Santa Fe New Mexican, Nov. 21, 2014

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The life of ‘Messiah’: Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus Insidee

Locally owned and independent

Friday, November 21, 2014

The New Mexic

an’s Weekly Maga

zine of Arts, Enter

tainment & Cultu re

November 21, 2014

Messiah

www.santafenewmexican.com

George Frideric

Handel

$1.2 25

State lawmakers grill spaceport executive

Mike Nichols, legend of the screen and stage, dies

Shepards to promote tolerance in Russia

Legislators raise concerns about facility’s future after accident. PAGE B-1

Director was only person to win Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy awards. PAGE A-2

Parents of slain gay college student hope to change attitudes. PAGE A-3

IMMIGRATION REFORM

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/ White Flower No. 1 sold at auction Thursday for $44.4 million — a record price for a piece by a female artist. COURTESY SOTHEBY’S

O’Keeffes fetch more than $50M at auction

Obama rewrites rules on his own President Barack Obama announces his plan for the nation’s immigration system Thursday from the White House. His plan to relax U.S. immigration policy affects as many as 5 million people. JIM BOURG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

‘Jimson Weed’ goes for $44.4M, sets record for work by female artist

President, daring Congress, uses executive power to protect 5M

By Anne Constable The New Mexican

It took about eight minutes for a Sotheby’s auctioneer to bring down the hammer Thursday morning on Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/ White Flower No. 1. Seven bidders — identities unknown — participated in the auction, two by phone. Watching from a private box overlooking the auction room was Robert Kret, director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, which was selling three of the artist’s works to raise funds for acquisitions to fill gaps in its own collection. He was joined by the museum’s director of curatorial affairs, Cody Hartley, a couple of trustees and friends. They were giddy with excitement as the bidders raised the selling price to $20 million, then $30 million. Paintings had been bringing good prices at auction in the previous two weeks, Kret pointed out.

Please see O’KEEFFE, Page A-5

LANL chief denies lab hid facts from WIPP By Patrick Malone

By Michael D. Shear The New York Times

Cinthya Chavez and her daughter, Camila Chavez, 4, of Española listen to a live webcast of President Barack Obama’s announcement Thursday night at the Santa Fe County Democratic Party headquarters in Santa Fe. Chavez has been in the country longer than five years, and her daughter is a U.S. citizen, so she could benefit from the president’s executive decision. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN

bother her, she said. “I’m already used to living without any papers,” said Márquez, who came from Mexico 10 years ago. Her husband and 25- and 27-yearold sons also lack U.S. citizenship. “I feel comfortable now. I work, I travel, I can drive and I have my own [house-cleaning] business.” Carlos Martinez, a former Santa Fe County commissioner, said when he heard in the news that the Obama administration planned to protect millions of immigrants from deportation, he thought of a friend who works as a handyman at his home. The friend, originally from Mexico, has been in New Mexico for the past decade but lacks legal immigration status, Martinez said. The man’s wife cleans houses in Santa Fe and has three daughters, one of whom has a nursing degree, Martinez said.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama chose confrontation over conciliation Thursday as he asserted the powers of the Oval Office to reshape the nation’s immigration system and dared members of next year’s Republican-controlled Congress to reverse his actions on behalf of millions of immigrants. In an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House, Obama displayed years of frustration with congressional gridlock and a desire to frame the last years of his presidency with farreaching executive actions. The president’s directive will shield up to 5 million people from deportation and allow many to work legally, but it will not give them a path to citizenship. “The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every Democratic president for the past half-century,” Obama said. “To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.” Obama intends to underscore the schism between the parties on the issue of immigration during a campaign-like rally on Friday at a high school in Las Vegas, Nev.,

Please see REACTION, Page A-4

Please see POWER, Page A-4

Mixed reaction to changes that leave out some By Uriel J. Garcia The New Mexican

E

ven before President Barack Obama declared Thursday night that his administration could protect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, local activists were gearing up to help thousands in New Mexico. The main beneficiaries are those who have been in the U.S. illegally for more than five years but whose children are citizens or lawful permanent residents. After passing background checks and paying fees, the White House said, they can be granted relief from the fear of deportation for three years and get work permits. The administration expects about 4.1 million of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants to qualify. Undocumented immigrants across the country, including an

estimated 70,000 in New Mexico, welcomed with mixed emotions the news that they could get a chance to legalize their status. Some recognized that not all of their loved ones would be able to qualify. “This is a good thing, but at the same time I feel saddened for the people who won’t qualify,” said Minerva Pacheco, 44, who has a 13-year-old son born in the U.S. and has lived in Santa Fe for 17 years without legal immigration status. She said she has brothers in the city who won’t qualify because they don’t have children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Pacheco was attending a viewing of Obama’s live address Thursday at the Santa Fe County Democratic Party headquarters in Santa Fe. Leticia Márquez, who also attended the event, said based on the Obama administration’s criteria, she won’t qualify. But that doesn’t

The New Mexican

The head of Los Alamos National Laboratory issued a memo to employees Monday condemning a story published Sunday in The New Mexican that exposed missteps at the lab that had played a part in a WIPP radiation leak. The story also addressed efforts to downplay the dangers of LANL transuranic waste that had been sent to the nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad. The newspaper’s investigation, which took six months and included interviews and a review of thousands of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, found that LANL documents provided to Waste Isolation Pilot Plant officials and regulators about the waste drum’s contents failed to mention several components: organic kitty litter, the unusually high acidity of the waste and a pH neutralizer. Now, those components are being eyed as possible

Please see LANL, Page A-4

Index

Calendar A-2

Classifieds C-2

Skyrocketing generic drug costs come under scrutiny in Senate By Matthew Perrone The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Some low-cost generic drugs that have helped restrain health care costs for decades are seeing unexpected price spikes of up to 8,000 percent, prompting a backlash from patients, pharmacists and now Washington lawmakers. A Senate panel met Thursday to scrutinize the recent, unexpected trend among generic medicines, which usually cost 30 percent to 80 percent less than their

Comics C-8

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035

Crosswords C-3, C-7

branded counterparts. Experts said there are multiple, often unrelated, forces behind the price hikes, including drug ingredient shortages, industry consolidation and production slowdowns due to manufacturing problems. But the lawmakers convening Thursday’s hearing said the federal government needs to play a bigger role in restraining prices. “If generic drug prices continue to rise then we are going to have people all over this country who are sick and need medicine and who simply will not be able to buy the medicine

Lotteries A-2

Opinions A-7

Sports B-5

they need,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging. Sanders is an independent who usually votes with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. Sanders introduced a bill that would require generic drugmakers to pay rebates to the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs when prices of their medications outpace inflation. Those payments are already mandatory for branded drugs, but have never applied to generics.

Please see GENERIC, Page A-5

Time Out C-7

Generation Next C-1

BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM

Today Increasing cloudiness. High 51, low 24. PAGE A-8

Obituaries Rima Louise Miller, 59, Santa Fe, Nov. 19 Rudy G. Vigil Jr., Nov. 19 PAGE B-2

Share your thoughts about Pasatiempo Complete our survey for a chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX or a $200 Visa gift card. INSIDE PASA

Three sections, 24 pages Pasatiempo, 64 pages 165th year, No. 325 Publication No. 596-440


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