Columns

Shin: Questions Regarding County Sale Of 20th Street And A8A Properties

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By LISA SHIN
Los Alamos

Tomorrow, on Aug. 26, 2025, the Purchase, Sale, and Development Agreements for the 20th Street Redevelopment and the Mixed-Income Workforce Housing on the A-8-A Parcel will be on the Council agenda.

As many already know, I am closely watching redevelopment in Los Alamos. There are both positive and negative consequences on small business owners like myself. All citizens should be concerned about the impact of high-density housing on existing utilities, our environment, open spaces, traffic, pollution, and crime.

Please attend to make your voices heard, or email Read More

Los Alamos Facing Financial Challenge We Can’t Ignore

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By ALLAN SAENZ
Los Alamos

Los Alamos is facing a financial challenge we can’t ignore. From conversations with leaders across multiple organizations, it’s clear that times have changed. Many groups are struggling with fewer volunteers, fewer donors, and changing behaviors in how people give and shop. The Los Alamos Arts Council and Fuller Lodge Art Center are facing serious financial problems. The Senior Centers are looking at a funding gap of more than $200,000, driven in part by reductions in federal and state funding.

This is not an isolated case. Groups like 100 Men Who Care and 100+ Women Read More

Duplicate Bridge In Los Alamos: Aug. 18, 2025

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BRIDGE News:

Laurie and Bob Walker were high scorers today, followed by Sam Borkowsky and Jack Staurik.

This is an interesting hand that came up in our Aug. 18 game! Occasionally you have to be more aggressive than usual in the bidding, to avoid being shut out by the opponents.

This is board #5. North is the dealer and N/S are vulnerable.

North is the dealer and passes, as does East.  In 3rd seat, South should open with 1♥. West has 14 HCP and no biddable suit, and as a result, most Wests will pass and thereby get shut out of the auction.  But with good heart stoppers, there is a strong argument for overcalling Read More

Robinson: Sanitizing History Is A Dangerous Exercise

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By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote

The history police are at it again. Taos officials want to rename Kit Carson Park, and the president aims to scrub “propaganda” from the venerable Smithsonian. Freeing the historical record from uncomfortable facts doesn’t change anything.

I’ve written before that history isn’t pretty. History is what happened, good and bad. History has shaped where we are today. If we ignore history, it repeats itself until we citizens finally get it.

Kit Carson, one of New Mexico’s best known historical figures, was a scout, soldier, Indian agent, rancher and trader. In 1862 Read More

Daily Postcard: Buntings Share Seeds On Barranca Mesa

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Daily Postcard: Female Indigo Bunting and juvenile sharing a snack on Barranca Mesa. Indigo Buntings are rare in the western states, only 1-2 a year are seen in Los Alamos. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan

Female Indigo Bunting. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan

Male Lazuli Bunting on Barrel. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan

A Lazuli Bunting scatters the seed so pair are feeding on the deck of a home on Barranca Mesa. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan Read More

Fr. Glenn: Years Of Love Forgotten

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By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Many of us have probably lost friends of long acquaintance due to misunderstanding, slights perceived but not meant, grudges over trifles. One wonders if it’s not a sort of psychological self-protection mechanism—and expectation of being inevitably betrayed sometime in the future, so we “head it off at the pass” before it could do greater damage. “If even Jesus could be betrayed, what chance do ANY of the rest of us have!?” may be a subconscious, though erroneous, justification. Will I, too, have to bear the biblical treachery: “… it is not an adversary who deals insolently Read More

Op-Ed: Our Deer Are Desperate

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A deer balances on its hind legs to eat crabapples from a tree on San Ildefonso Road. Photo by Kei Davis

By KEI DAVIS
Los Alamos

I’ve lived in the same house, here in Los Alamos, for over 20 years. Plant life on the property has changed, but one of only a few constants is the crabapple tree. (One neighbor says it’s not a true crabapple, but whatever it is, it’s common around Los Alamos, notably in the western area.)

For the first 10+ years that I lived here, the crabapples were mostly a mess, serving only as food for mice and gophers, and to irritate me, both in the mess they’d make, and as an attractant for Read More

Stradling: Why Does God Care?

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By GARY STRADLING
Los Alamos

Why, in a universe of trillions of star systems, does God care about us?

As a child, I read the 1944 book by James Corbett, “Man-Eaters of Kumaon”. This story of man-eating tigers of India was exciting and illuminating for a boy in Belen, NM. One interesting thing that came to me from it was the question, “Why? Why did tigers eat human villagers?”

The author, if I remember correctly, attributed the tiger’s interest in humans for food, in at least one case, as resulting from a deficiency, a broken jaw, that kept the tiger from foraging on its traditional prey.

Courtesy photo  Read More

All Shall Be Well: Sarah Laughed

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Clergy from left, Deacon Amy Schmuck, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill and The Rev. Lynn Finnegan. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

By Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb
ELCA, retired

In the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, Abraham and Sarah, the couple chosen as progenitors of the People of God, receive a visit. Living in a tent, in an inhospitable wilderness, they would offer hospitality to anyone who came by. In this case, their visitors were a trio of holy ones, come to bring further news of God’s promise to them.

The story is a favorite of mine. In it we have the tradition Read More