European spacecraft makes first landing ding on comet Nation & World, A-2
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Thursday, November 13, 2014
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S.F. woman taunts Nets
San Miguel imposes tight drilling rules
Woman wants to sell Web address to Nets for $5 million. PAGE B-1
House chief clerk retires after 31 years Stephen Arias, who has worked in the House for 31 years, is stepping down from his post after Republicans win control in last week’s election. PAGE A-6
County to charge fees, limit exploration areas By Susan Montoya Bryan The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — As a federal judge considers the constitutionality of Mora County’s efforts to ban oil and natural gas development, commissioners in neighboring San Miguel County voted Wednesday in favor of imposing some of the strict-
City sees ways to improve equality for LGBT people
est requirements on hydrocarbon exploration in the country. The unanimous decision was made as several dozen people crowded into the commission chambers. The new ordinance supersedes a moratorium on oil and gas development that had been in place since 2010. Now, exploration and drilling will be restricted to a sparsely populated stretch on the eastern side of San Miguel County, some 60 miles away
from the county seat of Las Vegas, N.M. Drilling companies will have to pay steep application fees, foot the bill for pre-drilling assessments and post bonds, among numerous other things. Commission Chairman Nicholas Leger told The Associated Press after the meeting that close to a dozen public hearings were held and the commission considered all of the resulting comments in crafting the
ordinance, which he believes will stand up to legal scrutiny. “Personally I would like to see development in San Miguel County, and I think the ordinance ensures that it will be responsible development and the health and safety of our residents and our resources will be protected,” he said. With fees that reach into the tens of thousands of dollars, Leger acknowledged it would be more
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Homeless shelter gets lease
Santa Fe doubles score in rankings, but some are surprised by results By Anne Constable The New Mexican
Santa Fe has doubled its grade on the annual Municipal Equality Index since 2012, but its score — 80 out of a possible 100 points — is still surprising to those who see the city as a gay-friendly community. The 2014 equality index released Wednesday, a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute, doesn’t measure the city’s quality of life for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population. It only evaluates whether a city has laws addressing issues such as nondiscrimination, employment and services for the LGBT community. Santa Fe was one of 353 cities rated this year. The survey includes all state capitals, the 200 largest cities in the U.S., the four largest municipalities in each state, the home of the state’s largest public university and 75 cities with a large number of same-sex couples.
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A crowd of Interfaith Community Shelter supporters and neighbors raise their hands Wednesday during a City Council meeting to signal that they are present to hear a discussion on renewing a lease for the shelter. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
City Council OKs 2-year agreement with Interfaith Community group
Debts canceled by bankruptcy still mar credit
By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
T
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg The New York Times
In the netherworld of consumer debt, there are zombies: bills that cannot be killed even by declaring personal bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of Americans who went through bankruptcy are still haunted by debts long after — sometimes as long as a decade after — federal judges have extinguished the bills in court. The problem, state and federal officials suspect, is that some of the nation’s biggest banks ignore bankruptcy court discharges, which render the debts void. Paying no heed to the courts, the banks keep the debts alive on credit reports, essentially forcing borrowers to make payments on bills they do not legally owe.
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Councilor Patti Bushee speaks about a resolution that calls for evaluating whether the Interfaith Community Shelter is meeting the needs of the homeless.
By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press
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Hollis Walker with Carmella Padilla The local authors discuss the Booby Blog Project and The Booby Blog: A Cancer Chronicle, Walker’s book about her journey with breast cancer, 6 p.m., Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo St.
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
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Scientists say U.S.-China climate pact won’t slow global warming much Earth still headed for 2-degree increase
Pasapick
he Interfaith Community Shelter for the homeless is no longer in limbo. After operating on a monthto-month basis since its lease ran out in September, the shelter will get a new lease that will allow it to remain for at least the next two years in the city-owned Pete’s Pets building at 2801 Cerrillos Road. The City Council, after an
hour-plus debate Wednesday that drew dozens of shelter supporters and neighboring residents to City Hall, directed city staff to execute the new lease with Interfaith, which has been providing shelter and other services to the homeless at the Cerrillos Road location since 2010. The shelter’s future at the site became uncertain when its lease came up for renewal. City Councilor Chris Rivera, whose district includes the
WASHINGTON — Don’t expect the landmark U.S.-China climate change agreement to nudge the world’s rising thermostat downward much on its own, scientists say. While they hail it as a start, experts who study heat-trapping carbon dioxide don’t see the deal, announced Wednesday in Beijing, making significant progress without other countries joining in. The math shows that even with the agreement, the globe is still rush-
Crosswords A-8, B-6
Lotteries A-2
ing toward another 2-degree temperature rise — a level that world leaders have pledged to avoid as too dangerous. China, the world’s No. 1 polluter, will still increase its emissions until 2030 or so, under the agreement. The U.S., which ranks second, promised to cut pollution from the burning of coal, oil and gas to levels that haven’t been seen since 1969. But whatever cuts the U.S. makes will be swamped by the Chinese growth in pollution over the next 15 years. “It doesn’t change things much,” said Glen Peters, a Norwegian scientist who was part of the Global Carbon Project international team of researchers that tracks and calcu-
Opinion A-11
Sports B-1
Time Out A-8
lates global emissions every year. “This is not far off the business as usual” scenario the world is already on, he said. In 2009, countries across the globe set a goal of limiting global warming to about another 2 degrees above current levels. Peters’ team calculated earlier this fall that the world would hit that mark around 2040 and the U.S.-China accord doesn’t change that, he said. The numbers are just too big, especially out of China. MIT professor John Sterman, who runs computer simulations of global emissions, compared the numbers to a driver with his foot all the way
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Outdoors B-5
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
Today Partly cloudy. High 44, low 30. PAGE A-12
Obituaries Bradley M. Thomas III, Santa Fe, Nov. 9 Susan Anneke Chittim, Oct. 30 Shirley BowkerPicciandra, Nov. 10 PAGE A-10
Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 317 Publication No. 596-440