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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.

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Ski Team protest crashes Board of Regents meeting

Kelly Urvanejo | April 19

The UNM ski team and their supporters gathered in front of Hodgin Hall just after 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to protest the decision of Athletic Director Paul Krebs to cut all funding to the team. In addition to the ski team, the women’s rugby team, locals and UNM alumni sported lobo colors while holding signs reading, ‘Give us a chance,’ ‘Highest GPA’ and ‘3.9 GPA’. Alexandra Hammon, a woman’s rugby player who attended the rally, said she has heard of the ski team’s academic and athletic success. “I know they’re one of the only UNM athletics programs who progressively excels at their sport,” Hammon said. “They keep getting championships, they keep getting individual championships and to me, this just seems like a really low blow.”

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ASUNM joins NM student body leaders to condemn veto of higher ed funding

David Lynch | April 18

On Tuesday, Associated Students of UNM President Kyle Biederwolf joined the student body presidents of five other New Mexico institutions to condemn the recent veto of higher ed funding for next year by Gov. Susana Martinez. “We firmly believe that access to higher education is more important than ever in New Mexico. We need to be investing in bright and innovative minds to tackle our state’s challenges,” the statement reads. “We are disappointed in those elected to serve us, as they have allowed such a critical issue to be caught in the middle of partisan political crossfire. Martinez chose to strike funding for UNM and other colleges across the state earlier this month, in an act of defiance against what she called a “wasted” 60-day session by New Mexico legislators.

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Group that spearheaded hunger-free students bill has long worked to solve issues in NM

Brendon Gray | April 17

A New Mexico bill that prevents stigmatizing students with meal debt has made headlines across the country, but according to its authors, the legislation is just the tip of the iceberg on a much bigger issue. The Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act was signed into law by Gov. Susana Martinez earlier this month and requires schools to work with parents to pay lunch debts or sign up for federal meal assistance. The legislation, SB 374, was written by New Mexico Appleseed, a small nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that focuses on solving issues like hunger, poor education and homelessness in New Mexico.

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Q&A: On asylum, detention centers and immigration

Cathy Cook | April 17

UNM’s Latin American and Iberian Institute hosted its fourth Richard E. Greenleaf Conference last week — and the first wince 2014 — focusing on expert witness testimony in Latin American asylum cases.

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Report: Medical debt collectors have work to do

Cathy Cook | April 17

The New Mexico Public Interest Research Group recently released a report exploring consumer complaints on medical debt, concluding that debt collectors have work to do when it comes to accuracy and illegitimately affecting credit scores. The ninth in a series of reports that reviews complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that nearly two-thirds of complaints about medical debt collection asserted that the debt was never owed, was unverified, or was already paid or discharged. The report was released in an effort to demonstrate the importance of the CFPB and raise awareness about the government agency’s work, as well as encourage policymakers to eliminate aggressive debt collection practices, according to Andrew Balis, NMpirg’s campaign organizer.

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Ski team laments "poorly handled" situation

Matthew Reisen | April 16

It started with a text message at 8 a.m. and, by 2 in the afternoon, the program he had been a part of for over 30 years was no more. That was the reality for head ski coach Fredrik Landstedt on Thursday, when UNM athletics announced their decision to dismantle the UNM ski program altogether, a situation that Landstedt describes as “extremely poorly handled.” Athletics Director Paul Krebs informed the coaches in a meeting at 1 p.m. before informing the team’s student athletes at a second meeting 15 minutes later.

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Students feel unprotected by UNMPD

Celia Raney and Celia_Raney | April 16

With car and bike thefts on the rise and seemingly increasing rates of assault on campus,some students question whether UNM Police Department officers are actively doing their jobs. “I feel like (UNMPD) is a bit lacking,” said UNM sophomore Santiago Davila. “Knowing they’re around doesn’t really make me feel all that safer at UNM.” Davila says he almost never sees UNMPD patrolling, especially at night and in high traffic areas like the Duck Pond.

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ASUNM to Athletics: Recognize, support rugby

Brendon Gray | April 16

At its penultimate meeting of the semester, the Associated Students of UNM Senate unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the Athletics Department to consider varsity status for the University’s men’s and women’s rugby teams. But, despite the student support behind the issue, an Athletics Department spokesperson said plans to add new varsity sports are not on the table, in the same week that the department announced it was axing the skiing program. The Athletics Department announced a $1.5 million deficit last fiscal year.