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Still asking plenty
There are still more questions than answers in the case of Renezmae Calzada, the 5-year-old who went missing in Española earlier this week and was later found dead in the Rio Grande. The girl's family remained largely mum during the search and since the body was found. We do know that Renezmae was last seen around 9:30 am Sunday, and her mother reported her missing around 6 pm that day. Her mother, Victoria Maestas, was romantically involved with 25-year-old Malcolm Torres, who was arrested Sunday on unrelated warrants.The New Mexican chronicles the Maestas' tumultuous relationship with Torres ($), and the Albuquerque Journal takes a look at recent court records in which Maestas petitioned for custody of her children.
Land grab
New Mexico US Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich have asked (along with two Democratic senators from New York and Illinois) for an investigation into the use of eminent domain to take land for the border wall. In addition to reappropriating federal funds for the border wall, the senators write, "homes could be confiscated, farms and livelihoods ruined, neighbors cut off from one another, Tribal sovereignty upended, and endangered species and habitat lost forever."
Get that degree
Santa Fe Community College is working hard to improve the employability of Santa Feans across the economic spectrum, with a concentration on young folks for whom English is their second language or who didn't graduate from high school. SFR's Katherine Lewin reports on the school's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program (I-BEST), which offers classes that can be taken concurrently with those to get a high school equivalency degree.
Violent night
Six people are dead after three shootings on a night of violence in Albuquerque. Police are not yet willing to say definitively that last night's shootings are or are not connected, and the shootings all occurred during a roughly 90-minute period.
Dems do the do
Your Friday long-read from SFR covers the national elections coming up in 2020, homing in on the crowded Democratic field and speculating about who could give the incumbent president a run for his money. But it's not just boring profiles of the top 10 candidates; speculate on what Joe Biden would order at a bagel shop, whether Pete Buttigieg would take you to the state fair on a date or what Kamala Harris' vanity license plate would say. Also, if you're looking for a recap of last night's Democratic candidate debate, the New York Times has six takeaways right here ($).
Celestial seasonings
In the 1600s Tycho Brahe, one of the first astronomers, invented the armillary sphere to track the movement of planets, measure the positions of celestial objects. All of his original tools were destroyed in a fire, however, so there has never been a functional armillary sphere in modern times … Until now ($ TNM). St. John's College, Santa Fe's institution of Great Books, has the only sphere in the world that can actually measure the cosmos (the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, has one, but it's just a model).
Who knows
Weather today should be cooler and mostly dry, with some rainstorms possible in higher elevations. We could see more rain by Sunday, but who knows any more? The Word sure doesn't. Just bring an umbrella on your weekend adventures, to be safe.
Thanks for reading! The Word is excited to see Maria Bamford as part of the Cloudtop Comedy Festival this evening; are you gonna go too?