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Q & A: Kyle Biederwolf on his last days as ASUNM President

David Lynch | April 30

Two weeks before the end of his term as Associated Students of UNM President, Kyle Biederwolf has a spotless desk. He’s wearing his characteristic cheery demeanor and an ASUNM T-shirt with a shade of red that almost blends him into the similarly-colored wall behind him. His suit jacket is draped over his chair. A year after being elected to his office, Biederwolf looks like he’s without battle scars, but anyone who’s been paying attention knows too much has happened — and continues to unfold — at the University for that to be the case. “One week, six days, 23 hours and 55 minutes,” is exactly how much longer Biederwolf said he has as president on the cold, rainy afternoon when I met him in his ASUNM office. It’s a humorous gesture more than a signal of someone who hasn’t appreciated the opportunity to serve as President, having also served two terms as ASUNM Senator.

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Trump's first 100 days: How does he compare?

Brendon Gray | April 30

The Trump administration’s first 100 days have been chock-full of successes, controversies and failures alike. The president is recording low approval ratings — 42 percent according to an aggregate calculated by FiveThirtyEight — and has begun moderating his stance on key issues. Here’s a rundown of some Trump’s moves on big issues, shifts in his position since the campaign and how he compares to other presidents. Foreign Policy Trump campaigned on a self-titled “America first” platform, saying in his inauguration speech from that day onward, “it’s going to be only America first.”

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Political science students respond to Governor's veto of higher education budget

Celia Raney and Celia_Raney | April 30

After Governor Susana Martinez vetoed all state funding for higher education in a messy budget battle, UNM students are left wondering what will happen to their beloved University. For the 2017 Fiscal Year, UNM received an estimated $2.85 billion, but after Martinez vetoed the Higher Education Budget for FY 2018 proposed by the Legislature, the University is left in the dark. As an action to protest legislative tax increases and spending, something the Republican governor pledged would not happen during her tenure, she vetoed a $6.1 billion spending bill for the next fiscal year. In her veto message Martinez also complained that the Senate had not scheduled a hearing for two nominations she had made to the UNM Board of Regents.

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Aspiring architects propose alternatives to border wall

Andres Del Aguila | April 28

“A wall will not only divide two neighboring countries, but two cultures and alliances that have been shared throughout the history of both nations,” Nicole Zollner said during a presentation on creating a “shared city born out of boundaries.” On Wednesday, students in UNM’s School of Architecture and Planning presented alternatives to President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, such as renewable energy to drone patrols. UNM assistant professor Ane Gonzalez said she chose this topic to challenge her students to think about the “role of architects” in solving social and political problems.

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New Daily Lobo Editor-in-chief wants to advocate for students

Matthew Reisen | April 26

For Elizabeth Sanchez, the decision to become the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo goes hand-in-hand with her love for writing and pursuit of journalism. “Journalism is important. It’s all about advocating for people who don’t have a voice all the time,” she said. “Being in that position, I hope to continue to fulfil that role.” As editor-in-chief, Sanchez said she will add to the Daily Lobo’s online diversity, in the form of podcasts, documentary videos and building a stronger social media presence. Sanchez also wants to bring outside expertise into the workplace, implementing workshops to help new reporters and photographers hone their skills, she said.

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Sunshine powers $25 million solar project

Hannah Eisenberg | April 26

The future of Albuquerque’s renewable energy industry is about to get a lot brighter. This past week, the city of Albuquerque announced a $25 million project to increase its production of solar energy. The project, which will place solar panels on city-owned buildings, is expected to begin construction this summer. “The installation of these photovoltaic panels makes sense on so many levels. It provides clean energy to a growing city, provides much needed job opportunities and utilizes a resource that is very abundant in New Mexico — energy from the sun,” said Professor Donald Davis, of UNM’s Applied Technology Department.

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ASUNM prohibits the use of campus listservs to solicit votes

Celia Raney and Celia_Raney | April 26

After passing the Steering and Rules committee on April 19, ASUNM senators unanimously passed Bill 20S on Wednesday evening. The bill prohibits candidates running for any ASUNM position from using University-sanctioned listservs for the purpose of campaigning. As candidates campaigned for this year’s presidential elections, President-elect Noah Brooks and Vice President-elect Sally Midani sent two emails to all or almost all UNM students, reminding them to vote in the presidential elections and promoting their platform. Some students took issue with their emails being used without permission, prompting the new legislation. “During all election cycles this year, the use of University listservs has come up as a question from candidates,” said ASUNM Attorney General Sara Collins.

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Campus briefs for April 25, 2017

Matt Reisen | April 24

UNM Students get a sneak peak of Lobo Rainforest on April 26 According to a UNM Newsroom press release, a sneak peek for student housing at the Lobo Rainforest Building will be held Wednesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Interested residents will have an opportunity to tour the model room of the new student housing facility called Lobo Rainforest, which is located at 101 Broadway Blvd. NE, according to the press release. Applications are currently being accepted for student housing and are open to Innovation Academy students, current UNM Residents and UNM upperclassmen.

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Mine dust sparks health concerns

Cathy Cook | April 24

As early as Thursday, UNM researchers will take a mobile laboratory to the Blue Gap-Tachee Chapter of the Navajo Nation to study uranium mine dust and its health effects on the local residents. After a four-hour drive, researchers will work for three months at Blue Gap-Tachee in a three-room semi-trailer equipped with a particle concentrator that serves as a mobile lab. UNM is collaborating with Michigan State University, who provided the lab, and the Southwest Research and Information Center on the project. Lead project researcher Matthew Campen said research is already being done at UNM about mine waste-related health concerns around topics like seepage into groundwater. However, little work has been done on the effects of inhaling dust from the mine.

