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March 22, 2021 Comics

NM renters suffer in pandemic housing market

The price of rent in New Mexico has been steadily increasing for decades due to high demand and fewer and fewer vacancies. Now, low income residents are struggling to keep up with more expensive rental rates and the ongoing pandemic is only making matters worse. As of January 2021, the average cost of rent in Albuquerque was $982 for approximately 812 sq. ft., according to the rental market trends from RentCafe. That’s a 7% increase from the previous year, but prices can rise even higher with the addition of extra bedrooms or a desirable neighborhood. 

Haaland takes reins at Interior Department

WASHINGTON — On Monday, March 15, Debra Anne Haaland, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo and a former senior congresswoman from New Mexico, was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, making her the first Native American to serve in the Cabinet of a United States president. In her new role, Haaland will oversee 480 million acres of public lands and many federal agencies, including the Bureaus of Land Management and Reclamation as well as the National Park Service, according to the Department of the Interior. Monday’s full Senate vote to confirm Haaland was near party-line, 51-40, with GOP support from Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina and Susan Collins, R-Maine, backing the progressive, historic nominee.

Cannabis legalization hits another pothole in NM Legislature

New Mexico will have to wait for its turn in the proverbial smoke session after the Cannabis Regulation Act (House Bill 12) failed to be heard on the Senate floor before the 2021 legislative session ended at noon on March 20. In response to yet another failure to join the growing number of states allowing recreational marijuana use, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is set to call a special session for “roughly March 31” to specifically address legalization efforts, according to an official press release sent out two hours after the session ended.

Lottery Scholarship funding measure headed to gov’s desk

House Bill 2, the New Mexico state appropriations bill, has been approved by both chambers of the Legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk for her approval. The proposed budget legislation would allocate $59.6 million dollars toward the Lottery Scholarship for state high school graduates who choose to pursue New Mexico higher education. The Lottery Scholarship is a “merit-based” New Mexico scholarship program that helps pay for New Mexico high school graduates’ tuition at a state college or university. A majority of the scholarship’s funding comes from lottery ticket sales. If approved, the scholarship would cover 90% of tuition for those who are eligible to receive it, a marked increase compared to last year’s funding, which only covered 60%.

GPSA presidential election looms amid grad union litigation

Just weeks after the ASUNM election, the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) will hold their own election for a new president. Beginning March 29, students will be able to cast their vote for one of the two candidates vying for the seat. Aaron Cowan, an organization, information and learning sciences Ph.D student, and David C. Saavedra, a public administration master student, have announced their candidacies for GPSA president. Saavedra currently serves as the chief of staff for the executive branch of GPSA, while Cowan currently chairs the Legislative Steering Committee. The GPSA is the student body government charged with representing graduate and professional students at the University of New Mexico. Its executive branch contains a multitude of committees including the Lobby Committee, which petitions the University and the New Mexico Legislature to advance the interests of graduate and professional students on campus.

LETTER: New ASUNM president and vice president address student body

Lobos, Thank you so much for selecting us to serve as your next President and Vice President of ASUNM!  We cannot wait to get started and hope that you can be a big part in our plans for next year. We are elected by you, to serve you, so with that comes a responsibility that we are both ready for. We look forward to open dialogue and the exchanging of ideas that will better the University of New Mexico for every single student.

Bill blocking health care for LGTBQ+ population dies in committee

New Mexico state Senator Gregg Schmedes, R- Tijeras, introduced the “Health Care Workers Protection Act” (SB 323) as a way to give health care professionals the power to discriminate against their patients, although the bill died soon after its proposal.  The bill was heard in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on March 10, and was tabled. The only motion to oppose the move to table the bill was by the bill’s sponsor, Schmedes.  The bill would have allowed healthcare workers and institutions to refuse any health care service that violates their “ethical, philosophical, moral or religious beliefs or principles.”  

Discriminatory bill targeting trans women athletes dies in committee

Across the country, states continue to take action to ban trans girls from participating in women’s sports. Earlier this week, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem confirmed she will sign such a bill, while New Mexico’s version of the bill, “Women’s Sports Protection Act” (House Bill 304), died in committee just a few weeks ago.  HB 304 failed in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee (HCPAC) on Feb. 26 after it was introduced eight days earlier. The bill was sponsored by a cadre of Republicans: Zachary Cook, R- Ruidoso, Rod Montoya, R- Velarde, James Townsend, R- Artesia, Rachel Black, R- Alamogordo and Stefani Lord, R- Sandia Park. 

March 10, Comics

Romero, Regalado take ASUNM election in decisive win

On Wednesday, Greg Romero and Ryan Regalado were elected ASUNM president and vice president for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. The election marked another abysmally low voter turnout for the University of New Mexico, with only 874 voters (5.2%) out of a total of 16,662 eligible undergraduates participating in the election. Romero received 341 votes, beating his closest opponent by more than seven percentage points: an impressive margin, given the four-way race. Regalado garnered almost the same number at 329, taking 37% of the vote.

