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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.

School strike for climate marchers on Central Avenue.

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ABQ students walk out for climate action, participate in global movement

Andrew Gunn | May 4

The youth have spoken on climate change, and their message is clear: inaction will no longer be tolerated. Over 200 students from the Albuquerque area walked out of class on Friday afternoon and converged on Johnson Field in protest of governmental failures to address climate change. The student-led demonstration, in lockstep with a growing worldwide movement known as the School Strike for Climate, demanded elected officials and businesses face the reality of human-caused climate change and take steps to mitigate it. It was organized by Fight For Our Lives, a student-activist group formed in response to the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February of last year. The protest ended in a march from Johnson Field to the intersection of Central and Carlisle, where the junction was blocked for the better part of an hour.

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Graduates protest for higher wages

Justin Garcia | May 3

“Who are we? Graduate Workers! What do we want? A living wage!” That was one of several chants shouted by around 200 (mostly) graduate workers during a march and protest for higher wages on Wednesday.

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UNM, Union reach agreement (updated)

Kyle Land | April 30

The University of New Mexico and United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM), the proposed faculty union for the state’s flagship university, reached an agreement late Monday night, according to multiple sources close to the matter. The compromise reached between the University and the union includes two bargaining units organized under UA-UNM. One bargaining team will represent full-time faculty and a separate unit will represent part-time faculty, according to Associate Professor Matías Fontenla, a member of the union’s organizing committee. He also said faculty from branch campuses will be included in the full-time bargaining team — which was a sticking point in negotiations. Both Fontenla and James Montalbano, an attorney representing the union, said the exact language of the agreement would be publicized Tuesday morning, sometime before a meeting of the general faculty at Popejoy Hall at 10 a.m.

Undergraduate and graduate student tuition increases

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What students pay for tuition increase

Danielle Prokop and Justin Garcia | April 29

The cost of attendance at the University of New Mexico is going up. That much is clear. However, it’s not a simple student fee increase, base tuition increase or some additional fees; it’s all that and more.