Local News

A business forum hosted by Ken Nebel of the Village Arts gallery revealed some pretty harsh truths about being a small business owner in Los Alamos.

According to Nebel, the forum was for the public. Nebel said he put the forum together because he and other small business owners were always getting asked about how they’re doing financially and how others could start a business, too. 

“We have so many of our customers ask us ‘how we’re doing’ and how to get started in a business,” he said. So, he got some of his fellow entrepreneurs in the same room with the public, where the business owners answered questions and even learned a few things as well.

Los Alamos County announced Thursday morning it is under Stage I fire restrictions, effectively immediately.

"When we implement Stage 1 restrictions, what we're looking to do is try and get ahead of the fire season a little bit,” Los Alamos Fire Department’s deputy chief Justin Grider said.

“"Even though we got cloudy skies right now and relative humidity...next week it's expected to dry out and be a little bit more windier and a lot warmer, and we'll be back to very high to extreme fire conditions next week and into the weeks after."

According to a release from the county, the following acts are prohibited until further notice:

Building, maintaining, attending or using an open fire, campfire, charcoal or wood stove on all Los Alamos County lands. (See Exemption 1)

Smoking is prohibited except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in an area at least 3-feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.

Stage I Exemptions:

Gov. Susana Martinez wants that transuranic waste off the hill.

And on Wednesday, she ratcheted up pressure on the federal government, joining the New Mexico Congressional delegation in asking for another $40 million so LANL can complete its 3706 TRU Waste Campaign on time.

Early last year, the Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department negotiated a framework agreement that would complete the job of shipping 3,706 cubic meters of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad. 

The Los Alamos Site Office announced that Geoff Beausoleil has been assigned as the acting Field Office Manager for 60 days while a permanent manager is being identified. Beausoleil is currently the Sandia Field Office Manager and was previously the Deputy Manager at the Pantex Site Office.
Beausoleil has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry with DOE and Newport News Shipbuilding.
Prior to his Pantex assignment, Beausoleil served as the assistant manager, Office of Operational Support at the DOE Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID), and as the DOE-ID integrated safety management champion. In that position, Beausoleil was responsible for all of the Idaho National Laboratory site environment, quality, safety, health, worker protection, safeguards/security, emergency management and information technology programs.

Other positions held by Beausoleil at DOE-ID included director of the Quality and Safety Division and the facility director for the Radioactive Waste Management Complex and the Waste Reduction Operations Complex, where he was responsible for all transuranic, low-level, hazardous, and mixed-waste operations.