City of Santa Fe Council Races Kick Off

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 214 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 198,781. Bernalillo County had 65 new cases, followed by San Juan County with 40 and both Santa Fe and Sandoval counties with 20. Of the 20 cases in Santa Fe County, eight came from the 87507 ZIP code and another eight from the 87508 ZIP code, which ranked seventh and eighth in the state for the ZIP codes with the highest number of new cases.

The state also announced two additional deaths from Bernalillo and Roosevelt counties; there have now been 4,085 fatalities. In yesterday’s COVID-19 news conference, in response to a question from SFR, Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said the higher daily death counts over the last week—10 on Tuesday and two days last week with 12—were the result of backlogs at the Office of the Medical Investigator and not representative of the current rate of daily deaths, which he said is close to one per day.

As of yesterday, 144 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

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.

Most of NM turquoise as state increases vaccination efforts

As of yesterday, 30 New Mexico counties—including Santa Fe County—are now operating under the least stringent restrictions of the state’s COVID-19 public health law, following yesterday’s update to the red-to-green county framework, using revamped metrics implemented April 30. “It looks like the idea of incorporating the vaccination rate has really benefited many counties,” Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said during a news update. Meanwhile, health officials announced more initiatives to increase vaccination rates while racing against increasing variants and toward a June 30 deadline for fully inoculating 60% of residents. Those include an effort to recruit primary care providers into the COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort; a new emphasis on 16 and 17-year-olds, as well as 12- to 15-year-olds, pending Food and Drug Administration approval of the Pfizer vaccine for that age group, expected next week. Other initiatives include forthcoming on-site vaccination events for businesses, nonprofits, schools and other organizations. The vaccination push comes as  rates begin to stagnate and more transmissible COVID-19 variants increase. According to Scrase, close to 70% of samples sequenced in the state are “variants of concern,” so classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

City races underway

Santa Fe’s municipal election officially kicked off earlier this week when candidate packets became available at the city clerk’s office. While the mayor’s race so far looks like relative slim pickings (only incumbent Alan Webber and District 4 City Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler have announced their candidacies), races for city council may provide more competition for the November ranked-choice-voting election. District 1, in particular, looks robust. Incumbent Signe Lindell is running for re-election, and former Land of Enchantment Federal Credit Union President Joe Hoback, whose family owned the Pink Adobe restaurant, has announced his candidacy. According to City Clerk Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic, both Planning Commissioner Brian Gutierrez and Roger Carson of Las Campanas Real Estate also retrieved District 1 packets. On the Southside, both Amanda Chavez, principal of César Chávez Elementary School, and Santa Fe County Assessor Gus Martinez have expressed interest in running for Vigil Coppler’s seat. District 2 Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth and District 3 Councilor Roman “Tiger” Abeyta thus far remain uncontested.

Media, advocates join SFR’s records fight

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and the New Mexico Press Association, along with The Albuquerque Journal, The Santa Fe New Mexican, KOB-TV and KOAT-TV earlier this week filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of SFR’s ongoing legal battle with the City of Santa Fe over access to police records. SFR is seeking records to determine whether officers violated Santa Fe Police Department policy when they shot and killed a man inside an apartment in 2017, and whether they were disciplined, among others. Last May, District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid offered a mixed bag of rulings but upheld the city attorney and Mayor Alan Webber’s argument that the records are not subject to public review. Both SFR and the city have appealed that ruling, with the city seeking relief of plaintiff’s attorney’s fees Biedscheid ruled it must pay. The court will now rule on the new brief and decide whether advocates and other New Mexico media can join SFR’s appeal. “We are currently living in a time when police accountability is particularly important,” NMFOG Executive Director Melanie J. Majors said in a statement. “The public deserves to know when disciplinary action is considered or taken against an officer. This is factual information, not an opinion.”

Listen up

Affordable housing, a chronic issue in Santa Fe, has been front and center during the pandemic as house prices here and across the West continue to rise. KUNM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico program at 8 am today delves into the issues. Did you grow up here and worry that you might never be able to afford a home because of rising prices? Are you struggling to find a place to rent? Email LetsTalk@KUNM.org or call in live to 505-277-5866 during the show to discuss. Listen online or at 89.9 FM in Santa Fe. For background reading, be sure to check out SFR’s two-part series on the topic.

Choose your own adventure

If picking a destination for an outdoors escapade this spring and summer has you overwhelmed, no wonder. According to Outside Magazine, four different federal agencies oversee 28 designations of protected areas that amount to more than 615 millions acres (and if anyone knows the outdoors, it’s Outside). Fortunately, the magazine has created a choose-your-own-adventure feature that allows users to narrow down their options based on personal preference. An adventurous, yet gentle outing not too far from a bar might send you to John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Philadelphia. A chill, historical learning experience could land you back at home at New Mexico’s Chaco Culture ­National Historical Park.

Flamin’ hot NM

Looks like a film based on the life of the man who created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos will start filming in New Mexico this summer. Flamin’ Hot, from Eva Longoria and Searchlight Pictures, will tell the story of Richard Montañez, a Frito Lay janitor who “took inspiration from his Mexican American heritage” to create the popular snack. Variety reports Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez have been cast, with Garcia to play Montañez and Gonzalez his wife Judy. According to Variety, Longoria said it has been “my biggest priority to make sure we are telling Richard Montañez’s story authentically. I am so happy to have two extremely talented and fellow Mexican Americans on board in these pivotal roles. Jesse and Annie have a deep understanding of our community and will be able to help tell this story of great importance for our culture.” And speaking of New Mexico’s rising star as a film location, Bloomberg takes a look at how the state’s film incentives are contributing to the boom.

Inching toward 80

The National Weather Service forecast for Santa Fe today calls for a sunny day with a high near 77 degrees and east wind 10 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. But we’re more interested in tomorrow, when we have a 50% chance for another round of thunderstorms!

Thanks for reading! The Word generally prefers photos of cuddly animals, but these ant portraits from NatGeo caught her attention.