Vaccines Worked for Decades: Why Are Diseases Returning?

By David García Pérez

This article is translated from from Univadis Germany, part of the Medscape Professional Network. Pérez has previously written about the Oropouche virus, Ascariasis medication, and anthelmintic medications for Medscape.

September 9, 2026

Two Pennsylvania residents died after contracting measles, drawing renewed attention to a disease that the US declared eliminated. The deaths occurred amid an increase in cases, with more than 2777 measles cases confirmed in the US to date.

The increase is particularly striking because only three measles deaths were recorded in the US between 2001 and 2022, with the most recent occurring in 2015. The CDC subsequently confirmed three deaths in 2025.

The resurgence in the US is part of a broader phenomenon affecting other countries with well-established healthcare systems and raises an important question: Why are diseases that have been controlled for decades reappearing?

For decades, diseases including measles, diphtheria, and polio have ceased to be everyday threats in many high-income countries because of vaccination. However, some of these pathogens have once again found opportunities to spread.

In Europe, 127,350 measles cases were reported in 2024, twice the number reported in the previous year and the highest number recorded in the region since 1997. In addition, 38 deaths were reported. Although the number of cases fell to 33,998 in 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the risk for new outbreaks would persist because of pockets of insufficiently vaccinated populations.

Italy offers a particularly striking example of how diseases that once seemed relegated to the past could become fatal.

Recently, an unvaccinated 4-year-old girl died of respiratory diphtheria in Palermo, Italy.

The diagnosis was later confirmed by the Italian National Institute of Health. The case occurred in an EU setting where diphtheria continues to be reported despite vaccination.

In 2024, 151 cases were reported in the EU and European Economic Area, including 83 caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae and 65 caused by Corynebacterium ulcerans.

Nor is the problem limited to measles or diphtheria. In 2022, the US reported a case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated adult in New York, the first detected in the country since 2013. The individual was infected with a type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV2), and viruses genetically related to the individual’s isolate were subsequently identified in wastewater from several counties, providing evidence of community transmission.

Germany subsequently reported to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 in a wastewater sample from Hamburg, Germany, although no associated human cases had been identified.

The detection followed reports from several EU countries, including Finland, Germany, Poland, and Spain, which had detected VDPVs in wastewater in 2024. These findings prompted the ECDC to call for increased vaccination and surveillance.

The resurgence of these pathogens does not mean that vaccines have stopped functioning. Instead, it highlights a fundamental issue: When vaccination coverage declines, the number of susceptible individuals increases. These cases therefore raise a broader question: What is happening with vaccination in societies that have managed to keep these diseases at bay for decades?

Recent Data

Childhood vaccination has transformed global health and prevented millions of deaths; however, progress in vaccination coverage has slowed over the past decade.

A recent analysis published in The Lancet examined the coverage of 11 vaccine combinations across 204 countries and territories from 1980 through 2023. The analysis estimated that routine vaccination has prevented approximately 154 million child deaths since 1974. However, progress has stalled in many areas since 2010, and the coverage of at least one recommended vaccine has declined in 21 of the 36 high-income countries analyzed.

This decline was not limited to a single vaccine. According to the same study, the coverage of the first measles vaccine dose decreased between 2010 and 2023 in 100 of the 204 countries studied. Among high-income countries, declines occurred in France, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US. The COVID pandemic worsened a trend that had already shown signs of stagnation. Disruptions to healthcare services and immunization programs have led to losses in coverage that have not recovered uniformly.

The latest WHO and UNICEF data show that coverage has declined in some countries, while remaining stable or recovering in others. Therefore, a generalized decline in vaccination across all high-income countries cannot be assumed.

However, why is this happening? The answer is more complex than a single cause. The Lancet analysis identified health inequalities, consequences of the pandemic, and stagnation in immunization programs as major barriers to vaccination coverage. Another increasingly important factor is confidence in vaccines.

Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy can reduce vaccine acceptance, particularly when diseases prevented by vaccination are no longer perceived as daily threats. However, not every unvaccinated individual is hesitant to be vaccinated.

Difficulties in accessing healthcare, lack of information, problems completing vaccination schedules, and social inequalities may also account for some coverage gaps.

The future will depend to a large extent on which of these trends prevails. The study’s projections estimated that if the current trajectory continues, global coverage of the second measles vaccine dose will reach approximately 76% by 2030, well below the international target of 90%. In a more favorable scenario, the coverage could exceed 85%, whereas in an unfavorable scenario, it could be below 63%. These figures serve as a warning: Maintaining vaccination coverage requires not only making vaccines available but also ensuring that they reach the entire population and that individuals have confidence in them.

Restoring Lost Protection

Given this situation, restoring vaccination coverage is not simply a matter of compensating for doses that were missed during the pandemic. In Europe, current strategies also seek to identify where pockets of unvaccinated populations are concentrated and which barriers prevent some individuals from accessing or accepting vaccination.

The ECDC estimated that approximately 600,000 children aged 12-23 months may not have received at least one recommended childhood vaccine in Europe and has developed tools to help health authorities improve vaccination acceptance and coverage.

One strategy involves catch-up vaccination, which allows individuals who were not vaccinated at the recommended time to complete their vaccination dose. These interventions are combined with better identification of susceptible individuals and measures targeted specifically at communities where vaccination coverage is the lowest.

In Romania, for example, certain regions have increased measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination coverage by 25% during the first quarter of 2026, after implementing measures aimed at reversing the decline in vaccination rates.

The WHO and UNICEF have warned that, in Europe and Central Asia, coverage for several childhood vaccines has stagnated or declined compared with pre-pandemic levels.

The goal, therefore, should not simply be to return to pre-pandemic levels but to ensure that immunity gaps continue to narrow and that vaccination systems can quickly detect and address any decline in coverage. Vaccination is one of the most effective public health interventions. The challenge is to ensure that these tools reach all communities and that coverage remains high enough to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases from gaining a foothold and spreading.

Fuego 505 Wins NM State Fair Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge

Restaurants from Aztec to Belen showcase the beloved NM dish in annual cook-off

BY GILLIAN BARKHURST / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2026

With griddles hot and green chile even hotter six restaurants vied for the title of best green chile cheeseburger on Monday at the New Mexico State Fair.

While some chefs stood over pots of bubbling green chile queso, others flipped caramelized onions and crisped patties as fairgoers looked on.

“You win the competition at the New Mexico State Fair and you win the world championships for green chile cheeseburgers,” said Matty Barela, co-owner of Fuego 505, a restaurant on Albuquerque’s West Side.

The Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge is a long-running tradition at the State Fair. The contest is judged on overall components, presentation, the patty and, of course, the quality of green chile.

After chefs got the go-ahead to grill, each team had five minutes to prepare and plate their burger to be served in a blind taste test for a panel of eight judges. That panel included local royalty, like 2026 State Fair Queen Taylor Rolan, sponsor and media representatives, as well as the previous two-time winner, Leticia Romero of Isleta Grill. Each judge ate the equivalent of two cheeseburgers Monday as they sampled each restaurant’s offerings.

“I think the point is to eat as much as you can, burn your tongue off and wish you could do it all over again,” said Gena Goodson, associate publisher of Albuquerque the Magazine.

For restaurants, this award is more than just a plaque on a wall. Winning the championship represents a year of bragging rights for one of New Mexico’s most beloved dishes and the attention of hungry locals and tourists alike.

Christopher Goblet, the official scorekeeper for the competition, said in his 11 years of tallying ballots he’s seen countless restaurants prosper under the limelight.

“Look at Laguna Burger, they came here a number of years and now they’re in the airport,” Goblet said. “I think that the spirit of the State Fair is finding something new you can try and be proud of.”

