, in office space at Aspect Media Village,...
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Creeping close to U.S. cattle
Rancher Carlos Salazar said he’s “staying tuned” to see if a sometimes-deadly pest will return to the U.S. for the first time in decades and threaten the cattle industry. Hundreds of cattle winter on the Salazar family’s 3,000 or so acres in the shadow...
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STAKING CLAIMS
A group of monks piled into Harry Browne’s one-room cabin earlier this year for morning Mass. They left proof of their presence: a crucifix and a medal of St. Benedict. Browne isn’t a member of their flock, but the group was brought to his property in...
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‘ALL PASSED DOWN’
Frank Wildcat Torres, his face painted red, was in his fourth day of fasting Friday when he pulled a wildcat headdress from a suitcase in a dimly lit corner of Tingley Arena. “I won’t eat till tomorrow,” said Wildcat Torres (Mescalero Apache and...
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Driving up job interest
Chaparral Elementary students were given a rare opportunity Thursday: sitting in the driver’s seat of a school bus. Their eyes widened at the buttons and levers at their disposal as they took turns in the seat, envisioning themselves as the bus drivers...
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Housing leads in forum
While some state governments are increasingly overriding local zoning to combat housing shortages, don’t expect the next governor of New Mexico to embrace the same tactic. Asked during a forum Wednesday whether state government has a role in...
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Enough for a trickle
Astream of water flowed down the Santa Fe River as volunteers picked up discarded trash, needles and other debris along the waterway as part of Saturday’s annual Great American Cleanup. The Santa Fe Water Division has begun releasing 2 cubic feet per...
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‘Failed by the system’
The hole in Brittany Serna’s wall is patched, but not yet painted over. It stands out — white against dark teal, several inches away from a hanging portrait of her daughter — and it serves as a reminder of the evening in May 2025 when Serna called 911...
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Modulating successes
After four years of living on the streets, Desiree Martinez was in survival mode. She developed a drug addiction while grappling with the stressors of homelessness, which she said include “being judged daily” and “losing your dignity,” along with the...
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Powwow’s last dance
TALBUQUERQUE he Gathering of Nations Powwow was in its seventh year in 1990 when Dennis Banks, a co-founder of the American Indian Movement, urged a boycott of the event, arguing it exploited Native culture and was run by a non-Indigenous...
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‘No one was hurt’ in crash
Both people on board got out safely after a small plane bound for Taos crash-landed Friday morning at a resort in La Cienega just after taking flight in Santa Fe. Officials said the single-engine Cirrus SR22 lost power and then deployed a parachute,...
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HOW TO HANDLE HISTORY
The bright white building at the corner of McKenzie Street and Griffin Street in downtown Santa Fe stands in stark contrast to the adobe earth tones in most of the historic district. The white walls are the legacy of the building’s former life as the...
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‘LIKE A GRAND OPENING’
For Wise Fool New Mexico leaders, Entrapping Our Abundance doesn’t feel like a show opening — it feels bigger. “I think we’re still getting the word out that we’re opened and where we are,” said Alishiya Kapoor, executive director of the circus arts...
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Edgewood firestorm erupts
Facing a packed meeting room full of furious residents ready to spar with town officials, Edgewood commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to reopen negotiations with Santa Fe County for fire and emergency medical services. “We’re on the right...
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‘Change is happening’
Santa Fe Mayor Michael Garcia was sporting a pair of his trademark tennis shoes on his 100th day in office Friday. It was a fitting sartorial choice for a mayor who has jumped feet first into a busy job, navigating a fast-paced New Mexico legislative...
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Model worth repeating?
When residents raise concerns about the negative effects new homeless services could have in her district, Santa Fe City Councilor Jamie Cassutt said, she likes to bring up Consuelo’s Place as a counterexample. Though the noncongregate homeless...
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Dangerously low flow
Jimmy Beal is waiting to see if the Rio Grande will give him enough water this spring to plant a few of his 100 acres in oats. The irrigation ditch that runs along the river in Albquerque’s South Valley and feeds his crops was as dry as he’d ever seen...
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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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