Opinion

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

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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

Shin: Los Alamos County MRA Review Committee Subject To New Mexico Open Meetings Act

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By LISA SHIN
Los Alamos Family Eyecare

Last July 2024, I submitted an editorial, “Los Alamos Metropolitan Redevelopment Area Commission Necessary for an Open and Transparent Government.” In compliance with the New Mexico Redevelopment Code, this Commission would not include County Councilors or County employees, but rather key members from the community with experience in commercial property development, affordable housing, finances/banking and environmental sustainability. The MRA Commission would make recommendations to our County Council and would reflect a diverse and broad Read More

Letter To The Editor: Comment On Terry Wallace’s Nuclear Weapons Testing Op-Ed

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By ROBERT D. DAY
Los Alamos

Terry Wallace’s Op-Ed (link) in the Nov. 6, 2025 issue of the Los Alamos Daily Post sounded like a lot of political-eze.

Nuclear weapons systems are very complex and even the most sophisticated numerical simulations being used to model them cannot allow for every complexity.

It falls into the you-do-not-know-what-you-don’t-know category. I, personally, would like to know if the weapons in our stockpile still work. (Especially since they have been “mothballed” for around 30 years.) The only way to determine this is by testing. Read More

Wallace: Nuclear Weapons Testing

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By TERRY WALLACE
Colorado
(Former LANL Director)

On December 18, 1970, a nuclear weapons test was conducted in an underground shaft at the Nevada Test Site. The test, code-named Baneberry, was detonated at a depth of about 900 feet. Baneberry was a relatively small weapons test and was conducted at Yucca Flats (a large playa) in alluvial soil derived from surrounding deposits of volcanic tuff. Within the alluvium, there were intermittent seams of montmorillonite clay that were saturated with water. The drill hole was filled with a concrete plug and sorted materials; the procedure for plugging Read More

Neeper: About Those Medical Measurements Pertaining To Political Choices

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By DONALD NEEPER
Los Alamos resident 1968-2014

John Bartlit’s column of Oct. 26 (link) reviewed medical measurements which showed that political choices are set more by brain history than by logical choice. The measurements could support the idea that the desire for group acceptance is an inherited feature that enhanced the survival of early Homo sapiens.

In my recent book on our societal polarization, I reviewed numerical models based on the shifting internal rules of behavior that we each carry. The models, published in 2021, predicted irreversible polarization in America.

On a continental Read More

Op-Ed: Former Los Alamos County Councilors Express Support For GRT Proposal

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By Former Los Alamos County Councilors:

We write to express our support for the nominal increase in Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) to be considered this evening by our County Councilors.

We are County residents and former Councilors whose service to Los Alamos and LANL spans decades and whose perspectives cover the spectrum of political positions.

Key responsibilities of our County government are the maintenance of basic governmental services and support for an enhanced quality of life, including public safety, housing, infrastructure, the local business community, and schools. Our property Read More