Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo reaches key milestone in water rights dispute — KUNM News, NM Political Report
After more than 50 years of litigation, the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo is ready to settle a water rights case surrounding the Rio Chama.
Nat Chakeres, general counsel for the State Engineer said the agreement is a bit of a compromise, that it doesn’t meet all of the Pueblo’s issues, but it does settle their claims for the Rio Chama, according to The New Mexico Political Report.
The remainder of the Pueblo’s concerns, he said, will be regarding the Rio Grande.
The agreement calls for almost $950 million dollars in total, $131 million in state funding and $818 Million from the federal government, as well as adding two new state employee positions.
All the funding is subject to both state and federal jurisdiction, which will have to approve any spending.
The Ohkay Owingeh have the longest and largest water rights holdings on the Rio Chama. However it often doesn’t get adequate water supplies because it’s near the bottom of the river system.
Albuquerque Public Schools and teachers reach agreement for pay raises, stipends - Bryce Dix, KUNM News
Albuquerque Public Schools and the union representing its teachers –– the Albuquerque Teachers Federation –– have announced they have reached a tentative agreement that would boost salaries, provide stipends for duty time and give more money for athletic coaches.
The agreement was reached earlier this month, but officially announced Monday.
Specifically, educators will receive a 6% raise across the board, while stipends will go to ensure student safety before and after school and for athletic coaches for the first time in 25 years, according to a press release.
Union and school officials say they took into account the state mandated increases in instructional time during negotiations.
The vote is scheduled for ratification on Monday, July 31 and will extend to Wednesday, August 2. The Board of Educators will vote at its next meeting on August 2.
If approved, the agreement would span the next two years.
Poetry academy announces more than $1 million in grants for US laureates — Associated Press
A digital poetry archive in Utah, slam poetry workshops in South Carolina and creative writing programs in New Mexico are among the initiatives being supported by more than $1 million in grants from the Academy of American Poets.
On Tuesday, the academy announced its 2023 Fellowships, contributions of $50,000 each to 23 state and local poets laureate around the country, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Redmond, Washington.
The Poet Laureate Fellowship program, launched in 2019, are funded in part by the Mellon Foundation.
"Collectively the voice and vision of these 23 poets laureate will bring together community members through the craft and creativity of poetry and illuminate place through words," poet Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, said in a statement.
Fellows include Utah laureate Lisa Bickmore and Lauren Camp of New Mexico, along with such local laureates as Diannely Antigua of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Laura Da' of Redmond, Washington; Jennifer Bartell Boykin of Columbia, South Carolina; and Yalie Saweda Kamara of Cincinnati.
"The Academy of American Poets celebrates the unique position poets laureate occupy at state and local levels, elevating the possibilities poetry can bring to community conversations and reminding us that our national spirit can be nourished by the power of the written and spoken word," Ricardo Maldonado, president and executive director of the poetry academy, said in a statement.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Kamara's middle name. It's Saweda, not Sawede.
Albuquerque mayor says United soccer stadium could get underway this winter – Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller told a commercial real estate association Tuesday the city hopes
to begin construction on a stadium for the New Mexico United soccer team this winter.
The Albuquerque Journal reports he said the facility would be privately funded. Voters defeated proposal to use public money for a stadium in the South Broadway or Barelas neighborhoods two years ago.
Keller said this is “not a done deal” but the new site would be in Balloon Fiesta Park. He added that permitting and planning are underway along with raising private investment.
US Forest Service burn started wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, agency says - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
The U.S. Forest Service's own prescribed burn started a sprawling 2022 wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, the agency acknowledged Monday in a report published after a lengthy investigation.
The Cerro Pelado fire burned in dry, windy conditions across more than 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion U.S. national security lab. As the fire approached, schools closed and evacuation bags were packed before the flames tapered off.
Investigators traced the wildfire to a burn of piles of forest debris commissioned by the Forest Service. The burn became a holdover fire, smoldering undetected under wet snow, with no signs of smoke or heat for months, said Southwestern Regional Forester Michiko Martin.
