NM Issues Draft Rules for Adult Cannabis Producers

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 186 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 202,405. Seventy-eight cases among people held by federal agencies at the Torrance County Detention Facility led yesterday’s case count, followed by Bernalillo County with 31; San Juan County with 16; and Sandoval County with 10. Santa Fe County had six cases.

The state also announced six additional deaths, including one in Santa Fe County: A woman in her 50s who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. Two of yesterday’s reported deaths occurred more than 30 days ago. As of yesterday, 133 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Currently, 64.4% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 54.2% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 73.5% have had at least one dose and 62.5% are fully inoculated.

Yesterday, Moderna announced it will be applying in June for approval for its vaccine to be authorized for adolescents, following a successful clinical trial. Currently, Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for people under the age of 18. Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authorization for adolescents 12 to 15 years old on May 12, 15.4% have had at least one dose in New Mexico (none are fully vaccinated yet). In the 16-to-17-year-old age group, 36.1% have had at least one dose and 25.9% are fully vaccinated. Those statistics only cover state data, as federal vaccine data for people ages 12 to 15 are not yet available, according to the health department.

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.

State issues draft rules for cannabis producers

New Mexico’s new Cannabis Control Division—part of the Regulation and Licensing Department—yesterday issued and began accepting comments on licensing requirements for adult-use cannabis producers. Comments will be accepted through Tuesday, June 29 (the same day the Cannabis Regulation Act takes effect), and a public hearing on the rules will be held that day beginning at 9 am. The draft rules allow for two types of producers: cannabis producers and cannabis producer micro-businesses. Licensee applications must include valid proof of water rights for their facilities, as well as specific diagrams showing cultivation activity areas, boundaries and dimensions in feet. Producer licensees will be required to file quarterly reports. Plant limits would be assigned on a three-tier basis, ranging from a maximum of 2,500 to 4,500. Producers and retailers would have annual license fees of $2,500; micro-business fees would range from $500 to $1,000, depending on the number of plants being grown. Medical cannabis producer Ultra Health Inc. President and CEO Duke Rodriguez tells the Albuquerque Journal the limits set on plants is problematic. “The model being proposed seems to advocate smallness in aspiration and doesn’t reflect the robustness that will be needed to achieve the 11,000-plus jobs and several hundred million-dollar cannabis industry,” he said.

Light conversation

The Santa Fe City Council tonight will hold a public hearing on the proposed street light conversion and, based on comments received so far, the discourse may be heated. Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber says Public Works Director Regina Wheeler, in charge of the conversion, has been the target of wide-ranging personal attacks as a result. “She has been raked over the coals,” he said. “Her integrity has been questioned; her professional qualifications have been questioned.” The city aims to convert 5,500 city- and utility-owned lights—which register between 2,700 and 5,000 on the kelvin scale—to a more energy-efficient LED model with lights between 2,700 to 3,000 kelvins. Dark sky advocates have expressed concern about the conversion; Wheeler tells the Santa Fe New Mexican the bulk of received comments have come from residents in Districts 1 and 2. The process, which has included the city’s contractor Dalkia Energy Solutions, has included taking public comments, establishing a committee and hosting demonstration sites. In advance of tonight’s public hearing in the 6 pm evening session, a presentation by International Dark Sky Association Executive Director Ruskin Hartley appears on the council’s 4 pm afternoon agenda, as does a copy of the association’s community program guidelines. View the agenda here; and view the meeting via YouTube. As for a return to in-person meetings, the council considered the issue during a special session yesterday, with some expressing trepidation. The vaccination statuses of council members presented as one such issue, with Councilor and mayoral candidate JoAnne Vigil Coppler calling upon her colleagues to disclose their vaccination statuses.

DOH launches Trusted Voices vaccine site

The health department yesterday debuted a stand-alone website for its Trusted Voices campaign, which features a variety of community members—from ministers to nurses to doctors musicians—sharing their experiences with COVID-19 and endorsements for the COVID-19 vaccine. One of those voices, Leroy Medina, a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso with a master’s degree in bassoon performance, says: “You know what really sucks is I can’t use my degree right now. Sharing that experience of performing and hearing people just be happy to hear music is one of the greatest experiences that we can all share in this world. So join me in getting vaccinated.” The new microsite also encourages more people to become involved in the campaign by recording their own messages. DOH also is offering to work directly with anyone who wants to write an Op-Ed for consideration in local media outlets.

Listen up

For some, warm weather means pool time. For others, it’s all about the lakes and, more specifically, the fish. In the May edition of the New Mexico Wildlife podcast, New Mexico Game and Fish Department Assistant Chief of Fisheries for Research and Management Mike Ruhl covers all things walleye fishing in New Mexico. Topics include how anglers can use the new online Fishing Planner; the department’s annual walleye spawn; lakes to try; baits and tactics to use; and even recipes to test.

Santa Fe ultrarunner, author weighs in on China tragedy

Running Home author and Santa Fe journalist Katie Arnold talks with the New York Times in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of 21 runners during a 62-mile race in China last weekend. “I am so freaked out,” Arnold, an ultrarunning champion, tells the Times. “I can’t even get my mind around it.” The runners’ deaths serve as a reminder of the dangers associated with the sport, which has been increasing in popularity over the last few decades. Participants and organizers are now looking at increased safety precautions. Arnold, who finished second in last weekend’s Jemez Mountain Trail Runs’ 53-mile race in New Mexico, said she was impressed by the precautions there, which included “an elaborate texting system to warn runners of danger,” from which Arnold received “warnings about everything from a mother bear on the course with her cubs to a severe weather warning from the National Weather Service.” She describes herself as a conservative runner, and acknowledges an “excessive quality that is a little worrisome” in the ultrarunning world: “I hope things will change from this,” she said. “It could have happened at any race.”

Talking art of the Spanish Americas

At 4 pm today via Zoom, Thoma Foundation presents a discussion moderated by Art of the Spanish Americas Thoma scholar Kathryn Santner with University of New Mexico Professor Ray Hernández-Durán and University of Chicago Professor Emmanuel Ortega Rodríguez on the historical and political shifts in the field of the Art of the Spanish Americas. Both speakers will share how their backgrounds have affected their personal journeys through the highest levels of academia; discuss their fields of study and how they have radically changed over the last three decades; and explicate the historical and political contexts of those changes. Speaking of Thoma, SFR recently visited the foundation’s new 3,500-square-foot exhibition space Art Vault in the Railyard where the public can view what the foundation says is the only digital art collection open to the public in the Southwest United States.

Hot, dry and windy

Warm temperatures continue today with partly sunny skies, a high near 81 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest 15 to 20 mph in the morning.

Thanks for reading! The Word loves summer reading and can’t wait to plunge into LitHub’s list, despite having a friend who thinks the concept of “summer” reading is bollocks (that’s a quote).

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this report gave the wrong number for the kelvin rating on the city’s proposed light conversion. That number was lowered during the process as a result of public input.