Today's News

When asked about accusations that the National Park Service would shut down hunting in Valles Caldera National Preserve if it came under NPS management, Bandelier National Monument Superintendent Jason Lott was unequivocal.

“In every discussion that I’ve participated in with the National Park Service, hunting has been seen as a value. There are no movements or discussion about limiting hunting up there,” Lott said.

“I would anticipate that it would be managed consistent with the way other federal lands are managed in New Mexico. Optimally, we would want to work with Game and Fish to make the best hunting and to maintain the resources at the Valles Caldera to the highest standards.

Lott’s opinion about the importance of hunting was nearly identical to that of New Mexico Game and Fish Director Jim Lane.

“There are not many predators on the elk herd, and without predators, we don’t have a way to manage that herd. Hunting is probably the best tool out there.”

Lott anticipates the only restrictions would be to areas such as the visitor center or campgrounds and for managing the number of people in an area at any given time.

It looks like the Los Alamos Public School District will have to give back the money after all.

A few weeks ago, the New Mexico Public Education Department announced that it had made an accounting error when it came to distributing funds meant to compensate school systems for the number of “at-risk” students they are educating. At-risk students are considered to be students who don’t attend school regularly, cannot speak English, or are considered living below the poverty level.

The amount LAPS is going to have to refund the state amounts to $218,076.73.

On Tuesday, LAPS school officials, including Chief Financial Officer John Wolfe and Superintendent of Schools Gene Schmidt, met with officials from the PED over the issue.

At first, the PED said they were going to let the school districts that were affected keep the money, but then they decided not to.

“They received some feedback from various folks, and they found they had to take it back because of the legal issues involved,” Wolfe said.

Though the school board has not been consulted yet, they are meeting with the board this Thursday to discuss the issue, Schmidt and Wolfe both said the most likely option they will settle on is paying it back through the next school year.

A late substitution was made to Friday’s Summer Concert Series lineup.
It’s still at Ashley Pond. It’s still starting at 7 p.m. It’s still Los Alamos Monitor Night, but the band is quite different.
Playing this Friday is the Parker Millsap Band with Michael Rose featured on stand-up bass.
“Parker Millsap is a young singer-songwriter that’s most likely going to be a big star in the near future,” concert series organizer Russ Gordon said. “He plays Americana-folk-rock-blues-gospel and reminds me of some of the best of this genre. Heroes like Tom Waits, Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams, John Mayer, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Keller Williams and then there’s Dylan and Woody Guthrie.”
A sneak peek of Millsap’s music can be found at parkermillsap.com or on YouTube.com.
According to Gordon, Parker’s songs build and build. One of Millsap’s best songs is “Truck Stop Gospel,” which can be found on YouTube.

For the second straight night, the Albuquerque Isotopes came through with a walk-off, come from behind victory over the Round Rock Express.
Albuquerque trailed 5-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth but scored three times in its final at-bat to win 6-5 at Isotopes Park Tuesday afternoon. The win by Albuquerque gave it a split in the four-game set in the race for first place in the PCL American Southern standings.
Round Rock (45-35) still holds a 1-game edge over Albuquerque (44-36), the same as it did when the series started.
Round Rock won Saturday and Sunday’s contests before the Isotopes bounced back to win Monday and Tuesday.
The Isotopes have today off and will travel for a four-game series at Memphis starting Thursday. They will return to Albuquerque for Independence Day.
The two teams were tied after eight innings, with the Isotopes scoring twice in the eight to knot the game at 3-3.
In the top of the ninth, however, the Express pushed two runs across. Joey Butler doubled in Mike Olt, who one batter earlier singled in the go-ahead run.
Butler’s double chased Isotopes pitcher Steve Ames out of the contest in favor of Kelvin De La Cruz, who struck out Jim Adduci to end the inning. De La Cruz was ultimately credited with the win (1-1).