Sen. Ivey-Soto Says Sexual Harassment Investigation of Him Closed

Sen. Ivey-Soto says investigation against him over

The investigation into sexual harassment allegations against state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, has ended. So says Ivey-Soto in a letter to the Albuquerque Journal: “Last week my attorney was informed that the current matter before the ILEC regarding the complaint is indefinitely suspended, with no further action to be taken,” Ivey-Soto writes. Last February, lobbyist Marianna Anaya alleged Ivey-Soto had both groped and pinched her in 2015 and subsequently engaged in sexual harassment and abusive behavior. In March, dozens of advocacy groups issued an open letter calling upon Ivey-Soto to resign or be removed from office by his peers as numerous additional allegations against him emerged. Ivey-Soto has denied all allegations. The Legislature has not released in the time since the allegations emerged and investigation began any information about the ethics committee’s work or findings. Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, tells the Journal that while Ivey-Soto’s letter describing the investigation’s outcome does not convey “the full picture,” she is unable to elaborate due to the confidentiality policies governing the process. She also says she intends to work with other lawmakers to revise the anti-harassment policy, which she described as “broken,” noting: “There are no timelines. There’s very little transparency and we tell the complainant almost nothing.” Levi Monagle, an attorney for Anaya, said the Legislature’s confidentiality rules “bind” his client “in a way that they do not bind Sen. Ivey-Soto…a clear constitutional problem.” The 19th—a magazine reporting on gender inequity and injustice—recently spotlit the Ivey-Soto situation in a story on harassment within state Legislatures, writing: “Statehouses—a place where the powerful and the less empowered rub shoulders as part of the policy-making process—are a place where abuse and harassment can flourish in the shadows, and consequences are slow to come if they come at all.”

Officials deliver final Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon report

Yesterday marked the final update for the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, barring any significant developments, forest officials say. The wildfire—New Mexico’s largest—is 100% contained at 341,735 acres. On Sunday, the current Type 2 Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5 will transfer management and downsize to a Type 3 Incident Management Team. Officials delivered the final operational update on Wednesday. “We are rapidly ramping down resources on the fire,” Heath Barker, planning operations trainee for Team 5 said during that briefing. “Over the last week, we’ve been very fortunate, we’ve gotten a lot of work done.” Officials from local, state and federal agencies will hold an open house for impacted residents at 5 pm today at the Abe Montoya Recreation Center in Las Vegas (1751 N. Grand Ave). Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office also announced this week an approved extension through Oct. 7 for those applying for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The governor’s office, the state Game & Fish department and The Food Depot have launched a “Fill the Freezer” food drive for Northern New Mexico communities impacted by wildfires and wildfire-related power outages and are seeking donations of fully frozen meat and game to be distributed next month. Reporting progress on the fire, Carson National Forest reopened 75,000 acres of public trails and roads yesterday. Multiple state and federal agencies this week also kicked off a year-round wildfire preparedness campaign with tips for fall.

Cannabis wholesale prices decline, retail not so much

According to the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, the average wholesale cost of cannabis in New Mexico has dropped by nearly half since mid-summer, but that dip is unlikely to lower retail prices, producers tell SFR. What it likely signals, they say, is a more competitive market less likely to lead to a long-feared cannabis shortage. “Wholesale prices could go back up and go back down,” Chamber Executive Director Ben Lewinger says. “I think part of the challenge is new cultivators and new retailers don’t necessarily have all the connections they need to get exactly the product they want.” The fluctuation, he notes, “feels very normal for a new industry that is trying to get its footing in New Mexico and nationally.” The look at New Mexico—and Santa Fe’s—cannabis market comes from Andy Lyman, who joins SFR this week as a new staff writer covering, among other topics, cannabis. Lyman, who is widely considered the state’s media expert on cannabis (he’s the co-host of the award-winning cannabis podcast Growing Forward and wrote this award-winning New Mexico Political Report investigation of the state’s medical cannabis program) will also be penning SFR’s monthly Leaf Brief. You can catch the next edition (publishing Sept. 19) by signing up here.

