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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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News

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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News

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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News

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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Culture

"Rocketman" offers inspiring take on Elton John's life

Amanda Britt | June 10

“Rocketman”, an impressive musical fantasy directed by Dexter Fletcher, tells the uncensored story of Sir Elton John’s breakthrough years, his struggle with addiction and finding the purest form of love from those close to him. The story begins with John (Taron Egerton) admitting he’s an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict and a shopaholic at a group therapy session. He then tells his story to fame and fortune through biopic scenes and musical numbers set in his hometown of Pinner, England. Egerton is terrific as the singer in the movie – bringing an electrifying energy and high-level performance with him each time he goes on stage. Although he plays a character troubled by self-loathing and insecurities, Egerton does a great job of making the character multi-dimensional. Egerton’s commitment to the role shows as he effortlessly portrays the conflict John faces between his inner diva and pure musical genius.

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Sports

Track and Field: Women's team competes at NCAA Champions

Robert Maler | June 9

University of New Mexico runners have accomplished a lot over the past several years — two NCAA Championships over a three year stretch in cross country and multiple individual championships in track and field over that time frame as well. But a quartet of women raised the bar even higher for UNM as most competed in multiple events at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

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Sports

Soccer: NM United shut out 3-0 in first home loss

Robert Maler | June 9

Isotopes Park, also known as "The Lab", had been kind to the New Mexico United club — so kind, in fact, that the squad entered Saturday's match undefeated on its home pitch. But perfection isn't usually a sustainable model, and that unbeaten streak finally came to an end. United suffered its first home loss ever, which was also its first shutout loss of the season — falling 3-0 to Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday evening.

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Sports

Men's Basketball: Mathis heading west to play for Oregon Ducks

Robert Maler | June 6

Former University of New Mexico men's basketball player Anthony Mathis recently announced he had entered the NCAA transfer portal. He didn't stay there for very long. Multiple reports have confirmed that Mathis has given a verbal commitment and apparently found a new basketball home — his old one.

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Sports

Soccer: NM United and OKC Energy FC play to a 1-1 draw in Pride on the Pitch match

Robert Maler | June 5

New Mexico United remained undefeated at home, running its record on the season to 6-1-7 overall after playing OKC Energy FC to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday evening in its "Pride on the Pitch" match at Isotopes Park. The team announced an attendance of 13,574 for the mid-week fixture as fans filed into the stadium to venue to celebrate . Prior to the match, it was announced that the first 5,000 fans would receive a limited-edition New Mexico United rainbow flag.

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Sports

Soccer: NM United collects win over Switchbacks; earns date with MLS squad

Alanie Rael | June 4

The excitement around New Mexico United soccer continued last Wednesday as United took on the Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.  In the first half of the match, the game appeared to be uneventful as hopeful attempts from both teams were blocked and recovered by the dedicated goal keepers. At the end of the first, there were no goals scored.  Things began to pick up at the beginning of the second half. After an assist from Jordan Schweitzer, The Switchbacks scored the first goal of the night from Colorado Springs captain, Jordan Burt. 

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News

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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News

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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News

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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News

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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Sports

Track and Field: UNM remains Top-10 in NCAA Division I

Robert Maler | June 3

The University of New Mexico remained in the top-10 of the NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field national rankings in the latest poll. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's week 9 National Track & Field Rating Index dropped New Mexico to No. 7 overall in the standings, though it remains the highest-ranked school in the Mountain Region. New Mexico's distance runners have been turning in consistent performances throughout the season, and advanced four competitors to nationals after qualifying in the NCAA West Preliminary in Sacramento, California last weekend.

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Culture

Five things to keep you busy over the summer

Luisa Pennington | June 3

Existential dread got you down?  Now that the semester is over, you may be wondering what to do. With the time to do whatever, whenever, you may be feeling a little disoriented. No worries, though. Here at the Daily Lobo, we have you covered. Here’s five things you can do with your freedom this summer:

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News

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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News

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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News

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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News

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