It’s dark outside, and the scene is ripe for a fight. Two men—one tall, slender and middle-aged; the other short, gruff and 73—appear ready to duke it out. Well, at least the older man—a Texan named Jim Lightner, who sports a brown cowboy hat and a thick mustache—seems ready. That is, until he sees that I’m recording the whole scene with a camera.

“Could you turn that camera off?” he asks.
“NO!” yells the other man, a California transplant named Gershon Siegel, before I can respond.

“This guy’s gonna hit me and I’m gonna sue his ass.”
Siegel turns back to Lightner, daring him to fight.
“I’m gonna take that house of yours,” Siegel says. “Go ahead, hit me.”

Bystanders tell Siegel to back off, that he’s arguing with the wrong neighbor. Lightner glares at him.
“Sorry, Jimbo,” Siegel says, mockingly offering a hand.
“Let’s shake hands and say goodnight. Kiss and make up?”

Lightner refuses and slowly walks away.

After eight years and more than $200 million, Spaceport America still hasn’t taken off.

It’s Saturday night in Santa Fe and I’m out drinking. Closing time is approaching—it’s near 2 am—and I need to get home, but I have too much bourbon in my belly to drive.

The recent death of former state House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Santa Fe, prompted multiple public visitations and memorials last week, including one in the Roundhouse rotunda.

This year marks the inauguration of SFR’s Patrón Awards (named, of course, for New Mexico’s loved and hated patron system—the good ol’ boy network that has shaped state politics for a century). The awards, first announced on Dec. 17 in the Weekly Word podcast (listen at SFReporter.com), range from seriously honorable to utterly facetious. Read on.

Earlier this year, the state House reached what former Speaker Ben Luján, D-Santa Fe, characterized as a milestone in his farewell speech: Its members voted unanimously to pass the state budget.

The second time Carlos Condit spars, he hits twice as hard. It isn’t out of malice or frustration; it’s still morning, and the day is just beginning. Condit is merely picking up the pace. It’s early November, and the 28-year-old welterweight fighter—compact, intense and pouring with sweat—is preparing for the fight of his life. In two weeks, he’ll face Georges St-Pierre, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, in the welterweight world championship.

Each week, Rachel Hardy spends 24 hours out in the community, sorting clothes at Goodwill and selling her paintings and drawings at VSA arts of New Mexico. Hardy, who suffers from multiple seizures each day, is compensated through Medicaid. The idea is to give her enough exposure to the outside world to live a more normal life.

Last week, Santa Fe District Judge (and soon-to-be state Supreme Court justice) Barbara Vigil sped up the waiting time on six pending adoptions for Santa Fe County residents.

On a Friday morning at the Public Regulation Commission, Qwest is in the middle of a week’s worth of hearings.