Belen's old Solo Cup factory is about to begin pouring the molten plastic again. As Plastic News reports, the plant was bought out by Keter Plastics—who plans on expanding the operation to consume up to 100 tons of plastics a day! The plant will produce patio furniture, sheds, toolboxes, and much more.

New Mexico's Medicaid fund may get a little higher with help from its friend: Marijuana. According to KRQE News a bipartisan bill was introduced yesterday that would tax medical marijuana in order to help bolster the state's underfunded Medicaid fund.

Call off the Saint Bernards, New Mexico is about to get its first avalanche warnings! According to KOB News, Taos, NM is now home to a new avalanche center that will help the National Weather Service and the U.S. Forrest Service issue avalanche warnings.

One short list of falsehoods from the Clinton-Trump debate, and one much longer analysis.
And in case you missed the debate and are interested, here's a link.

Speaking of debates, here's one way to settle them.

Have a strong opinion about the presidential candidates? Today is National Voter Registration day, so make sure you register and go vote on Nov. 8!

Say hello to recycled polyester, otherwise known as Bionic Yarn, a clothing material made from used plastics. Optimistically speaking, this could make a huge positive impact on the atrocious amount of plastics currently floating in the oceans.

To be happy is to be healthy. And it's contagious.

Nearly 300 tech firms across the country are declaring Nov. 8, election day, a paid company holiday.

Elon Musk speaks at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico about his plan to colonize Mars. Watch the talk live here.

In an analysis of revolutionaries vs reactionaries in modern American history, opinion writer David Brooks states, “It doesn't matter how much living standards rise or the poverty rate falls, it makes you seem smart and woke to be alarmed and hypercritical.” Read the article for more thoughtful insights about our strange yearning for an idealized past, and why “it's stupid and impossible to turn back the clock.”

Libyan rebels won the oil port yesterday, but Qaddafi launched an airstrike this morning. Civil war could be around the corner.

Prime minister appointed by Mubarak quits; protesters plan Friday demonstrations about unmet demands.

Rio Rancho father of a fallen soldier reacts to the Supreme Court ruling that allows people to picket funerals. A Kansas-based church protested outside his son's funeral years ago.

APS superintendent and governor spar over budget.

Serious procedural throwdown in the House over driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants late last night.

A bill to limit state film $$$ made it out of the House.

Some APD officers make more than the mayor by doubling their salaries with overtime.

Someone called a Gallup jail pretending to represent the sheriff and got an accused murderer out of jail.

Lasers can be tractor beams.

Idaho: The caviar state.

EPA studies edited by the oil and gas industry through political pressure.

Most plastics release chemicals that are like estrogen, according to a study.

Nano spy-cam hummingbird.

The city of Albuquerque’s recycling program can only process #1 and #2 plastics, which covers screw-top plastic bottles and jugs. That’s it for plastic. “But,” we all think to ourselves, “if it has that ‘chasing-arrow’ logo on the bottom, then they’re recyclable.” And we’re wrong.

In an enlightening Straight Dope column from January on compostable plastics (In a nutshell: “Breaking it down requires a special industrial facility that exposes the plastic to 140-degree-Fahrenheit heat for at least ten days— something you're not going to get by tossing it on your backyard pile of grass clippings.”), Cecil Adams breaks it down for us yet again:

The triangular chasing-arrows symbol with a number inside doesn't mean the product bearing it can be recycled. As I've explained before, it merely indicates what type of plastic the thing’s made from. Type 7 is miscellaneous, which can't be recycled because the materials in the mix may have different melting points and such. Plastic types 3 through 6 can theoretically be recycled but seldom are because the financial return is minimal.

A ton of food-grade plastics, like yogurt cups, are made from #5 plastic. Rather than add yours to the landfill or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, you can take your cleaned-out containers to four Whole Foods locations in New Mexico. From there, Whole Foods ships its #5 collections to Preserve, where the plastics are reincarnated as toothbrushes and razors. (Then sold back to you through Whole Foods and other retailers. ... Ship back your spent toothbrush to Preserve, and they become a park bench.) While you’re at it, they’ll take your spent Brita water filters, too.

• Albuquerque, 5815 Wyoming Blvd NE

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