Your petition ain’t good enough

Secretary of state says Republican attempt to overturn gun law is insufficient

Not so fast

Republicans attempted to petition to overturn a new background check law that requires buyers wait 10 days to purchase a weapon. The secretary of state has ruled that the petition does not meet requirements to challenge the legislation because the law concerns public safety. The reps who submitted the bill say the SOS's decision is a political play, not a constitutional one.

No touchy

A federal judge has ruled that a 300,000-acre parcel of BLM land in Wyoming is off limits to oil companies largely due to the impact drilling would have on climate change. This is great news for activists fighting to preserve Chaco Canyon, as the ruling has national if not global impacts about the federal government's responsibility to protect both our country's cultural history and the planet's environmental future.

New face in the party

In a profile from Indian Country Today, US Rep. Xochitl Torres Small talks about how she got into politics, her responsibility to protect Indigenous nations despite not considering herself Indigenous, and how she changed her name from Leanna to the Aztec word for "flower" when she was 6 years old because she was jealous of her brother's cool handle (Quetzal). Now that she's in office, she says, "I've never loved a job more."

Round ’em up

Some criminal news from yesterday (nothing too terribly gnarly): A car was shot up ($) overnight in the 3200 block of Jemez Road, off Airport. No one was injured. A man was robbed and shot ($) (in broad daylight, we might add) at Motel 6 yesterday; his condition was not reported by police. Anyone driving along West Alameda on the way to work yesterday (like the Word, for example) would have seen some cruisers, crime scene techs and police tape; authorities were investigating a woman's body found ($) next to the river near the 500 block of Alto Street. The deceased is as of yet unidentified.

Get out

Albuquerque foster parent Joshua Saavedra has been arrested for soliciting sex from minors on the internet (that "child" ended up being a law enforcement officer). While the governor's office said the foster child in his care would be removed from the home, CYFD has now said the child will remain there, because Saavedra will no longer be living there.

Beloved big-lipped horses come home

New Mexico State Fair's errant mascots Phil and Phyllis have been located. The giant horse-things have turned up at the restaurant The Grill, where the restaurant owner's friend sold them to the establishment for $300 in cash and gift certificates. When the state fair brought them to a shop for repairs, then that shop went out of business, the creatures started a grand adventure that now will apparently end back where it all began: With tourists and New Mexicans on their way to eat corn products at the Expo grounds. (The Word tried to do a little research to see when Phil and Phyllis went missing, but turns out a Philadelphia sports team has identically named mascots who clog up the Google results.)

Wetness is the essence of beauty

This was a heck of a winter for precipitation, but environmentalists and farmers are still cautious about spring. Long-term drought has dried out New Mexico's soils, making them less absorbent, leaving open the possibility of flooding once all that snowpack melts. And of course, we mustn't confuse weather with climate; our state is still experiencing serious drought conditions that will only worsen.

And Away

Temps are only going to be on the up and up for the next week, which the Word is totally cool with. But that's not until some severe storms pass through, and the eastern part of the state may get hit hard. Batten down the hatches, Tucumcari. Is there anyone from Tucumcari in the house this morning? If so, say hi.

Thanks for reading! The Word got lunch with a lovely friend yesterday who said (direct quote): "You can never have too many mannequins." Apparently a man in California agrees, and is hosting a naked mannequin garden party in his yard to irritate his neighbors. The Word is a little bummed we weren't invited.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.