49ers defend NFC West crown with win over rival Seahawks Sports, B-1
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Breaking away from eggs
Meet the new minivan
Food-tech startup seeks to disrupt global egg industry with plant-based products.
For some families, cargo bikes are a great way to haul everyone around.
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FAMILY, A-9
Unrest in Ukraine Protesters in the capital topple a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and blockade key government buildings in an escalating standoff with the president over the future of the country. PAge A-3
Making science lessons fun Salazar Elementary science literacy coach honored for efforts to empower students
TAOS
Residents rally to support officer
Demonstrators protest decision to fire officer who shot at fleeing van By Andrew Oxford The Taos News
TAOS — Freezing temperatures and bitter winds did not deter approximately 100 Taos residents who marched Sunday in support of former New Mexico State Police Officer Elias Montoya. The patrolman, who fired three shots at a minivan carrying a fleeing motorist and her five children after an altercation near Talpa in October, was terminated Friday following an investigation into his use of force during the incident. A state police spokesperson declined to elaborate on the results of the internal inquiry, and it was not known whether Montoya would appeal his dismissal. He had been suspended with pay the previous day pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
Please see RALLY, Page A-4 Mollie Toll, recently named by the New Mexico Science Teachers Association as one of its two outstanding science teachers of the year, instructs fifth-graders at Salazar Elementary School on Wednesday. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
M
illipedes. Goldfish. Snails. Mealworms. Pill bugs. Mollie Toll, the science literacy coach at Salazar Elementary School, was sorting through them, making sure the right combinations of critters were delivered to the right classrooms. Picking up a plastic container marked armadillidium (pill bug or woodlouse), she commented, “That’s the greatest name. It’s like a little tiny armadillo.” Toll has never been a classroom teacher, but she has “taught,” as she puts it, for 12 years in the public school system and estimates she has spent thousands of hours in dozens of classrooms from kindergarten to the graduate-school level. Recently, the New Mexico Science Teachers Association named her one of its two outstanding
science teachers of the year. Toll, who was nominated by her peers, got an email with the news in November. “I thought it was junk email. I almost deleted it,” she said. The New Hampshire native, who grew up in Rochester, N.Y., has less than fond recollections of her own childhood science classes because they were not hands-on. She mostly read lessons from books. But she was still inspired to become a scientist. Toll received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago, her master’s degree in archaeology from Loyola University, and another master’s in plant ecology from The University of New Mexico. She also earned a teaching certificate from Santa Fe Community College’s teaching academy. She considered working as an archaeologist or anthropologist but then wondered how many people pay attention to reports generated by professionals working in these fields. She said she
is intrigued by the process of helping kids grasp — via reading, writing and critical thinking — life concepts through science. She believes in empowering them to make the connection. “It shouldn’t be about someone telling you something, but you finding out what you need to find out,” she said. “Science is about the process of thinking.” One of Toll’s nominators noted that Toll has strong personal connections to her students, encourages them to participate in science fairs and established a school garden. On Wednesday, she popped into several classrooms run by other teachers to help with science instruction and projects. She taught microscopy to Mona Khazee’s fifth-graders, using a learning process known as science notebooking. She first articulates a concept — field of vision, in this case —
Please see LeSSONS, Page A-4
Nonprofit has high hopes for compost creation in Santa Fe By Anne Constable
The New Mexican
Picture a pile of apple cores, chile skins, potato peelings and other food scraps as high as Mount Everest (29,000 feet). That’s how much waste Reunity Resources hopes to divert from the landfill during the first year of a new recycling program set to kick off in March. The organization plans to convert 2 million pounds of waste from restaurants, hotels and institutions into nutrientrich compost. The Santa Fe nonprofit is using a crowd-source fund-
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raising site, indiegogo.com, in an effort to raise the $143,000 it needs to get started. As of Wednesday, the group had raised $1,800 toward its goal. The campaign ends Jan. 22, 2014. If successful, the nonprofit will begin to coordinate logistics with restaurant, hotel and grocery store clients. Tejinder Ciano of Reunity Resources said the Santa Fe City Council approved a professional services agreement with the nonprofit in midNovember. But the city is not funding the program.
Please see COMPOST, Page A-4
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Today Mostly cloudy and cold. High 25, low 4. PAge A-12
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Peter Maguire
Reunity Resources hopes to collect kitchen scraps from local restaurants, hotels and institutions and turn it into nutrient-rich compost. COURTESY PHOTO
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Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
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The author reads from his book Thai Stick: Surfers, Scammers, and the Untold Story of the Marijuana Trade, 6 p.m., Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo St., 988-4226. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
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Rising riches: 1 in 5 reaches affluence in United States By Hope Yen
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It’s not just the wealthiest 1 percent. Fully 20 percent of U.S. adults become rich for parts of their lives, wielding outsize influence on America’s economy and politics. This little-known group may pose the biggest barrier to reducing the nation’s income inequality. The growing numbers of the U.S. poor have been well documented, but survey data provided to The Associated Press detail the flip side of the record income gap — the rise of the “new rich.” Made up largely of older professionals, working married couples and more educated singles, the new rich are those with household income of $250,000 or more at some point during their working lives. That puts them, if sometimes temporarily, in the top 2 percent of earners. Even outside periods of unusual wealth, members of this group generally hover in the $100,000-plus income range, keeping them in the top 20 percent of earners. Companies increasingly are marketing to this rising demographic, fueling a surge of “mass luxury” products and services from premium Starbucks coffee and organic groceries to concierge medicine and VIP lanes at airports. Political parties are taking a renewed look at the up-for-grabs group, once
Please see AFFLUeNCe, Page A-4
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 343 Publication No. 596-440