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‘Alarming’ inaction: Department chair calls for transparent investigation of UNMPD

Bella Davis | September 26

American Studies Chair David Correia is calling for a community-led investigation of the University of New Mexico Police Department “with a focus on finding alternatives to armed police on UNM’s campus,” per a letter Correia sent to UNM President Garnett Stokes on Friday. The letter was written in part as a response to UNMPD officer Eric Peer, who recently returned to work after two weeks of paid leave following an investigation for a racist TikTok video that featured a “scanning for Mexicans” South Park voice over. University spokesperson Cinnamon Blair said disciplinary action has been taken but wouldn’t say what that disciplinary action was. The Daily Lobo has filed a records request in an attempt to learn the nature of the sanctions levied on Peer.

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Sex workers move services online after strip club shutdown

Gabriel Biadora | September 24

(10/05/2020) EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated with contributions and input from a sex worker rights expert. Since Albuquerque’s strip clubs shut down following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s subsequent order for non-essential businesses to close in March, some sex workers have adjusted by moving their services online. Online adult entertainment, ranging from webcam or “camming” sites to more traditional pornography sites, has seen a surge in activity in the last 6 months. Sex work online has become an increasingly popular way for people to create, own and publish their own content and support themselves financially amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

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'Tomorrow we rise:’ Ginsburg’s legacy honored in Albuquerque

Shelby Kleinhans | September 23

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, known for her judicial fight for women’s equality, passed away Friday, Sept. 18 at the age of 87. In response, an event called “When There are Nine: Remembering RBG and a Call to Action” was held at Tiguex Park on Sunday evening. “If there was ever a moment folx were waiting for to be mad as hell, this is it,” the event page stated, referring to President Donald Trump and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s promise to replace Ginsburg before the imminent election.

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UNM community urges students to vote

Gabriel Saiz | September 20

The University of New Mexico community is gearing up for the 2020 general election with in-person and online events for National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, Sept. 22. An in-person voter registration drive will take place at the Pit from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The organizers — the UNM Athletics department and the Albuquerque City Clerk’s Office — ask that participants bring their state-issued ID or proof of residency, according to a press release from the Athletics department. UNM assistant athletic director of marketing Carlos Ramirez said he wants to reach the student body and the area surrounding campus with the event. He also said that parking at the Pit will be free.

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Contact tracers work to slow the spread of COVID-19

Nikita Jaiswal | September 20

A University of New Mexico student received a phone call from the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) late one Wednesday evening. The department was calling to tell her she had tested positive for COVID-19. “I was so shocked when I found out,” she said, “but talking to the contact tracer eased my worries.” Contract tracers play an important role in combating the coronavirus. When a person tests positive for the virus, contract tracers call and inform them of their test result, which begins the case investigation.

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Search for new student regent underway

Spencer Butler | September 20

The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) have put out calls for the next student regent. The student regent is a member of the student body who serves on the UNM Board of Regents as one of seven full voting members. Melissa C. Henry, a doctoral candidate in the College of Education, is currently serving as the student regent, but her term expires at the end of the year. The next student regent’s two-year term will start in January 2021.

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Cutoff to receive absentee ballots just over a month away

Spencer Butler | September 18

With the 2020 general election less than two months away, time is running out for New Mexico voters to obtain absentee ballots. On Aug. 28, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver announced that voters can apply for absentee ballots through an online portal. New Mexico is a “no-excuse” absentee ballot state, meaning that any registered voter can obtain an absentee ballot. The deadline to register to vote, either online or by mail, is Oct. 6. The final day to get an absentee ballot is Oct. 20, and it is suggested that voters mail them back by Oct. 27.

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Over a third of UNM students food insecure, even more lack stable housing

Annya Loya | September 18

In April — just one month into the COVID-19 stay-at-home order — 32% of UNM students reported experiencing food insecurity and almost 42% were unsure about their housing, according to a recent study conducted by the University of New Mexico’s Basic Needs Team. The team — comprised of researchers from a variety of departments and offices on campus — examined the rates of food and housing insecurity and how they are patterned across different demographic groups at UNM. New Mexico households have the highest rate (16.8%) of food insecurity across the country, according to the study.

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Black New Mexico Movement rally in Rio Rancho met with large, aggressive counter-protest

Bella Davis | September 16

A group of 50 or so protesters in attendance at a Black New Mexico Movement (BNMM) rally held in Rio Rancho on Sept. 12 were met with hateful rhetoric from a large crowd of right-wing counter-protesters. BNMM held the rally on the eve of the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s murder “to call for the same changes Tupac called for many years ago,” according to the Facebook event page, a reference to Shakur’s activism against racism and police bruality. Organizers encouraged attendees to register to vote, fill out the census and keep working toward racial justice.

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‘The new normal’: New Mexico’s clear and present climate crisis

Andrew Gunn | September 14

As climate change continues to accelerate and manifest in the form of hotter summers, drier monsoons and ever more extreme weather, New Mexico’s complex ecosystem has borne witness to a hellfire of havoc disproportionate to that of other states in the union. But what grim reality should New Mexicans ...

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Great American Outdoors Act: ‘A big damn deal’

Hevyn Heckes | September 14

On Aug. 4, after waiting several months for a proposal from Congress, President Donald Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), giving nearly a billion dollars a year in the process to wilderness conservation and park construction projects across the country. “The Great American Outdoors Act provides $900 million a year in guaranteed funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund so that all Americans can continue to enjoy our parks and wildlife refuges,” according to a White House briefing. New Mexico stands to benefit greatly from the legislation, given that the state is home to two national parks and a number of wilderness areas.

