A Santa Fe company is partnering with a nonprofit support group for organic and sustainable farming in the Southeast to expand the market for local organic wheat in the Carolinas.

Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company will contribute more than $80,000 over the next two years to the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. The nonprofit will work with farmers, including some of the company's tobacco growers and local bakeries, to create a North Carolina-branded organic bread flour and to promote the adoption of organic practices through its "Organic Farming Transition Project."


Many residents have called the New Mexico Attorney General's Office about their "mystery shopper" experiences and some are filing scam complaints.

Mystery shoppers are asked to visit local businesses, make a purchase, report on the customer service, and return a percentage of the check the mystery shopper received as payment. The mystery shopper is instructed to send the return monies through Western Union. The transferred money is sent to a Canadian address.

One consumer alerted the Attorney General's Office that she now owes her financial institution $2,000 because the "mystery shopper" paycheck she deposited into her account was bogus.

Legitimate "mystery shoppers" do exist. They are used to help businesses increase sales and improve customer service and do not scam consumers out of money.

According to the Attorney General's Office, there are signs consumers may have a "mystery shopper" scam on their hands. These include: 1) Correspondence contains misspellings; 2) Poor grammar throughout the offer; 3) A portion of the fee must be returned.

If you receive a "Mystery Shopper" proposal similar to the one detailed above, forward it to the New Mexico Attorney General's Office by e-mail at communications@nmag.gov or mail it to New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King's Office; Communications Division; 111 Lomas Blvd. NW, Suite 300, Albuquerque, NM 87102.


Nicholas Ballas of the Cowgirl BBQ & Western Grill has been named to the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce's board of directors.

Ballas has been involved in the food and beverage industry in Santa Fe for more than 25 years. He has been a partner in the Cowgirl restaurant on Guadalupe Street for more than a dozen years.

He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has appeared in dozens of film and television projects filmed in New Mexico.



SCORE is the Service Corps of Retired Executives.

Mendez will help lead SCORE's mission of service to help hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs each year in starting, managing and growing their businesses, according to a statement from SCORE.

Mendez retired after a 33-year career with Southern California Edison Company.