Alibi V.29 No.36 • Sept 3-9, 2020

Biden Might Usher in Legal Weed

Despite his best efforts

By Joshua Lee

Sen. Ed Markey told reporters that if Joe Biden is elected president, cannabis legalization will likely become one of the top issues on the legislative agenda; a study found that states with legalized cannabis had fewer vaping-related lung injuries during the outbreak last year; House is set to vote on federal marijuana decriminalization next month.

The Big Changeover

Alibi settles in to new ownership

By Devin D. O’Leary

Over the course of its 28 years in business, the Weekly Alibi has seen an incalculable number of changes, but definitely not this: we've been a locally owned and operated newspaper since day one.

The Fight for Numbers

New Mexico’s Census efforts are still fighting hard amid some big blows

By Jonathan Sims

It is estimated in the last census the undercount for tribal communities was around 5 percent. That may not seem like a huge number, but when you start to figure in statistics like an estimated 39 percent growth in population and compound those numbers with data like every person counted currently accounts for $5,000 in federal funding per year, it adds up.

Bringing it all together

By Carolyn Carlson

Guess you never know whose skeletons are lurking in your genealogy closet until they start to do some rattling around.

Locals underwhelmed by progress of federal program

By Dan Pennington

Was Operation Legend part of a much larger scale program from President Trump in an attempt to undermine citizens’ freedom and safety, or were these federal law enforcement officers genuinely here to help? BCSO releases numbers.

Community Questions Nuclear Waste Storage Site

Company moves comment hearings online, despite opposition from Congress

By Robin Babb

Holtec International and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are required to hold in-person meetings to solicit public comment on the drafted Environmental Impact Statement for the spent nuclear fuel site (SNF) in southeast New Mexico. Five of those meetings were supposed to happen this year but the COVID-19 pandemic has made them impossible.

By Joshua Lee

Gov. Lujan Grisham relaxed the pandemic stay-at-home order; delegates who traveled to the Republican Party National Convention last week were ordered to self-quarantine; New Mexico voters can now request an absentee ballot for the general election online.

By Joshua Lee

Funny because waking up in a funeral home happens to someone else.

Crabby About Changes

The readers write about the Alibi, cultured meat and voting.

Party On, Dudes

Bill & Ted Face the Music on SVOD

By Devin D. O’Leary

Unlike the title characters’ mythical tune, Bill & Ted Face the Music isn’t going to change the world. In the end, though, this goofy exercise in fan service manages to land on a sweet note sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Stream Time

By Devin D. O'Leary

Shows come and go on the popular streaming services.

Week In Sloth

By Devin D. O’Leary

Highlights from around the dial. Except no one has dials anymore.

Sonic Reducer

By Clarke Condé

We review albums by Highborne and Travesuras.

Empathy vs. Hate

New Mexico Holocaust Museum revisited

By Clarke Condé

The New Mexico Holocaust Museum in Downtown Albuquerque is set to reopen this week after the governor lifted a pandemic-related closure. Weekly Alibi took that as an opportunity to sit down with the museum’s Executive Director Leon Natker to talk about the history of hate, its many manifestations and how we can be kinder to each other.

Francisco. Meat department associate, El Paisano Supermarket. Santa Fe, NM, 2020.

Eric Cousineau

Seeing Labor

Essential Worker by Eric Cousineau

By Clarke Condé

Eric Cousineau was approached by some of the folks at Center in Santa Fe to start the Essential Worker project knowing that he was both a talented portrait photographer and that he was an essential worker at a supermarket. The result is a diverse and growing collection of black and white photographs that document the essential workers here in New Mexico.

Meeting Hugo

Silver linings from a lousy summer

By Clarke Condé

Sad but true, this summer has been a dud. On the bright side, there's a light European cocktail worth toasting away the last days of this summer here in the U.S.A.: The Hugo.

Community Looks for Answers In Death of Ken Reiss

A murky timeline, strange actions and a video add up to confusion with friends

By Dan Pennington and Carolyn Carlson

When a community faces the loss of someone who was well-loved, it’s palpable. The moments and memories they shared with those around them become something held by one less person, with more untold and lost forever. On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 11 citizens of Albuquerque woke up to the news of just that. Ken Reiss, a local bartender at Carraro's & Joe's Place in the University area, was shot and killed by officers from the Albuquerque Police Department.

