Opinion

Cinema Cindy Reviews: Napoleon

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By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

“Napoleon” – Director Ridley Scott’s latest film – is worth viewing if only for period details and epic battle scenes. The film attempts to be a biopic about Napoleon Bonaparte. Indeed, in case we missed the point, his dying words are quoted at the end: “France… Army… Josephine,” three loves, perhaps in that order, which appear to have motivated this complex character.

Joaquin Phoenix (2020 Best Actor Oscar for Joker) plays Bonaparte as a quintessential outsider from the French island of Corsica, an officer with a flair for military strategy, a clumsy and often Read More

Op-Ed: Smaller Class Sizes Can Lift Students And The Teaching Profession

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By MANDI TORREZ
2020 New Mexico Teacher of the Year

Every day more than 37,000 New Mexico elementary students, enough to fill the Pit twice over, experience negative effects of large class sizes such as a lack of engagement, increased behavior issues, and lower achievement.

In the 2022-2023 school year, 27% of elementary classrooms exceeded limits and average targets set in current state law. At Think New Mexico, a think tank serving New Mexicans, we examined the class sizes of every elementary school in the state using data reported to the Public Education Department. The story we uncovered Read More

Op-Ed: Regarding New Mexico Public Education Department’s Proposed Amendments To 6.10.5 NMAC

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By VALERIE FOX
Los Alamos

I am a parent of an elementary-age student. I am objecting to the proposed amendments to 6.10.5 NMAC. As I understand it, our district is opposed to it as well. Our students, teachers and school board members are already reeling from a swath of changes last year that included extended calendars and have made no difference in testing in the state of New Mexico. In fact, there has been a decline in math test scores and barely any movement in reading. Math proficiency scores in this state dropped to 24% and we are last in the nation in education.

Our PED needs to be honest with citizens Read More

Benson: Bethlehem Is Canceling Christmas

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By JODY BENSON
Los Alamos

Christmas celebrates new birth that brings the hope of life renewed. Each of us is born to bring our own individual gifts to a world that, without every single us, is incomplete. In the Christian tradition, Jesus represents that helpless, marginalized infant whose survival depends on his family and the grace and generosity of a community of strangers. He is also the one who, for Christians, is the promised Prince of Peace, and thus the model for how God relates to us and how we should relate to everyone else.

Bethlehem, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank of Israel, Read More

Op-Ed: Why New Mexico Students Need More Time In School  

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By SECRETARY ARSENIO ROMERO
New Mexico Public Education Department

There is a lot I’ve been seeing in the news lately about a new rule that is being proposed by the New Mexico Public Education Department that would establish the standard minimum school year is 180 days for all schools. I want to be clear about something, this is an update of an existing rule that established the 180-day minimum standard for schools with 5 days per week calendars in 2011-2012.

This rule was not strictly enforced in recent years due to the pandemic, so some schools have dropped their instructional days below 180. In Read More

Our Town At A Crossroads: The Critical Role Of The New County Manager

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By ALLAN SAENZ
Owner
Los Alamos Network (LAnet) and SALA Event Center
18 Year Resident

Dear County Councilors of Los Alamos,

I am writing to you today not just as a longtime resident and local business owner in Los Alamos but as a member of a community standing at the crossroads of change and potential.

Our town, known for its rich history and vibrant community, is on the brink of a transformational period, and the decision to appoint a new county manager is pivotal in steering the direction of this change.

Los Alamos is evolving, and with this comes the pressing need to adapt. Our town’s fabric is changing, Read More

Fuselier: 30 Years Later, What Can We Learn From Waco?

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By BOB FUSELIER
Los Alamos

Every now and then, Hollywood produces a movie or series that not only addresses a societal problem but also provides the answer as well. Such is the case with the series Waco: the Aftermath. I have to confess that I would’ve never watched the series had I not been a background actor in it. It’s nice to see what results from a project in which one has a role, no matter how small that role may be. Of course, there’s also those self-centered motivations as well: Did I mess up? Did I look ok?

Waco the Aftermath deals with both the siege by the ATF and FBI of the compound in Waco, Texas known Read More

Letter To The Editor: Grateful For Return Of Route 2M Bus!

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By TRISTAN VON REYN
Los Alamos

After a long time of waiting, the 2M bus is finally back in service!

This is very exciting news for people making the commute to and from White Rock regularly. Beforehand, one would have to wait for hours to get to their destination but now one can even get there possibly 40 minutes faster than on 2T!

This is especially important now that the weather is getting cooler, so people won’t have to wait out in the cold at the stops and at the transit center.

Thanks to ACT for bringing back the alternate route! Read More

Coupland: Next Steps For The School Calendar

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By LAUREN COUPLAND
Candidate
Los Alamos School Board

On the agenda for Thursday’s School Board meeting, item 8.3 is entitled “Procedures for Reviewing School Calendar”. In the spring, the calendar items generated large public engagement, and calendar preparations for the 24-25 school year have been highly anticipated.

As a member of the calendar committee and a school board candidate, I’d like to provide some extra context to the school calendar discussions. The LAPS calendar committee met weekly in February and March 2023 to discuss the impacts of the developing legislation, and how Read More

Shlachter: Response To ‘Peaceful Protest’

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By Rabbi Jack Shlachter
Los Alamos Jewish Center

If those protesting along Trinity Drive (link) really do want a ceasefire in Gaza, they should advocate on behalf of the people living in Gaza to get rid of the Hamas terrorists who rule over them, and they should advocate for the return of all the hostages.

Hamas terrorists massacred over 1,400 people – including babies in their cribs, young people at a dance party, and Holocaust survivors – and kidnapped over 200 others.

Israel has every right to defend itself and ensure that such barbaric acts do not happen again. Were it not for the Hamas atrocities Read More