City skips hazardous waste collection

Due to budget restraints, the city of Santa Fe won't hold a household hazardous waste collection this spring as it has for the previous 10 years. The city announced that it also will delay opening a new permanent household hazardous waste collection facility until 2011.

A city news release noted that in recent years, latex paint has been one of the most common materials collected from residents, even though it isn't hazardous. Latex paint can be solidified by mixing it with sand and kitty litter, left to dry, then placed with regular household trash, the release said.

Used motor oil, the second most popular material in volume during past collections, can be taken to Auto Zone, Pep Boys and Jiffy Lube at no charge. Call city or county solid waste officials at 995-2200 or 993-3925 for other locations.

Pesticides should be used completely before disposing of empty containers, recommends the Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency.

The agency accepts electronic waste such as computers, monitors, keyboards and fluorescent bulbs for a fee at the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station. But most electronic waste will be accepted for free at the Siler Road solid-waste headquarters on the mornings of March 20 and Aug. 30. There's a $5 charge for televisions.

Animal-rights group protests whaling industry

A Santa Fe-based animal-rights group plans to protest at Saturday's Japanese Cultural Festival in hopes of drawing attention to the plight of the world's whales.

Peace & Justice for Animals announced it will hold a demonstration from 10 a.m. to noon in front of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center on Marcy Street, where the one-day festival is being held. The sixth annual matsuri, or festival, sponsored by the Santa Fe Japanese Intercultural Network, features music, food, workshops and art.

This year's festival highlights Japan's samurai culture with demonstrations from master swordsmen.

Saturday's protest is being held in support of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a group that tries to block Japanese whalers from killing the mammals. Don Kimball, spokesman for the group, said in a news release that it's critical everyone knows, "including our Japanese visitors, that Japan continues to support this terrible slaughter of sentient marine mammals."

Peace & Justice for Animals is a nonprofit, grass-roots activist organization dedicated to ending exploitation of animals and the destruction of the natural world.

Taos Express shuttle service makes changes

Beginning this week, Taos Express shuttle will offer bus service between Santa Fe and Taos on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but will discontinue service on Thursday evenings.

A news release from the firm says it has also established a new stop at the corner of Guadalupe Street and Montezuma Avenue.

The schedule change is in response to popular demand and now corresponds with the New Mexico Rail Runner's revised schedule, says the release.

"Since its debut in June 2009, the Express has served more than 1,500 passengers with just three shuttle runs," it says. "The Town of Taos is responsible for the creation of the Express, and has continued to underwrite the new weekend service, using gross receipts taxes to fund it."

To make a reservation or learn about the new schedule, call 575-751-4459 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday or visit www.taosexpress.com.

New Mexico-Sonora panel to meet here

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Gov. Guillermo Padrés Elias of the Mexican state of Sonora are scheduled to attend the first meeting of the New Mexico-Sonora Commission this morning at La Fonda.

They are to hear recommendations from commissioners on health and border security, and opportunities to work together on economic development, tourism and education, says a news release from Richardson's office.

The New Mexico-Sonora Commission, created last year, is made up of Cabinet members and other appointed business and industry leaders from both states.

Show to air interview with ex-governor

Host Lorene Mills will interview former New Mexico governor — and recent author — David Cargo on her show Report from Santa Fe tonight.

Cargo, who was governor from 1967 through 1970, will discuss his new autobiography, Lonesome Dave, published by Sunstone Press.

The show airs tonight at 10:30 p.m. on KNME, Channel 5. The show also can be heard on the radio at 9:30 a.m. Monday on 89.1 KANW-FM.

San Ildefonso gets water funding

San Ildefonso Pueblo will receive $783,000 in federal money to improve its water-treatment and distribution system, says U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

The funding is part of the Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants Tribal Set-Aside program through the Environmental Protection Agency, says Udall's news release.

The release said the project should improve public health and environmental safety for the pueblo's 1,400 residents, including the reduction of arsenic, which is a naturally occurring groundwater contaminant in New Mexico.

Ex-superintendent wants job back

Art Blea, who resigned as superintendent of the Pojoaque Valley School District in January because of his wife's failing health, is among 21 applicants for the job.

Blea's wife, Mary Lou, died of cancer soon after he stepped down.

Board President Margaret Tapia said Blea will be considered among the others who met the March 5 deadline for applying for the position.

Tapia said most of the applicants are from New Mexico, but they also include three from Colorado, two from Texas and one from California.

The school board will meet in a closed-door session March 17 to determine which applicants will be interviewed. Interviews will begin March 20.

Blea, 62, had been the district's chief administrator for 13 of the past 19 years. He was most recently hired in the fall of 2008 to replace Toni Nolan Trujillo. Blea also served as superintendent from 1991 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2005.

Former middle-school principal Eileen Chavez is serving as interim superintendent until the end of the school year. She did not apply for the permanent position.

