Albuquerque Police Department’s Bomb Squad by Melissa Wike

The Albuquerque Police Department’s Bomb Squad also works with the police department’s S.W.A.T team, which keeps the team busy year round.

In 2008, the squad had 250 callouts total, 100 of which were S.W.A.T related and 150  that were considered bomb callouts. At times, the team gets more than one call in a day. In February, the squad received three related bomb callouts within hours of each other.

The Squad also works with Sandia National Labs to perform research and development for the Lab’s robots that serve as investigative bomb equipment.  The robots allow squad members to survey and manipulate potential explosive devices without putting themselves in extreme danger.

Potential explosive devices should be reported and are not to be underestimated. To learn more about what Albuquerque officials are doing to plan in case of a serious bomb threat.

Contact:  mwide@unm.edu

Campus Report’s Sarah Vernon on the swine flu

Ask most people what current health scare has them the most worried and they will probably say two words – swine flu.

The swine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease that has people all over the world taking extra precautions to prevent further deaths.  The government recently changed the name of this ailment.  It is now being referred to as H1N1 virus.  The name was changed from swine flu to H1N1 in order not to confuse people into thinking that they can get the disease from eating pork.

However, the real issue at hand is whether people should be seriously frightened about the disease.  President Obama said in a press conference recently that the swine flu is a “cause for concern, not alarm.”

Unfortunately for residents of New Mexico, there have been new cases of H1N1 reported as of May 4, 2009 and schools have been shut down as a result .

Thirty states  have reported cases and that number will most likely continue to rise.  But there are certain precaution’s that can help slow the spread of the disease.  Doing simple things like washing your hands frequently or to wearing a cloth mask while in public can be used to prevent the disease.

Contact:   svernon@unm.edu

Neuroimaging and brain research breakthroughs by Nikka Peralta

New Mexico is home to a research facility that focuses on the study of the brain using neuroimaging. The Mind Research Network (MRN) has been on the forefront of this type of technology and its researchers and scientists work to develop new insights in neuroscience, which provides a window into the human brain.

The MRN was founded in 1998 with the help of former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in hopes of focusing on the study of mental illness and brain disorders. Domenici has long been an advocate for this type of research and has had his own personal battle with brain disease. His daughter has also suffered from an unknown mental illness. The MRN will continue to carry the vision Domenici has always had in hopes of one day changing the lives of so many who have lost a piece of themselves.

Vince Calhoun, MRN director of image analysis and magnetic resonance, recently had a major development in his research using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technology provides an insight into brain activity by registering blood flow to functioning areas in the brain during various experiences. Calhoun, the principal investigator, gave me an inside look into how the fMRI scan will be a critical piece in the quest for answers to mental illnesses.

As technological advances accumulate, another battle still looms.  So the question becomes—what happens after the diagnosis has been made? Many patients who are diagnosed with mental illnesses require medication, but also need tools to be able to manage their illness, such as learning useful skills to help maintain a normal life. Dr. Harry Linneman, director of counseling and therapy services at the University of New Mexico weighs the scientific developments with the clinical aspect and points out some benefits many people can look forward to.

Contact info for Nikka Peralta:  nperalta@unm.edu

Haberdashery 101 by Frank Morganti

As a young boy grows into a gentleman, there are many things to learn in life, such as what to study while in school, what career path to choose and how to treat a lady with proper respect.  One item that is often overlooked is how to dress well, meaning that most men don’t know what to wear and how to wear it.

One of the most important investments a man can make is a solid navy or grey suit, this piece of clothing will help a man travel advance from the job interview to the CEO position.  The reason a solid navy or grey suit works so well is that they work with a variety of shirts and ties in various patterns, along with both black and brown shoes.

When selecting a dress shirt be sure to keep in mind the collar style because different collar types go with different face shapes.  A simple white shirt is always a safe choice, but that can get pretty boring after a while.  Shirts with stripes, checks and solid colors with a white contrasting collar and cuffs are a great way to elegantly add a touch of beauty to a suit and tie combination.

A reminder about contrasting collar and cuff shirts is that they are to be worn only with suits and blue blazers.  Self-collar and cuff shirts can be worn with suits, blazers, and sport jackets.

A set of cuff links is a very unique way to express yourself, in which you can have a set to represent your place of education, your favorite pastime or simply your favorite color.  Cuff links are available in an endless variety of styles and the prices range from next to nothing to the sky is the limit.

Good quality shoes are not a luxury but a necessity, for your feet are the main resource for the day’s transportation.  Welted shoes are a mark of high quality and can be easily repaired when needed, avoiding having to buy a whole new pair of shoes.  The pricing for quality ready to wear shoes starts around $250 upwards to $575.

If you can afford to dish out $1,500 or more, you can have bespoke shoes made up.  Not only will you be able to choose what style, color, and material to use, but you’ll have your own wooden form, called a “last,” made up so the shoes are truly fit for your own feet.

