Lawmakers prepared for busy week, final push for action on issues of significance
Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
As the Legislature begins the grueling final week in its current 60-day session, only a handful of bills have been signed into law. There’s the “feed bill,” which pays for the session, passed in the session’s first week. There ...Story, »

Early spring winds kick up allergy miseries
Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
Aaaaaachoooo! The spring allergy season is under way in New Mexico. If misery loves company, allergy sufferers won’t feel lonely in the Land of Enchantment, where wind is kicking up juniper pollen and making many feel miserable. Juniper begins ...Story, »

Santa Fe officials aim to keep airport control tower open
Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican
Local officials want the state’s congressional delegation to convince the Federal Airline Administration to keep air traffic controllers at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport. The agency informed the city this week that it might curb a contract for ...Story, »

Mistrial declared in stabbing death, but jurors say Gonzales not guilty of first-degree murder
Nico Roesler | The New Mexican
Adrian Gonzales nearly walked out of court a free man Wednesday evening. A Santa Fe County jury, after deliberating for 24 hours over four days, acquitted him of first- and second-degree murder, but couldn’t reach a decision on whether he was g ...Story, »

School board members sworn in, officers elected
| The New Mexican
New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Petra Jimenez Maes swore in new school-board members Susan Duncan and Lorraine Price at the start of Tuesday’s board meeting. Duncan and Price begin their four-year terms this week, replacing outgoing memb ...Story, »

Scottish Rite Masonic Center at risk of being put up for sale
Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican
Another Santa Fe landmark could be on the real estate market this summer. Officials with the Scottish Rite Masonic Center will soon formally inform members about their “serious consideration” of putting the century-old building north of d ...Story, »

At state Capitol, lawmaking process takes time
Bruce Krasnow and Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican
Chuck Howe was unfazed by his two-hour drive from Angel Fire to the state Capitol, where he was prepared to wait and testify before a House committee. The Vietnam War veteran was sitting on a bench outside a third-floor committee room hoping to speak ...Story, »

'Jennifer knew the edge': Friends, family remember Santa Fe High grad killed in hit-and-run
Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
Near a towering blue spruce at the Rose Park just south of Cordova Road where they had laughed and joked as teenagers, Jennifer Louise Bobrick’s friends gathered Friday evening to celebrate her life. Bobrick, 20, died Feb. 23, the victim of a h ...Story, »

Senate panel to decide Skandera's fate
Robert Nott | The New Mexican
The Senate Rules Committee on Saturday is scheduled to resume a hearing on whether to recommend that Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera lose the “designate” in her title. Opponents of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s cho ...Story, »

School district's Spanish Spelling Bee promotes language skills
Robert Nott | The New Mexican
A César Chávez Community School fifth-grader took first place in the Santa Fe school district’s annual Spanish Spelling Bee, correctly spelling alegoría (allegory) in the eighth round of the Wednesday morning event in the d ...Story, »

Tears of Hope: The St. Bede's mission to Juárez
Morgan Smith | For The New Mexican
During my three years of writing about humanitarian programs on the Mexican border, the roles of Santa Feans have figured prominently. First there was Martina Ontiveros, a Mexican national who lived here for many years and was active in The Salvation ...Story, »

Theater production tells tale of Agua Fría's struggle for water, independence
Robert Nott | The New Mexican
“We’re going to have a world of dry land,” a character in the original theater piece Cold Water notes early in the story. Cold Water is a historical documentary play that covers the challenges of the village of Agua Fría as i ...Story, »

SFCC board races begin
Adele Oliveira | The New Mexican
The typically low-key election campaigns for seats on the board overseeing Santa Fe Community College got under way Monday night as an audience of about two dozen people listened to candidates field questions at the first public forum. No sharp divis ...Story, »

Lawmakers squash liquor tax bill
Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican
It’s been more than 20 years since the state Legislature allowed voters in McKinley County to decide whether to increase taxes on alcohol to help pay for substance abuse treatment programs. Six times since then, voters there have opted to leave ...Story, »

Midwives push alternative birthing services for parents-to-be
Adele Oliveira | The New Mexican
On Wednesday morning at Española Valley Women’s Health, Sarah Matthews of Los Alamos lay flat on her back on an exam table. Matthews is 37 weeks pregnant, and midwives Jessica Frechette-Gutfreund and Elena Stauss gently pushed and prodde ...Story, »

Birders keep track of feathered friends in annual count
Robert Nott | The New Mexican
More than one in every five New Mexicans are bird-watchers, according to Audubon New Mexico. And most of those people are likely taking part in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. The event, celebrating its 16th birthday this year, enc ...Story, »

Salas recalls first rescue experience as teen
Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican
Barbara Salas remembers the day she decided to become a paramedic. She was a teenager working at the city of Santa Fe’s Tino Griego Pool when another swimmer spotted a young girl floating facedown in the water. Salas sprang into action, clearin ...Story, »

[Video] Hundreds meet at Roundhouse for global event to end violence against women
Angela Williams | The New Mexican
If dance is an uninhibited celebration of life, then Santa Fe was unusually alive on Thursday. More than 1,000 women, men and children packed into the Capitol Rotunda and spilled into the building’s east and west concourses to take part in th ...Story, »

Wounded warrior's 'nightmare': Veteran saving up for service dog mugged at gunpoint
Nico Roesler | The New Mexican
Brian Ryder has undergone 23 surgeries to repair his spine and hips after a nearly fatal accident in July 2009, while he was deployed with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He was saving his money to buy a service dog that he hoped could change his l ...Story, »

After five years of decline, construction business sees a bump
Bruce Krasnow | The New Mexican
The upper floors of the historic La Fonda hotel are demolition central. Workers have peeled back old carpeting to reveal much of the original colored concrete, which is being reconditioned into room designs. The scaffold-covered walls along Water Str ...Story, »

Crisis center opens resale boutique
Angela Williams | The New Mexican
The newest resale shop in Santa Fe has merchandise priced to sell — like a table with four Santa Fe-style wooden chairs for $400 and 100 items under $20. Shabby Chic at 2727 Cerrillos Road, opposite Pep Boys, features high-end products such as ...Story, »

Shovel racing champ: 'It's all about aerodynamics'
| Sangre de Cristo Chronicle
ANGEL FIRE — With nothing but a metal grain shovel between his rear end and the frozen ground, 45-year-old John Strader of Albuquerque traveled faster Saturday than he could have legally driven on U.S. 64 to Angel Fire. “Every time you to ...Story, »

Owners assess fire damage at storied property on Palace Avenue
Adele Oliveira and Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican
William “Bill” Field, his wife, Maureen, and their daughter Kate stood before the remains of their East Palace Avenue building on Friday morning. The steeply pitched, faded orange metal roof was ripped open, the bay window panes shattered ...Story, »

Officers' attempt to serve warrants leads to SWAT standoff
Nico Roesler | The New Mexican
A man whose claims of police brutality in 2010 resulted in the firing of two Santa Fe police officers was arrested Friday after causing a SWAT situation in south Santa Fe. Santa Fe police were attempting to serve warrants on Michael Schaefer, 41, of ...Story, »

Voters to decide on school board members, tax bond
| The New Mexican
Voters in Districts 3 and 5 will choose two new school board members and decide the fate of a proposed property-tax bond in an election Tuesday, Feb. 5. The candidates in District 3 are David Zimbler and Susan Duncan. In District 5, the candidates ar ...Story, »