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Education prof takes on deanship

Justin Garcia | June 30

Becoming the Dean of the College of Education was never the plan, but that’s where Deborah Rifenbary finds herself for the incoming Fall 2019 semester. Rifenbary is replacing the former dean, Salvador Hector Ochoa, on an interim basis. Ochoa left the University of New Mexico for a provost position at San Diego State University, according to an SDSU news release. He starts July 2. Before Ochoa left, Rifenbary said she was planning on retiring in December. “I think the college is in a transition right now. I think that I am someone who can offer stability. I have always been an advocate for faculty voice, collaboration and collegiality. I am committed to student success,” Rifenbary, who previously held an associate dean position in the college, told the Daily Lobo.

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UNM IPRA story: University redacts response records

Danielle Prokop | June 24

The University of New Mexico may have violated transparency laws with a near-total redaction of three letters between a Records Custodian and an unknown requester(s) or requestors, according to transparency advocates. The records were dated between November and December 2018 and the bulk or in some cases the entirety of the information being sought from the University — including the requestor’s name — was redacted. All the documents were requested by the Daily Lobo though the Inspection of Public Records Act. Last week, the University was publicly criticized by the Office of the Attorney General for failure to adhere to the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act by not releasing records to the Albuquerque Journal. The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Executive Director, Melanie Majors said she had concerns about the amount of redactions.

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Suspect arrested in double homicide; UNM student killed, remembered

Makayla Grijalva | June 24

“She is probably one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met.” UNM Student Shanta Hanish is remembered by her friend Donald Roberts just a couple days after her and her mother Laura Hanish were discovered by Albuquerque detectives stabbed to death in their home. They were found on Friday, June 21. Jesus Cartagena, 20, was issued an arrest warrant for the homicide of the two women on Saturday, June 22. The warrant was issued shortly after Cartagena turned himself into El Paso police claiming he had “done something bad in Albuquerque” according to the official arrest warrant. He is currently being held by the El Paso police department.

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UNM: Border fence around campus? Not so fast

Danielle Prokop | June 17

University officials said a decision on the proposed campus perimeter fence isn’t coming anytime soon. In addition, the group set to review the proposal doesn’t have all of its members. President Garnett Stokes told the Daily Lobo that the newly announced Campus Safety Council would recommend action on the proposal, but not until the fall semester. “[A barrier] was just one piece of everything we needed to think about, but it got out there as something imminent, and no way is it in that category,” she said. When asked if UNM is taking the proposal seriously, Stokes told the Daily Lobo the decision is still a long way from being made.

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Political organization rallies for abortion

Amanda Britt | June 17

“Ain’t no power like the power of the people, ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop,' ” chanted participants of a pro-choice abortion rally Friday afternoon. Around 50 people gathered at Central and First Street to spread awareness and support for reproductive rights. The demonstration was organized by the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL). “Even though it’s a smaller turnout tonight, the energy is really great,” said Karina Rodgers, 24, a member of PSL. “There’s a lot of new faces here, and a lot of young faces as well. It’s really inspiring because this is just the beginning of protests, rallies and the movement for reproductive rights.” “In Soviet Russia, quotes pull YOU”

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NMAG Letter: UNM withholding public records

Makayla Grijalva | June 17

The New Mexico Office of the Attorney General released a letter Friday which informed the University of New Mexico that they are in violation of the state’s “sunshine laws” by withholding documents that should be public information. “We conclude this determination by, yet again, reminding ...

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UNMH workers picket for better pay

Danielle Prokop and Lissa Knudsen | June 12

A group of University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) health care workers and their union representatives picketed against the Hospital Wednesday morning. The protesters, around 20 employees and representatives from the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, Local 1199, are accusing UNMH management of proposing a new contract they said is worse than their current contract. Media relations for UNMH, Mark Rudi, told the Daily Lobo that the Hospital’s Budget Office could not comment during negotiations, nor could the hospital according to UNMH policy. “UNM Hospitals continues to negotiate with the union. We appreciate and value our employees and are dedicated to putting our patients first in everything we do,” Rudi wrote in a statement provided to the Daily Lobo.

