Staff reports

Los Alamos Technical Associates, a federally hired subcontractor that supports regulatory and environmental compliance activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, marks 50 years in operations next year.

The company, hired in 2023 by primary WIPP subcontractor Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, was founded in 1976 in Albuquerque and holds contracts with other federal facilities throughout the state, including at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

At WIPP, the Energy Department disposes of transuranic nuclear waste (TRU), which is clothing materials, equipment and other debris irradiated during nuclear activities.

The waste is buried at WIPP in a salt deposit about 2,000 feet underground. The salt gradually collapses on the waste, burying the refuse and blocking radiation from escaping.

Beginning in January 1976, the company provided nuclear plant planning, design, construction, and startup support at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Over time, LATA expanded to serve multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of State.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the company diversified beyond breeder reactor programs into nuclear waste management, weapons facilities, fossil energy and environmental services, supporting sites such as Los Alamos, Sandia, Rocky Flats, Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Idaho.

In the 2000s, LATA further broadened its capabilities to include information technology, security, classified services, and international customs and border control projects, while continuing to achieve major environmental remediation and waste management wins across DOE, EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

“Our 50th anniversary is both a milestone and a responsibility,” said Robin Beard, president and CEO. “We are proud of the legacy built by those who came before us, and we remain committed to carrying that legacy forward by protecting the future through innovation, adaptability, and the strength of our people.”

Looking ahead, LATA is plans to continue supporting the next era of national priorities, including the renewed focus on clean energy, advanced nuclear technologies, and energy security, officials said.

LATA’s success over the past half century has been made possible by dedicated employees who value teamwork, safety, and service, and by long standing client relationships built on trust and performance, Beard said.

As the company looks ahead, it remains focused on building “a clean and sustainable future, leveraging multidisciplinary expertise and an adaptable workforce to meet emerging challenges,” read a company news release.

About LATA

Los Alamos Technical Associates is an environmental and engineering SBA-certified Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) providing technical solutions that protect people and natural resources.

LATA supports federal clients nationwide in solving complex environmental challenges from project management, instrumentation & controls, engineering, environmental remediation, nuclear services, demolition, hazardous materials, sampling & analysis, and waste management. To learn more about LATA, please visit www.lata.com.

Silver City Daily Press

Duke Rodriguez has announced his candidacy for governor of New Mexico, launching a campaign centered on experienced leadership, practical solutions and putting people first.

Rodriguez is a longtime New Mexico entrepreneur, health care executive, and former Cabinet secretary who helped reform the state’s Medicaid system. Running as a Republican, he will compete in the 2026 Republican primary.

“I grew up here, built my career here, and raised my family here,” Rodriguez said. “I know what it means to work in the fields and to work your way up.

My roots are in New Mexico — and so is my future. I’m running because New Mexico is not a poor state. It’s a poorly run state — and families feel that failure every day.” Rodriguez has spent his career fixing complex systems rather than talking about them. He rose to chief operating officer of Lovelace Health System, where he managed what was then the largest health care system in the state. He later served as secretary of the Human Services Department under Gov. Gary Johnson, helping design and reform New Mexico’s Medicaid Salud program.

More recently, he built Ultra Health into the state’s largest medical cannabis company — creating jobs, navigating regulation, and delivering care to patients across New Mexico.

“I’ve led health care systems, reformed Medicaid, and managed large, complex budgets,” Rodriguez said. “I understand the difference between promises and performance. New Mexico doesn’t need more slogans. It needs leadership that knows how systems actually work.”

Rodriguez said his campaign will be grounded in straight talk — even when it’s uncomfortable.

“I respect voters enough to tell them the truth,” he said. “You may not agree with everything I say, but I will never insult you with a kind lie. That’s how you fix pensions, health care, education, and public safety — with facts, discipline and accountability.”

As governor, Rodriguez said he will focus on restoring trust and results in state government; strengthening health care access and affordability; improving educational outcomes; addressing public safety and homelessness; and confronting long-ignored fiscal challenges, including New Mexico’s underfunded pension systems.

“This race shouldn’t be about labels or symbolism,” Rodriguez said. “It should be about who has actually run large systems, fixed real problems, and delivered results. New Mexicans don’t need another story. They need solutions.”

Rodriguez emphasized that winning statewide will require expanding the coalition beyond traditional party lines. “If doing things the same way worked, Republicans would have won the Governor’s Office by now,” he said. “This campaign is about expanding the tent — independents, working families, and people who feel ignored by both parties. Responsibility and results shouldn’t be partisan.”

