Holiday closings

Banking institutions, schools, government offices and the four state museums in Santa Fe will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

The museums will reopen at 10 a.m. Friday and follow their regular schedule. But city, county and state offices will remain closed until Monday, as will the Santa Fe Community College and all public schools.

City libraries and recreation centers will be closed Thursday and Friday. That includes the Genoveva Chávez Community Center, the Fort Marcy Complex and the Salvador Perez pool. Municipal Court will also be closed both days.

There will be no city bus service on Thanksgiving Day, but Santa Fe Trails will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.

There will be no mail delivery Thursday, and post offices are closed for the federal holiday.

Red River ski runs open today

The Red River Ski Area will open for its 51st season today with a new triple chairlift and a 20-inch base of snow.

Taos Ski Valley plans to open Thursday with about 5 percent of its runs available to skiers, Adriana Blake of the resort's marketing office said Tuesday.

Ski Santa Fe doesn't yet have enough natural or man-made snow to kick off its season, but can get ready to go within 48 hours of a good snowstorm. "We don't have a date in mind at all," Dick Smith, manager of the operations office, said Tuesday. "If we keep making snow, eventually we'll have enough to open a little."

The Sipapu ski area, about 20 miles southeast of Taos, reported that more than 700 skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes there last weekend, more than doubling the previous year's record attendance for both opening day and opening weekend.

For a complete run-down on New Mexico ski areas, look for Dan Gibson's "Ski Tracks" column in Thursday's newspaper.

Council hopeful drops out of race

Donado "Cove" Coviello, a perennial local election candidate who had gathered petition signatures to get on Santa Fe's March municipal ballot, said Tuesday he has decided to sit this one out.

Coviello, also known as John Coventry, said he decided not to challenge incumbent Rebecca Wurzberger, who is seeking re-election in District 2.

The artist, who has run for local offices more than a half-dozen times, had said in declaring his intentions last month that he didn't want her to run uncontested to represent the southeast-side district for another four years. Since then, he noted Tuesday, another candidate, Stefanie Beninato, has declared intentions to run for the seat.

Coviello also said he is working for the U.S. Census Bureau, which restricts political activity by employees.

While he said he had gathered enough voter signatures to get his name on the March ballot, he said, he considers the census to be "very important."

Body found in submerged pickup at Abiquiú Reservoir

The body of 19-year-old Joe Chavez was recovered Monday night from a pickup submerged near a boat ramp on the east side of Abiquiú Reservoir.

Rio Arriba County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Marcos Armijo said Chavez probably drowned, as there were no marks on his body and no signs of foul play.

Chavez had been reported missing to Rio Arriba County deputies on Sunday. Armijo said Chavez is from the area but he does not know what town or who reported him missing.

Deputies suspected the truck was in the lake but could not see it from the shore, so they called in state police divers, Armijo said.

Federal funds go to Ribera center

An $885,000 federal grant will be used to help preserve and restore the old Ribera School building.

A nonprofit group in the rural San Miguel County community for years has been working to convert the stone schoolhouse into a community and cultural center.

The latest government grant, awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to Los Pueblos Community Council, was announced Tuesday by the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.

Last year, then-Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., reportedly helped secure $232,000 in federal funds to help with the project, for which the state Department of Cultural Affairs was to serve as fiscal agent.

The school was abandoned decades ago, and ownership of the property had reverted to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.