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APD arrests man allegedly behind crosswalk vandalism

Justin Garcia | June 11

The Albuquerque Police Department arrested a man they believe to have vandalized the rainbow-colored crosswalks. Anthony Morgan is believed to be the rider in the video that showed dozens of motorcycles burning out their tires and leaving skid marks along a recently installed rainbow-colored crosswalks on Morningside and Central in Nob Hill. According to the warrant for Morgan’s arrest, APD utilized tips from the Crimestoppers hotline and Morgan’s social media to identify him as one of the riders. According to the arrest warrant, police connected three videos obtained on social media with Morgan’s Instagram account. They said the make and model of the motorcycle, and tattoos visible in the videos allowed them to identify Morgan as one of the motorcyclists who vandalized the crosswalk

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ABQ parades to celebrate Pride

Beatrice Nisoli | June 10

Albuquerque gathered to celebrate 2019 LGBTQ Pride parade this past Saturday. This year was the 50th anniversary of Stonewall — the riots that largely impacted the LGBTQ movement and continues to resonate to this day. Despite the intense Albuquerque heat, a crowd of thousands of people gathered along Central Avenue. The Daily Lobo profiled people who attended and participated in this year’s event.

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Vigil commemorates Stonewall Riots

Lauren McDonald | June 10

Albuquerque PrideFest held a candlelight vigil for the LGBT community on Friday evening, June 6 at Morningside Park. The vigil was held in remembrance of the Stonewall riots in 1969 and ended up experiencing a protest of its own. A group of protesters chanted over the national anthem and a few speakers at the event. It is unclear if they were affiliated with a local organization. Otherwise the vigil went on as planned.

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Albuquerque unveils rainbow crosswalk

Lauren McDonald | June 10

The city unveiled their display for the Pride crosswalks painted rainbow colors on historic Route 66, at the intersection of Morningside Drive and Central Avenue — but that display was then vandalized a few days later. A video uploaded to Facebook showed a group of motorcyclists taking turns skidding on the crosswalk. Mayor Tim Keller called the actions of the motorcyclists a “symbolic act of hate,” and said they “will not be accepted.”

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Local program works to help refugees resettle

Bella Davis | June 3

As they waited and waited at a bus stop on a Sunday five years ago, Mohammed Alkwaz and his sister didn’t understand why the bus was taking so long to arrive. A woman passing by told them the bus didn’t run on Sundays. Unable to get ahold of the few local contacts they had and with no other way to get home, they walked to a nearby motel and asked the receptionist to call them a taxi. Alkwaz came to Albuquerque from Iraq in 2012. He was one of nearly 60,000 refugees who resettled in the United States that year. He said the process of resettlement comes with many challenges — including language and cultural barriers. “It’s not easy to change your life. Outside of your home country, everything is different: the culture, the system, the language,” Alkwaz said. “Imagine you are going to change your whole life for you and your family. It’s so difficult because, for me, I have no choice.”

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In wake of student death, APD & UNMPD partner

Danielle Prokop | June 3

The man accused of killing Jackson Weller, 23, a University of New Mexico baseball player, pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Friday, May 31. Police said Darian Bashir, 23, shot and killed Weller outside Imbibe — a bar in Nob Hill — in the early hours of Saturday, May 4. According to reports, police arrived on scene and found Weller, who had been shot once in the chest. Weller was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Police later told KRQE 13 that Weller had been in a fight before the shooting. Witnesses interviewed said Bashir wasn’t involved in the incident. Bashir will be detained until his trial.