COVID-19 by the numbers

Reported Sept. 14

New cases: 281; 615,162 total cases

New cases: Acting Health Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase will provide updates on COVID-19 and monkeypox at a 2 pm news conference today on the health department’s Facebook page, with Spanish translation on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s YouTube page.

Deaths: four; Santa Fe County has had 348 total deaths; there have been 8,497 fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 84. Patients on ventilators: six

Case rates: According to the state health department’s most recent report on geographical trends for the seven-day period of Sept. 5-11, Santa Fe County’s case rate was 12.7, compared to 19.4 the previous week. The state recorded 1,657 cases statewide—based on reported cases—over the seven-day period, a 31% decrease from the prior week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent update for COVID-19 “community levels,” New Mexico has no red counties, but Santa Fe County slipped from “green” (good) to “yellow” (medium) and is now one of six yellow counties. The state map, which updates each Thursday for the prior seven-day period, uses a framework that combines case rates with hospital metrics. The community levels site has accompanying recommendations at the bottom of the page. The CDC also provides a quarantine and isolation calculator.

Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; Curative testing sites; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments and monoclonal antibody treatments; Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.

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

Listen up

Chicago rock band DEHD will be playing an AMP concert on Oct. 12 at the Sunshine Theater in Albuquerque, but it’s not the band’s first New Mexico foray. Its new single, “Eggshells” “takes the trio in a trippy, unexpected direction,” Flood magazine writes, and the band recorded the black-and-white video for the song in Taos.

Taos Ski Valley becomes carbon-neutral

Taos Ski Valley announced another milestone this week in its environmental goals: Climate Impact Partners certification as carbon neutral. The new status, Taos Ski Valley CEO David Norden said in a statement, “is the first step in our greater goal of significantly reducing our carbon emissions without using offsets” and involved “a rigorous audit to fully understand our carbon footprint, so now we are poised for the next steps of further cutting greenhouse gasses.” Taos Ski Valley already was the first (and at present only) ski area to achieve B-Corp status. So how much does the carbon neutral certification benefit the issue of global climate change? Outside Magazine delves into that question by talking to Auden Schendler, whom the magazine describes as “one of the foremost experts on sustainable business,” as well as a climate activist, businessman and current senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company. “The is a ‘me versus we’ question,” Schendler says. “If you care about stabilizing the climate and protecting the outdoor economy, you work on systemic change. If you care about how you look, you [do] carbon neutral.” Norden, in turn, says while being certified carbon neutral isn’t a “perfect solution,” it’s “an outstanding first step.”

Green, for now

Green chile season won’t last forever, but while it does, we’re chopping and freezing and reading all the takes on New Mexico’s favorite crop. As for the latter, it comes via The Takeout (the food and pop culture website from the folks responsible forThe A.V. Club and The Onion). “Pepper enthusiasts are something of a cult,” Josh Wussow writes. “But it’s not all ghosts, scorpions, and flagellation of the tongue. For those seeking texture, flavor, and just the right amount of heat, there’s another congregation: The Merciful Roasters of the Green Chile. And their holy land isn’t in the Reaper fields of Carolina. It’s a village covering three square miles in a southern county of New Mexico.” Yeah, it is! For his story, “Recreate New Mexico’s Best Flavors on Your Stovetop,” Wussow, who fell in love with green chile when he lived in New Mexico, offers tips on how to select, roast, peel, prep, freeze and—of course—use your bounty. Don’t miss the story’s comments for even more chile-based knowledge.Here comes the sun

Looks like a sunny day awaits, with several more in the offing, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts clear skies and a high near 73 degrees. Right now, that forecast continues through the weekend, with no more rain until the start of next week.

Thanks for reading! If there have to be billionaires, The Word wishes more of them were like Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.