What Happened Next?

Taos News
July 25, 2019

https://www.taosnews.com/stories/what-happened-next,58342

KRZA recently installed a new transmitter on San Antonio Mountain. The truck was helpful; when issues with the old transmitter first started in September, the general manager had to climb up the mountain with a bag of tools, a six-hour round trip, not including repairs.

Compiled by Cody Hooks

KRZA, the public radio station for the San Luis Valley and Northern New Mexico, is closer to being back on the airwaves in the Land of Enchantment after the recent installation of a new transmitter.

"We were able to get the 800-pound machine up San Antonio Mountain and put in place. It even turns on," said KRZA Music Director Andrew McCallister.

The installation was accomplished last Wednesday (July 10).

"Now we have troubleshooting and peripheral repairs to do in order to get it working," said McCallister. "We are expecting to be fully operational in roughly one month."

KRZA's old transmitter finally gave out around the end of September. Since then, the radio station has been transmitting at low power in the Alamosa, Colorado, area on 88.7 FM and online at KRZA.org.

McCallister said the radio station, whose motto is "Connecting Cultures Along the Upper Rio Grande," is "very grateful to all those who have helped us get to this point."

Sex abuse claims against archdiocese, clergy now under review

When the June 17 deadline to file sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe passed, 340 people had submitted paperwork to be part of the bankruptcy settlement.

Now, the bankruptcy process is moving along and the claims are being reviewed.

The participants in the bankruptcy proceedings are "close" to identifying a mediator for settlement discussions, according to Jim Stang, a lawyer representing the creditors' committee, a group of eight survivors or the parents of survivors.

A corporate arm of the archdiocese, which manages some of its endowment, should also be responding to requests for disclosure of documents, he said.

After decades of sexual abuse lawsuits and millions of dollars in payouts to survivors of alleged clergy abuse, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in December in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Mexico. The archdiocese has about $49 million in assets, according to the court documents.

Two more fires burning in Taos County

Two small lightning strike fires are burning in close proximity to each other in an area about seven miles north of El Rito in Rio Arriba County.

The Francisquito and Rincon fires were detected Saturday (July 13) and Sunday (July 14), respectively, and are "creeping with low to moderate fire behavior and are not a threat to any values at risk," according to the U.S. Forest Service.

As of press time, the fires amounted to less than 15 acres.

Across New Mexico, about 10 wildfires are currently burning on federal or tribal lands.