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A glimpse into the life of an APD Sergeant

Andres Del Aguila | April 23

“We are not going to go home until we figure or find out who killed that little girl,” Albuquerque Police Sergeant Hollie Anderson said, recalling a case where she worked for 36 hours to solve the murder of girl who died in a drive-by shooting. “It takes a lot of dedication and the cops here are willing to do it.” Anderson solved murders as a homicide detective from 2011 to 2015. Now, as a Sergeant, she leads her own team out in the field. With 20 cases under her belt, Anderson has a 90 percent solve rate and a 100 percent conviction rate. “I really enjoy this job,” she said. “It’s way more than I had ever expected. And I have been happy my entire career.” When she was in the homicide unit, Anderson said her team had the “highest solve rate in the nation to go along with the high homicide rate.”

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UNM Professor Researches Levels of Inequality in Municipal Policing

April 23

Amid Department of Justice investigations into police departments across the nation for aggressive force, an assistant professor in UNM’s School of Public Administration sought out to discover the levels of inequality in municipal policing. Agustin Leon-Moreta presented his findings last Friday as the last installment of a speaker series hosted by UNM’s School of Public Administration. “Inequality in policing is a defining public policy challenge of our time,” Leon-Moreta said. “Recent events in Ferguson and other cities have raised the sense of urgency about policing programs of municipalities.”

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Statistics students compete at UNM DataFest

Brendon Gray | April 23

Over the weekend students spent a grueling 48 hours analyzing, compiling and making sense of a vast data set in the American Statistical Association DataFest. Four teams competed to analyze, compile and present an amount of data in an effective manner. A graduate team — self-titled “The Visards” — won the award for Best in Show for their work over the weekend. A member of the winning team, Eswar Damraju, spoke highly of the event. “It was good experience to see how the industry uses large data sets,” he said.

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UNM student group hosts pro-life leadership summit

Nichole Harwood | April 23

For the first time on campus, UNM Students for Life hosted the New Mexico Leadership Summit on Saturday. The summit was designed for college and high school students interested in learning more about what it means to be pro-life and how to be involved with pro-life endeavours, said Bethany Janzen, the Rocky Mountain regional coordinator for Students for Life of America. The organization encompasses over 1,100 student groups nationwide at age levels ranging from middle school to higher education, Janzen said.

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NM legislators weigh in on fetal tissue controversy at UNM

Celia Raney and Celia_Raney | April 21

Press conference met protest in front of Hodgin Hall Wednesday when a speaker posed the question, “If you knew that women were hurt by abortion, would you rethink your opinion?” Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, was joined at UNM Wednesday morning by congressman Steve Pearce, R-NM, and other New Mexico representatives to host a press conference addressing criminal referrals for UNM Hospital and local abortion clinic Southwestern Women's Options.

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ASUNM Elections: Senate results a mix from different slates

Denicia Aragon | April 21

With 35 candidates running, the undergraduate student body elected 10 new senators to serve a full term on the Associated Students of New Mexico Senate, and one to serve a half-term. All three slates — Unity, Clear and InvolveU — were represented among the victors. Five came from Unity, four from Clear and One from InvolveU. The candidate with the most votes in the election was Emilynn Wilks from the Unity slate with 472 votes. The only returning senator will be Theo Pirone-Aufrichtig, also from Unity.

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Student uses Sustainability Expo to promote local economy

Gabriela Garcia-Huff | April 20

Rebekah Bibb, a UNM senior, is using the annual Sustainability Expo on Thursday to advocate for local economic development with a craft market consisting of various local and student vendors Bibb, a student in the UNM Sustainability Studies program, is dedicating her senior capstone project in the program to promoting more sustainable buying practices and giving students an opportunity to showcase their crafts.

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Green Issue: How green is my campus?

Celia Raney and Celia_Raney | April 19

“We do the right thing — not the easy thing,” states UNM Physical Plant Department’s core values, which also include a commitment to continuous improvement and to “finding solutions that allow everyone to win.” In an effort to reduce UNM’s energy costs, which “are in the millions and extremely difficult to calculate,” the PPD is implementing new programs across campus to lower energy costs and reduce the University’s carbon footprint.

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Green Issue: Medical cannabis dispensaries flourishing in NM

Elizabeth Sanchez | April 19

The growth in cannabis production has increased greatly, even between 2015 and 2016. In a fourth quarter 2015 report, there were 5,379 total plants in production; that number more than doubled in 2016, when the total plants in production reached 11,565, according to the New Mexico Department of Health. Today, there are over 50 licensed nonprofit producers in the state of New Mexico.

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Green Issue: New program explores the culture and history of Ireland

Hannah Eisenberg | April 19

Between the rolling green hills and rugged coastlines of Ireland lies a country heavy in literature and history. UNM professors Sarah Townsend and Caleb Richardson are expanding the presence of Irish Studies on campus, to gain momentum for this interdisciplinary program. "Imaging Ireland," a study-abroad program developed by their collaboration, is creating closer ties between UNM and Ireland, while also piquing students’ interest in Irish studies.

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Green Issue: Where does your student fee money go?

Kelly Urvanejo | April 19

The Daily Lobo reached out to ASUNM to find out how student fees are distributed. Delia Brennan, ASUNM chief of staff, emphasized that there are different categories of student fees. The student activity fee is "the one we think about when we think of student fees. It goes to things like all the resource centers on campus. It goes toward athletics, it goes toward LoboRESPECT, the SHAC runs on it, the libraries and so on,” she said.