Rail Runner goes wireless Monday

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Rail Runner passengers will get a chance to try out the commuter train's new Wi-Fi system starting Monday.

A group of 50 volunteers had been given access to test the system over the last several months. Now, the final test phase will be open to all passengers for the next 90 days to work out any remaining bugs in the system.

Wi-Fi service for passengers will be free. It will be available on the trains as well as at each station between Santa Fe and Belen.

Once logged on, passengers should be able to surf the Internet, send e-mails and move from station to train without losing connectivity.

New Mexico Transportation Secretary Gary Giron says the wireless system will provide another convenience for commuters.

School district warns of raffle scams

Santa Fe Public Schools this week warned citizens to be wary of raffle-ticket pitches from strangers who claim to be raising money for Gonzales Community School, Agua Fría Elementary School or Santa Fe High.

LeeAnn Vigil, public information specialist for SFPS, said that with the exception of ticket sales for a dinner at Carlos Gilbert Elementary School, the school district is not involved in any public fund-raising efforts for any of its schools.

Vigil suggests anyone approached by people seeking to sell a ticket should ask for identification and contact Santa Fe Police Department.

Judge hears motions in emissions case

ALBUQUERQUE — A state district judge has yet to rule on motions related to a legal battle brewing over one environmental group's effort to petition New Mexico regulators for a greenhouse gas emissions cap.

Judge William Shoobridge heard arguments Thursday in Lovington on motions to dismiss the case as well as a motion seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent the state Environmental Improvement Board from moving ahead with hearing the proposal by New Energy Economy to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

It could be another week before a ruling is made.

New Mexico's largest utility, three state lawmakers and other industry groups sued in January to stop regulators from considering the emissions petition. They argue the board doesn't have the authority to implement a greenhouse gas emissions cap.

Museum director named to national post

Shelby Tisdale, director of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Laboratory of Anthropology on Museum Hill, has been named to the Smithsonian Institution's Native American Repatriation Review Committee.

The seven-member committee was established to monitor and review the inventory, identification and return of human remains and funerary projects. Its responsibilities were later expanded to include sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.

Since the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, in 1990 about 38,671 human remains have been repatriated, as well as 998,731 associated funerary objects, 144,163 unassociated funerary objects, 4,303 sacred objects, 948 objects of cultural patrimony and 822 objects that are both sacred and patrimonial.

Restaurant Week called a success

Thousands of diners turned out for the value-priced meals offered during New Mexico's first Restaurant Week promotion.

Michele Ostrove, president of Wings Media Network, the public relations and marketing firm that organized the Feb. 28-March 7 event, said the effort brought in more than $2.6 million in revenue.

Restaurants reported an average business increase of 72 percent over the week prior to the promotion, he said in a news release. Almost half of participating restaurants sold out at least one night during Restaurant Week.

Chris Harvey, general manager for Geronimo, a restaurant on Canyon Road, is quoted as saying, "It was like Valentine's Day for most of the week."

The next Restaurant Week is planned for early November.

Paving to close Tent Rocks monument

COCHITI PUEBLO — The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument will be closed for up to six weeks during June and July while crews pave the road that leads from Cochiti Pueblo to the monument.

The Bureau of Land Management says the five-mile dirt road is being paved to reduce the need to close it after heavy rain and snow and to minimize the dust stirred up from monument visitors.

The agency says other alternatives, such as partial road openings, were considered.

The alternatives would have taken longer to complete or would have been more problematic, so the BLM and pueblo leaders decided to close the monument and the road — Tribal Road 92/BLM 1011 — to allow for the paving in a timely manner.

First lady hosts charity bowling event

First lady Barbara Richardson will host the 8th Annual First Lady's Bowl for Kids' Sake on April 10 in Pojoaque.

The annual campaign by Big Brothers Big Sisters raises money and awareness for the nonprofit program that matches children with adult mentors.

The effort has raised nearly $250,000 since 2003, a news release from the Governor's Office said.

The event, set for 10 a.m. at Strike Gold Lanes, is described as "a special celebratory bowling date set aside for all of the government employees who raised money for this campaign."

The program is looking for sponsors, team captains and bowlers. For more information, call 983-8360 or visit www.bbbs.org/northernNM.

Hunt applications due April 7

Hunters who want a shot at deer, elk, antelope, ibex, javelina and bighorn sheep licenses in the 2010-2011 season must apply by April 7.

Online applications must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Paper applications must be postmarked by April 7 or delivered to the department office in Santa Fe by 5 p.m. April 7. The department expects to receive more than 150,000 applications for 50,000 available licenses and permits.

Applicants applying for a public-land license or permit, or purchasing a license via a private land authorization or the Valles Caldera must obtain a free Customer ID Number online at www.wildlife.state.nm.us or in person from any Game and Fish Department office. Applications without the ID number will be rejected.

Hunters who held deer permits or elk licenses for the 2009-2010 season must report their harvest results before applying.

Student ideas for downtown get award

A plan for revitalizing part of downtown Santa Fe written by architecture graduate students has been recognized by the Congress of New Urbanism, a Chicago nonprofit.

Andrew von Maur, an associate professor at Andrews University in Battle Creek, Mich., the flagship educational institution of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, visited Santa Fe with a team of 14 students last September after choosing the area around the Roundhouse for their project.

"Santa Fe has this reputation of being a really tremendous city and in many ways it deserves the reputation," he said Tuesday. "But then also immediately adjacent to the downtown and these historic neighborhoods there is this sort of enormous quasi-wasteland of parking lots and mono-functional use and automobile-dominated streets. There is all this potential, so we wanted to put forward a proposal just to sort of get this discussion elevated."

The team suggests a redevelopment approach for an area that it called "underutilized," including construction of homes, live-work spaces and small retail buildings that would face the east side of the Capitol and "re-use" the PERA building and space now occupied by surface parking.

View the ideas online at http://www.andrewsurbandesign.org/barriocapital.pdf.




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