New Mexico moves ahead with vaccine rollout for children - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
New Mexico health officials on Wednesday applauded the federal government's move to clear the way for COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11, saying the rollout will involve a robust team of physicians, pharmacies, hospitals and other health clinics.
Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Laura Parajon said children who don't get the shots will remain vulnerable.
"This is really important because even though children don't usually get as sick, there are still children who can get sick from COVID and get hospitalized. Even five children have died in New Mexico, so we really want to prevent that," she said during a briefing.
The latest state data shows about one-quarter of the confirmed coronavirus infection cases reported in New Mexico over the past week were among children, but the number of hospitalizations among children has remained small. Officials also noted that there have been no deaths among children in recent weeks.
Health officials in New Mexico said they expect to receive an allocation of 90,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine over the next week. That will be enough to cover almost half of the state's children ages 5 to 11.
State officials are planning to have vaccine clinics for youngsters in several cities around New Mexico in the coming weeks.
Many parents have indicated that they are reticent about getting their children inoculated. Almost two-thirds of parents in the U.S. recently polled by the Kaiser Family Foundation said they would either wait or not seek out the vaccines for their kids.
The vaccine for children is one-third of the dose given to older children and adults and administered with kid-sized needles. It requires two doses three weeks apart, plus two more weeks for full protection to take effect.
Parajon said there's data that shows the vaccines are safe for children, and the state will be working with providers and others on messaging aimed at easing parents' concerns. She pointed to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that estimates for every 10 children who are vaccinated, one case of COVID-19 can be prevented in another child.
Part of the goal is to reduce the opportunities the virus has to spread and mutate, state officials said.
The state Public Education Department is embarking on a new federally funded $63 million program for boosting testing in schools as a way to identify cases early on and avoid quarantines for students who have been exposed to someone who has been infected. The program is launching in Alamogordo, and numerous other schools have applied to participate.
Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said it could take three to five weeks for schools to implement because training and certification will be required. In some cases, districts plan to hire additional staff for the program.
He said the testing program will allow students to stay in school as well as participate in extra-curricular activities and school-related competitions. He also said it will be flexible to accommodate the needs of individual districts.
"The goal is to keep New Mexico students and staff safe. That's what we're working on, and we're getting better at it every week," he said. "We want to minimize quarantine times, and we want to keep our kids engaged in in-person learning."
New Mexico is one of three states working with the CDC on the project. Officials said it's possible it could be expanded to pre-kindergarten programs and child care centers.
Overall, New Mexico is seeing its confirmed coronavirus infections increase, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said.
"We need to be even more careful because the spread of delta is much more robust. Delta seems very effective at finding pockets in families and workplaces of unvaccinated people and spreading quite rapidly," he said, adding that booster shots and precautions such as mask wearing, social distancing and hand-washing still are important because the virus can spread among the vaccinated.
State data shows more than 27% of cases reported in New Mexico over the last four weeks were among vaccinated people. While hospitalization rates were higher among the unvaccinated, 12 vaccinated people were among those who died because of COVID-19 in the past month.
"Rust" film armorer says someone may have put bullet in gun - Associated Press
The woman in charge of weapons on the movie set where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins said Wednesday night that she had inspected the gun Baldwin shot but doesn't know how a live bullet ended up inside.
"Who put those in there and why is the central question," Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer for the movie "Rust" said in a statement issued by one of her lawyers, Jason Bowles of Albuquerque, New Mexico. "Hannah kept guns locked up, including throughout lunch on the day in question (Oct. 21), and she instructed her department to watch the cart containing the guns when she was pulled away for her other duties or on a lunch break."
The statement goes on to say that "Hannah did everything in her power to ensure a safe set. She inspected the rounds that she loaded into the firearms that day. She always inspected the rounds."
The statement adds that she inspected the rounds before handing the firearm to assistant director David Halls "by spinning the cylinder and showing him all of the rounds and then handing him the firearm."
"No one could have anticipated or thought that someone would introduce live rounds into this set," Gutierrez Reed's statement said.
The statement also noted that "she did firearms training for the actors as well as Mr. Baldwin, she fought for more training days and she regularly emphasized to never point a firearm at a person."
