Santa Fe City Council Approves Streetlight Conversion Plan

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 222 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 194,378. The health department has designated 175,600 of those cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 75 new cases, followed by San Juan County with 25 and Socorro County with 21. Santa Fe County had 14 new cases,

The state also announced eight additional deaths; there have now been 3,996 fatalities. As of yesterday, 114 people were hospitalized with COVID-19—11 more than yesterday.

Currently, 53.7% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 35.7 % are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 51.8% have had at least one dose and 32.5% are fully inoculated.

New Mexico’s COVID-19 vaccination continues to garner national attention, with the New York Times writing that “Despite having one of the highest poverty rates in the country, New Mexico is surging past states with far more resources in the race to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.”

Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins will discuss New Mexico’s vaccination strategy at 8 am today before the US Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband in a hearing called “Shot of Truth: Communicating Trusted Vaccine Information.” US Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM, chairs the subcommittee. The hearing can be viewed here.

You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here. If you’ve had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.

Bright lights, dark city

The Santa Fe City Council yesterday unanimously approved a plan to convert approximately 2,000 streetlights owned by the Public Service Company of New Mexico to LED energy-efficient bulbs under a $421,185 contract. The decision follows a comparable plan in February to convert 3,500 streetlights. The city has yet to determine the color and temperature of the lights,—measured in kelvin (K) units—and council members had asked staff to create a public process to determine the lights’ kelvin levels following public concerns about their impact on night skies. The public can provide input through a website for the project. Public Works Director Regina Wheeler also said a steering committee had been assembled to work on the project, appointed by city staff members. She said the members’ names were not revealed at their request, keeping the public in the dark (that’s our pun, not Wheeler’s) about who will be involved in what is supposed to be a public process.

State fines New MexiCann

Following an investigation of an October 2020 fire that severely injured two workers, the state environment department yesterday announced it had issued six citations to New MexiCann Natural Medicine and assessed $142,348 for violations of the state Occupational Health and Safety Act. The state cited the company for violations at its Santa Fe location for failing to: ensure employees could quickly exit the facility’s cannabis extraction room in an emergency; control flammable vapors from an extraction system; control ignition sources; assess hazards and determine what protective equipment was needed for workers; implement a respirator program; and institute a program to address hazardous chemicals. “The indifference shown to worker safety by this company is inexcusable,” NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a statement. “Willful violations of worker safety requirements must have consequences for employers—every employee deserves to come home from work healthy.” The department says New MexiCann has 15 days to pay or contest the citations, which follow previous citations in 2016 for a 2015 explosion and fire that injured two workers. The company reportedly closed its dispensaries last weekend, and its executive director, Carlos Gonzales, is facing two felony counts of arson in connection with the fire.

Medical cannabis producers concerned about supply

Five medical cannabis producers say New Mexico’s new law legalizing recreational cannabis may lead to a supply shortage this summer for medical marijuana patients if they are not allowed to increase production. In a letter to officials in both the health and regulation and licensing departments, representatives from Ultra Health, Sacred Garden, Kure, Budding Hope and G & G Genetics argue that under the law, as of June 29, medical cannabis patients will be able to possess and purchase larger amounts of marijuana than would currently be sustainable under a controversial plant count limit for cannabis producers. “It has been the common experience of the undersigned producers that patients do not purchase as much cannabis as they truly wish to buy. They buy what they are legally allowed to buy, they buy what is available, and they buy what they can afford,” the letter says. A health department spokesman told the Albuquerque Journal the department is still reviewing the letter. The issue is but one of many officials will be addressing as it moves toward opening up recreational sales by next year. SFR takes a look at the ins and outs of the new law in this week’s cover story.

Listen up

In partnership with The Paseo Project, the New Mexico Humanities Council will host a live Starting Conversations discussion at 6 pm tonight in celebration of the publication of Acequia Aqui: Water, Community, and Creativity. Contributing writers Sylvia Rodriguez, professor emerita of anthropology and former director of the Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies at the University of New Mexico, and Miguel Santistevan, educator, seed saver and radio producer of “¡Que Vivan las Acequias!,” will discuss acequias in New Mexico, their histories and their futures. Register for the Zoom event here.

Attention filmmakers!

The Santa Fe Film Institute, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s nonprofit arm, recently announced new scholarship and grant programs for local and regional filmmakers. The newly announced programs offer up to $2,500 to New Mexico filmmakers and up to $2,000 to filmmakers from Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and/or Texas. Additionally, two aspiring or current New Mexico-based film students can apply for a $500 scholarship to be used toward their studies. “At any stage of making a film, you’re going to need a little help,” Liesette Paisner Bailey, the festival’s executive director and the institute’s treasurer, tells SFR. “We really want to advance the artistic vision of the filmmaker.” Applications open May 1 and recipients will be selected by committee. Grant submissions are open until July 26, while scholarship applications will remain open until July 31. Paisner Bailey says she expects to announce the first-year beneficiaries in early November. And these programs are just the start: “We’re definitely looking to make it annual,” she says, “and growing the amount given out, both in grants and scholarships. And the more sponsors we have, the more we can give.”

For the birds

New Mexico has more than 500 bird species that either live in or pass through the state each year, the third richest bird state behind California and Texas. Photographer and environmental journalist Jim O’Donnell writes in this month’s New Mexico Magazine that “this extraordinary diversity makes New Mexico one of the top spots in North America for bird-watching—the kind of place where enthusiasts complete checklists and add once-in-a-lifetime sightings like the southwestern willow flycatcher or Lewis’s woodpecker.” But bird populations here currently face existential threats from climate change, as well as myriad other causes such as urbanization, oil and gas operations, expanding farmland, wind turbines and domestic cats. O’Donnell reports on the threat to birds, which he has experienced and documented for 20 years, but also presents a compelling case for anyone who has ever considered taking up birdwatching: “For millions of people, bird-watching is also a stepping-stone to something greater. If you’ve ever spent time simply observing a place that pulls you back again and again, you know what I mean. As you come to know the details of a place, you develop a sense of appreciation and understanding. "

Wind up

Forecasts for today call for a partly sunny sky with a high near 68 degrees and mad windy as in a southeast wind 10 to 20 mph becoming southwest 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon and possibly gusting as high as 40 mph.

Thanks for reading! The Word had never given much (any) thought to what a spider’s web might sound like, but it sounds pretty chill.