Thursday’s Top Stories

Thursday’s Five Facts

[1] APS add nearly a week to the 2023-2024 school year – The Albuquerque Public School (APS) board voted Wednesday on next year’s academic calendar. The vote adds nearly a week to the school year. The school district will now start on August 3, 2023, and end on May 21, 2024. The calendar the board approved Wednesday night lengthens the school year by nearly a week and brings students back to class on August 3, a week earlier for nearly all of the district. It also shortens summer and fall breaks while lengthening winter and spring breaks.

[2] Changes to prescribed burning after Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire -Thursday marks one year since the start of the Hermits Peak fire, which later merged with the Calf Canyon fire to become the largest wildfire ever recorded in New Mexico. After the fires, the Forest Service ordered a review, and that led to changes in federal prescribed burning. They’ve added fencing and more equipment such as portable weather stations. New technology will also play a role moving forward like infrared technologies with drones to find where heat sources might still be. More fire crews will also be on standby within 30 minutes of any burn, with someone checking daily to make sure the fire is where it should be.

[3] Warmer temperature and drier pattern begins – We will start warming up Thursday, with temperatures climbing by 5 to 15 degrees from Wednesday’s high temperatures. The warm up will continue day-by-day through early next week. Skies will stay mostly sunny today, with more clouds and evening a chance for storms in southeast NM on Friday. Albuquerque will the first 80° day of the year as early as Monday with even warmer weather through Wednesday. Some breezier weather returns for the middle of the week too.

[4] Santa Fe County redevelops popular trail as part of major road project – Santa Fe County crews are full-go on a $20 million project to build a network of roads just south of the city. The work will also dramatically change a popular trail. Hikers and mountain bikers love the Spur Trail, but county developers are making room for vehicles to join the trek. Spur Trail Trailhead will be closed until further notice. The trail is a small piece of a much larger project. A $20 million infrastructure plan called the Northeast-Southeast Connector Roads Project.

[5] Students showing their culture through poetry – Several students showcased their words in a new published piece highlighting native tongue. Teachers at Navajo prep say ‘Navajo Zine’ allowed their students to think a little deeper of who they are and where they come from. ‘Navajo Zine’ is a new poetry book created by poet Venaya Yazzie that highlights the culture and history of Dine people and other native cultures. The book is a bilingual poetry magazine has works in the Dine language and other native languages.