SantaFe.com

Daniel Pedro's family was a little taken aback when he announced his intent to study ancestral human remains.

On the 19-year-old's native Zuni Pueblo, it is taboo for tribal members to handle remains.

But as a budding anthropologist, Pedro said he's been troubled by one method that's used to identify where American Indian remains came from, which involves crushing bone to extract DNA.

There must be a better way, Pedro thought. For three years, Pedro has been working on a computer program that might one day determine the ethncity of skeletal remains simply by analyzing their facial structure.

Sunday, May 4, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

There's a fungus among us, and it may hold the key for producing greener energy. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have uncovered important clues about how the fungus Tricoderma reesei— known to friends simply as T. reesei— converts plant fibers into sugars used to produce ethanol.

Breaking down plant fibers has been part of the fungus' job description for decades. T. reesei earned notoriety during World War II when military leaders discovered it was responsible for the rapid deterioration of uniforms and canvas tents in the South Pacific.

Researcher Elwyn T. Reese and...

Monday, May 5, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

Strong winds have forced Los Alamos National Laboratory to postpone two high explosives tests scheduled for this week.

The tests— which have been commonplace at the lab for decades— have been under fire recently from local environmental groups fearing they could cause a forest fire due to spring winds.

"Is the lab ready if another fire gets out of control?" asked Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.

Arends said the group has heard from several residents who have heard recent tests feared they could lead to a forest fire.

"It sounded like a sonic boom," said Santa Fe County...

Thursday, May 1, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

A Santa Fe nonprofit has now purchased more than half of a 13,222-acre former ranch in the Galisteo Basin that it intends to use for open space and new homes.

The recent acquisition of 2,444 acres brings Commonweal Conservancy's total holdings to date to 8,235 acres.

Commonweal has an agreement to purchase the former Thornton family ranch in phases.

The purchases include not just the land but also the mineral rights, at least in cases where the family owned them, spokeswoman Lauren Whitehurst said Saturday. Some of the mineral rights are also owned by the Bureau of Land Management, she said.

Monday, April 28, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

The owner of Cloud Cliff Bakery and Cafe says Santa Fe's living wage law, coupled with soaring wheat prices, has forced him to close.

A Santa Fe institution for a quarter century, Cloud Cliff will close its doors Sunday with a farewell brunch for employees, Willem Malten told the Journal last week.

Malten said Santa Fe's minimum wage law— now set at $9.50 an hour— has made Cloud Cliff's wholesale bread business less competitive around New Mexico and eroded his profit margin.

"I have not been able to pay the rent here for over a year," Malten, 52, said.

The loss of Cloud Cliff is likely to...

Sunday, April 27, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

The U.S. Forest Service is erecting a fence at the top of Ski Santa Fe to shield Nambé Pueblo religious ceremonies from public view.

The construction is called for in a recently completed settlement agreement between the tribe and the Forest Service.

Nambé was a plaintiff in a 2005 lawsuit originally brought by Tesuque pueblo that attempted to block the operation of Ski Santa Fe's newest chairlift.

The northern pueblos alleged that the Millennium Triple Lift, below Deception Peak, would make nearby religious sites more accessible and vulnerable to desecration.

Thursday, April 24, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

A proposed sand and gravel mine north of Española would seem to avoid the controversies faced in recent months by other mining and drilling projects across northern New Mexico.

The mine would be remote, locally owned and have nothing to do with Española gravel king Richard Cook.

But it's not the mine itself that troubles some Rio Arriba County residents. It's the fact that the dirt road to get there runs too close to Hernandez Elementary School.

"The kids are gonna listen to the trucks rolling in daily," said teacher Rosellen Simaloa.

The school, with an enrollment of 275 students, is about...

Sunday, April 20, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

ALCALDE— It sure didn't feel like spring on a cold, gray morning at the historic Los Luceros ranch on Thursday.

The state officially took over ownership of the property north of Española during a morning ceremony attended by a few dozen dignitaries who wore winter coats and warmed their hands around a wood stove inside the 19th century adobe ranch house.

But wait just a few more weeks, state officials repeatedly said, and the 174-acre ranch's lilac bushes, native flowers and apple orchards will come to life.

A setting like that makes Los Luceros an ideal place to serve as a retreat for...

Friday, April 11, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

Managers of the Valles Caldera National Preserve are taking the first steps toward reversing a century's worth of damage to prized trout waters brought on by high-intensity livestock operations.

For much of the past century, the former Baca Ranch in the Jemez Mountains was home to thousands of sheep and cattle, who trampled and grazed on stream banks, destroying vegetation and causing erosion. Streams became wider, shallower and warmer, to the detriment of trout.

Logging and road building also drastically reduced the property's historic wetlands, and today numerous meanders are at risk of...

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

ESPANOLA— The lives of nearly 500 New Mexicans have been saved in the seven years since the state Health Department began distributing an antidote to heroin overdoses, according to state figures.

But the overdose rate remains all too high in places like Rio Arriba County, which continues to lead the nation in per capita deaths due to the abuse of heroin and other illicit drugs.

Health officials say the antidote, Narcan, was never meant to be a magic bullet for Rio Arriba's drug addiction and overdose epidemic.

And the distribution of Narcan is just one of the measures used in New Mexico to...

Sunday, April 6, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe