NEW MEXICO

Roasted chile could become official state aroma

ALBUQUERQUE – The sweet smell of green chile roasting on an open flame permeates New Mexico every fall, wafting from roadside stands and grocery store parking lots and inducing mouth-watering visions of culinary wonders.

Now one state lawmaker says it’s time for everyone to wake up and smell the chile.

Sen. Bill Soules’ visit with fifth grade students in his southern district sparked a conversation about the savory hot peppers and the potential for New Mexico to become the first state in the nation to proudly have an official state aroma, a proposal now being considered by lawmakers.

For New Mexico, chile is more than a key ingredient for every meal. It’s life. It’s at the center of the official state question – “Red or green?” – and is one of the state’s official vegetables.

New Mexico produced more than 60% of the U.S. chile pepper crop in 2021 and is home to Hatch, an agricultural village known as the chile capital of the world for the unique red and green peppers it has turned out for generations.

Legislation recognizing roasted chile as the official aroma passed its first committee on Jan. 31, and supporters say it’s not likely to fire up much debate – other than lawmakers sharing their own stories about how they can’t go a day without eating it.

A legislative analysis of the bill noted that peak tourist season typically overlaps with the time for chile roasting. The analysis also noted that New Mexico has consistently lower visitation rates than neighboring Colorado, which reported 84.2 million visitors in 2021 compared with about 40 million in New Mexico.

“The new state aroma could help draw visitors away from Colorado, which, for some reason, thinks it has green chile comparable to that of New Mexico,” the analysis quipped, in a nod to an ongoing feud between the two states.

Bill advances that would ban guns at polls

SANTA FE – A bill that would prohibit firearms at New Mexico polling places during elections with exceptions for police officers cleared its first hurdle at the Legislature on Feb. 1.

A Senate panel voted 6-3 along party lines, with Republicans in opposition, to advance the bill from Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe. A second committee endorsement could send the bill to a full Senate vote.

New Mexico already prohibits guns on school grounds, where many election polls are located. But firearms can be carried at many other polling locations, openly or with a concealed-handgun permit.

Under the proposed changes, New Mexico would join at least 12 other states that prohibit guns and weapons at polling places, including neighboring Colorado, Texas and Arizona.

Wirth said he heard concerns from constituents in his district about firearms at polls during the 2022 election cycle, including one person who decided to stop working at the polls because people were bringing guns with them to vote.

Guns would be prohibited within 100 feet of any polling location.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen voted against the measure and said he preferred that poll workers be able to carry a gun as a defense against people who might flout the restrictions.

GOP Sen. Mark Moores of Albuquerque unsuccessfully suggested an amendment that would allow people with concealed-handgun permits to bring their guns to the polls.

NEVADA

Recent snowfalls may slow water level decline at Lake Mead

LAS VEGAS – Hefty snowfalls that fed the Colorado River in recent weeks may slow the water level decline of Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border, according to some experts.

Forecasters now expect Lake Mead to finish this year around 1,027 feet elevation, about 19 feet lower than its current level.

But that’s about 7 feet higher than the 2023 end-of-year elevation in the bureau’s forecast in December, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The newspaper said Lake Powell, the reservoir on the Arizona-Utah border, now is expected to finish this year at 3,543 feet or about 19 feet higher than its current level.

While the projections have improved with the snowpack, the forecasted levels mean that Lake Mead would remain in shortage conditions for at least a third consecutive year.

The newspaper said the basin has been aided heavily by a series of nine atmospheric rivers that battered much of the West over a three-week period that started days after Christmas.

Snowpack numbers across the region are far above average, with some parts of California and Nevada currently near or more than 200 percent of average for this point of the year.

The majority of the runoff for the Colorado River will be snow melting off the Western Rockies where the snowpack currently sits at a healthy 146 percent of average, the Review-Journal reported.

OKLAHOMA

Judge: Banning guns for marijuana users unconstitutional

OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled that a federal law prohibiting people who use marijuana from owning firearms is unconstitutional, the latest challenge to firearms regulations after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws.

Lawyers for Jared Michael Harrison had argued that their client’s Second Amendment right to bear arms was being violated by a federal law that makes it illegal for “unlawful users or addicts of controlled substances” to possess firearms.

Harrison had been charged after being arrested by police in Lawton, Oklahoma, in May 2022 following a traffic stop. During a search of his car, police found a loaded revolver as well as marijuana. Harrison told police he had been on his way to work at a medical marijuana dispensary, but that he did not have a state-issued medical-marijuana card.

His lawyers had argued the portion of federal firearms law focused on drug users or addicts was not consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, echoing what the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled last year in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Federal prosecutors had argued that the portion of the law focused on drug users is “consistent with a longstanding historical tradition in America of disarming presumptively risky persons, namely, felons, the mentally ill, and the intoxicated.”

U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, agreed with Harrison’s lawyers, ruling on Feb. 3 that federal prosecutors’ arguments were “not a constitutionally permissible means of disarming Harrison.”

In his ruling, Wyrick highlighted that under Oklahoma law, marijuana can be bought legally at more than 2,000 store fronts in the state.

ARIZONA

Ranchers to be paid for removing livestock carcasses

PHOENIX – The Arizona Livestock Loss Board is implementing a new incentive program that will compensate ranchers for removing livestock carcasses to locations where they aren’t accessible to Mexican wolves.

Officials announced on Feb. 1 that the board will pay ranchers $250 for each carcass that is made unavailable to wolves.

A measure that stood out as being effective in other states was removing livestock carcasses from wolf-occupied areas to avoid wolves being drawn to and remaining in the area as they scavenge the carcass.

Although ranchers and Arizona Game and Fish Department personnel have been removing carcasses for years, the number has been limited by the cost of removals and the limited time that agency personnel have been able to commit to the program given the high demand in managing the wolves themselves.

The Mexican wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. According to the most recent survey released in early 2022, there were at least 196 Mexican wolves in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona. It marked the sixth straight year the population had increased.