With such high praise on the line, naturally, the competition was fierce. After two hours of tasting, deliberating and tallying — Fuego 505 took home the first-place prize, while La Villa Burgers & Boba in Santa Rosa won second and Fat Sats in Belen claimed third.

Aztec-based Badlands Burgers & Brews served up the most popular burger of the six and won the People’s Choice award. More than 100 fairgoers weighed in on that contest, ultimately choosing Badlands as the best of the best.

Though as scorekeeper Goblet carefully shielded his spreadsheet of votes, he said that this year’s competition was “a tight race.”

Frijoles Fire grows by 410 acres, but rain could spell relief

Forest Service: ‘Full containment will be a slow process’

BY JOHN MILLER / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2026

The Frijoles Fire is still on the move, but steady showers forecast through Friday could help wildland crews bring home suppression and containment efforts on the 15,956-acre blaze, which was discovered on Aug. 4.

The U.S. Forest Service reported on Monday that the Frijoles Fire had grown by about 410 acres since Friday, or a roughly 3% increase. Flames remain active around the fire’s northeastern perimeter and crept into fuel-dense drainages around Sierra Mosca, an 11,801-foot peak in the Pecos Wilderness.

Travelers and residents west of the fire reported a large smoke column on Friday in images shared widely across social media, but fire managers say the Frijoles Fire doesn’t pose any threats to people or property at this time.

Fire containment has lingered around 79%, and Monday’s update noted that the lightning-caused wildfire could continue growing modestly this month.

“Full containment will be a slow process as the terrain in the Pecos Wilderness is rugged and hazardous,” a Forest Service spokesperson wrote. “Firefighter and public safety are the number one priority.”

After securing the western perimeter of the wildfire, where the Frijoles Fire had threatened several small villages, the multiagency team assigned to the Frijoles Fire has been downsized from nearly 1,000 in August to 49 as of this week.

Those remaining personnel are working in conjunction with local rescue and medical teams to keep the blaze under control while it still burns.

Weather this week could turn the odds in their favor. Exceptionally warm, dry conditions this summer broke on Monday across much of the state. Rain showers raised relative humidity levels from a parched 10% on Friday to nearly 100% each morning this week in the area of the Frijoles Fire, according to the National Weather Service.

“That really slows fire growth as well, so we’re pretty optimistic, with all those things kind of coming in line, that fire growth should should slow down,” said Todd Shoemake, the lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. “I guess as far as the actual chances for rain, that they’re quite high.”

Those wetter conditions also raise the specter of additional lightning strikes and thunderstorm wind outflows, which can also drive fire growth.

Summer officially ends next week, on Sept. 22, so forest managers are also beginning to coordinate plans for potential prescribed burns and pile burns this fall to reduce accumulated dead and downed debris.

“We remain focused on this critical work to deliver on the agency priority to protect communities and natural resources from wildfire, but we also recognize that this year’s drought conditions may limit, or even pause, the work this fall and winter,” said Fire and Fuels Chief Jamie Long.

Sheriff: Oracle security detail suggested AI weapon detection at county meeting

Oracle says it offered metal detectors only

BY ALGERNON D’AMMASSA / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2026

LAS CRUCES — When Mahesh Thiagarajan, the Oracle Corp. executive overseeing construction of the data center known as Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa, appeared before the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners last week, one question in particular appeared to come as a surprise.

“It was reported to me that you wanted to bring in (artificial intelligence) scanners for this meeting,” Commissioner Susana Chaparro said during the Sept. 8 meeting. “Why?”

Thiagarajan briefly raised his arms and looked toward a colleague before saying, “I’m not aware of that. … It did not go through me.”

Chaparro asked interim County Manager Stephen Lopez — one of three interim county managers leading the county since the departure of County Manager Scott Andrews in July — for more details, saying she received the report from him.

Lopez said, “I don’t know if there was a want or an offer — that was communicated through the sheriff’s office, so I would have to defer to them as to what the exact wording was.”

Sheriff Kim Stewart was not present, and no clarification was immediately made as to what technology had been discussed, with whom, or why.