Park Service to host open house

The National Park Service will host an open house and tour of its former Southwest regional headquarters at 1100 Old Santa Fe Trail on Wednesday.

The "scoping" meeting is to provide information and solicit ideas from the public on managing the 71-year-old building, says a news release.

The resulting report, it says, "is intended to give building managers detailed recommendations for the care of the building's historic landscape, including native and introduced vegetation, water use and irrigation."

The 24,000-square-foot, all-adobe structure was completed in 1939 by a New Deal agency, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and ceased to be regional headquarters when it was moved to Denver in 1995.

Some past and current National Park Service employees have worried that the federal government's decision to leave its rented building on Rodeo Park West and consolidate all 70 Santa Fe employees into the old building could damage it.

Wednesday's tour of the building and grounds begins at 4:40 p.m. The public scoping meeting is from 5:15 to 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the building.

Ranch opens for fundraiser

Media mogul Ted Turner's usually inaccessible Armendaris Ranch in Southern New Mexico will open its gates on May 8 for a fundraiser for the Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences.

The tour, which costs $150 per person with lunch and beverages, begins at 7:45 a.m. at the museum, makes a stop at the Camino Real, then continues into the Fra Cristobal Mountains on the east side of Elephant Butte Lake.

En route, visitors may see big horn sheep, antelope, oryx, bison and endangered Bolson tortoises, says a news release.

Another tour of the ranch, featuring Black Mesa, is planned for May 22. Yet another tour, featuring the bat caves on the east side of the ranch, is planned for June 12.

The May 9 tour, which ends at 6 p.m., is limited to 22 people. To reserve a spot, send a $150 check or money order to Geronimo Springs Museum, 2112 Main St., Truth or Consequences, NM 87901, or call museum director LaRena Miller at 575-894-6600. Credit cards are accepted over the phone.

N.M. health agency surveying issues

New Mexicans can participate in an online survey by the New Mexico Department of Health to measure the most important issues in their communities.

The anonymous survey from the agency's Family Health Bureau covers basic demographic information and asks people to rank the importance of 25 health issues.

Those include such things as prenatal care, youth violence, child abuse, asthma and access to care.

The survey is available at www.nmhealth.org/titlev/survey/index.html.

Family Health Bureau staff made visits around the state, meeting with residents and health professionals to discuss issues important in each region to create the survey.

The bureau will use survey results in a five-year assessment that determines New Mexicans' health status and how well the bureau is addressing health needs.

3 million gallons of water lost in leak

SILVER CITY — Silver City's utilities director says a leak in a transmission line cost the southwestern New Mexico community 3 million gallons of water.

But Robert Esqueda tells the Town Council measures have been taken so crews can respond faster to such leaks in the future.

Esqueda says that when the city's new control system found that water tanks were full Saturday, it shut down a valve to them, causing a shock wave that slammed back through the pipe.

He says there was a weak point in the line over an open pit where the water blew out a coupling.

Downtown Silver City residents began complaining about low water pressure, and water crews discovered three 1-million-gallon tanks were suddenly low on water.

Esqueda says crews then found and repaired the leak.

Former firefighter faces arson charge

FARMINGTON — A San Juan County volunteer firefighter accused of setting his truck on fire to collect insurance money waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Farmington Magistrate Court.

The case against 23-year-old Jonathan Ziemer will be heard in district court.

Farmington police say Ziemer faces third-degree felony arson to collect insurance money and third-degree felony false insurance application.

San Juan County Fire Chief Larry Marcum said Ziemer was removed from service March 3, the day he was arrested.

Ziemer worked for the department for more than one year.

Marcum believes this is the first time a volunteer firefighter has been accused of arson.

Ariz. men arrested in robbery spree

HOLBROOK, Ariz. — Authorities say two Linden men have been arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies of banks and credit unions in four states.

FBI officials say Joel Jay Glore and Ronald Michael Capito were taken into custody Thursday after a week of surveillance.

The men, both in their early 50s, are suspected of being the so-called "High Country Bandits" who robbed up to 16 banks and credit unions in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah since September. The Arizona robberies were in Flagstaff, Heber, Pinetop and Payson.

Authorities say Glore was arrested at a Show Low hospital where he was being treated for a ruptured appendix while Capito was arrested at his Linden home.

FBI agents executed search warrants at the men's homes. Authorities would not disclose details on how Glore and Capito were identified as suspects or how much money was taken in the robberies.

Projects get natural resources funding

ALBUQUERQUE — Three resource restoration projects on the Middle Rio Grande corridor near Albuquerque have been completed with $881,000 from a settlement.

The settlement involved the New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

State officials say the settlement compensated for damages to groundwater and habitat from activities at the railway's Albuquerque tie-treater facility.

Money from such settlements goes to restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural resources that were damaged.

The projects included revegetating 200 acres in Rio Grande Valley State Park, groundwater restoration with the Bernalillo County Public Works Department and removing water-guzzling invasive plants near the river at Isleta Pueblo.

