Legislators, Law Enforcement Focus on Violent Crime Surge

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials on Friday reported 5,291 new COVID-19 cases, a close to 7.5% decrease from the day before, bringing the statewide total so far to 470,513; DOH has designated 336,396 of those cases as recovered. The statewide test positivity rate rose slightly from 29.9% to 30.1% (the target is 7.5%).

Bernalillo County had 1,305 cases, followed by Doña Ana County with 675 and Santa Fe County with 327, 137 from the 87507 ZIP code, which ranked third in the state among ZIP codes for the most new cases.

According to the state’s most recent vaccination report, over the prior four weeks (between Dec. 27 and Jan. 24), 53.8% of COVID-19 cases were among those not fully vaccinated, as were 77.8% of hospitalizations and 93.3% of deaths.

The state also reported 26 additional deaths, 20 recent and six from more than 30 days ago, including a Santa Fe County female in her 60s who had been hospitalized and had underlying conditions. Santa Fe County has now had 226 deaths; there have been 6,417 statewide. As of Friday, 673 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, a 5.6% decrease from the day prior. The health department is expected to provide a three-day update on cases, hospitalizations and deaths this afternoon.

Currently, 91.3% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.2% have completed their primary series. Among the same demographic, 41.3% have had a booster shot. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 69.9% of people have had at least one dose and 59.3% have completed their primary series. Among children ages 5-11, 35.1% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 23.8% have completed their primary series. In Santa Fe County, 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 86.4% have completed their primary series.ICYMI, CBS spent some time in New Mexico with New Mexico National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Susana Corona, one of the volunteers working as a school substitute to help out with the COVID-driven classroom vacancies.And the Los Angeles Times talks with Los Alamos National Laboratory employee Michelle Keaton, who was one of the LANL workers who sued the lab over its vaccine mandate (they dropped the lawsuit after a judge denied their request to block the mandate). Keaton is on unpaid leave and looking for new work. A training manager at the lab, she’d like to stay in her field, but thinks vaccine mandates may require her to look at other types of jobs, such as at Starbucks, which recently rescinded its vaccine mandate for employees.

New Mexicans can register for a COVID-19 vaccine here, schedule a COVID-19 vaccine booster here and view a public calendar for vaccine availability here. Parents can add dependents to their vaccine profiles here. You can read the updated guidelines for quarantine and isolation here.

You can order free at-home COVID-19 tests here and access the DOH testing directory here.

You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.

Legislators, law enforcement focus on crime surge

Punishment for criminal behavior in New Mexico “has grown less certain as crime has increased, with fewer violent crimes solved and more violent felony cases dismissed,” according to a budget and policy analysis released this month by the Legislative Finance Committee. In response to increased crime across the state—the same report says New Mexico had the highest overall crime rate of any state in the country in 2020 and the second highest violent crime rate—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other state leaders announced earlier this month a package of public safety legislation aimed at deterring crime. As the Albuquerque Journal reports, however, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the best way to lower crime rates and a variety of proposals on the table, ranging from a controversial bid to change pre-trial detention rules to a push to increase law enforcement ranks. Nonetheless, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on Saturday passed three other bills geared at improving public safety by: expanding funding for crime reduction programs (HB 84); increasing penalties for unlawful use of firearms (HB 68); and for threatening judges (HB 99). House Bill 68 also would expand sentencing for aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer. “This legislation is another tool that we can use, in conjunction with investments in behavioral health and other targeted criminal justice system changes, to go a long way toward making our schools and communities safer,” co-sponsor state Rep. Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque, said in a statement.

While crime discourse often centers on Albuquerque, Santa Fe area law enforcement agencies say they have been combatting a surge in drug-trafficking they connect to violent crime. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports more than a dozen people have been charged with drug trafficking in the Santa Fe area in the past two weeks alone as part of a coordinated crack-down. “We believe that the violent crime is connected to drugs and gangs,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told the paper. “These are major amounts that we think are being put out into the streets and harming the community.”