On Oct. 29, attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez Reed said she doesn't know where the live rounds found there came from and blamed producers for unsafe working conditions.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza has said there was "some complacency" in how weapons were handled on the set of "Rust."
Investigators initially found 500 rounds of ammunition — a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what appeared to be live rounds. Industry experts have said live rounds should never be on set.
Additional ammunition, a dozen revolvers and a rifle also were seized in the search of a white truck used for storing props including firearms, according to an inventory list filed Friday in court.
Albuquerque election blow to teacher's union, victory to biz - Albuquerque Journal, Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report for America
The teachers union in New Mexico's largest city will have fewer friends on the school board next year, after three school board candidates won Tuesday's election without union support.
Early election results indicate three out of four school board seats were won by candidates funded by business groups, not the teachers union, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
They include Crystal Tapia-Romero, a childcare center owner with no party affiliation; Democrat Danielle Gonzales, a nonprofit manager; and Republican Courtney Jackson, a stay-at-home-mom and PTA leader. All received funding from business groups including NAIOP the Commercial Real Estate Development Association and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. The races are nonpartisan and don't have primaries.
Union-backed Democrat Josefina Dominguez, a retired teacher, also won.
Albuquerque Public Schools is the largest district in the state, serving around 74,000 students, about 20% of the children in New Mexico. It operates a $1.6 billion budget and a full-time staff of around 12,600 workers.
Municipal elections across the state Tuesday determined schoolboard elections and mayoral reelection contests. Voters in the vast majority of towns approved property taxes and bonds to pay for schools.
In New Mexico, progressive mayors prevail amid COVID, crime -By Morgan Lee and Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Progressive New Mexico mayors have won second terms in Albuquerque, where violent crime and policing concerns dominated debate, and in the state capital of Santa Fe, which is in the throws of rapid growth and related concerns about housing affordability and cultural landmarks.
Uncertified election results showed Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller winning nearly 56% of the vote to defeat a Democratic county sheriff and a Republican talk show host. Publishing entrepreneur and Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber won almost 55% in uncertified results, defeating a Democratic city council member and a Republican who flouted local mask requirements last year.
The election extends a political winning streak for 43-year-old Keller, a former state auditor and legislator. But Republicans have a chance to hold a majority on the city council for the first time since 2013, amid pending runoff votes and the ouster of Keller ally Lan Sena to former police Officer Louie Sanchez — a proponent of greater budget austerity.
Keller said he'll be open about the city's challenges and calls for solutions.
"What we're going to do going forward is we're going to call it like it is. If problems are complex, we're going to say that," he said. "When we need assistance from other governments, we're going to hold them accountable to help us. We're also going to ask everyone to pitch in."
Keller is contending with a record-breaking spate of homicides while emphasizing programs that address crime's root causes, such as addiction and poverty. He says public safety efforts are adequately funded, while backing pilot programs for gun violence prevention and emergency responses that leave police out of some mental health calls.
Police and crime issues came to the forefront in cities big and small after the killing of George Floyd last year. Albuquerque's reckoning with police brutality predates Keller's first election as mayor, with city police operating under a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department since 2014.
In Santa Fe, Webber campaigned on his handling of pandemic safety, financial upheaval in a tourism-dependent local economy and efforts to promote affordable housing.
The 73-year-old mayor touted Santa Fe's push to provide permits and stand up more residential housing, including rental units in several multi-family apartment complexes.
"At the same time, we are conscious and very aware that people don't want to lose the quality of life that makes Santa Fe so special," said Webber of the capital city that added nearly 20,000 resident between 2010 and 2020 — expanding by almost 30%.
Webber, the founder of Fast Company magazine who moved to New Mexico about two decades ago from Boston, withstood withering criticism on the campaign trail of the city's response to conflicts over historical monuments.
In October 2020, a tumultuous crowd toppled a downtown Civil War-era monument that honored Union soldiers including some Hispanics who died fighting Indigenous tribes and Confederate soldiers. The statue was reviled by many Native Americans for glorifying military campaigns against their ancestors — and toppled by mostly white, non-Hispanic protesters.
Webber sounded a note of reconciliation after his reelection.
