Santa Fe startup’s app helps make capturing sports videos easy Local Business, C-1
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Tuesday, December 2, 2014
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Powell asks court to block recount Land commissioner: Process flawed, doesn’t follow law By Staci Matlock The New Mexican
Congressional aide resigns after blasting Obama girls Rep. Stephen Fincher’s communications director had come under fire for her remarks about Malia and Sasha Obama. PAGE A-2
10 Who Made a Difference Galisteo native Anna Cardenas takes pride in keeping her town’s culture intact. PAGE A-6
Incumbent state Land Commissioner Ray Powell asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily halt an automatic recount of votes in the contested land commissioner race, alleging the state Canvassing Board has violated
state law and the election code. The last unofficial election results showed Powell, a Democrat, losing by a 704-vote margin to Republican challenger Aubrey Dunn out of 499,666 votes cast, or about 0.14 percent of the votes. State law calls for an automatic recount when the margin between two statewide candidates
ON THE WEB u View Ray Powell’s petition, as well as the Canvassing Board’s recount order, at www.santafenewmexican.com.
is less than half of 1 percent of ballots cast. Dunn maintained a slim lead through post-election canvassing by county clerks and the state Canvassing Board. But Pow-
Please see RECOUNT, Page A-4
The Pit renamed WisePies Pizza buys UNM arena naming rights for $5M
Climate change talks start More than 190 nations begin discussing new limits for greenhouse gases that are already changing global climate patterns. PAGE A-3
By Nedra Pickler The Associated Press
Federal testing requirement likely will factor into debate By Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press
Please see REVISIT, Page A-4
The University of New Mexico announced Monday it has sold the naming rights to University Arena to a local restaurant chain. In exchange for $5 million — to be paid over the next 10 years — UNM has changed The Pit’s name to WisePies Arena. WILL WEBBER/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Will Webber The New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE ust what can $5 million buy you these days? It gets your company’s name and logo affixed to what is perhaps the most famous building in the state, that’s what. On Monday, The University of New Mexico announced it has sold the naming rights to University Arena — the renowned basketball facility affectionately known as The Pit — for $5 million over the next 10 years to WisePies Pizza, a local restaurant chain whose owners are Lobos boosters Steve Chavez and Michael Baird. The deal is back-ended with $4.8 million to be paid to the school over the final eight years of the contract. WisePies paid $100,000 on Monday and will pay another $100,000 on Dec. 31, 2015. From that point forward, it will pay $600,000 annually each Dec. 31 through 2023. In exchange, UNM has placed signage on the basketball
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court near the Lobos’ bench and on the opposite side of the floor. The company’s name and logo — which includes a gangster-style fedora — will appear outside the building and will be displayed prominently throughout each home game on the electronic ribbon boards that surround the luxury suites and along the floor. Most significantly, the deal has changed The Pit’s formal name from University Arena to WisePies Arena. The change took effect immediately. Athletic director Paul Krebs said it was a necessary measure to pay down debt incurred from the facility’s extensive $60 million renovation four years ago. He said it was critical for the athletic department’s long-term financial success. “When we first discussed and started talking about renovation of The Pit, from the very beginning, we made it known that a naming gift was going to be central to the long-term funding of the facility,” Krebs said. Social media exploded with
fan reaction after Monday’s announcement, most of it negative. Athletic department spokesman Brad Hutchins said the criticism was expected but that the revenue from the naming rights is crucial. “We certainly understand not everybody will like that, but we have a local company, a local New Mexican, that helped us with this gift, and we are proud to call it WisePies Arena — aka The Pit,” he said. Krebs said the school had solicited both private donors and national corporations for The Pit’s naming rights, but none stepped forward. After the renovations, that drive became a focal point for the school and the athletic department. The renovation replaced the old mezzanine with luxury suites, added new locker rooms for the men’s and women’s teams, installed giant video boards at both ends of the arena and more than tripled the available space in the concourse.
Please see PIT, Page A-4
City to donate used computers to low-income families, youth Initiative meant to help with schoolwork, job applications By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
Rodger Crabtree prepares one of 10 computers the city recently retired. The machines, which are between 5 and 6 years old, will be given to indigent children in Santa Fe. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
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Obama promotes body cams for officers President denounces ‘militarized culture’ amid debate on use of force
Lawmakers to revisit No Child Left Behind Act
WASHINGTON — The No Child Left Behind education law could be making a political comeback. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who is the incoming chairman of the Senate committee overseeing education, says his top education priority is fixing the landmark Bush-era law. His goal? Get a bill signed by President Barack Obama early next year. Doing so will require bipartisanship that’s been elusive since the law, primarily designed to help minority and poor children, came up for renewal in 2007. The law requires schools to show annual growth in student achievement or face consequences, with all students expected to be proficient in reading and math this year. It has been credited with shining a light on how schools handle minority, low-income, English learners and special needs students, but led to complaints that teachers were teaching to standardized tests and that mandates were unrealistic and penalties ineffective. Obama since 2012 has allowed states to get a waiver from some of the more stringent requirements of the law, but they had to agree to requirements such as adopting college and career ready standards — like Common Core — and implementing teacher evaluation systems with teeth. More than 40 states have a waiver. The waivers left alone a federal requirement of annual standardized testing in grades three to eight and testing once in high school. The testing provisions are likely to be part of the debate.
Ray Powell
Children and youth in Santa Fe whose families can’t afford a personal computer will soon have an opportunity to acquire one for free under a project started by City Hall. The City Council recently approved a program at little cost to taxpayers that will put
Crosswords B-7, B-11
Lotteries A-2
Opinions A-10
city-owned computers marked for retirement into the homes of indigent children and youth. “We’re hoping that over the next year, we’ll have 50 to 100 computers available for this program,” said Renée Martínez, director of the city’s Information Technology and Telecommunications Department. Martínez said her staff will be able to refurbish 10 computers a month, which includes removing all city data and licensed products and installing already-available software,
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Monday he wants to ensure the U.S. isn’t building a “militarized culture” within police departments, while maintaining federal programs that provide the type of military-style equipment that were used to dispel racially charged protests in Ferguson, Mo. Instead, the president is asking Congress for funding to buy 50,000 body cameras to record events like the shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown and look for ways to build trust and confidence between police and minority communities nationwide. He announced the creation of a task force to study success stories and recommend ways the government can support accountability, transparency and trust in police. With protests ongoing in Ferguson and across the country, Obama spoke to reporters at the end of a White House meeting with police, civil rights activists and local leaders and acknowledged the participants told him that there have been task forces in the past and “nothing happens.” “Part of the reason this time
Please see OFFICERS, Page A-4
Today Variable cloudiness. High 55, low 30. PAGE A-12
Obituaries Kenneth “Canuto” Delgado, 59, Santa Fe, Nov. 27 Daniel W. Gibbs, 93, Santa Fe, Nov. 29 Thomas R. Goodman, 86, Santa Fe, Nov. 28 Thomas E. Leonard, 84, Nov. 23 Josie R. Vigil, 89, Santa Fe, Nov. 29 PAGE A-8
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Radius Books annual holiday sale Discounted titles and recently released books, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays through Dec. 12 (10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 6 and 13), 227 E. Palace Ave., Suite W, 983-4068.
Please see COMPUTERS, Page A-5
Sports B-1
Time Out B-11
Local Business C-1
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Three sections, 28 pages 165th year, No. 336 Publication No. 596-440