Entrepreneur, professor to take the reins as new IFAM director
Bystanders stop woman from torching home where MLK was born
Shooting for No. 1 Class 3A previews: Santa Fe Indian School girls and St. Michael’s boys SPORTS, B-1
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N.M. Dems seek cease-fire resolution PRC staff Declaration, which could cause rift in party, would demand truce, release of hostages and prisoners, influx of resources to Gaza, pause in Israel aid By Maya Hilty mhilty@sfnewmexican.com
A resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is dividing members of New Mexico’s Democratic Party, whose central committee will vote on the proposal later this month. The resolution, which includes a call to pause
all aid to Israel, has the potential to create a rift between Democrats. It also put pressure on members of the state’s congressional delegation, already under fire from some on the left who believe the U.S. has not done enough to stop the bloodshed in Gaza. “I pledge not to vote for anyone, and to cast a blank ballot in [November] 2024, if there is no
immediate cease-fire with subsequent peace negotiations,” Albuquerque resident Colton Dean, a member of the Democrats’ State Central Committee, wrote in comments on the proposed resolution. Central committee member Samia Assed of Albuquerque introduced the resolution in October. The party’s 15-member State Platform and Resolutions Committee approved it for a vote on Oct. 31, with support from the Adelante Progressive Caucus of the party. Please see story on Page A-4
Taking it ‘one step at a time’
recommend decrease in electric rate If approved by commissioners in vote that is expected in less than month, measure would cut about 3% from residential utility bills
By Nicholas Gilmore
ngilmore@sfnewmexican.com
The state’s Public Regulation Commission staff on Friday recommended new rates that would result in lower bills for customers of the state’s largest electric utility. Commissioners are expected to vote on the rate case in less than a month. If approved, Public Service Company of New Mexico’s residential customers would see their monthly bills decrease about 3%, according to a news release from the commission. The commission’s staff wants the commission to determine the utility acted with “imprudence” in deciding to continue its participation in the Four Corners Power Plant about a decade ago. It also wants the commission to cut $84.8 million from the amount PNM can recover from ratepayers related to costs from the coal plant that sits on the Navajo Nation. A final decision on the rate case will determine the amount PNM customers are on the hook for regarding the Four Corners plant as well as Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station — two issues that “have long been outstanding,” the release states. The staff also recommends cutting the company’s allowed return on equity — a financial calculation that goes into the rate to ensure regulated utilities can make a profit for investors and pay back debt. Staff proposes cutting it from the current rate of 9.575% to 9.26%. The company requested 10.25%. Overall, while PNM requested an increase of $63.8 million in revenue for 2024, commission staff instead recommended an increase of $6.1 million.
Woman leads GoFundMe initiative to help homeless Army veteran find temporary housing in Santa Fe hotel
Please see story on Page A-4
Job growth still holding up as U.S. economy gradually cools PHOTOS BY GABRIELA CAMPOS/THE NEW MEXICAN
ABOVE: Army veteran Michael Martinez unrolls a sleeping bag Wednesday in the hotel room where he has spent the last couple of nights. TOP: Martinez holds a small crucifix that he keeps on the desk in the hotel room where he has been staying. The Army veteran, who turns 62 later this month, said he had been living under the streetlights on Siler Road near Agua Fría for about three months.
By Robert Nott
rnott@sfnewmexican.com
S
hanna Dorman had seen the clothes, personal belongings and a fallen tent bundled in a small heap on the side of the road for some time. Then one day recently as a snowstorm blanketed the city, she saw a man walk to the pile, turn it into a makeshift shelter, and crawl in. “He got in that, and I realized that pile of stuff was a human being,” Dorman said. Michael Martinez was the U.S. Army veteran living under the bundle of stuff. Knowing the city had imposed Code Blue — designed to encourage homeless people to come in out of freezing temperatures or heavy snow — Dorman decided to help. She called the Santa Fe Police Department to see if an officer could pull Martinez in from the cold. Then she went home and made him some hot chile. Though Martinez rejected an offer for a ride to a shelter the night of the storm, Dorman has since managed to raise enough money via a GoFundMe initiative to move him into a hotel on Cerrillos Road for a few nights. It’s not clear how much longer there will be funds to keep him there or to help him move to transitional, permanent housing, Dorman said. Please see story on Page A-4
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Shanna Dorman smiles while standing beside Martinez at his hotel room on Cerrillos Road on Wednesday. Getting Martinez a few nights or even weeks in a hotel “is not a solution,” she said. She wants to see him get into an apartment and find suitable work for him.
Santa Fe Desert Chorale
Today
Obituaries
Candlelight Carols; free, pop-up concerts and ticketed performances: 7 p.m.; 4 p.m. Sunday; Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, 131 Cathedral Place; encores Dec. 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, and 22; $10-$100; 505-9882282, desertchorale.tix.com.
Mostly sunny. High 33, low 15.
Stephen C. Joseph, 85, Santa Fe, Nov. 24
More events Fridays in Pasatiempo
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By Lydia Depillis
The New York Times
The U.S. economy continued to pump out jobs in November, suggesting there is still juice left in a labor market that has been slowing almost imperceptibly since last year’s pandemic rebound. Employers added 199,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, while the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7%, from 3.9%. The increase in employment includes tens of thousands of autoworkers and actors who returned to their jobs after strikes, and others in related businesses that had been stalled by the walkouts, meaning underlying job growth is slightly weaker. Even so, the report signals that the economy remains far from recession territory despite a year and a half of interest rate increases that have weighed on consumer spending and business investment. Reinforcing the picture of energetic labor demand, wages jumped 0.4% over the month, more than expected, and the workweek lengthened slightly. Most analysts have been surprised by the durability of the recovery, which owes a lot to the cash that consumers accumulated over the past few years of federal stimulus and forced savings. That has powered service-industry jobs even in the face of rising costs and the resumption of mandatory student debt payments. “That’s the definition of a soft landing: It’s slowing slowly, which is what you want,” said Martin Holdrich, a senior economist with Woods & Poole Economics. He noted, however, that given strong productivity growth, the enduring tightness of the labor market needn’t prompt the Federal Reserve to Please see story on Page A-4
174th year, No. 343 Publication No. 596-440