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Scooter rentals come to ABQ, but not UNM

Justin Garcia | June 3

Shareable scooters have begun zipping around the University area in Albuquerque. But scooting around campus remains illegal. University of New Mexico spokesperson Daniel Jiron (cq) said that the Spin scooters, like all motorized scooters, are not allowed to be used on campus based on UNM policy 2260. Spin did not return the Daily Lobo’s request for comment on the matter. The scooters arrived after the Albuquerque City Council passed an ordinance creating regulations for the rentable scooters (also called e-scooters) in October, 2018. “We’re excited to have these new forms of transportation like scooter shares come to our great city, as long as they follow the rules we’ve established,” said City Councilor Pat Davis in a press release.

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Marketing students win advertising award

Justin Garcia | June 3

A marketing class at the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management took home a first-place award in a competition to create the best advertising campaign. The class created the “Made You Look” campaign to promote the Acura ILX, a luxury sedan. The class’ campaign beat out around 20 schools and garnered over a million impressions on social media, according to one of the class’s instructors, John Bendavidiz. “We’ve been doing this forever, I think 14 years now we’ve been doing these competitions, and so I feel fairly confident in saying this is the best campaign any class has ever produced,” Bendavidiz said.

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Changing of the guard: Q&A with Richard Wood

Kyle Land | May 7

Richard Wood has been a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico since 2002. However, in the past couple of years that he has served in his biggest role yet — Interim Provost & Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs. During nearly one year in the position, Wood has faced a host of issues at UNM, including budget cuts, decreasing enrollment and struggling to retain faculty. He recently sat down with the Daily Lobo , just before his replacement, James Holloway, fills his position in July.

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UNM Baseball mourns Jackson Weller's death

Cameron Goeldner and Justin Garcia | May 6

“Jackson Weller was one of the classiest kids I’ve ever coached,” Lobo Baseball Head Coach Ray Birmingham said as he held back tears. “This was the first time in 42 years I’ve lost one of the players on my watch.” Birmingham, Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez and outfielder Brayden Merritt spoke with members of the media about Weller, who was shot and killed outside of a Nob Hill nightclub early Saturday morning. During the press conference, Birmingham and Merritt reflected on how Weller came to play for the Lobos and what he meant to the team, despite never throwing a pitch in a series game.

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Three Protests, Two days, One Union

The Daily Lobo Editorial Board | May 6

Last week there were three unrelated demonstrations at the University of New Mexico — each one larger than the last. On Tuesday, the UNM faculty marched to Scholes Hall chanting and using an airhorn. The march followed a meeting discussing the agreement between United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM) and the University to allow a vote on the existence of a faculty union. UNM President Garnett Stokes has promised to honor the outcome of the vote. The group of about 30 faculty dispersed after an hour. On Wednesday, graduate workers walked out in order to advocate for “living wages.” That protest swelled to around 200 people and lasted over two hours. On Friday, hundreds of Albuquerque students walked out of class to bring attention to human-caused climate change. This in conjunction with the worldwide movement, School Strike for Climate.

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Becka Myers says farewell to UNM

Justin Garcia | May 6

Few students will ever have the ability to impact the University of New Mexico like Becka Myers has. Myers has served as a coordinator, a senator, a chairwomen and, most recently, as the president of the Associated Students of UNM, undergraduate student government. While many students disregard ASUNM, which has been expressed multiple times by senators during meetings, all students are affected by their decisions. When administrators need student input on a decision, like raising tuition, they go to ASUNM. If they can, they go to Myers. Myers was born in Texas but sees Anchorage, Alaska as one of her homes. She went to South Anchorage High School, one of eight high schools in a city with a population of less than 300,000. “We got super excited when the Target opened,” Myers said. “We couldn’t get into Olive Garden for months.” Alaska was the

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UNM baseball player shot and killed

Cameron Goeldner | May 4

Jackson Weller, 23 years old and a University of New Mexico Baseball Player, is dead after a shooting outside Imbibe Nightclub in Nob Hill early Saturday morning. Weller was a transfer from Gateway Community College in Arizona. He had not yet appeared for the Lobos after joining the program in the fall of 2018 and was sitting out this season due to injury. He had plans to rejoin the program next fall, according to an Albuquerque Journal story.