NewsGator, a good online RSS aggregator, has lists and lists of feeds one can subscribe to. One of those lists is to National Weather Service Watches, Warnings and Advisories. They are listed for each state, D.C., Guam, Midway and others.
Each state that is, except New Mexico.
The National Weather Service does have a page for New Mexico.
(To be honest, they left Ohio out too, but who cares about Ohio?)
The Rio Grande Zoo has had a passle of births and The Albuquerque Journal has three cute photos. (No registration required for these, but I suspect they’ll only be there a few more days.)
The National Park Service tells us about the Santa Fe Trail on this, the date the National Historic Trail was established in 1987.
Between 1821 and 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a commercial highway connecting Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1821 until 1846, it was an international commercial highway used by Mexican and American traders. In 1846, the Mexican-American War began. The Army of the West followed the Santa Fe Trail to invade New Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe ended the war in 1848, the Santa Fe Trail became a national road connecting the United States to the new southwest territories. Commercial freighting along the trail continued, including considerable military freight hauling to supply the southwestern forts. The trail was also used by stagecoach lines, thousands of gold seekers heading to the California and Colorado gold fields, adventurers, fur trappers, and emigrants. In 1880 the railroad reached Santa Fe and the trail faded into history.
From the The Albuquerque Tribune:
The Albuquerque Board of Education is developing a policy that tells U.S. Border Patrol agents to keep out: Campuses are a safe haven for immigrant students.
Board members said they don’t want any confusion: Border Patrol and immigration agents are not welcome at district schools.
In NewMexiKen’s view, a thoughtful move. Illegal immigration is a problem; illegal immigrants are not. Officials should be dealing with the systemic issues and quit making individuals a scapegoat for a lack of thoughtful national policies.
On The American Street Kevin Hayden lists the states from top to bottom by “Median Income for 4-Person Families.” Number one is New Jersey at $87,412. The U.S. median is $65,093. The last state is, ta-da, New Mexico at $45,867.
It’s an interesting list with interesting commentary.
In releasing population estimates, the Census Bureau said Thursday that New Mexico will rank 4th in the nation in 2030 in the percentage of population 65 and over: 26.4 percent.
Only Florida – at 27.1 percent- and Maine and Wyoming, at 26.5 percent, will have a larger segment of elderly residents.
AP via The Albuquerque Tribune
Gotta love Duke City Fix, a website whose first restaurant review is of the Frontier. Read the review and you’ll learn a lot about Albuquerque: Starting at the Top of the Bottom
TOMBSTONE – Leaders of a controversial civilian border patrol movement on Monday announced plans to extend patrols in southern Arizona and start “copycat” efforts across the country by next fall.
Dispelling rumors of an early end to the monthlong Minuteman Project, which began April 1, organizers said they plan to draft a guide on how to start a civilian border patrol and “franchise” the movement in California, Texas, New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho by next October.
Premiering today, Duke City Fix, “A cityblog about life in Albuquerque from a variety of independent voices.”
Written by a lot of NewMexiKen local favorites.
National parks are the best idea we ever had,” wrote famed western author Wallace Stegner. “Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
What began as a uniquely American idea with the creation of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872 has been exported, adapted and adopted worldwide in the decades that followed.
“American’s Gift To The World” is the theme of National Park Week, celebrated the week of April 18-24, 2005.
The week-long celebration will kick off Monday, April 18th with the dedication of the Yosemite Falls Restoration Project, the largest public/private partnership project ever undertaken in Yosemite National Park. The event celebrates the completion of a ten year, $13.5 million dollar effort enhancing protection of and improving visitor access to the Lower Yosemite Falls area.
A variety of events will be held at national parks across the nation during the week including the 35th anniversary of Earth Day.
The celebration will conclude in Albuquerque, New Mexico with ceremony recognizing the Superintendent of Petroglyph National Monument. Dr. Joseph P. Sanchez will be presented with the Medalla del Merito Civil, an honor conferred by the King of Spain, in recognition of this life-long accomplishments promoting Spanish Colonial heritage.