Utah OKs trust dispute settlement

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers have approved a $33 million settlement in a dispute alleging Utah failed to properly manage an oil-and-gas royalty trust set up by Congress to benefit Utah's Navajo Indians.

The Senate on Wednesday approved House Joint Resolution 32. It was already approved by the House.

The trust fund was created in 1933 to provide for Navajos living in Utah's San Juan County.

The fund took in royalties from oil production on Navajo lands. Utah was left in charge of managing disbursements and investments, a responsibility it is trying to shift to the Navajo Nation.

Utah Navajos collected 37.5 percent of the royalty, with the remaining 62.5 percent going to the tribe, headquartered at Window Rock, Ariz.

Interstate reopens after rock slide

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Workers have reopened Interstate 70 in western Colorado, three days after a rock slide tore gaping holes in an elevated section and littered the highway with boulders.

One lane in each direction reopened Thursday afternoon. Repairs are still needed on other parts of the highway through Glenwood Canyon, about 115 miles west of Denver.

The reopening was delayed so workers could break apart another huge boulder threatening to tumble onto the highway. That work was finished late Wednesday.

A 17-mile stretch of the heavily traveled interstate was closed Monday after the slide. The shortest detour adds more than 200 miles to the trip.

Pot smell in census office traced

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Authorities say the strange odor seeping into a western Colorado Census Bureau office came from more than 1,000 marijuana plants growing next door.

Grand Junction census workers say the smell was coming through the vents. Police got a search warrant Tuesday and found the plants next door in the same building.

Police say the building owner told them he was growing the plants for medical marijuana patients. Officers found state registration cards for medical marijuana users and are reviewing them.

No one's been arrested.

State law permits medical marijuana use but federal law does not. Last month, federal agents found 224 pot plants in the home of a suburban Denver man who said he was a medical marijuana provider. He's been charged with possession.

PETA offers to replace trash cans

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The animal rights group PETA is offering to help cash-strapped Colorado Springs by paying to put trash cans back in parks, if the cans carry an anti-meat slogan and a picture of a woman in a lettuce bikini.

The city stopped picking up trash in parks to save money, and all the trash cans have been removed.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told city officials Wednesday they'd pay for new trash cans saying "Meat Trashes the Planet" and "Go Vegan." The cans also have PETA's logo and the lettuce-clad model.

Mayor Lionel Rivera says he'll consider the offer if it PETA also pays to have the trash picked up and hauled to the dump.

But he joked that the Colorado Beef Council might demand equal time.

N.M. man, meth seized in Nebraska

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — The State Patrol says it has intercepted about $20,000 worth of methamphetamine believed to be headed for distribution in south-central Nebraska.

A patrol news release says a trooper stopped a car for speeding eastbound on Interstate 80 a little before noon on Wednesday, about two miles west of Grand Island.

During a search of the car, about 1 1/2 pounds of meth was found in an air-bag compartment. The patrol says evidence in the car indicated the meth was headed for Grand Island.

Forty-four-year-old Daniel Gonzales of Albuquerque was arrested on suspicion of possession for sale.

He remained in Hall County jail Thursday. Case records don't list the name of his lawyer.

Aides to Sen. Udall to visit Shiprock

SHIPROCK — Aides to U.S. Sen. Tom Udall will hold office hours for Shiprock area residents who need help with the federal government.

Udall aides will meet with northwestern New Mexico residents at the Northern Navajo Veterans Center building at 5080 U.S. 491 from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday.

Udall said his aides will help residents who are having trouble with a federal agency and need assistance with things like veterans or Social Security benefits.

Forum encourages new businesses

FARMINGTON — The recently completed American Indian Business Forum in Farmington focused on encouraging new business development and support for native-owned companies.

Sponsored by the Farmington Intertribal Indian Organization, the meeting drew more than 60 participants and detailed business resources available to take a business from an idea to an opportunity.

Organizers of the event held at the Farmington Civic Center maintained that community support must come first.

The Farmington Intertribal Indian Organization emphasized a need to expand a directory of established native-owned companies, create a Farmington-based American Indian Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau, and encourage some of the regions top companies to contract with American Indian businesses.

New flights from Southwest

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — Southwest Airlines says it will be starting new daily nonstop flights between Connecticut's Bradley International Airport and Denver.

The service was announced last fall at the airport in Windsor Locks and kicks off Sunday morning. One flight will leave for Denver each morning, and another will return each night.

Bradley lost its only daily nonstop service to Denver International Airport in 2007 when Frontier Airlines went bankrupt. United Airlines used to fly nonstop from Connecticut to Denver, but discontinued that route in 2001.

Bradley, about 15 miles north of Hartford, is the second-largest airport in New England after Boston's Logan International Airport. It draws most of its passengers from Connecticut and western Massachusetts.




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