The Santa Fe University of Art and Design is allowing graduates of Santa Fe Community College to enroll with a tuition discount. The New Mexican reports that SFCC grads can register at the university this fall and pay just above 10-thousand dollars, annually. That is a 66-percent drop for higher-tuition programs and 45 percent less for the school's lower-tuition programs. The rate applies to the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts programs. University president Larry Hinz says the collaboration will help put the community college students who want to get an arts degree stay on an affordable path without having to move out of Santa Fe.
Santa Clara Pueblo has asked the federal government to shut down Pojoaque Pueblo's casinos north of Santa Fe, which have continued to operate without a state gambling compact. The New Mexican reports Santa Clara Gov. J. Michael Chavarria made the request to the U.S. Department of the Interior's deputy secretary of Indian affairs in a July 5 letter. Chavarria wrote that allowing Buffalo Thunder and Cities of Gold casinos to operate gives Pojoaque an unfair advantage over other gambling tribes. Pojoaque's compact with the state expired at the end of June. Pojoaque leaders have been trying to negotiate a new compact with the federal government after failing to negotiate with the state in 2013. The casinos have been allowed to operate while the U.S. Court of Appeals addresses the matter.
Albuquerque officials are calling for Confederate symbols in the city's Old Town Plaza to be removed. KOB-TV reports that State Senator Bill O'Neill, a Bernalillo Democrat, Albuquerque City Councilman Isaac Benton and Procession Ministry Elder Mike Jefferson Sunday asked for the three Confederate plaques, flag and confederate cannons to be removed from the Plaza, which they say is a tourist destination. The Confederacy briefly occupied Albuquerque in 1862. The battle flag hangs in the plaza along with flags from Spain, Mexico, the United States and the State of New Mexico to represent the city's five governing entities since 1706. The request for removal comes as many cities have decided not to fly the Confederate battle flag in the wake of the Charleston church shooting that killed nine people.
Farmington police may be the first police department in New Mexico to crack down on distracted officers who try to use a patrol computer while driving. The Daily Times in Farmington reports that new software to prevent distracted driving has been installed in most of the department's vehicles in the past month. Police spokeswoman Georgette Allen says the software is designed to disable a patrol computer's keyboard if the vehicle goes past 20 mph.
Allen says the software is used in the private sector to combat distracted driving. But she believes the Farmington Police Department may be the first law enforcement agency in the state to use it. According to preliminary data from the FBI, motor vehicle crashes were the cause of 39 percent of officer deaths in 2014.
It's a question that dominated conversation in the Navajo Nation presidential election: Should the tribe's top leader be fluent in the language? Voters will settle that question Tuesday in a referendum vote. Candidates for tribal president and vice president are required to understand Navajo and speak it fluently, and read and write English. Tribal courts can enforce that qualification. If the referendum passes, voters would decide whether candidates speak and understand Navajo well enough to hold office. Lawmakers called for the referendum after a candidate in the most recent presidential election refused to prove he could speak fluent Navajo. The language debate goes to the heart of Navajo identity. The language is a defining part of the culture, but some Navajos don't believe it should dictate who gets to seek the tribe's top posts.
An Arizona university professor is taking his pursuit of a death certificate for Billy the Kid to New Mexico's highest court. The New Mexican reports that historian Robert J. Stahl filed a petition Friday with the New Mexico Supreme Court to order the state's medical examiner to create the document. Stahl says he hopes the court will order the Office of the Medical Investigator consider evidence validating William Bonney's death. According to most accounts, the Kid was fatally shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner in 1881. But some claim Garrett shot someone else and the Kid took up ranching or escaped to Texas under an alias. Stahl was told he'd need a court order for a death certificate to be issued.
Santa Fe Weather: Partly sunny today and tomorrow with highs in the low 80s, and there’s a 50-percent chance for showers and thunderstorms both days. Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a 60-percent chance showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before midnight… the overnight low, 56.