“Rust” Special Prosecutors Will Seek Charges Against Alec Baldwin

Rust prosecutors will pursue charges against Baldwin

Special Prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis yesterday announced their intention to present a Santa Fe grand jury with the Oct. 21 2021 shooting incident on the Rust movie set involving Alec Baldwin. According to a news release, Morrissey and Lewis intend to present the case to a grand jury within the next two months so the grand jury can determine whether probable cause exists to bind Baldwin over on criminal charges. “After extensive investigation over the past several months, additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza,” Morrissey and Lewis said in a joint statement, adding: “We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr. Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial.” The special prosecutors last April said they intended to dismiss the case at that time, but did not rule out reintroducing charges based on further investigation. The film’s former armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed continues to face involuntary manslaughter charges for her role in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. In reported statements yesterday, Baldwin’s attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said “It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution. We will answer any charges in court.”

Book bans creep into school board race

Conservative talking points about “parental rights” have entered this year’s election for the nonpartisan Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education, SFR reports this week. District 2 incumbent Sarah Boses, the only school board member in a contested race on the Nov. 7 ballot, faces challengers Patricia Vigil-Stockton, CFO of her family business, and Cerrillos saddlemaker John T. McKenna. Teachers who work in the district questioned candidates’ stances on book-banning and treatment of LGBTQ subjects in the classroom—which has become a national issue—at an Oct. 13 forum held by Santa Fe’s National Education Association chapter. Vigil-Stockton, who has been officially endorsed by the Santa Fe County Republican Party, advocated for parents determining which books schools offer, along with “parental consent forms,” which state House Republicans pushed last summer regarding student health choices. McKenna, meanwhile, said the school board should be able to vet books: “Children belong to their parents,” he said. “We have to take what they say and what they believe.” Incumbent Boses disagreed: “I do not support book bans. I don’t think censorship leads to anything good,” she said. “I believe the best body to guide that is the [American] Library Association. There is a process, it is well-vetted, it’s evidence-based—and I support that.”

Credit agency: City of Santa Fe finances remain sound

Credit ratings agency Fitch on Friday affirmed the City of Santa Fe’s AA+ rating for its issuer default rating and general obligation bonds. The City of Santa Fe reported the rating yesterday. The bond rating includes: $16.6 million in general obligation bonds, $38.8 million in senior lien gross receipts tax revenue bonds and $55.1 million in subordinate lien GRT revenue bonds. “The city’s ‘AA+’ IDR and GO bond ratings reflect ample revenue flexibility, demonstrated spending control, a moderate long-term liability burden and the maintenance of superior financial resilience,” Fitch writes. Last March, State Auditor Joseph Maestas raised concerns about a possible hit to Santa Fe’s bond rating due to late audits. In its most recent appraisal, Fitch notes that the “city’s financial performance remains sound through the current recovery from the pandemic,” but that “submission of the draft fiscal 2022 audit to the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor…beyond early December 2023″ could “lead to the withdrawal of Fitch’s ratings.” In her most recent audit update, City Finance Director Emily Oster said that audit should be complete by the first week of December. Regarding the latest Fitch rating, Mayor Alan Webber described it in a statement as “welcome news and good news. Our audit is late: No excuse. At the same time, Fitch’s rating is telling Santa Feans that our fiscal house is in order and we are sound and secure financially.”

Jury convicts in Taos compound case

Jurors yesterday convicted four people on terrorism and kidnapping charges stemming from a 2018 raid at a Taos compound in which authorities found starving children and one who had died. As reported by the Albuquerque Journal, jurors convicted two women, Hujrah Wahhaj, 42, and her sister Subhanah Wahhaj, 30, and Subhanah’s husband, Lucas Morton, 45, of kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Morton and his brother-in-law, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 45, also were each found guilty of three terrorism-related charges and of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists. According to the Journal, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Amy Kaskel said the agency’s investigation “highlighted [the group’s] interest in the preparation for and desire to conduct attacks in the homeland against innocent people. This verdict shows that those who participate in that type of activity will be held accountable for their actions.”