Security at the commissioners’ meetings has been heightened over the past year amid growing controversy over Project Jupiter, a 1,400-acre data center Oracle is building for use by OpenAI to train AI software.

Opponents in the community and environmental advocacy organizations have raised questions about the project’s environmental costs as well as its transparency about the development. Opponents have also mounted court challenges, prompting the state Supreme Court to pause an air quality permit application for fuel cell technology that would power the center.

The topic has dominated public comments at every regular session since the county approved industrial revenue bonds and other incentives to support the development, sometimes escalating to disruptions of meetings. On select occasions, the county has instituted extra security at the building entrance with metal detectors and bag inspections. At a July session, a scuffle took place in front of the dais involving county deputies, private security officers and residents. The incident culminated in three arrests.

Contacted by the Journal, Stewart said Chaparro’s question appeared to have been prompted by an informal suggestion from the Oracle security detail that accompanied Thiagarajan.

“They went to one of my captains and started talking about security at meetings,” she said. “The Oracle guy said, ‘We have some AI technology to determine if people are armed.’ That was what the conversation was about. … They came to us, and it was just a sidebar conversation, and it had to do with weaponry. It wasn’t to do with any facial recognition.”

Certain AI software products integrate with security cameras to scan and identify potential concealed firearms or knives and alert security personnel for investigation.

An Oracle spokesperson said the offer was not for AI technology at all, but metal detectors.

“Oracle’s offer of security support for the September Board of County Commissioners meeting was part of our ongoing efforts to support the county and maintain open communication with the public and local leaders,” the spokesperson said. “The offer included traditional metal detectors. Oracle did not offer AI-detection technology.”

Stewart said she had not discussed the proposal any further. She said there was no formal offer and that her office would not be open to one. “I’m not accepting one thing from Oracle. I think that’s a bad look,” she said.

That would not necessarily preclude the county from discussing security technology at the government building with Oracle, however.

Stewart and Lopez both confirmed that the sheriff’s office is primarily responsible for security at commission meetings, although uniformed employees of local contractor Security Concepts are also present in the chambers. Stewart said coordination between her agency and the contractor since the July incident was “going really well.”

Oracle did not respond to queries from the Journal about the discussion, and a spokesperson for the county did not answer questions regarding security at the government building.

Facebook faced roadblocks investigating Cambridge Analytica, former exec testifies

Sheryl Sandberg, former COO, said volume of app developers posed risks for Facebook

BY OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2026

A Santa Fe jury viewed a video deposition Monday from Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former chief operations officer, who said the company encountered roadblocks investigating its role into the Cambridge Analytica data-breach scandal.

Just days after news of the scandal broke in March 2018, Sandberg warned colleagues in an email that Facebook’s third-party app developers posed a risk to the company going forward.

A copy of the email was viewed Monday by jurors in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe where a trial is underway in New Mexico’s lawsuit against Facebook.

“The single biggest issue we face – and I really need everyone to know this – is that there are a MILLION developers with access to the data,” Sandberg wrote in an email dated March 17, 2018. She sent the email to Facebook colleagues just five days after The New York Times and The Guardian published reports about Cambridge Analytica’s role in the 2016 presidential election.

New Mexico’s 2021 lawsuit against Facebook alleges that the now-defunct firm Cambridge Analytica harvested data from up to 87 million U.S. Facebook users and sold it to political campaigns, including the 2016 presidential campaign of President Donald Trump.

Top Facebook leaders, including founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, promised an investigation in response to March 2018 news reports about Cambridge Analytica. Facebook hired a law firm to examine the activities of third-party app developers but the investigation quickly ran into obstacles, Sandberg testified.

“I think we were unable to investigate all of the app developers because there were too many,” Sandberg testified. “We prioritized the largest of them, which is what you would do if you have a million developers.”

Facebook also lacked contact information for many of the developers, said Sandberg, who served as Facebook’s COO from 2008 to 2022.