National Park Service press release
Aviation buffs may want to consider the drive to Holloman Air Force Base on Sunday.
The base neighboring Alamogordo is opening its gates to the public for an open house this year. The base is treating attendees to one of the largest air shows the Air Force will put on this year, officials said.
“We like to show our gratitude for all the support we see in New Mexico and West Texas,” base spokesman Tom Fuller said.
The base, home to the Air Force’s only combat squadrons of F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters, is scheduled to have its blackbirds simulate a four-ship aerial attack. A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber appearance is planned; it will skim 500 feet above the base.
Also expected are the Air Force’s F-16 Falcon fighter jet demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, and the Army’s Golden Knights parachute demonstration team.
A Russian MiG-17F will also be part of the show, as well as aircraft from the German air force that trains at Holloman. Other U.S. Air Force aircraft planned for the events include the F-15E Strike Eagle and the A-10 Warthog fighter jets.
The base gates open at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Albuquerque Journal
City traffic engineers say embedding flashing lights in the pavement on Grant Avenue will make a new downtown crosswalk safer for pedestrians.
But Santa Fe’s Historic Design Review Board ruled this week that the lights would detract from the downtown’s historic ambience.
Spreading some horse manure around would really up the historic ambience.
NewMexiKen wonders how many art galleries there were on the Santa Fe Plaza in the days of historic ambience. Let’s outlaw them.
Highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s, a cloud from time-to-time. Best of all, not too much of the Albuquerque spring winds.
A dusting of snow this April morning at Casa NewMexiKen. Almost enough to be pretty. A good day to stay inside and read Washington’s Crossing and watch the Masters on TV.
The New Mexican reports that Santa Fe officials have rerouted a casino bus for fear old folks will get a gambling jones:
Senior citizens can no longer catch a weekly shuttle bus to Camelrock Casino from Santa Fe senior centers because to a recent decision by city officials.
“Their excuse was that it’s dangerous for the elder citizens — they may get the gambling habit,” said Leonard Pensler, who lives in the Ventana de Vida senior apartment complex on Pacheco Street.
“And you should see these elder citizens in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks,” Pensler said. “This is their happiness. It gets them out for three hours a day.”
From The Albuquerque Tribune:
You win some, you lose some.
Until Monday, La Cueva’s Seth Johnson and Zach Arnett had defied that maxim.
Johnson and Arnett were around for all 70 games of La Cueva’s national record-setting win streak. They were freshmen when the streak began. They were sophomores and juniors when La Cueva won consecutive state baseball titles, going undefeated along the way.
And they are seniors this year, as La Cueva began 12-0 before falling 17-8 to Rio Grande on Monday.
But 70 wins tell only part of their story. Arnett and Johnson also played varsity football for the Bears, who have won 26 straight games and two consecutive state Class 5A titles.
Their win streak was really 96 games.
Before Monday, neither player had lost a high school football or baseball game since La Cueva fell 10-0 to Clovis in the quarterfinals of the 2002 state football playoffs.
From the report in The Albuquerque Journal:
La Cueva’s baseball team pitched, fielded and generally bashed its way into the national record books Saturday, winning consecutive game numbers 69 and 70.
By sweeping visiting Highland 15-1 and 11-0 in a doubleheader, the Bears went where no prep baseball team had gone before. They extended a winning streak that dates to 2002 and eclipsed a record that dated to 1966, when Archbishop Molloy High of Briarwood, N.Y., completed a 68-game run.
The setting could hardly have been more perfect.
Roughly 1,000 fans encircled La Cueva’s baseball diamond on a crystal-clear morning. Fans in lawn chairs lined the track outside the right-field fence, and a group of firefighters watched from atop a fire truck parked in left field.