ABQ alt-weekly publishes controversial tobacco ad in Black History Month issue

On Feb. 18, Albuquerque’s newly minted alt-weekly The Paper published a “Being Black in NM'' special issue for Black History Month. The issue was intended to be a space to highlight Black voices, but featured a full-page advertisement from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. “This week, we asked our regular journalists and contributors to take a step back and give their space to Black writers, organizers and businesses to share their perspective on being Black in New Mexico,” the introduction to the special edition said. However, the issue featured a full page ad for R.J. Reynold’s Lucky Cigarettes, which has a legacy of being sued for participating in mass genocide because of the company’s historic involvement with the slave trade.

UNM women’s golf team continues to score on and off the course

The University of New Mexico women’s golf team has been one of the most successful athletic and academic programs the university has seen over the past 10 years.  With this past semester taken into consideration, the team has achieved a 3.9 GPA or higher for four consecutive semesters, 18 semesters of a 3.5 or higher GPA and 36 semesters of a 3.0 GPA or higher. The only thing more consistent than the academic success is head coach Jill Trujillo. Trujillo has led the women’s golf program for the past 14 years, and in that time, she has transformed it into a model of athletic and academic excellence.

Albuquerque invests in electric buses, and calls for transit equity

Albuquerque Ride introduced its first electric bus on Jan. 30. This was a part of Mayor Tim Keller’s pre-pandemic plan to move Albuquerque to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Rick De Reyes, a public information officer at ABQ Ride said, “This is part of Mayor Keller and the city’s overall plan to make Albuquerque a 100 percent renewable energy city by 2030. The city had already planned before the pandemic to lease one electric bus before the purchase, in order to test it out on Albuquerque’s roadways.” Nathen Begay is an advanced public lands transportation fellow at the Valle de Oro national wildlife refuge. Begay has advocated for improvements in public transit in Albuquerque in the past and looks forward to an eco-friendly transit system.

LETTER: Rift between ASUNM and student publications needs to be solved

I write to the Daily Lobo as a man who feels like he’s already been defeated. The ASUNM presidential election has taken its toll on me. One of the worst things that I could have possibly predicted has already happened. I lost the support of the people I loved and cared about. As hurt as I am about this whole situation, I wanted to take this opportunity to learn from the experience and look at things I could have done better. Before all this began, I sat down to develop my platforms for the ASUNM presidential election and was scared to develop a plan to help student publications because it wasn’t really my area of expertise.

ASUNM presidential election kicks off

This year’s ASUNM election is anything but business as usual. Presidential and vice-presidential candidates have presented diverse and comprehensive platforms that moved beyond empty platitudes. With the events of the past year fresh in their minds, the candidates outlined their strategies for tackling the biggest issues still plaguing the UNM community. Undergraduates can vote online beginning on Monday March 8 by going to their myUNM student portal and selecting two of eight candidates — four running for president and four running for vice president. Each position is elected separately as opposed to one united slate.

Mural by Albuquerque artists depicts iconic musicians across decades

The famous faces of Lady Gaga, Prince, Mac Miller and David Bowie grace a new mural behind the El Rey Theater on Seventh Street. The project was the result of a collaborative effort by forty-four local artists to honor famous musicians both past and present. Nazario Sandoval, the coordinator of artists for the new public artwork, said he initially planned for 10 artists to create the mural but the painting process turned into a community-building event, full of local artists and music lovers. The budget for the project was originally $1,000 but quickly tripled as the community of artists working on it increased. Sandoval funded the entire project himself.

Lobos lock up No. 1 seed in MW tournament after sweep

The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team completed the sweep against Colorado State to not only clinch the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament, but also secure their first regular season title since 2005. The team held on to win with a final score of 71-62. New Mexico held a 38-32 advantage at halftime, with guard Ahlise Hurst leading the Lobos in scoring with 12 points. The team then came out the gates strong in the second half, scoring 10 points in the first two minutes of the third quarter. However, Colorado State tied the game at 58-58 with just over five minutes left in the game. UNM responded by outscoring the Rams 13-4 down the stretch, securing the win.

March 3, 2021 Comics

‘Enough APD terror:’ Protesters call for abolition over reform

On Friday, Feb. 26, local activists and community members gathered at the Albuquerque Police Department’s downtown headquarters to march for the abolishment of the heavily scrutinized force. They stood on the police department’s steps as they delivered their speeches to a crowd of about 70 people. The demonstration took place nine years to the day after Trayvon Martin was killed by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman and was organized by Fight For Our Lives Albuquerque (FFOL) — a local youth-led organization — All African People’s Revolutionary Party, Power Through Peace, Save the Kids from Incarceration and Allied People's Coalition. Jennifer Marley, of the Indigenous liberation organization Red Nation, recounted the 2014 police killing of James Boyd and castigated APD’s consistent brutalization of people of color and marginalized populations.