“In fact, many apps were shut down after the investigation because we didn’t have up-to-date contact information,” she told jurors. “We would send them requests for information and they wouldn’t answer.”

New Mexico plans to wrap up its case on Wednesday, attorneys said Monday. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, plans to offer additional witnesses. The trial is scheduled through Oct. 2 before Judge Francis Mathew.

Cambridge Analytica

New Mexico alleges that a Cambridge University researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, launched a Facebook app in 2013 that ultimately accessed data from 87 million Americans, including app users and their Facebook friends.

Kogan sold the data to Cambridge Analytica, a London-based campaign consultant, the suit alleges. The firm’s clients included the 2016 presidential campaigns of Trump and Ted Cruz.

Sandberg said Facebook had difficulty investigating Kogan and Cambridge Analytica because they were based in Britain.

“Facebook was able to investigate only what happened on its own platform,” Sandberg said. “But an actual investigation of Cambridge Analytica and Mr. Kogan was not possible because he was in another country.”

Great Britain performed an audit and investigation into Cambridge Analytica but focused on the firm’s influence on the Brexit election, not the U.S. presidential election, Sandberg said.

“The only way to do an investigation is to get access to the data that Cambridge Analytica would have had or a campaign would have had, and we had access to neither,” she told jurors.

Facebook’s investigation reached no conclusions about Cambridge Analytica’s influence on the 2016 presidential election, Sandberg testified.

“I don’t believe it was proven that it swung the election, nor do I believe it was of a size that could have swung a whole election, even if it was true,” she said.

Test scores for NM, APS students see modest growth

Data shows small gains in reading and math, though long-term gaps remain

BY NATALIE ROBBINS JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2026

New Mexico students’ test scores made modest gains last school year, though some worry it’s not enough to get the Land of Enchantment out of the 50th spot nationwide in education.

According to the newest data from PED released Monday, 43.3% of students statewide scored proficient or above in reading, compared with 43.1% the year prior. In math, 25.5% of students were proficient, compared with 24.6% the year prior.

In science, 33.4% of students scored proficient, a drop of 1.5 percentage points from the year before.

“We’re clear as a state that we’re making progress,” Public Education Secretary Mariana Padilla said. “We’re not yet where we need to be for students, but we know how to do it.”

In five years, reading scores for all students have climbed more than 10%, while math scores have remained relatively unchanged.

Younger children seem to be scoring better; the data shows third grade reading proficiency is up 5 percentage points from the year prior from 40% to 45%, and fourth grade proficiency is up 3 percentage points to 51%. At the high school level, reading proficiency was 37.1%.

“The state has been very strategic in our efforts related to literacy,” Padilla said, citing a literacy bill passed at this year’s legislative session that requires teachers to use an instruction method called the “science of reading,” and to submit regular progress reports to families.

“The plan is to continue that with math and science, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing now,” she said.

The assessment data released Monday includes scores from students in grades three through eight, plus 11th grade. Third through eighth graders take the New Mexico Measures of Student Success and Achievement (NM-MSSA) or Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) tests, while 11th graders take the SAT or DLM.

Despite progress on state tests, New Mexico scrapes the bottom of the rankings on nationwide exams. The state is ranked 50th in the country in reading and math in a 2024 report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, which showed only 20% of fourth graders were proficient in reading and 23% were proficient in math. The results from the 2025 NAEP test are expected early next year.

“Our state assessment and NAEP aren’t necessarily aligned exactly, but I do think if we see progress on the state assessment,you should expect to see at least some progress on NAEP,” said Amanda Aragon Bernabe, executive director of education nonprofit New Mexico Kids CAN. “And when I saw today’s results, I’m not convinced that’s going to move the needle for us on the NAEP assessment.”

Aragon Bernabe said she’s not convinced the latest efforts to bolster reading and math from the state will be enough to see the kind of progress New Mexico needs to get itself off of the bottom of the list.

