Tewa Women United, Joni Arends win other awards

SANTA FE, N.M. - The New Mexico Environmental Law Center bestowed its annual Toxic Turkey Award to Los Alamos National Laboratory for nearly six decades of polluting the human and natural environment and continuous violations of basic principles of environmental justice.

The Law Center awards the Toxic Turkey Award to a person or group that has shown extraordinary disregard for New Mexico’s environment and the communities that live in it. The Law Center presented the award at its annual Member Appreciation Party in Santa Fe Dec. 8.

In announcing the award, staff attorney Jon Block pointed to the origins of LANL to develop the...

Dear Editor:

Forest Road 480 in the Zuni Mountains was closed in 2018 from a wash out, the USFS posted a notice on their web site. I happen[ed] to come across by accident while looking for some new road, and off road vehicle maps. The notice advised the road would be closed until further notice. I contacted Alvin Whitehair, Mount Taylor Forest Supervisor to ask if the road would be open in time for hunting season. I was told it would be a long term closure until the road was repaired per the recommendations of USFS employee or engineer. I asked where the washout was and [was] told it was just below the Ojo Redondo campground. I then asked why the entire road needed to be closed and off...

Homeland Security rules could cost thousands of jobs

ALBUQUERQUE  - New Mexico could lose an estimated $146 million in federal funds if the Department of Homeland Security is able to implement rules it promulgated regarding government benefits, including nutrition and health care services. That lack of federal funds would translate to a loss to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) of as much as $285 million, as well as 1,937 jobs, and $17 million in state tax revenue. That’s according to a policy brief co-released Nov. 25 by the Fiscal Policy Institute of New York and New Mexico Voices for Children.

The new rules would add several safety-net programs to the current list of...

When there’s data we can use the data, when there are opinions, let’s use mine.  That seems to sum up the gun debate to date. Are the following suggested causes of gun violence and suggested solutions opinions or facts? It’s due to mental illness, ban assault rifles, arm law abiding citizens, arm school teachers, temporarily remove guns from violent domestic partners, ban large ammunition magazines, owners need to secure their weapons, go to “gun school,” etc.

The simple fact is we really don’t know exactly what combination of actions will work to prevent gun violence. While the mass killings get the headlines, most gun homicides occur when one, two or three people are...