The revelation prompted immediate rebukes against the Forest Service by New Mexico political leaders, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. She said she was "outraged over the U.S. Forest Service's negligence that caused this destruction." Episodes of extremely hot and dry weather in recent years have triggered concerns about prescribed burns as techniques for clearing forest debris, concerns that Grisham echoed.
The federal government already has acknowledged that it started the largest wildfire in state history, whichcharred more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, destroying homes and livelihoods.
The Forest Service last spring halted all prescribed burn operations for 90 days while it conducted a review of procedures and policies. By the end of the moratorium, managers learned that they can't rely on past success, and must continuously learn and adapt to changing conditions, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore recently told New Mexico lawmakers.
Firefighters now monitor pile burns using handheld thermal devices and drones that can detect heat, Martin said Monday.
Examples of prescribed burns that escaped control include the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire that swept through residential areas of Los Alamos and across 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) of the laboratory — more than one-quarter of the campus. The fire destroyed more than 230 homes and 45 structures at the lab. In 2011, a larger and faster-moving fire burned fringes of the lab.
In the spring of 2022, wildfires were propelled by ferocious winds across Arizona and New Mexico, combined with extreme drought and warm temperatures, casting a pall of smoke across the region.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich urged the Forest Service to be more nimble in its investigations and decisions.
"The warming climate is making our forests more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires. That's a reality that our Forest Service can and must urgently respond to when deciding when and how to do prescribed burns," he said in a statement. "We cannot catch up to this reality if it takes nearly a year to even make the findings on the Cerro Pelado Fire public."
An initial probe into the origin of the Cerro Pelado fire was conducted by a wildland fire investigator from Washington state's Department of Natural Resources and pointed toward an ash pit from the earlier prescribed burn as the likely source, while ruling out other potential sources such as campfires and lightning. But it stopped short of a definitive conclusion.
The Forest Service commissioned a second investigation by its own special agents and concluded that the prescribed burn and its windblown embers were the cause.
The Biden administration is trying to confront worsening wildfires in the U.S. West through a multi-billion dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth. Chainsaws, heavy machinery — and controlled burns — are major components of the effort, with Congress in the last two years approving more than $4 billion in new funding to prevent repeats of destructive infernos.
New Mexico high court ruling makes it easier for domestic violence victims to get protection orders - Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Monday that state law does not require victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking to show an immediate threat of harm to obtain an order of protection from their alleged abusers.
In a unanimous opinion, the court said "there is no language that indicates that a petition must state why a petitioner needs the order, or even language that requires proof of a petitioner's need for the order."
New Mexico law provides for protective orders for domestic abuse by household members such as a spouse or former spouse.
The law's definition of domestic abuse also covers stalking and sexual assault by someone who isn't a member of the victim's household.
The court reached its decision by interpreting the language of the statute, concluding that victims must show "past or present domestic abuse" but not "a threat of future harm."
The justices ruled in the case of a woman who, after turning 18 years old, sought a protective order against a man who allegedly had sexually abused her since she was the age of 12. A temporary order of protection was granted, but a permanent order was denied because a hearing officer concluded the woman had failed to prove the alleged abuser posed an immediate danger. The older man had not contacted her in more than a year, except for an encounter at church when the two did not speak.
A district court adopted the hearing officer's dismissal order. The Supreme Court affirmed a state Court of Appeals decision that reversed the district court in Bernalillo County. A temporary order of protection will remain in place pending the outcome of the proceeding.
Biden administration sues Texas governor over Rio Grande buoy barrier that's meant to stop migrants - By Paul J. Weber And Valerie Gonzalez Associated Press
The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican's latest aggressive tactic to try to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns. The suit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The buoys are the latest escalation of Texas' border security operation that also includes razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants on trespassing charges and sending busloads of asylum-seekers to Democratic-led cities in other states. Critics have long questioned the effectiveness of the two-year operation, known as Operation Lone Star. A state trooper's account this month that some of the measures injured migrants has put the mission under intensifying new scrutiny.