"I'm also grateful for the people who voted for other candidates because they've got a lot of wisdom and knowledge and great ideas," he said. "We've got to come back together and work with each other and respect each other."
Voters ousted a city council member from a heavily Hispanic district who had endorsed Webber. Councilor Roman "Tiger" Abeyta lost by about 6 percentage points to Lee Garcia.
In Albuquerque, Keller's unsuccessful challengers included two-term Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales, who backed a move by then-President Donald Trump to send more federal law enforcement agents to Albuquerque.
Tuesday's elections were a preamble to statewide and congressional contests in 2022, when Democrats hope to prolong their hold on all statewide offices, including governor, and majorities in the Legislature.
Webber was challenged unsuccessfully by Democrat JoAnne Vigil Coppler — a city councilor, real estate agent and Latina born in Santa Fe — who cast herself as a guardian of respect for the city's cultural traditions.
Iconic western starring Clint Eastwood dubbed in Navajo - Associated Press
An iconic western starring Clint Eastwood has been dubbed in the Navajo language.
The movie, "A Fistful of Dollars" or "Béeso Dah Yiníłjaa'" in Navajo will be screened for free this month on or near the reservation that extends into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
A premiere for the cast and crew is scheduled Nov. 16 at the movie theater in Window Rock, Arizona. Limited seats are available to members of the public who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and consent to a rapid test on site.
The 1964 western is the third major film available in the Navajo language. "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" was released in 2013, and "Finding Nemo" came out in 2016 as a way to preserve the Navajo language.
"A Fistful of Dollars" was supposed to be released last year, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed it back. Eastwood plays a man with no name who enters a Mexican village amid a power struggle between families.
Navajo Nation Museum Director Manuelito Wheeler said a Western film has been a popular request among Navajo elders.
"It only makes sense to make a movie for them since they are the primary speakers of Navajo," Wheeler said Wednesday. "I know they'll have a great time watching it."
The museum teamed up with the New York-based Kino Lorber film distribution company and the Indigenous-owned Native Stars Studios in Gallup, New Mexico, for the film. It features an all-Navajo cast of voice actors.
Utility regulators OK lower funding for transition from coal - Associated Press
Tribal grassroots groups say the Arizona Corporation Commission has approved a smaller amount recommended for tribal and rural communities to transition away from coal economies.
The commission is meeting this week as part of a proceedings for a rate increase request from Arizona Public Service Co.
As part of its rate package, APS reportedly had proposed providing the Navajo Nation with close to $150 million in financial assistance, with additional funding earmarked for the Hopi Tribe and Navajo County communities. The communities have relied heavily on revenue from coal-fired power plants and coal mines that have been shutting down.
Navajo grassroots groups said the judge overseeing the proceedings had recommended a minimum payment of $50 million to the Navajo Nation, nearly $1.7 million to the Hopi Tribe and $5 million to Navajo County communities.
But the groups say the commission voted 3-2 Tuesday to reduce the amounts to $10 million to the Navajo Nation over three years, $1 million to the Hopi Tribe and $500,000 to the Navajo County communities.
"It's disheartening to know there's a proposal on the table that would provide real support for Navajo and Hopi communities and to be given such token amounts," said Carol Davis, director of the Navajo grassroots organization Diné C.A.R.E.
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This story has been updated to correct the amount the commission approved for the Hopi Tribe to $1 million.
Navajo Nation reports 80 new COVID-19 cases, but no deaths - Associated Press
The Navajo Nation on Wednesday reported 80 more COVID-19 cases, but no coronavirus-related deaths for the 23rd time in the past 35 days.
The latest numbers pushed the tribe's totals to 37,043 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
The known death toll remains at 1,487.
Based on cases from Oct. 15-28, the Navajo Department of Health issued an advisory for 58 communities due to uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.
"With many of our students back in the classrooms, we strongly encourage all families to get their children vaccinated," tribal President Jonathan Nez said in a statement. "The vaccines should be available at all health care facilities in the next few days... We are in this together and we need more of our people to get vaccinated to reduce the spread of COVID-19."
The tribe's reservation is the country's largest at 27,000 square miles and covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.