The unofficial map of the unofficial Albuquerque Trail.

Walking Through the Pandemic

150 miles across Albuquerque in the time of Corona

By Xanthe Miller

The high mesa stretch of Arizona Trail from the Utah border south to the rim of the Grand Canyon, an in-and-out hike of about 150 miles—that was the trip my partner and I had planned to celebrate our 25th anniversary, giving us weeks alone together backpacking in a beautiful place. As we prepared for the trip, however, the issuance of COVID-19 orders began: Stay at home, restrict all travel. Then came the closure of the AZT and Grand Canyon National Park.

Falling Apart

A brief glimpse at the new fall 2020 TV season

By Devin D. O’Leary

Given the current state of Hollywood is more or less identical to the current state of America (quarantined, wearing masks and trying its damnedest not to catch the ’Rona), it’s no surprise to see that the soon-to-debut fall TV season is looking a bit … curtailed. So what sort of new network entertainment awaits us in the last quarter of 2020? Let’s explore.

Stream Time

By Devin D. O'Leary

Shows come and go on the popular streaming services.

Week in Sloth

By Devin D. O’Leary

Highlights from around the dial. Except no one has dials anymore.

Voting Stories

Yoshimura‘s “Do Not Disappoint Your Mother”

By Clarke Condé

It was 1920 and thirty-five of the then-48 states had ratified the 19th Amendment. The question was now before an evenly split Tennessee state legislature, with members of the chamber showing their support for ratification by wearing yellow roses and those in opposition wearing red. Legislator Harry Burn, sporting a red rose, was inclined to vote against the measure, but his mother had written him earlier and urged his support.

Drinks Named After Animals

Considering the Man O’ War

By Clarke Condé

We all know what war is good for, but Bourbon is an entirely different subject. With the addition of Cointreau and sweet vermouth, this cocktail is a sunrise during a pandemic while a forest fire rages in a neighboring state.

Kat Wilcox / Pexels License

Officer Involved Shootings Are Nothing New

Interview with civil rights attorney Rachel Higgins

By Carolyn Carlson

Dozens of officer involved shootings took place from 2000 to 2014, and the subsequent public outcry brought the DoJ into the city’s police department to oversee reform measures. Ken Reiss’ death on Aug. 11 was the sixth APD officer-involved shooting this year. Weekly Alibi sat down for a conversation with Rachel Higgins, attorney for the Reiss family.

It Is What It Is

Teachers just say no to unsafe school openings

By Gwynne Ann Unruh

Unions that represent over three million teachers in every state in the nation are calling for safety strikes as a last resort if school reopening plans don't meet the demands for keeping educators healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers just say no to unsafe school openings

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver debunks them all

By Clarke Condé

At the Weekly Alibi, we’ve heard our fair share of fake news about voting in the election, so we went to the source for accurate information about what is actually happening here, New Mexico’s Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver

By Joshua Lee

A newly appointed civil rights commission held its first meeting to discuss reforming provisions that protect New Mexico police officers from lawsuits against misconduct; Gov. Lujan Grisham said she might be willing to open up more of the state’s economy soon; PED Secretary says the department is having trouble meeting the needs of some students during the pandemic.

Iconic local newspaper gets new life to continue nearly 30-year legacy

Albuquerque’s weekly alternative newspaper is getting a fresh new face. After operating under NuCity Publications for 28 years, Weekly Alibi will now be published under new ownership, Good Trouble LLLP, a partnership of Pat Davis and Abby Lewis.

By Joshua Lee

It's funny because chocolate snow happens to someone else.

Cannabis Tied to Autism

Study authors warn caution

By Joshua Lee

A study found a correlation between cannabis use during pregnancy and the likelihood of giving birth to an autistic child; DEA finally released its proposed rules for hemp and CBD; Marijuana stock index fell.

News on the Green

By Joshua Lee

Two African elephants housed at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland will be receiving CBD to treat stress; a recent study found that lifetime cannabis use among teenagers has declined in states where the drug is legal in some capacity.

