Trouble in Tornillo

Mayors head to border

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber and Albuquerque's Tim Keller traveled to Tornillo, Texas, in an attempt to tour the facility there that's holding children taken from parents who were seeking asylum or otherwise trying to cross the border into the US. Webber said the traumatic events of recent days at the border echo what happens on a smaller, quieter scale ($) in Santa Fe with recent immigration raids. Keller said these are "dark days" in America and that evoke memories of both Jim Crow laws and the Holocaust. The pair were part of a trip organized by the US Conference of Mayors.

Hire ground

Webber has made the first of his big hires at City Hall, striking a deal with Erin McSherry to become city attorney. Under the city's new system of governance, the mayor gets to hire the city manager and city clerk as well. McSherry's hire makes four women in three days who've been asked to lead city departments. The City Council will vote on her selection next week.

New ground

The Santa Fe Recovery Center today marks the opening of a second campus in Santa Fe. The center has split its inpatient services from administrative and outpatient functions and is adding new facilities that will allow women seeking inpatient recovery options to bring their children. The center says it's identified being away from children as a major barrier to drug and alcohol addiction treatment for women.

Governor’s race in Washington

When both Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates are sitting US representatives, you get some interesting debates, as happened in Congress yesterday. Republican Steve Pearce voted for a bill that would limit legal immigration and increase border security. Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham voted against the unsuccessful bill and attempted to offer an amendment that would have created a path to citizenship for Dreamers.

What they said

Over at NM Political Report, there's a roundup of what New Mexico political leaders said and did during a tumultuous week of debate of the country's immigration policy. It's a quick way to help you get up to speed if you've been overloaded by news coverage.

Overlooked and written off

SFR's cover story this week introduces you to Corrections Industries, the state program that employs prison inmates to build desks, name plaques and all sorts of other things for clients both public and private. Using prison labor virtually guarantees a profit, and some say it enhances true rehabilitation options for prisoners. Others say it's unnecessarily cheap, paying inmates as little as 40 cents an hour.

Now see here

In an effort to prevent mistaken-identity prisoner releases, Albuquerque's Metro Detention Center wants to use iris scans to upon booking and release. The jail touts it as a cost-effective way to prevent embarrassing mishaps. Inmates are already fingerprinted at booking, and some have their DNA drawn during a jail stay per state law.

Mars needs sunshine

Scientists across New Mexico have been involved with the Mars Rover project for years. Right now, they're nervously waiting for more data. It's been about two weeks since a massive dust storm on the Red Planet has blocked the sun needed by the rovers to charge their batteries. The storm has grown so large that it's now considered a global event. There are two rovers on opposite sides the planet, and Curiosity sent back a very dusty selfie this week.

Thanks for reading! The Word learned just now that the popular (and heartbreaking) meme about the lonely Curiosity rover singing "Happy Birthday" to itself is only a half-truth. It sang once, but hasn't since 2013. Scientists say they only programmed it to do it once because there is "no scientific gain" from the song, and that we should be wary to anthropomorphize robots. Way to be wet blankets, NASA.

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