OP/ED

New Year Message From UNM-LA Chancellor Mike Holtzclaw

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UNM-Los Alamos Chancellor Mike Holtzclaw. Courtesy/UNM-LA

By MIKE HOLTZCLAW
Chancellor
UNM-Los Alamos

As we begin a new year, I want to extend my warmest wishes to everyone in our UNM-Los Alamos community. I hope your holiday season was restful and joyful, filled with meaningful time spent with family, friends and those who bring light into your life. The start of a new year always invites reflection, and I am grateful for the continued support for our local community college.

In December, many community members joined us in celebrating the 45th anniversary of UNM-LA — a milestone that honors Read More

Gibson: Electrification Is Not New

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BY ROBERT GIBSON
Chair
Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

Electrification is the conversion to electric power of devices or processes that previously used other forms of energy. Today, the term commonly refers to conversions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning hydrocarbon fuels. That is not the only motivation. It may not even be the biggest.

Americans have been electrifying since Edison’s first “grid” in the early 1880s. Electric lights replaced oil lamps and candles. Electric motors replaced muscle power. Electric refrigerators replaced ice boxes. The list is endless. Read More

Op-Ed: Legislature Should Pass All 10 Health Care Worker Compacts In 2026

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By KRISTINA FISHER
Associate Director
Think New Mexico

The most immediate way that New Mexico lawmakers can expand access to health care is by joining all the interstate compacts for health care workers, which would make it easier for health care professionals who are licensed in other states to care for patients here in New Mexico, including via telehealth.

States that join the doctor compact experience an increase of 10-15 percent in the number of doctors licensed every year.

This probably explains why states keep joining compacts and no state that has joined a compact has ever left. Forty-two Read More

Op-Ed: Los Alamos Isn’t The Innovation Hub We Expect – But It Could Be…

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By Dr. Prisca Tiasse
Founder and President
Los Alamos Makers

New Mexico Economic Development Department’s (NMEDD’s) recent publication (link) of its New Mexico Science & Technology Roadmap is creating a lot of buzz and excitement. The document highlights the state’s strong competitive advantages in key science and technology industries. It explicitly aims to translate high-priority science and technology into local high-paying jobs and calls for strengthening the innovation ecosystem.

For years, New Mexico’s economic development narrative has leaned on the assumption that Read More

Op-Ed: Response To Wallace Piece On Nuclear Weapons Testing

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By CHICK KELLER
Los Alamos

In response to Terry Wallace’s recent article about previous underground testing of nuclear weapons (link),  I’d like to first support his complete opposition to any atmospheric testing. I suspect President Trump isn’t serious, but is merely trying to scare other countries into cessation of any nuclear testing.

I recall the disaster of the Baneberry underground test that broke through and emitted radioactive material to the atmosphere.

I was a junior scientist working on determining how to contain the very first moments of underground tests. Soon after that Read More

There’s More To The Pilgrim Story Than Thanksgiving

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Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1863-1930, The Mayflower Compact 1620, Oil on Canvas. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Courtesy/Wikipedia Commons

By CHRIS BROWN
and
ASENATH KEPLER
New Mexico’s Mayflower Society

This Thanksgiving marks 70 years since New Mexico’s Mayflower Society was founded by descendants of the ship’s 102 passengers. Our mission is to keep the Pilgrim story alive and relevant to New Mexicans today.  More important than the first Thanksgiving that half of the passengers survived to celebrate only with help from their native benefactors, Plymouth’s settlers

Read More

Op-Ed: Vaccines – Who Can You Trust?

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By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

The Republican Trump administration has “gone to war” against vaccines. This includes recently changing the CDC’s website on childhood vaccines at the direct request of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to imply that “vaccines cause autism.” This is despite the complete lack of scientific evidence for this idea.

Secretary Kennedy’s battle against vaccines appears to have four pillars, dealing with trust and the destruction of key vaccine institutions:

  • Reduce trust in vaccines
  • Take over the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
  • Make
Read More

Op-Ed: Blotting Out The Stars, One State Project At A time

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By GALEN GISLER and DIDIER SAUMON
Los Alamos 

We are writing as concerned residents regarding the recently activated parking lot lighting at the new Piñon Elementary School.

Upon inspection and measurements, we have found that the level of illumination is far in excess of what is allowed under the Los Alamos County Development Code lighting ordinance (02-333, 16-44ff). Nineteen very bright fixtures now illuminate the northeast parking lot—all night long—when the lot is empty. This single area alone represents a substantial increase in light output and electricity consumption compared Read More

Op-Ed: Veterans Fought For Justice Abroad. We Deserve It At Home.

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By MIKE DOYLE
U.S. Air Force Veteran and Trial Attorney
Los Lunas

Every veteran knows that service doesn’t end when you take off the uniform. As a U.S. Air Force veteran and a trial attorney, I’ve fought two battles — one wearing a uniform and one in a courtroom. The first taught me discipline and sacrifice. The second has shown me how easily justice slips away from the people who risked everything to defend it.

A study from the Center for Justice & Democracy, “The Costs and Legal Obstacles Facing America’s Service Members and Veterans,” outlines how service members and veterans face staggering Read More

Op-Ed: SICK SEVEN

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By JOHN PAWLAK
Los Alamos

Fix Leaven!  Picks Devon!  Mix Lemon!  Tricks Neven!

Obviously, I hesitated to write “the numbers”, lest readers suddenly find themselves compelled to bop the hands (palm side up) up and down like mindless piston engines racing to the end of a meme.

Recent news articles have bemoaned Dictionary.com’s choice for its “Word of the Year”, but having ridiculous words put on lexical pedestals is nothing new.  Next year, a new meaningless string of letters will sit on the throne of linguistic brain rot.

To highlight this fact, we can note that Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 was Read More