SFPS renews superintendent contract

Santa Fe Public Schools board members met in person Saturday for a special meeting, three hours of which they spent in executive session. Upon their return (right around 3:21 in the video linked above), the board unanimously renewed Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez’s contract for two years at his existing annual salary of $175,000; Board Secretary Sarah Boses said, during the meeting, the board had offered Chavez a raise on the contract during the executive session, but he had declined it “at this time.” In a statement cited by the Santa Fe New Mexican on behalf of the board, Boses said: “The board has incredible confidence in the superintendent and would like to see him develop the SFPS team and community for many, many years to come.” Chavez told the paper his goal “is to lead the district for many years to come, and that’s the important part of this contract.” Chavez was hired as superintendent last April and came on board in July 1, succeeding former Superintendent Veronica García.

Bill to curb predatory lending passes first committee

Legislation to address predatory lending in New Mexico passed its first committee on Saturday, receiving a 3-2 vote along party lines—with Republicans against it—from the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. HB 132 reduces the annual interest rate for loans made under the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act and New Mexico Small Loan Act from 175%—among the highest in the country, according to a 2020 policy report from Think New Mexico—to 36%. The legislation would also limit maximum loan terms for loans of $10,000 or less to a period of 24 months and prohibit accrual of fees, penalties and charges for ancillary products. “Abusive loan rates are keeping our families and communities down, it’s a financial epidemic,” one of the bill’s five co-sponsors, state Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, said in a statement. “We must bring an end to these practices, in order to protect New Mexican families from financial harm.” Advocates for the bill say storefront loan companies target low-income and Native American populations. The bill heads to the House Judiciary Committee next.

Listen up

Last week, the Secretary of State and the University of New Mexico’s Department of Political Science presented findings from the “2020 New Mexico Election Administration, Voter Security, and Election Reform Report.” On the most recent edition of New Mexico PBS’ In Focus program, correspondent Gwyneth Doland talks with Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver about the voting reforms Toulouse Oliver and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham are supporting during the current legislative session.

Indigenous pantry

Food 52 features Chef Freddie Bitsoie (Diné), a native New Mexican, in its series on chefs’ pantry essentials. Bitsoie, author of New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian (which he penned with James Beard Award–winning author James O. Fraioli) shares seven staples for stocking an Indigenous American kitchen. They include: juniper berries, hominy, sage, prickly pear, tepary beans, agave nectar and blue cornmeal. In an excerpt from the book, Bitsoie writes: “As a Navajo, it is imperative that I respect the myriad ingredients cultivated by Indigenous stewards of the land, air, and water in what we now call the United States. And as the executive chef at Mitsitam Native Foods Café in Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, I use that awareness to build varied menus that incorporate sacred Indigenous foodways with reverence.”

Eat it up, Albuquerque

Albuquerque is New Mexico’s most vegan city, according to Thrillist, which includes the city in its roundup of “The Most Vegan Cities for Your Midwest to Southwest Travels.” According to the story, “the Southwest isn’t especially well-known for its vegan cuisine,” but Albuquerque proves the exception (we would argue Santa Fe also belongs on this list, but whatever). The story recommends Vegos ABQ, where options include a red chile jackfruit burrito; a potato, pinto bean and green chile-stuffed bosque burrito; and an enchilada plate. Other recs include following the Vegan Vato Instagram page to see where to find its vegan food truck on any given day; The Acre for “fun, homestyle food;” La Finca Bowls for fresh quinoa, lentil and vegan poké coconut rice bowls; and the vegetarian restaurant Mata G, which features different international cuisine each day. And speaking of Albuquerque, Food & Wine magazine says that’s where you’ll find the best bread in the state, specifically at The Burque Bakehouse and at The Ferm Brinery & Bakehouse.

The calm before the cold

Enjoy today’s relative warmth, Santa Fe. Today should be sunny with a high near 49 degrees and west wind 10 to 15 mph. The National Weather Service forecasts a 60% chance for snow Tuesday night into Wednesday with daytime high temperatures plummeting into the 20s for the rest of the week.

Thanks for reading! The Word is starting the day with Joni Mitchell and Neil Young (this story explains why Joni Mitchell is singing from backstage).