Monday’s Top Stories

Monday’s Five Facts

[1] Albuquerque City Council to vote on renter protection ordinance – City leaders in Albuquerque are working to design rules to help renters out. With the Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance, the hope is to provide protections for renters, but also help protect landlords. The ordinance lays out some rules for landlords like disclosing all fees to tenants from the start, including application fees. Landlords will also have to accept money orders as a form of payment for rent. The ordinance has protections for landlords as well. It allows them to require renters to have renters’ insurance, but only for the actual rental property, not the renters’ personal belongings. The ordinance is expected to be voted on at the city council meeting Monday evening.

[2] Los Alamos National Labs receives grant to study pathogens – A group of scientists at Los Alamos National Lab are using New Mexico resources to search and study pathogens, like what we saw in the COVID-19 pandemic. Inside the Museum of Southwest Biology are close to 12,000 tissue samples that scientists at LANL are now studying. The National Science Foundation recently created the predictive intelligence for pandemic prevention program giving LANL thousands of dollars to study everything in the museum. Potentially creating new opportunities for scientists in New Mexico. This grant only lasts for one year, after that they plan on applying for a second phase.

[3] Warm and windy start to the week – High temperatures will range a solid 5° above average for early March through midweek. The Albuquerque metro will reach into the middle 60s with mainly cloudy skies again Monday. Santa Fe will climb into the upper 50s, while Roswell will reach the upper 70s to around 80° Monday through Wednesday. Out west, Gallup will also experience sustained stronger wind gusts each afternoon with forecast highs in the upper 50s. Our weather pattern doesn’t change too much until Thursday when our next storm will graze New Mexico. 

[4] School health clinics – The house education committee will debate a bill that is aimed at codifying school based health centers. Senate bill 387 directs the department of health to provide funding and technical assistance to schools to create and operate school based health centers. Supporters say the bill will ensure DOH continues to work with school districts.

[5] UNM Children’s Hospital caring for boy with rare disease – A seven-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a rare disease at just two years old is in the hands of doctors at the UNM Children’s Hospital. Rafe was diagnosed with a rare genetic mutation, IQSEC2. That mutation commonly causes seizures and intellectual disabilities but can also impact someone physically. Rafe and his family have now traveled to five different states for treatment. They’ve spent the last ten months in New Mexico at the UNM Children’s Hospital.