Seriously, it snowed again

Snow plow operators have worked 1,500 hours of overtime so far

And again 

Well, folks, we got even more snow. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that snow plow operators have worked 1,500 hours of overtime ($) so far this year. Back in November, SFR detailed how Santa Fe chooses what streets to plow when, so if you get mad that your street is an icy mess, review whether it's supposed to be. Maybe this is just your life now. Santa Fe got a bit of a dusting, but higher elevations got clobbered, and bands of snow may affect your commute, so take it slow. There are 189 closings and delays across the state today.

Be an open book, huh?

There are a metric ton of bills wending their way through the Legislature right now. Kyle Land at the Daily Lobo reports on HB 29, which would make the UNM Foundation's documents subject to Inspection of Public Records Act rules. While the foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, which makes its inner workings exempt from public scrutiny, its operating budget is supplied by UNM, a state-run entity, which does have to comply with IPRA. Case law is already on the side of freeing up docs in similar situations. If you've been following the Paul Krebs funds-misappropriation insanity down there, you might see that having it in the statutes could shine some sunlight on shady deals like that.

Sue the pants off him

As we mentioned yesterday, New Mexico has indeed joined 15 other states in suing Trump over his national emergency. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office said that the prez "freely acknowledged his declaration did not need to be made. The president, plainly desperate, is attempting to set an autocratic precedent that has no absolutely no place in our country." Folks in border counties told the Albuquerque Journal that they don't particularly want a wall, infrastructure would be more helpful, and that there is unequivocally no emergency there.

Who’s laughing now?

A number of papers have pulled the popular comic strip "Non Sequitur" after its artist, supposedly accidentally, overlooked an "Easter egg" telling the president to go [expletive] himself. (As you all know, we at SFR have no problem with profanity, but it's first thing in the morning so we're gonna keep it cool here.) Many papers, including The New Mexican ($), attribute the decision to be based on the profanity, not the mocking of the commander-in-chief.

Bright spot?

The City of Santa Fe appears to be getting itself together ($), as far as finances go. Last May, SFR detailed what an independent audit found in the city's bookkeeping, and it wasn't pretty; think missing million-dollar payments, no record of some transactions, virtually everyone having access to an outdated computer system and more egregious problems. A new audit just completed showed only 10 "findings," as opposed to last year's 14, and says that "misstatements, individually or in the aggregate, are material but not pervasive to the financial statements." So, um … yay?

Don’t have a cow

A dairy farmer near Clovis has to destroy his entire herd of cows—that's 4,000 animals—due to a toxic plume in the groundwater under his land. The chemicals, which have seeped from nearby Cannon Air Force Base, called PFAS, are present in a lot of places and build up in the body over time; the EPA offers a summary of their detrimental effects. The toxic plume not only has sinister implications for the dairy industry of Curry County, but property values in the area will likely fall; it also is migrating toward the Ogallala Aquifer.

I need dis

Down in Eddy County, 139 barrels of crude oil were stolen off an oilfield. Worth about $7,000, the oil will be hard to sell, as folks other than refineries don't have too many uses for it. So, like, good luck with your dumb haul, you idiots.

Thanks for reading! The Word predicts today may be a bit dreary and cold, so our song recommendation for you today is "Hello Mister Sun" by Guster.

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