The Santa Fe Youth Shelter and Family Services Center should be open in two-to-three weeks following last week's devastating vandalism and burglary to its St. Francis Drive building. Executive Director Frank Block says the shelter served some 450 youths last year, and that despite the crime-induced losses, the agency's five staffers are out on the streets, providing help for Santa Fe's homeless and runaway youth.*****031814-Block-3 :30 ***** Block says the incident also cost the shelter one of the cars it utilizes for its outreach efforts. Santa Fe Police continue investigating the incidents and await lab results submitted last week.
The New Mexico Workforce Solutions Department says little in the way of new jobs or lost jobs, as it reported January's jobless rate for the state at six-point-six percent, the same as the rate for December 2013. The agency reports that New Mexico saw the number of jobs shrink by 37-hundred over the year, as seven industries reported losing jobs, four adding employment and two unchanged. It says the mining industry had the largest growth over the year, as it added 17-hundred jobs. Government sector jobs took the biggest hit, declining by 32-hundred jobs.
The New Mexico Film Office reports that CBS Television Studios is producing the television pilot “The Messengers” in Albuquerque. The production will employ approximately 150 New Mexico crew members as well as over 100 resident actors and background talent. The show starts with a mysterious object crashing down to earth. A group of seemingly unconnected strangers die from the energy pulse, but then awaken to learn that they have been deemed responsible for preventing the impending Apocalypse.
The Immigrant advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido has announced that activists will hold three protests in the district of Congressman Steve Pearce. Pearce, New Mexico's only Republican in Congress, represents the state's border region and its most Hispanic congressional district. The group says advocates have scheduled a protest march Tuesday in Los Lunas and a candlelight vigil Wednesday in Portales. They also are planning a protest march in front of Pearce's office in Roswell on Thursday. The activists want Pearce to endorse a measure that would give immigrants living in the country illegally a path to citizenship. For his part, the Congressman says he wants a new guest worker program but has stopped short of supporting the pathway to citizenship.
As investigators try to figure out what caused a radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site, officials there have created a Facebook page to fight the rumor mill. KRQE-TV reports WIPP on Facebook is countering false reports about dangerous levels of radiation exposure at the southeastern New Mexico nuclear waste repository, along with theories on what caused last month's release. Officials say they continue to monitor the radiation levels around the site daily and they are at safe levels. Crews have yet to head into the area where the leak happened to figure out what caused it. The facility remains closed while its officials are still working out a plan and training workers to deal with what they might encounter.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today with a high near 45. Partly cloudy tonight with a low down to 22. Tomorrow: Sunny, with the high 48.