Undocumented students at the University of New Mexico by Ryan Montaño

According to the 2007 Pew Hispanic Center Census, an estimated 80,000 undocumented immigrants live in New Mexico.  Some of them were among the 700,000 undocumented individuals that CNN reported entered the United States that year.  Santa Fe and Las Cruces have a greater proportion of undocumented residents than Albuquerque.

According to the University of New Mexico’s Office of Institutional Research, UNM had 32,732 students enrolled for the 2008 fall semester.

With 80,000 undocumented immigrants in the state, I wanted to find out what percent of the university’s population was undocumented. Obtaining that information proved to be quite a task.

Deborah Kieltyka is the university’s admissions department director. I made over a dozen calls to her before she answered. When asked how many students at the university are undocumented, she said she did not know and forwarded the questions to the vice president of enrollment management, Carmen Brown.  While both parties declined to speak on camera, Brown emailed that there were 82 undocumented students attend the university enrolled at UNM during fall 2008.

According to Brown’s email, these students are tracked by using “a special code that we use when triggering their in-state fees.”

Veronica Mendez Cruz is the director of El Centro de la Raza, a UNM program dedicated to helping Latino students. Cruz says in an interview that out of this population, she has worked with 40 to 50 who have been undocumented as they attempt to become legalized.

In March 2009, Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Lugar of Indiana and Reps. Howard Berman of California and Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act.   Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., shares his thoughts on the DREAM Act and immigration reform.

UNM’s newspaper “The Daily Lobo” recently published an article by Pavan Kalasikam on immigration citizen processing.

Businessweek.com recently carried an article about legislative efforts to curb abuses of the H-1B visa program.

I had the opportunity to interview a former employer of undocumented workers. She used to work as a superintendent for a popular drywall and stucco sub-contractor on Albuquerque’s Westside. While she wished to remain anonymous, she said that in her 20 years with the company, she hired as many as 300 illegal immigrants. In the late-1990s, the subcontractor’s headquarters was raided by immigration law enforcement.  Many of the workers were cuffed and later deported. The subcontractor was heavily fined and required to have all its employees take a workshop on how to detect fake work visas, social security cards and driver’s licenses.

Even after this workshop, my source said she continued to hire undocumented workers. She would make copies of the applicant’s documents and then show them to the owner of the company, even though she knew perfectly well that the documents were fake.  The owner typically gave the “okay” whereupon she hired the applicants on the spot.

Keeping your job In rough times by Daniel Martinez

We’ve heard all the stories of the big corporate hotshots losing their jobs and selling pizzas to support their families.  Over the past few months I’ve covered several different businesses and corporations that are struggling to make enough money to keep their doors open. I’ve seen businesses, such as Hyundai, try to help out consumers by offering deals for those who have lost their jobs.

There’s one thing that’s not being taught out there and it’s a subject that many employees are looking for, how to keep your job before you lose it. Today’s job market has become survival of the fittest and it’s time that the everyday man is taught how to be fit. I’ve compiled a list of several tips to help you, the everyday worker, keep the job you have.

• Avoid company gossip.  This is the thing that employers and managers hate. It spreads through the work environment like a poison and not only affects your work but others around you. The stories shared around the water cooler are the ones that will leave you underwater gasping for air.
• Stay positive. Everyone is worried about their jobs in today’s tough economy and they’r not the only ones facing this problem.  Debbie Downer says having to put in the extra work will always be near the top of the list for the chop. Negative attitudes bleed over into your work and will only give your employer a reason to drop you.
• Keep getting better at your job.  Continue to learn new skills. Take a trip to a business conference and learn a few new techniques in your field. The more skills that you have, the better asset you are to your company.  The day you stop learning is the day someone else passes you up for that promotion or even takes your job from you.
• Have a plan.  Be prepared in case something does happen. Get to know other people in your field through networking so you always have something to fall back on.  I’m not saying that you should be handing out your resumes while you’re still employed, but knowing someone else who would want your skills in the future isn’t a bad idea to have.
• Never say, “That’s not my job.”  Always take on extra duties.. While it may not be your favorite thing to put in the extra hours on top of what you already have on your plate, it shows devotion to the company and everyone wants to keep the employee who’s willing to go the extra mile. But be watchful of your boss walking over you and taking advantage of you trying to help out extra.
• Be willing to take a pay cut.  No one wants to but it sometimes has to be done. It’s either a partial pay cut now, or a lay-off later down the road.  Look at your finances and if you could live without a percentage of your pay for now, bite the bullet and stick through the tough times.

Follow these tips and you’ll be having the boss wanting to give you a pay raise instead of the big permanent pay cut. And if you don’t believe me, listen to Dennis Herrick. As a former business owner turned university lecturer, Herrick has seen it all in the business world from the positive “go get um” kind of worker, to the “negative Nancy” talking around the water cooler. If you don’t want to listen to  me as a young gun, Herrick would be seasoned veteran who defiantly knows what it takes.

University of New Mexico culture shock 2009 by Benny Martinez

The University of New Mexico realized major changes during its first semester of 2009 — changes that are likely to improve the culture of UNM’s main campus.  Considering that faculty and administration were butting heads at the start of the semester, it seems as though the lines of communication will begin to open with the new appointment of Raymond Sanchez as board of regents president.