A Classic Revisited

The Old Fashioned

By Clarke Condé

This week’s cocktail lacks creativity in naming, but makes up for it by being really tasty. Its name is more of a description like “Old Town,” indicating that’s where the town once was, not that it was once called “Town.”

Even Tanoan isn’t safe from the scurge of “noise complaints.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Crimemapping.com makes knowing your neighbor easier than ever

By Dan Pennington

The places we call home can go through growth spurts, seeing new developments bring an increase of homeowners to the area and changing or shifting the demographic of the neighborhood completely. Do you know your neighborhood as well as you think you do?

Best of Burque 2020 Voting Has Begun

What's good? You tell us! It's time for the 28th annual Best of Burque awards, rebooted 2020 edition. This year we are combining our regular Best of Burque awards with our Best of Burque Restaurants awards to cram all the best of Albuquerque's art, entertainment, food, politics and local culture into one giant, award-filled issue! Got a favorite? The voting has started so let’s hear about it Albuquerque. Hey, we’re still here. Where are you? Vote now!

Eyes On Our Guns

County wants citizen eyes on sheriff, better gun safety

By Carolyn Carlson

Free money, gun safety and eyes on the sheriff met Bernalillo County Commissioners when they faced down a dense agenda upon their return Aug. 11 to the Zoom government table.

Arizona National Guard delivers food and supplies to a Navajo Nation food bank in Mesa, Arizona.

The Invisible Monster

Navajo Nations’ warriors won’t surrender to COVID-19

By Gwynne Ann Unruh

The Navajo Nation’s fight against COVID-19 embodies all the red "flag of defiance” represents. They will not surrender to the monstrous pandemic enemy. The Navajo Nation’s success in flattening the curve has been primarily due to an aggressive testing regimen, widespread adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing, as well as one of the strictest stay-at-home curfews in the country.

By Joshua Lee

The constitutionality of Albuquerque’s ban on weapons at city parks is being questioned; a Bernalillo County district judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the state over indoor dining the pandemic; the federal government’s underground nuclear waste repository continues to operate despite an increase in COVID-19 cases.

Pat Davis joins religious leaders speaking against the militarization of police.

Shades of Blue

Support for police; keep the military bling

By Carolyn Carlson

Rhetoric swirled through a long agenda at the more-than-six-hour Aug. 17 Albuquerque City Council meeting. Support for police and its military-style equipment, controversial development and adding more diversity on city boards and commissions brought out political posturing and lip service.

By Joshua Lee

Funny because the neighborhood shoe thief strikes someone else.

Courtesy of HBO

Monster Mash-Up

“Lovecraft Country” on HBO

By Devin D. O’Leary

With the mass of talent in front of and behind the camera, “Lovecraft Country” makes for smartly crafted, occasionally heart-pounding thrills—a monstrously entertaining genre reimagination underscored by horrors both real and imagined.

Stream Time

By Devin D. O'Leary

Shows come and go on the popular streaming services.

Week in Sloth

Highlights from around the dial. Except no one has dials anymore.

Joni Murphy’s Talking Animals

An Orwellian satire about the revolution that’s already here

By Robin Babb

Joni Murphy’s novel Talking Animals is a modern-day political satire that cuts almost too close to the bone, with echoes of Orwell’s Animal Farm that reverberate throughout the subways and endless numbered streets of her not-so-fictional New York City.

Laura Paskus’ At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate

For two decades Laura Paskus has been sounding the alarm about the devastating effects that our massive input of carbon into the atmosphere will have on the Land of Enchantment. Weekly Alibi sat down with Paskus to talk about the changing climate, the changing public perception of climate change and her new book that deals with both.

Big Feelings by Gigi Bella

By Clarke Condé

Gigi Bella’s new collection Big Feelings is not a narrative work, but its poems flow like a drive through the streets, stopping at lights to check your phone for a text message and maybe pulling into the Golden Pride drive-thru for a number nine breakfast burrito.

Checking In

Governor asks for comments on cannabis

By Joshua Lee

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appears to be revving up for legalization in New Mexico; Biden's VP pick bodes poorly for federal cannabis law reform; USDA is denying coronavirus relief to hemp farmers.

News on the Green

By Joshua Lee

Using cannabis while not working doesn’t appear to negatively impact job performance; $30 million raised to study treating PTSD with MDMA.