I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
It will take two days to know definitively whether the white, powdery substance the governor’s office received in an envelope Thursday is dangerous or not, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the more than dozen people exposed to the substance will be transported to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe for observation, public safety spokesman Peter Olson said. Most of the individuals have been in quarantine for much of the afternoon. It is unclear how long they will remain separated from the rest of society. That will be determined by what the hospital staff discovers after observing them, he said.
“They are showering and will be given scrubs and taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe,” Olson said shortly after 6 p.m. “We’re taking every precaution.”
A sample of the white substance will be taken to the state health department lab in Albuquerque, where it will be tested and identified, he said.
Reports say that several staff members and security officers who were in the vicinity at the time the envelope was opened were quarantined, as was one TV news person. A couple of the individuals who were initially exposed to the substance left the Capitol, Olson said. Authorities tracked them down and advised them of the situation, Olson said.
News reports also say that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish was not among those quarantined. Gilbert Gallegos, spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson, said the governor was not either. Richardson is in Washington today.
The Governor’s Office and the Lieutenant Governor’s Office were initially evacuated at 2:15 p.m. following the discovery of an unidentified, white substance.
The decision was made later to evacuate the entire building, Lt. Eric Garcia of the State Police said earlier in the day.
The letter the governor’s office received appears to have been part of a coordinated mail spree. Governors of several states received the letters. Initial tests found the substance contained in the letters to be not harmful.
