Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct. 28, 2013

Page 1

Broncos hold off Washington as Cowboys fall to Detroit at last minute Sports, B-1

Locally owned and independent

Monday, October 28, 2013

www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢

Access in Afghanistan

The best for pets

As coalition forces withdraw, U.S.-funded reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars will soon be impossible for officials to safely visit and inspect.

Pet owners are forking over big bucks to give Fido and Fluffy food that’s marketed as healthier.

PAge A-5

NATION & WORLD, A-2

Rock ’n’ roll legend Lou Reed dies at 71 The punk poet radically expanded the territory of rock lyrics and influenced generations. PAge A-12

Exchanging high rates for better deals

Wal-Mart targeted as commercial theft rises Santa Fe stores reported more than 650 incidents in 2 years By Chris Quintana

Bryana Mares, a single mom and small-business owner who says she is fed up with Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico’s frequent rate increases, gave the state’s new health insurance exchange a try last week. PHOTOS BY JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN

The New Mexican

Underwear. Rib-eye steaks. Car batteries. These are just some of the items stolen from the Wal-Mart stores in Santa Fe over the past two years. Alcohol is also popular By THe with shoplifters at the WalNUmBeRS Mart Supercenter. Particularly vodka and tequila. But definitely not wine. Wal-Mart’s busy stores Commercial and parking lots attract burglary and lots of paying customshoplifting cases ers, but police records at local Wal-Mart show they also lure many stores since thieves. The two Santa Fe October 2011 stores have reported 660 incidents of shoplifting and burglary in the past two years. Cases of Since it opened in Octoshoplifting at the ber 2011, the Wal-Mart Cerrillos Road Supercenter at 5701 HerWal-Mart since rera Drive has reported October 2011 93 shoplifting incidents and another seven cases of commercial burglary. The older Wal-Mart, Cases of which opened in 1985 at shoplifting at 3251 Cerrillos Road, is even the Wal-Mart more popular with people Supercenter looking for something to since October grab and sell for quick cash. 2011 Since October 2011, there have been 403 reports of shoplifting and 57 cases of commercial burglary at that store. Sgt. Jerome Sanchez, the officer in charge of property crime at the Santa Fe Police Department, said a wall near Rufina Street obscures getaway drivers as they sit and wait for shoplifters fleeing the store with stolen goods.

660

403 93

Mares speaks on the phone Wednesday with a representative about what type of health insurance she should consider.

Self-employed or underinsured New Mexicans find insurance exhange still holds promise of savings, despite website glitches

By Staci Matlock The New Mexican

S

elf-employed small-business owner Bryana Mares and others like her are among those who could benefit most from New Mexico’s health insurance exchange. The Santa Fe resident has watched her insurance rates and her monthly premiums climb every year, and she calculates they’ve jumped 50 percent in five years. “I think

that’s absolutely ridiculous,” she told state regulators at a public hearing in 2012 as Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, her insurer, sought yet another rate increase. She was among dozens of self-employed, self-insured and angry New Mexicans who protested against the rate increase. Now they could reduce their insurance premiums and end up with better coverage under the New Mexico Health Insurance

Please see eXCHANge, Page A-4

INSIDe u Lawmakers voice concerns over HealthCare. gov site. PAge A-3 u State officials report 13,000 New Mexicans have signed up for the expanded Medicaid program. PAge A-10

You love math; it’s in your music

Y

ou love math. You really do. I’m not talking about the kind of math that makes cellphones work or the kind that bankers use. I’m talking about math in its purest, most natural form — the kind that moves the planets in their orbits, gives flowers their shape and makes Cris a chorus Moore sound like Science in a angels. Complex World Maybe you’re thinking: “No, I don’t love math. I hated math in school and I still do.” Not so. You only think you hate math because of the way it was taught to you.

Index

Calendar A-2

Today Mostly sunny. High 65, low 41.

ABOUT THe SeRIeS The Santa Fe Institute is a private, nonprofit, independent research and education center founded in 1984, where top researchers from around the world gather to study and understand the theoretical foundations and patterns underlying economies, ecosystems, conflict, disease, human social institutions and the global condition. This column is part of a series written by researchers at the Santa Fe Institute and published in The New Mexican.

PAge A-12

Obituaries Amelia T. Apodaca, 88, Santa Fe, Oct. 24 Mary Lou Cook, 95, Santa Fe, Oct. 7 PAge A-10

Most people are taught in school that mathematics is a mechanical process: Plug the numbers in, turn the crank, follow the rules. If you get the right answer, you get a gold star. If it’s wrong, you get a big red X. But this isn’t what math is about, any more than English (or Spanish) is about spelling and grammar. Language is about beautiful poetry and great stories, not about dry rules and memorization. If

Classifieds B-6

Comics B-12

Family A-9

we taught English the way we teach math, no child would be allowed to read a poem until they could spell it and diagram its sentences. No wonder so many people are turned off. (Sadly, our focus on standardized tests is only making this worse.) Despite the damage done in school, your natural love of math is still there, deep down. It reveals itself in the way your

Please see SCIeNCe, Page A-4

El Nuevo A-6

Opinions A-11

Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Birds of Chicago Roots band, 7:30 p.m., Music Room, Garrett’s Desert Inn, 311 Old Santa Fe Trail, $22 in advance at brownpapertickets. com, $25 at the door, 982-1851.

Police notes A-10

Sports B-1

Tech A-8

Please see THeFT, Page A-4

Crews clean up hazardous spill downtown Hydrogen peroxide leak near courthouse caused temporary evacuations Saturday night By Chris Quintana The New Mexican

A strange liquid substance later identified as hydrogen peroxide bubbled up onto Montezuma Avenue from beneath a steel cover near the Santa Fe District Courthouse on Saturday night, causing a few evacuations but ultimately no injuries, said Andrew Phelps, the city’s emergency manager. The Santa Fe Fire Department Hazardous Materials Team arrived at the scene near the Santa Fe District Courthouse at about 5 p.m. Saturday and shortly after identified the substance as hydrogen peroxide. According to alerts sent out during the cleanup, crews closed off surrounding thoroughfares Cerrillos Road, Galisteo Street, Montezuma Avenue and Sandoval Street.

Please see SPILL, Page A-4

Time Out A-10

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010

Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 301 Publication No. 596-440


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