Remarkably, two players have started every game of the four year streak.
This is NewMexiKen’s local high school (as if that matters).
A lovely little snowstorm at Casa NewMexiKen this morning; nearly perfect. Maybe an inch of lovely white covered everything — but none stuck to the streets and walks, and it was all gone by noon — every trace except on the mountains above.
And its 50° now (early afternoon) and golfing weather tomorrow.
Update (an hour later): I wrote too soon. It’s snowing again and the temperature has dropped to 40°.
Still predicting 60s tomorrow and 70s Monday though.
State attorneys general in New Mexico and New York are quizzing radio personality Don Imus about his San Miguel County ranch.
Imus and his wife, Deirdre, opened the 4,000-acre ranch between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, N.M., in 1999 as a summer camp for sick children.
But the New York-based charity’s multimillion-dollar annual budget and the Imus family’s use of the ranch’s well-appointed facilities have drawn scrutiny from government officials. …
The nonprofit ranch spent $2.6 million last year while hosting only about 100 children, The Wall Street Journal reported in a front-page story Thursday. The newspaper said experts consider that an unusually high dollar-tochild ratio for a charity.
NewMexiKen supposes that too many rug rats might really mess up the “14,000-squarefoot adobe mansion, swimming pool and billiard hall” and its “Asian and American Indian rugs, rustic chandeliers and an outdoor shower designed to look like Aztec ruins.”
Update March 26th: New York Attorney General Spitzer has closed his inquiry into the Imus Ranch without finding any impropriety The New York Times reported Friday.
NewMexiKen wrote in December that the local high school, La Cueva, had won its second consecutive state football championship and gone 26-0 over the two years.
I learned Thursday that the La Cueva baseball team has gone 67-0, not losing a game since May 2002. On Tuesday they will play for their 68th consecutive win and a chance to tie the national record winning streak. (Archbishop Molloy High of Briarwood, N.Y., went 68-0 from 1963-1966.)
It must be the water.
A whole new job — the designated starter.
From the report in The New Mexican:
All convicted drunken drivers would have to install ignition interlocks in their vehicles under legislation headed to Gov. Bill Richardson. …
The legislation mandates an ignition interlock for one year for a first-time drunken driver, two years for a second conviction, and three years for a third offense.
A fourth conviction would require lifetime use of the device, although an offender could appeal to a court to lift that after five years.
Ignition interlocks are available for rent and the state has a fund that can help pay the costs for people unable to afford them.
The devices prevent intoxicated drivers from starting their vehicles.
Monday and Tuesday’s snow in Albuquerque was all but gone by Thursday. Only the tiniest patches of it were left in the shade.
News story from The Albuquerque Tribune:
A driver whose 2-year-old son died when she crashed as police attempted to stop her was in the Metropolitan Detention Center today, charged with child abuse resulting in death. …
Albuquerque police attempted late Thursday afternoon to stop an SUV that had been weaving through traffic near Girard Boulevard and Coal Avenue, Officer Trish Ahrensfield said.
Perez, the driver, stopped for police, but as they approached, she sped off and hit a truck, Ahrensfield said.
Perez then backed up, hit the police vehicle and then sped east, hitting a curb and a small passenger car, Ahrensfield said.
The SUV rolled onto its side and into a gas station parking lot at Coal and Washington Street, she said. The toddler was thrown from the vehicle at some point, Ahrensfield said, and died. …
Perez’s court records show a driving-while-intoxicated charge in 2000, under another name she used, Crucita Ramirez. The case was dismissed, because the arresting officer failed to appear in court, records show.
Other records under both names show a string of traffic offenses including speeding, driving without insurance and driving on an invalid license, shoplifting charges and one concealed identity conviction that resulted in a 90-day jail sentence.
No school today in Albuquerque as the snow, though light, continues. I’d say we’ve had a good 8 or 9 inches of the stuff here at Casa NewMexiKen. Film at 11.