Speaking directly to voters, Rodriguez added: “Over the next year, I’ll travel the state, listen carefully, and have honest conversations about what’s broken — and how we fix it. I’m not asking for blind loyalty or blind donations. I’m asking you to run with me — to put people first, tell the truth, and make life in New Mexico better, not bitter.”

For more information, visit RunWithDuke.com or follow the campaign on social media: Facebook: @RunWithDuke; Instagram: @DukeforNM; X (formerly Twitter): @ DukeForNM.

Back story provided by the Public Domain Review

In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was asked a question by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, which many a parent has been asked before: whether Santa Claus really exists. O’Hanlon deferred. He suggested Virginia wrote asking the question to one of New York’s most prominent newspapers at the time, The Sun, assuring her that “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”

The response to Virginia’s letter by one of the paper’s editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language and found itself the subject of books, a film and television series. In his response Church goes beyond a simple “yes of course” to explore the philosophical issues behind Virginia’s request to tell her “the truth” and in the process lampoon a certain skepticism which he had found rife in American society since the suffering of the Civil War. His message in short – there is a reality beyond the visible.

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun it’s so.”

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Mike Smith
Carlsbad Current-Argus
msmith@currentargus.com

Looking at the photos on Brian Powers’ Instagram page, it’s easy to see his love for the wonders of nature.

And he turned that love into a career: Powers, 36, can be found during working hours at White Sands National Park, 18 miles west of Alamogordo, where he works as a park ranger.

The job brought him to New Mexico in August 2023 as part of a wide-ranging career that has spanned five other states. A California native, Powers majored in recreation and parks management at California State University in Chico.

When he’s not working the gypsum fields of White Sands National Park, Powers likes to pack up his fishing gear and spend time along the lakes and streams of nearby Lincoln County.

The Artesia Daily Press chatted with Powers and asked him about his love for nature in general and for fishing in particular.

First off, tell us how you found your way to southeast New Mexico.

I was born and raised in Northern California. My job brought me here to New Mexico although I have been interested in living in New Mexico for many years. I move around quite a bit due to my career. I have lived in six different states over the last 14 years – California, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Mississippi and New Mexico.

Tell us about the love you have for the outdoors that is so well-documented through the photographs on your Instagram page.

For as long as I can remember the outdoors have always been the place I have gone to reconnect with myself, to recharge, and find peace whether it be through fishing, photography, hiking, or other activities. It’s why I make it a point to go fishing as much as I do. It’s also why my career is in an outdoors related field. I’m very passionate about recreating in, creating art in, and protecting the outdoors.

How did you get hooked, if you will, on fishing?

It all starts with my father Steve who first took me fishing when I was five or six years old. Over our many fishing trips during my childhood he taught me patience, conservation, and shared his love for the sport with me. I loved being out on the water with him and quickly became addicted to that feeling you get when you’re reeling in a fish. In the thirty or so years since that first outing with my dad, I have gone fishing in California, Nevada, Oregon, North Carolina, Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Puerto Rico – at lakes, ponds, bays, 18 rivers and out on the ocean. Fishing provides me with an opportunity to disconnect from the stresses of my job and the world around me and allows me to focus just on one task and that is catching fish.

What is your favorite fish to catch?

I grew up and learned the sport through trout fishing so that is my go-to fish to catch. It reminds me of my childhood fishing with my dad.

What is your favorite bait?

I feel like my secret weapon is the Kastmaster lure I typically throw. I like to toss out worms or Powerbait on one rod and then I will cast out my Kastmaster on my second fishing pole. If they aren’t biting bait, I can usually get them off of the lure. I have caught a lot of fish this year doing that.

What is your favorite fishing spot in Lincoln County and why?

I really enjoy fishing at Bonito Lake. The fishing is really good, and it’s surrounded by such beautiful scenery. My favorite is when I’m the first one at the lake around 6:30 a.m. and it’s below freezing with fog formed over the top of the water. It makes catching those brook and rainbow trout even sweeter.

Do you like to fish from the bank or in a boat?

I like fishing on a boat, but I don’t own one currently, so I am exclusively a bank fisherman. I have been looking into possibly getting a kayak in the future.

Anything else you would like to add?

This has been an all-time personal best year of fishing for me. Since March I have gone fishing 25 times and I have caught at least one fish on each of those fishing trips. Fishing allows me to disconnect from the world and my worries for a few hours and connect with nature. It gives me so much joy to go out there and do something that I love to do.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5536 extension-2361.