In anticipation of the lawsuit, Abbott sent President Joe Biden a letter earlier Monday that defended Texas' right to install the barrier. He accused Biden of putting migrants at risk by not doing more to deter them from making the journey to the U.S.
"Texas will see you in court, Mr. President," Abbott wrote.
The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration restrictions took effect in May. In June, the first full month since the new polices took effect, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said migrant encounters were down 30% from the month prior and were at the lowest levels since Biden's first full month in office.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Abbott's policies as a whole have made it difficult for U.S. Border Patrol agents to access Rio Grande.
"Those are unlawful actions that are not helpful and is undermining what the president has put forward and is trying to do," she said.
In a letter last week, the Justice Department gave Texas until Monday to commit to removing the barrier or face a lawsuit. The letter said the buoy wall "poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns."
The state deployed the buoys without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mexico's secretary of state asked the federal government to intervene, saying the barrier violates international treaties.
The lawsuit is not the first time the Biden administration has sued Texas overs it actions on the border.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 accused the state of usurping and even interfering with the federal government's responsibility to enforce immigration laws after Abbott empowered state troopers orders to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the basis that they could increase the spread of COVID-19.
South Valley neighborhood asking for air quality rule – KUNM News, Albuquerque Journal
Dozens of people spoke at a public meeting last week arguing for or against a rule mandating a minimum air quality standard for a South Valley neighborhood that’s been choking on industrial fumes for decades.
The Albuquerque Journal reports supporters included conservationists, and scientific experts, but mainly consisted of the local residents who live in the Mountain View neighborhood, situated between I-25 and the Rio Grande river, near the Rio Bravo Generating Plant.
Opponents mainly consisted of the owners of the massive industrial businesses that are producing the very pollution that rallied the neighborhood to begin demanding change.
The city said the neighborhood was “overburdened” by pollution as far back as 2004, and the situation has only worsened with time.
Opponents say the quality standard would stifle economic development, and hurt job growth in the area.
In 'Barbie,' 'Oppenheimer' smash success, audiences send message to Hollywood: Give us something new - By Jake Coyle Associated Press Film Writer
In the massive movie weekend of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," there were many winners. Greta Gerwig, who made history for female directors. Christopher Nolan, who set a non-Batman career high. Movie theaters, more crowded than anytime post-pandemic. Lovers of unlikely double features. The color pink. Matchbox Twenty.
But one of the most important triumphs in the moviegoing monsoon of "Barbenheimer" was originality. Here are two movies that are neither sequels nor reboots pushing the box office to highs not seen in years. "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" became a meme because of their worlds-apart differences but they're each indelibly the work of those filmmakers.
"Barbie," based on the Mattel doll, had some extremely well-known intellectual property going for it. And the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb comes from no small moment in history. Nolan is himself a brand, too.
But Hollywood's biggest zeitgeist in years was propelled by a pair of movies without a roman numeral, a Jedi or a superhero in sight. At the same time, some of the most dependable franchises in movies, from Marvel to "Fast and the Furious," are no longer leading the pack.
The movie business may be shifting. Audiences are showing a renewed taste for something fresh. "Barbenheimer" could, just maybe, be a turning point.
"I've always joked that if there's a tornado movie that works that the next year there will be three tornado movies. There's an internal prejudice to doing what works," says Richard Gelfond, IMAX chief executive. "I'm hopeful that these movies were original by noted filmmakers will convince studios to lean into that direction rather than doing what's safe.
"The numbers don't lie," added Gelfond.
And the numbers are eyepopping. The total box office in U.S. and Canadian theaters on the weekend was more than $300 million, the fourth highest ever. Warner Bros.' "Barbie" grossed $162 million domestically, the best opening of the year. Universal's "Oppenheimer" took in $82.4 million. Those results, riding critical acclaim and months of a viral double-feature drum beat, nearly doubled expectations and astonished Hollywood.