“I think I’m just really sad that the positive things that have been put in place aren’t reaching their full potential yet,” she said. “I think that’s just going to take more accountability than people have been comfortable with, and a lot more discomfort for the leaders of our systems than maybe people have been willing to take in the past.”

Underserved students included in the landmark education lawsuit known as Yazzie-Martinez reported significant fiveyear growth, though students still score below their peers.

The 2018 Yazzie-Martinez decision ruled that the state of New Mexico has a constitutional obligation to provide every student with an equal opportunity and a sufficient education, especially Native American students, English language learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students — all of whom make up around 70% of New Mexico’s student population, according to the PED.

Native American students scored a reading proficiency of 32.8%, up almost 14 percentage points from five years prior, though still not on par with their peers.

Economically disadvantaged students scored nearly 13 percentage points higher than they did five years before. English learners were up 7.4 percentage points and disabled students 4.6 percentage points, though the gap between them and their non-disabled peers continues to widen.

These gains were “probably the thing that I looked at today that I was the most hopeful about,” Aragon Bernabe said. “But the numbers are still way too low to be acceptable.”

APS’ performance

At Albuquerque Public Schools, the state’s largest district, scores kept pace with statewide numbers.

Including charters, reading proficiency at APS last school year was 43.5%, compared with 43.3% at the state level. Math was similarly close: APS math proficiency was 25.7%, compared with 25.5% statewide.

Reading at APS is up 0.2 percentage points, while math is up 1.1 since the year prior. These math and reading scores are the highest recorded at the district since APS started using the NM-MSSA test in 2022, district officials said.

“While we were hoping for stronger growth, I’m proud that our students largely held onto the hard-won gains from 2025,” Superintendent Gabriella Durán Blakey said in a statement. “This shows the real resilience of our students and the dedication of our staff. We know we still have work to do, and we’re more committed than ever to helping every student reach their full potential.”

APS saw marginal gains in 11 demographics, including among white, Black, Asian, Hispanic and disabled students, while scores dropped slightly for Native American, multiracial, homeless and economically disadvantaged students and English learners.

The gap between the district’s students not experiencing financial hardship and those who are widened to more than 30 percentage points.

Math scores increased for every demographic at APS except Black, economically disadvantaged and homeless students, who all reported scores falling by less than 1 percentage point.

Science proficiency was down 1.3 percentage points from the year prior for a total proficiency of 33.6%.

Attendance — one of the district’s admitted biggest challenges — is also up slightly. At APS, 71.5% of students attended at least 90% of the days in the 2025-26 school year, compared with 69.1% in the school year prior.

NMDOJ breaks with secretary of state, opposes New Mexico’s ballot access laws

Assistant solicitor general says state’s current laws ensure ‘two-party political status quo’

BY DAN BOYD / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL CAPITOL BUREAU

September 15, 2026

SANTA FE — New Mexico’s ballot access laws have been staunchly defended by state election officials during this year’s election cycle.

But the state’s top attorney has publicly split with the Secretary of State’s Office, siding in an ongoing federal court case with candidates from a new minor party that were disqualified from the November general election ballot.

In a recent court filing, Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office argued Forward Party candidates should be placed on the ballot and said the state’s current requirements for minor party and independent candidates prevent “real competition” at the polls.

“New Mexico’s ballot access laws have cemented a two-party political status quo by imposing onerous signature requirements on minor party and independent candidates,” assistant solicitor general Daniel Ahrens wrote in his filing.

All eight independent and minor party candidates who filed to run for statewide office in June were disqualified by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office for not submitting the minimum number of voter signatures stipulated by state law.

The disqualification of three of those candidates who are affiliated with the Forward Party prompted them to file the federal lawsuit arguing the ballot access requirements are unconstitutional. The Forward Party was established as a minor political party in New Mexico this year.

A federal judge this month denied the party’s request to be placed on the ballot, but the Forward Party appealed that ruling to the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. That prompted the intervention from the state Department of Justice, which is led by the attorney general.