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UNM’s desert oasis a costly endeavor

Maddie Pukite | September 14

The seven hundred and sixty-nine acres that span the University of New Mexico campus are predominantly covered in grass — an odd sight, given the college’s high desert locale. Water, a precious commodity that is increasingly lacking in supply and high in demand, flows freely on UNM’s grounds — and according to the administration, isn’t a cost that is easily tabulated. Norma Allen, the director of the University’s budget operations, said that UNM’s Facilities Management department receives a $1.9 million budget for the grounds. Facilities Management said that its system isn’t currently set up to monitor the water usage on campus, and because of this isn’t able to peg down the exact cost.

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UNM Athletics spared the brunt of COVID infections in college sporting scene

Lissa Knudsen | September 10

So far this semester, University of New Mexico Athletics has been spared any major COVID-19 outbreaks, as the program adheres to NCAA and Mountain West Conference guidelines. UNM Athletics director Eddie Nuñez told the Daily Lobo on Aug. 28 that the University is complying with the college sporting body’s stringent regulations, but that hasn’t prevented at least 11 UNM athletes, staffers and/or coaches from testing positive for the virus as of the end of August. These cases are not unique in the wider college athletics landscape. As of the beginning of August, “at least 800 college football players have tested positive for the virus nationwide,” according to Sports Illustrated. However, they warned that “the actual number is likely much higher.”

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Former UNM football coach son's murder remains unsolved

Gino Gutierrez | September 8

Mike Locksley, whose brief tenure as the University of New Mexico’s head football coach ended in 2011, and his wife Kia held a joint press conference with the Howard County Police Department on Sept. 3 to announce renewed efforts in the pursuit of knowledge about the murder of Locksley’s son Meiko. The day marked the three-year anniversary of Meiko Locksley’s murder. The 25-year-old was shot once in the chest on the 5500 block of Harpers Farm Road in Columbia, Md. He was later pronounced dead at the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center.

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UNM getting the bands back together

Beatrice Nisoli | September 8

University of New Mexico bands haven’t practiced in person since August but are set to resume face-to-face rehearsals after Labor Day with the assistance of new, custom-made masks and socially distanced protocols. Associate professor Chad Simons, who is the associate director of bands and director ...

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Right-wing Rio Rancho residents plan counter-demo to BLM protest

Bella Davis | September 8

As right-wing violence continues to escalate across the country, a Black Lives Matter counter-protest is organizing online. Black New Mexico Movement (BNMM), a group that formed over the summer, is planning to hold a demonstration on the eve of the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder “to call for the same changes Tupac called for many years ago,” the Facebook event page states. Shakur was outspoken about systemic racism and police brutality, having himself been a victim of such violence.

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Sandia Labs employee rails against critical race theory in lab-wide email

Bella Davis | September 6

Sandia National Laboratories employee Casey Petersen sent out a lab-wide email on Aug. 25 that contained a self-made YouTube video titled “Pushing Back on the Narrative of Modern Systemic Racism & White Privilege.” In the two weeks since the racist video was sent out, Petersen has drawn support from conservative commentators while Sandia Labs leadership have yet to publicly condemn the video. In the hour-long diatribe, Petersen makes a series of claims that anti-racism training doesn’t belong in the workplace and that systemic racism isn’t a major problem in the modern-day United States, among others.

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Students call for firing of UNMPD officer over racist TikTok video

Bella Davis | September 4

Update: UNMPD officer Eric Peer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the University’s investigation but no final decision has been made, according to University communications officer Cinnamon Blair. Meanwhile, a petition calling for Peer to be fired has gained more than 100 signatures since being created Friday morning. In a now-deleted TikTok video, University of New Mexico Police Department officer Eric Peer recorded a man tiling a floor with a voiceover of Cartman from South Park saying “scanning for Mexicans” edited in. The video circulated on Twitter Thursday night, with some students calling for Peer to be fired. “I think the cop absolutely needs to be fired. There’s no justification to keep him on whatsoever,” Associated Students of the University of New Mexico President Pro Tempore Suha Musa told the Daily Lobo.

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Black Student Union condemns Brian Urlacher post on Jacob Blake shooting

Gino Gutierrez | September 4

On Aug. 27, perhaps the most famous football player ever to wear the cherry and silver uniform of the University of New Mexico posted an incendiary screed on Instagram denigrating NBA players’ brief strike of playoff games in protest of police brutality and structural racism. The players’ boycott was in response to the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Aug. 23. Blake is paralyzed from the waist down, according to his lawyer, and remains hospitalized as of the publication of this article. UNM’s Black Student Union (BSU) followed with a strongly worded statement, released on social media on Sept. 2, rebuking what they said was Urlacher’s “horrific” interpretation of the events leading up to the near-fatal police shooting of Blake.

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Medical examiner says no CTE in Flowers autopsy

Hevyn Heckes | August 30

Editor’s note: This article contains discussion of suicide. If you’re feeling suicidal, you are not alone. Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or UNM’s Student Health and Counseling at 505-277-3136. On Aug. 25, famed attorney Ben Crump announced a wrongful death lawsuit regarding the November 2019 death of former University of New Mexico football player Nahje Flowers. The suit alleges that Flowers suffered from untreated and/or undiagnosed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a neurological disorder common in athletes who participate in contact sports such as boxing or football — due to repeated head trauma during the course of play in his capacity as a defensive lineman for the Lobos.