In the wake of "Barbenheimer," many are hoping Hollywood will draw a lesson other than greenlighting more toy adaptations and the inevitable "Barbie" sequel.
"Everyone came out this weekend for two ORIGINAL, smart, quality movies," wrote Clare Binns, managing director of indie distributor Picturehouse, on Twitter. "It's what audiences want. Reboots, superheroes and films with bloated budgets that often cover a lack of ideas -- time to take stock. No algorithms this weekend."
Lately, some of the movies' biggest franchises have shown signs of wear and tear.
"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," coming 42 years after "Raiders of the Lost Ark," has failed to ignite in theaters. It's made $335 million worldwide with a budget more than double that of "Barbie," which cost $145 million.
The 10th "Fast and the Furious" movie, "Fast X," was a dud domestically, though international sales have been robust. In three days, "Barbie" already surpassed its total North American haul of $145.9 million.
The seventh "Mission: Impossible" film, "Dead Reckoning Part One," fell shy of expectations before getting blown away by "Barbenheimer." It declined 64% in its second weekend.
Meanwhile, recent Marvel films and DC movies haven't approached the kinds of grosses once assured of comic-book adaptations. Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," with $843 million worldwide, has been a big seller but movies like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "The Flash" have fallen well shy of expectations.
The nostalgia business isn't going anywhere, nor is Hollywood's dependence on remakes and sequels. In last year's top 10 films at the box office, one movie was a reboot ("The Batman") and the rest were sequels.
But such overdependence on more-of-the-same was sure to run out of steam one day — and this year's best performers are coming from some new places.
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($1.3 billion worldwide) isn't anyone's idea of cutting-edge cinema but it reflects Hollywood's new embrace of the giant gaming industry.
The year's second-biggest hit, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" ($375.2 million domestically) is yet one more "Spider-Man" movie. But it and its predecessor, "Into the Spider-Verse," are hellbent on upending comic-book convention and expanding the notion of who can be a superhero.
Originality can be riskier for studios, but the payoff can be immense — just ask James Cameron. His reigning franchise goliath, "Avatar," reached $2.3 billion with "Avatar: The Way of Water," a futuristic, sci-fi epic that essentially created its own IP.
What else is working? Movies that appeal to audiences that have historically been underserved. "Creed III," starring Michael B. Jordan, blew past expectations in March and ended up with more than $275 million globally on a $75 million budget. "Sound of Freedom," from the faith-based distributor Angel Studios, has made $124 million in three weeks — though its distributor is using an unusual "Pay it Forward" purchasing program.
And of course, horror remains the easiest money. "Insidious: The Red Door" is just the latest in long, bloody line of low-budget, high-performance Blumhouse titles. It's made $156 million worldwide on a $16 million budget.
"Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" are widely expected to play strongly for weeks. They've reminded everyone of the limitless cultural potency of the movies. When stars, marketing muscle and filmmaking vision collide, anything can happen. And, sure, it doesn't hurt when their names make a funny smushed-together nickname.
Whether that momentum will dissipate in the waning weeks of the summer will be left up to a series of releases — "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," "Haunted Mansion," "Gran Turismo," "Strays," "Blue Beetle" — that may struggle to keep the spark alive. Meanwhile, the ongoing strike by actors and screenwriters has begun to play havoc with the fall movie schedul e. Hollywood remains locked in battle over its future.
Since the pandemic, studios and theater owners have tried various ways to bring back moviegoers to cinemas after the rush to streaming platforms — everything from Tom Cruise jumping off a cliff to $3 tickets for a day. But it could be that what moviegoers are most craving is the chance to see something new.
Mark Harris, author of the Hollywood history "Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood," believes a developing shift has "become undeniable."
"In 'Pictures at a Revolution' I wrote that an unexpected big hit is much more disruptive to the Hollywood system than a big flop is," Harris wrote on Twitter. "That's where we are: TWO surprise smashes that suggest you get people back to the movies by giving them what they haven't seen, not what they have."