Sixty years of neglect of city infrastructure on top of yearly operations makes for a swollen budget. New City Manager Gary Whitehead and staff have a very good handle on the issues and on the finances, which shows in the budget document.
Yesterday, Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, reported that two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. That makes eight soldiers killed in the last two months. I try to think about what that means, especially since now that the military situation in Gaza gets less and less coverage in the media.
Riverbend's glacial slow-walk as a legal strategy paid off, scrapping off all but one protestant. It has cornered the market on commercial hot springs, maybe to the detriment of the whole system, with the city and Office of the State Engineer looking away.
The past winter was not kind to us, and we are faced with water shortage in the Rio Grande this summer. I link to several descriptions of where we are and what is predicted. Impacts will be important for farmers, ranchers, recreational businesses. We might get sued again by Texas.
The reverberations of this child's death are still rippling outward, with accountability for child abuse and neglect extending from the father to the city, city police and CYFD.
High cost of home insurance is here to stay. I link to several recent articles on homeowners' insurance, its relation to climate change, its relation to banking, to construction, to real estate, to what the state is doing about this problem. I try to explain those relationships.
Trump supporters say his policies may hurt in the short-term but will bring jobs and economic security to the country. I respond to this in three ways: an AI generated meme traveling around the world, a poem ("Arbeit macht frei"), and a historical note on the poem's title.
What is justice? And, why should justice matter? When a government becomes a business for making money, is there any reason for it to be concerned with justice? Is the disappearance of justice both as an idea and as a political structure the sign of the end of government?
Some counties are calling for curtailment of wolf relocations after recent cattle killings in Catron County. But figures show depredations have held steady or decreased, despite growth in the number wolves in the wilds.
The Sierra County Arts Council is hosting a number of events this summer and has released a poster that details many of their activities and other happenings you'll want to check out.
This is a very, very short sermon. The subject is immigration. The text is Matthew ii, 13-15. It ends with a call to action.
It was a banner year for gross receipts tax revenues, which nicely fattened the bottom line. Lean years behind and ahead though.