Elliott Wood - The Daily Lobo

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Lobo cartoonist ends a college career slinging paper, be it zine or news

Elliott Wood | December 8

For a year and half, X E Oaks has worked in two roles rarely acknowledged when the topic of newspapers comes up: cartoonist and paper delivery. On the latter, the soon-to-be graduate had nothing but praise. “(It’s) actually really so lovely and meditative,” Oaks said. “It’s like, wake up on Monday at 4:30, get ready, and then go and you have like two hours just completely alone, blasting tunes and driving around campus, and no one’s awake yet.” Oaks will be graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree this Fall.

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Bernalillo County participates in routine elections audit

Elliott Wood | December 1

On Monday, Nov. 24, election officials from Bernalillo County began their voting system check after last month's general election. A post-election audit is required by law for every county in the state and carried out in association with a third-party auditor. Zlotnik and Sandoval, the auditor hired by the state this year, assigned a set number of precincts to each county for review by hand-count. Due to the size of its population, Bernalillo County is typically assigned "the lion's share" of those precincts, Bernalillo County Bureau of Elections Administrator Nathan Jaramillo said. This year, 22 of 70 total precincts were selected from Bernalillo.

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ASUNM bill on broadcasting meetings highlights senator attendance issue

Elliott Wood | October 27

A bill on livestreaming meetings that passed during the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico’s full senate meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22, faced criticism from some senators, and highlighted issues of senator attendance at meetings this semester. Bill #11F, proposed by Senators Daniyal Hussain and Jillian Grandinetti, mandates that all Full Senate meetings be either livestreamed or recorded to “ensure public accessibility.” The method by which the meeting would be livestreamed was left intentionally vague, Hussain said, in order to allow for changes in methodology as they tested different solutions. The bill, which was eventually passed by a vote of 12 yays to two nays, with six abstaining or absent, will take effect next semester.

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ASUNM fails to provide notice of first fall Full Senate meeting

Elliott Wood | September 1

On Aug. 20, the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico Senate held a publicly unannounced full senate meeting prior to previously scheduled and announced committee meetings. This meeting included the passing of a bill and confirming the appointment of three new senators. This failure to alert the public to the existence and circumstances of a meeting where business regarding legislation could take place is in violation of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act, as well as the ASUNM Lawbook. The New Mexico Open Meetings Act is part of the state’s Sunshine Laws that provide statutory guidelines for conducting public meetings, and ensure that public policy is made in meetings that are open to the public where members thereof are permitted to attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings, according to UNM School of Law and the New Mexico Department of Justice.

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United Graduate Workers demonstrate at ice cream social

Elliott Wood and Addison Fulton | August 25

On Aug. 18, the University of New Mexico hosted Ice Cream Social and Departmental Informational Day with UNM President Garnett Stokes as part of the University’s “Welcome Back Days”. The United Graduate Workers of UNM, a union representing graduate workers, demonstrated at the event, hoping to raise awareness for their efforts and get face time with the University President. The demonstrators were hoping to secure higher wages, vision and dental insurance and contractual protections for international grad students against having their immigration status exposed or weaponized, UGW Stewards Noah Mertz and Lee Ferrin, said.

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REVIEW: Marvel’s third attempt at its “First Family” is Fantastic

Elliott Wood | August 17

Marvel Studios newest feature film, “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” was released July 25. It’s also not the first, second, or even third attempt by a major studio to bring the titular group to life; however, it is arguably the best. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the other attempts — those being the 2005 and 2007 movies helmed by Tim Story and the 2015 reboot from “Chronicle” director Josh Trank — though none of them ever shined in the eyes of critics. My hypothesis is that, tonally, these films were molded by the other superhero content hitting theaters at the time, and failed to measure up to their competitors — until now.

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How Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ could impact health care for New Mexicans

Elliott Wood | July 14

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a bill that could have major impacts for the people of New Mexico. The bill’s major items include extending tax cuts from Trump’s first term as president, which were previously due to expire at the end of the year, modifying eligibility requirements for Medicaid enrollees, changes to SNAP benefits, changes to student-loan repayment options and increased funding for border security.

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Holloway leaves provost position

Elliott Wood | June 6

James Paul Holloway, previously theUniversity of New Mexico’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, was selected by the University of Toledo as its new president on May 22, according to an announcement from President Garnett Stokes. He’s set to begin his duties in the position on July 15. Holloway had been in the role of provost since 2019 after he was selected to replace the previous provost, Chaouki Abdallah, after Abdallah left to lead Georgia Tech’s research program the year prior.

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REVIEW: I have a good feeling about Star Wars’

Elliott Wood and Nate Bernard | May 19

When we first sat down to watch Andor, we were skeptical. The Star Wars universe has been watered down as of late by Disney’s assembly line of turn-your-brain-off content and we were unsure if Star Wars would ever recover. When Disney announced that they would be creating a show centering around one Cassian Andor, we said, “Who?” But, after watching the complete show, we are delighted to say that “Andor” is a must-see and one of Star Wars’ best.

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ASUNM senate passes climate, inclusion resolutions in final spring meeting

Elliott Wood | May 5

The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico Senate passed two resolutions at its last meeting of the semester on Wednesday, April 30, aimed at addressing the effects of climate change in New Mexico and students and staff who are at risk, due to “shifting federal priorities” regarding inclusion and citizenship status, according to the resolution. Resolution 2S is a formal declaration from ASUNM urging UNM to declare a climate emergency. The resolution supports the creation of a UNM sustainability council, which resolution sponsor Sen. Jayce McCloud said is already in progress. In addition, the resolution reads that ASUNM advocates for implementing a Strategic Sustainability Plan that would lay out measurable goals for carbon neutrality, responsible investments and sustainable infrastructure on campus.