Listen up

The state’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department yesterday announced the launch of season two of The Early Show with Alax, which introduces a “fresh micro-video series,” “Ask Alax,” in which the series’ intergalactic star puppet, played by puppeteer Devon Ludlow, “delves into inquiries directly from New Mexico families and reports back after consulting an early childhood expert.” Full episodes of The Early Show with Alax will resume in December. “This new season will incorporate real questions from real New Mexico families that will feel relevant to anyone experiencing the joys and challenges of caring for young children,” ECECD Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said in a statement. The show, the department says, has garnered 5.6 million views to date and more than 23,000 new subscribers on YouTube. Find all the episodes here, and check out the first “Ask Alax” installment, in which Christine from Albuquerque seeks for advice related to her first pregnancy.

Trade advice

Since we’re not officially in the psychiatric business, we don’t typically read The Psychiatric Times, which would appear to primarily be a trade publication, but made an exception for Dr. H. Steven Moffic’s recent essay, “Visionary Rumors in Roswell, New Mexico: Encountering Eerie Awe on our Travels,” in which the psychiatrist recounts traveling through New Mexico with his wife on the way to see grandkids out West, and taking the time to visit Roswell. “Once upon a time, back around 1967 in the early days of our love, my wife and I thought we saw a UFO in Ann Arbor,” Moffic writes. “I suppose one could wonder, as some psychiatrists and others interested in parapsychology have done, about how all such unusual places and events are connected.” Visiting the Roswell Museum, which he describes as a “serious art museum” in contrast to the UFO tchotchkes proliferating downtown, Moffic further ponders: Carl Jung’s thoughts on UFOs, the potential dangers of “visionary rumors” and the connection between psychiatrists and artists in their ability to see the unseen.

Also in our random trade-publication reading this week, Packaging Digest showcases family-owned, Albuquerque-based cannabis company Mountaintop Extracts’ redesigned packaging and new logo in the wake of the state’s legalization last year of adult-use cannabis sales. “The natural beauty of New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, is on display in the brand’s new package graphics,” the story notes. “Colors and imagery, including a mountain goat in the new logo, were inspired by the state’s deserts, mountains, and skies.” The redesign also nods to New Mexico’s culture. The new graphics for the brand’s vape cartridges and cart packaging include a modified Zia sun symbol. “Our goal is to delight consumers with the sensory parallels between the colors, scents, and sounds of our home with those of top-quality cannabis [and] to celebrate the flavors and effects of vivid, natural cannabis terpene spectrums,” President Jen Merryman tells Packaging Digest. “We also strive to be the New Mexico cannabis brand that brings the Land of Enchantment nationwide.”

And—action!

The Santa Fe International Film Festival commences today, through Oct. 22, kicking off with an opening night gala at SITE Santa Fe, along with the comedy/crime/drama Kim’s Video, the musical drama Music and the sci-fi drama Foe, based on the novel by Iain Reid (the $75 ticket to Foe also includes access to the opening night gala). Peruse the entire festival, which takes place in multiple venues, including the Center for Contemporary Arts, the Jean Cocteau, Violet Crown and the New Mexico Museum of History—here (and check out the SFIFF’s “how to festival” guide for advice). This year’s festival will include the Visionary Award ceremony at 7 pm, Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, honoring Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo and a discussion between Harjo and Reservation Dogs and Resident Alien actor Gary Farmer (aka Uncle Brownie). SFR also includes a roundup of small reviews for some of this year’s films, including First We Bombed New Mexico, Lois Lipman’s devastating documentary about the downwinders from the Trinity nuclear test in 1945; Bad Press, directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker’s (Muscogee-Creek) and Joe Peeler’s examination of the lack of press freedoms for most federally recognized tribes; and filmmaker Justine Harbonnier’s Caiti Blues, in which singer and New Yorker Caiti Lord self-exiles to Madrid, NM, where she hosts a radio show and ponders her existence.

Warm and windy

The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny day with a high temperature near 78 degrees and north wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon.

Thanks for reading! The Word looks forward to perusing the Whole Earth Catalog, now that its entire archive has been digitized (here’s the back story).