• On February 25th of this 2009 Spring Semester, UNM’s faculty organized a meeting where they voiced their opinions, with a overwhelming majority voting “no confidence” in President David Schmidly and former Regent President Jamie Koch.
• Word was released by UNM’s Daily Lobo about Koch’s resignation amid hints about a new appointee recommended by Governor Bill Richardson.
• Newly appointed Regent President discussed what he plans to do to change the atmosphere and relationship between UNM administrators, faculty, student body and the community at large.

University President David Schmidly’s also agreed to extend a prohibition on tobacco use from UNM’s North Campus to its Main Campus.

• Early talks of the smoking prohibition on UNM’s Main Campus have been whirling around for years, but President David Schmidly began this initiative in late-2008.
• News broke in UNM’s Daily Lobo, announcing that the prohibition of tobacco use will be implemented on August 1, 2009.
• The Smoke Free Environment Committee plans to designate specific areas around UNM’s Main Campus where people can smoke; trying to preserve people’s right to smoke.

A busy semester at the University of New Mexico has its community shocked and bewildered.  What will become of the UNM’s smoking prohibition?  What else will change between faculty and administration now that Raymond Sanchez is the new regents’ president?  Presumably, another semester may pass and all of this will be irrelevant because a lot can happen in one semester at the University of New Mexico.

Glimpses of New Mexico’s Religion Scene by Julianne LaJeunesse

Religion for Puebloans was not only fundamental to existence, it was a perpetuation of the environment’s influence on the Native American lifestyle, according to Craig Morgan, a Park Ranger for the National Park Service at Gran Quivira in central New Mexico.  Morgan also spoke about the history of the Salinas Pueblo Missions.

Another unique part of religion is the way it changes, or how religious perspectives must change to keep up with new beliefs.  Dr. David Maldonado has spent many of his professional years looking at how Hispanics have explored different forms of Christianity.  In his book, “Crossing Guadalupe Street,” Maldonado has tracked some Hispanics’ transition from Catholicism to Protestantism.

In an interview earlier this year, Maldonado discussed both how Christianity is utilized in mature adults and how some Hispanics are and have been exploring non-Catholic belief.

Finally, Vanessa Mikan, a native of Austin, talks about how Pilates has elements of spirituality and how the incorporation of a Pilates lifestyle entails the mind, body and soul.  Tara DeWallt and Woody Compton are featured in a video about the relationship between mat exercises and spirituality.

Religion is expanse, and how religion is practiced is equally diverse and that is what the above interviews suggest.  Religion is believed, it is perpetuated and it is real.  Denying the role of religion or religious perspectives would be a denial of an important element of the United States’ makeup.

Selina Garcia’s people and places in New Mexico

Throughout the year I followed the people of Albuquerque to see just what they were doing in and out of the city.
I spent a day at The University of New Mexico asking students what they were planning to do with their tax refunds.  With the decline in the economy I was curious to see whether or not the people of Albuquerque were going to spend their money wisely or go off and go on shopping sprees.

With the Taos Ski Valley officially opening its first full season to snowboarders I went north to see just what New Mexico residents think about permitting snowboarders on the slopes.  I got a mixed review of this change with snowboarders loving to be able to board on a renowned mountain, and skiers still having to get used to their once conservative mountain being filled with young snowboarders. The Taos Ski Valley saw great results with this change and will continue the practice next year.  Ski Taos hopes that this new change will help end what was once a long-term feud.

With the start of its skateboarding ministry, Calvary of Albuquerque has found another way to reach out to their community by offering amenities that keep both adults and children involved in this church community. With Calvary offering a cafe, game room, and now a skate park. children can hang out with friends without their parents worrying about them being out on the streets of Albuquerque.

Contact Selina Garcia at:  S7garcia@unm.edu

New Mexico Politics and Media by Sarah Flores

As a broadcast journalism student I have covered the economy’s effect on local homeless shelters.  But this semester my beat was New Mexico politics, so the majority of my stories dealt with politics or the media – taking me to places I had never been, as well as giving me the opportunity to work with political and media newsmakers.

During the 2009 session of the New Mexico Legislature, a media literacy bill was tentatively going through the New Mexico Roundhouse.  The coverage includes interviews with New Mexico Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas and Gene Grant, who is the co-host for KNME’s public affairs show New Mexico In Focus.

New Mexico recently abolished the death penalty. Daren White, sheriff for Bernalillo County in New Mexico, opposed its repeal, but Vicki Elkey, executive director of the Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty and the ACLU’s Kathleen MacRae helped successfully lead to its repeal.

I also reported on the Internet and its impact on journalism.  UNM professor Dennis Herrick, who reaches media ethics and print journalism; David Alire Garcia, co-host for New Mexico In Focus and managing editor for the New Mexico Independent; and Albuquerque Journal reporter John Fleck all comment on the problems the Web poses for journalism and political reporting.

Contact reporter Sarah Flores:  sflores4@unm.edu.