Briefs
White House imposes travel restrictions for Africa amid new COVID-19 variant
WASHINGTON — The White House is set to announce travel restrictions to eight countries in Southern Africa on Monday due to the discovery of a new coronavirus variant, according to senior administration officials. The World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 variant as a “variant of concern” due to its high mutation and transmission rate, and […]
State highway office promotes Uber to curb drunk driving
Residents of the Albuquerque metro area can get a discounted price on trips booked through the ridesharing app Uber today through the end of the Thanksgiving weekend. The “Take a Ride on Us” program offers 2,500 people an Uber credit of up to $10 and one ride per person. The program started Monday and continues […]
Jury finds Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts
Kyle Rittenhouse, the white teenager who shot three people, killing two of them, during Black Lives Matter protests in downtown Kenosha, was found not guilty of all the charges against him on Friday. The Kenosha County jury in the Rittenhouse murder trial found that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and […]
Senate confirms first tribal member in history to lead National Park Service
The U.S. Senate approved by voice vote late Thursday the nomination of Charles F. Sams III as the first confirmed National Park Service director since 2017. Sams, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Ore., will be the first tribal member to lead the Park Service in the […]
ABQ officials to begin radar work and plan for a memorial at boarding school gravesite
Listen to the KUNM show Let’s Talk New Mexico hosted by Source NM reporter Shaun Griswold Changes could be coming to 4-H Park in the area that was used to bury students and staff from the Albuquerque Indian School. Another memorial will be placed in the area of the park where the gravesite is […]
Labor shortage leaves chile unpicked so NM boosts wages
The state Agriculture Department extended a program that helps chile farmers and contractors pay their workers more per hour amid a labor shortage that threatens harvests of New Mexico’s signature crop. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham first announced a $5 million first program in August that chipped in taxpayer money to help recruit and retain seasonal […]
NM education leaders expect decision on new social studies standards in early 2022
Public Education Department officials in New Mexico said they expect to have a decision on the new social studies standards by early next year. During today’s legislative Education Committee hearing, a PED deputy secretary told lawmakers they are expected to begin the process to adopt the proposals in January. Gwen Perea Warniment, the deputy secretary […]
U.S. House to vote to censure Gosar, strip him of committee assignments
The U.S. House is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, and remove him from the Oversight and Government Reform and Natural Resources committees. The vote is a rebuke of Gosar for a video he posted to social media last week. The video manipulated an anime […]
Billions coming to help tribes access clean water
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden yesterday will include full funding for efforts to provide clean water to tribal nations. Over the next five years $3.5 billion will head to the Indian Health Services water and sanitation construction program to pay for tribal clean water projects. On top of that, the […]
Driving in Central NM dropped 20% during pandemic, report states
Motorists in central New Mexico reduced their daily driving by more than 20% in 2020, according to data released last week by the region’s planning organization. The traffic reduction is attributed to the pandemic, and it’s not yet clear how traffic volumes and patterns might be permanently changed. Some data so far suggests that traffic […]
Indigenous leaders in New Mexico celebrate federal efforts to protect Chaco
The Biden administration’s announcement to begin the process that could impose mineral extraction protections around Chaco Culture National Historical Park was celebrated by Indigenous leaders in New Mexico on Monday, Nov. 15. “Pueblo leadership is charged to protect our language, songs and lifeways so that we may maintain our sacred trust and instill the gifts […]
91 years old and voting: Why one South Broadway resident got out to vote in the 2021 city election
Joan Jones, 91, has spent more than 60 years in her house in the South Broadway neighborhood. In that time, she’s come to see a pattern. Albuquerque mayors, often when they face re-election, tout flashy development projects that they promise will benefit her and her neighbors. “They want something that’s going to put them on […]