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Sunday, June 30, 2013
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CHANGES AHEAD
OPERA REVIEW
Susan Graham stars in the title role of The Santa Fe Opera’s production of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. COURTESY KEN HOWARD
Impending overhaul of GED exam puts test takers on tight timeline to pass before new format, higher fees take effect
Christian Maestas addresses fellow YouthWorks participants who earned their GED degrees Thursday at Railyard Park.
Graham shines as Grand Duchess Season opener rife with scheming, sillyness By James M. Keller The New Mexican
T
he Santa Fe Opera launched its 57th season Friday night by transporting its audience to a madcap realm where political foibles and military scheming are engulfed in a swirl of silliness. On offer is Jacques Offenbach’s The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, directed by Lee Blakeley in an energetic, colorful production that lets the piece wend along its farcical path without trying to invest it with any deep meaning, thank you. The matter is slight indeed. A Grand Duchess with an unbridled sex drive takes an unseemly interest in her
Please see DUCHESS, Page A-4
GED instructor Michael Lehrer teaches a social studies class at Santa Fe Community College on Wednesday. The national GED test will be updated and changed to meet Common Core Standards in January. Anyone who has not completed the five GED tests before that time will not only need to go back to the beginning — they will have to prepare differently. PHOTOS BY JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
BY ROBERT NOTT THE NEW MEXICAN
Today An afternoon thunderstorm. High 87, low 61. PAgE D-6
Obituaries Adolfo (Eliu) Barela, 87, Santa Fe, June 27 Lawrence P.J. Bonaguidi, 78, Santa Fe, June 13 Carolyn Etre, 87, Santa Fe, June 18
Antonio (Tony) Gallegos, 80, Santa Fe, June 23 Facundo Garcia Sr., 82, Santa Fe, June 10 Louise M. Vigil, 83, June 26 PAgE C-2
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
‘African American Cowboy’ Screening of Victoria Lioznyansky’s documentary African American Cowboy: The Forgotten Man of the West, followed by a discussion with Kevin Woodson and Aaron Hopkins, 2 p.m., New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave., by museum admission, 476-5200. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds E-8
D
ennis Larrañaga, 20, wants to earn his General Educational Development certificate for one reason: “To be able to have a life. I don’t want to be a bum working at Wal-Mart, pushing carts all of my life,” he said. The young man started studying for the five-part GED test — an alternative to a high school diploma — in January. He already passed the science, reading and social studies components of the test, and has only the writing and math sections to complete to earn his certificate. His goal is to complete them by November.
He is well aware that he doesn’t have much wiggle room. If he doesn’t get them done by early December, he’ll have to start all over again. That’s because the national 70-year-old GED test will be updated and changed to meet Common Core Standards come January 2014. Anyone who has not completed their five GED tests before that time will not only need to go back to the beginning — they will have to prepare differently. Common Core Standards are a set of academic measures that have been adopted by all but five states. They’re designed to encourage critical-thinking skills, with particular emphasis on Eng-
lish language arts and math. In addition to the content changes, the new GED test will be only accessible by computer beginning in January. The exam is currently available on paper or on a computer. For New Mexicans, that means anywhere from a $20 to $85 increase in test fees, depending on individual test-center costs, because the computer test is a more expensive option. Santa Fe Community College charges $100 for the paper test, while Albuquerque’s Central New Mexico Community College charges $35 for the paper test. The computer test costs $120.
Please see CHANgES, Page A-4
Pot’s recent progression confounds feds, advocates Marijuana’s movement toward the mainstream has quickly accelerated By Alicia A. Caldwell and Nancy Benac
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of Reefer Madness to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of “Just Say No.” The next 25 years took the nation
Lotteries A-2
Neighbors C-8
from Bill Clinton, who famously “didn’t inhale,” to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did. Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug — for medical use and just for fun. It is a moment in America that is rife with contradictions: u People are looking more kindly on marijuana even as science reveals more about the drug’s potential dangers, particularly for young people.
Opinions B-1
Police notes C-2
Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Real Estate E-1
u States are giving the green light to the drug in direct defiance of a federal prohibition on its use. u Exploration of the potential medical benefit is limited by high federal hurdles to research. Washington policymakers seem reluctant to deal with any of it. Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor who worked for a national commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in 1972, sees the public taking a big leap from prohibition to a more laissez-faire approach without full deliberation. “It’s a remarkable story histori-
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Time Out/puzzles E-16
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
cally,” he says. “But as a matter of public policy, it’s a little worrisome.” More than a little worrisome to those in the anti-drug movement. “We’re on this hundred-mile-anhour freight train to legalizing a third addictive substance,” says Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser in the Obama administration, lumping marijuana with tobacco and alcohol. Legalization strategist Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, likes the direction the marijuana smoke is wafting. But knows his side has considerable
Please see POT, Page A-7
Six sections, 48 pages 164th year, No. 181 Publication No. 596-440