And NM lawmakers try again to make clean water and air fundamental rights ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Marisa Demarco | Editor-in-Chief

The best chile in the galaxy is still in New Mexico

Growing green chile in space is a huge achievement, but NASA hasn’t yet caught up with traditional roasting technology

Green chile floats while Expedition 66 crew members conduct a taste test as part of research aboard the International Space Station. The chile started growing on July 12, 2021 — one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Green chile is in space, but it will take more time for science to catch up to roasting the pepper so it can give its best-quality taste.

“We only have a warming oven onboard that goes to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit, so we could make them warm, but we couldn’t really roast them. So we elected to just eat them raw,” NASA astronaut Megan McArthur said in an interview with Source NM and other outlets from space. “We all tasted them both, the red and the green. And they have a nice spiciness to them, a little bit of a lingering burn. Some found that more troublesome than others.”

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Lawmakers try again to establish clean environment as fundamental right

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez speaks during a rally on Oct. 29 calling for UNM to divest from fossil fuels.

Legislators plan to reintroduce a measure asking New Mexicans to vote on an amendment to the state’s constitution that would establish clean water and air as a fundamental right on par with existing rights like freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez’s environmental priority for the 2022 legislative session is getting the green amendment on the ballot for voters. The Albuquerque Democrat said every part of the country will experience different effects of the climate crisis.

And in New Mexico, that will be water.

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U.S. House sends $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to Biden for his signature

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House cleared a $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill and took a major step toward passage of a landmark $1.85 trillion social spending and climate bill late Friday, following months of wrangling between Democrats’ progressive and moderate wings.

The votes marked a milestone in the marathon negotiations among members of the House Democratic caucus—and finally victory in sending billions of new dollars in roads, bridge and transit spending to President Joe Biden’s desk. “Tonight, we took a monumental step forward as a nation,” Biden said in a statement issued early Saturday.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) talks with Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) outside of a House Progressive Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Nov. 5, 2021 in Washington, D.C. After months of negotiations between progressives and moderates, House Democrats voted on the bipartisan infrastructure bill Friday.

Gun safety group files suit alleging NRA coordinated with campaigns

Shell corporations helped Republican lawmakers in 2018, according to a complaint

Wayne LaPierre, NRA vice president and CEO, attends the NRA annual meeting of members on April 27, 2019, in Indianapolis, Indiana. A statement was read at the meeting announcing that NRA president Oliver North, whose seat at the head table remained empty at the event, would not serve another term. There were reports of tension between LaPierre and North, with North citing financial impropriety within the organization.

(Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images)

The Giffords gun safety organization has sued the National Rifle Association and the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, alleging the gun rights group used shell corporations to improperly aid the Republican lawmakers in 2018.

Two NRA affiliates made up to $35 million in illegal campaign contributions — in the form of coordinated communications efforts — to GOP Senate campaigns, according to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday.

The NRA Political Victory Fund, a political action committee, and the NRA Institute for Legislative Action spent millions on supposedly independent political advertising for the six Senate candidates and Trump in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 federal election cycles, according to the suit.

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Why the New Mexico United stadium bond failed

Neighborhood alliance puts stadium project in historical context

Opponents of the New Mexico United stadium bond question marched on Monday, the day before Election Day.

With the $50 million New Mexico United stadium bond defeated, officials from Albuquerque city government and the soccer franchise still plan to build the stadium, just not in the historic neighborhoods of South Broadway or Barelas.

The stadium’s defeat is a win in part for the Historic Neighborhoods Alliance (HNA), one of the groups that organized against it. Led by women of color, HNA argued that such a large expense would be counter to residents’ actual needs in terms of providing affordable housing for people of color, especially the “pocket of poverty” that encompasses the Downtown, Barelas, Wells Park, South Broadway and San Jose neighborhoods, where they have been organizing since the 1990s.

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