Under New Mexico’s election code, independents running for governor or another statewide office this year must submit more than five times the number of valid signatures as either Democratic or Republican candidates.

While independents running for office face a requirement of at least 14,200 verified voter signatures, Democratic candidates for governor this year were required to submit at least 2,505 signatures to preliminarily qualify for the primary ballot. Republicans were required to file at least 2,351 valid signatures — or 2% of the votes cast in their party’s last gubernatorial primary.

The signature requirements are similar for most minor party candidates.

Attorneys for the Secretary of State’s Office have argued in several court cases this year the state’s current ballot access requirements prevent ballot overcrowding and keep “frivolous” candidates off the ballot.

But critics have countered the high ballot hurdles have led to many uncontested races, especially for legislative seats. They have also pointed out New Mexico does not have similar voter signature requirements for presidential candidates.

Of New Mexico’s 70 state House seats that are all up for election this year, more than half the races — or 39 out of 70 — are uncontested. Of the remaining 31 races, only one contest features more than two candidates.

Bob Perls, the New Mexico Forward Party’s chairman who was disqualified in his bid to run for U.S. Senate, lauded the attorney general for his stance in the ballot access case.

“Our election system is rigged because the two major parties ban competition at the ballot box,” Perls said in a Monday statement.

Absentee and early in-person voting for New Mexico’s general election begins Oct. 6, with Election Day set for Nov. 3.

Albuquerque man, 74, sets world record for being the oldest person to complete a wing jump

BELEN — For over a minute, Richard Greenwood had a bird’seye view of Valencia County and beyond.

As he was in the air, he said he was “concentrating on flying a nice, straight pattern back to the drop zone.”

“I’m thinking, ‘If I can pull this off, this will be cool,’” he said.

When the 74-year-old Albuquerque resident landed on his feet at Belen Regional Airport on June 5, he broke the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to complete a wingsuit jump. The previous record belonged to 67-year-old Thomas Conner.

Guinness spokesperson Kylie Galloway confirmed Greenwood’s accomplishment to the Journal.

“To be honest, it was just another jump for me,” he said.

Greenwood said he decided to make the jump after Conner made his in August 2025.

“I’m thinking, ‘He flew a wingsuit, and I’ve been flying wingsuits for 30 years on and off. Let me see what I can do.’ So, I looked into it,” he said.

Greenwood, who has been skydiving since April 1, 1970, said his passion for flying began as a child.

“I remember being 5 years old at the kitchen table, sitting there, taking tissue paper and Scotch tape and little strings and making little guys under parachutes and climbing up on the garage roof and throwing them off,” he said. “And so, something in me was always interested in parachutes and parachuting. As soon as I turned 18 and could legally take the course, I went out to a local drop zone, which at the time was in Wisconsin because I was living in Chicago.”

Back then, people jumped out in old military surplus gear, which was a lot bigger, bulkier, heavier and not as reliable as it is today, he said.

“But after that first jump I was hooked and here I am 56 years later, and I am still jumping,” Greenwood said.

Over the years, he skydived across the world, including in Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Greenwood said he jumped regularly until 1995 “and then had both my knees replaced, then I gained weight, and then I got cancer.”

“I had to take about an 8-year layoff, but I beat the cancer, lost about 80 pounds, and came out and started jumping again,” Greenwood said.

Kenny Currier, who was part of the June jump, said Greenwood is an inspiration.

“To be able to do that with the wingsuit and stuff, I mean, it takes a lot of training and a lot of skill,” he said.

Greenwood said he now jumps once or twice a week and hopes to make 4,000 jumps before retiring from jumping.

“I need another 150 or so to make that,” he said. “That’s kind of the big goal I have in the sport right now: to get that 4,000th jump point and go from there.”

September 13, 2026 [on the recent AI whistleblower controversy] from Heather Cox Richardson

On Saturday, September 12, Dario Amodei, the chief executive officer of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, published a 3,800-word essay calling for AI companies to slow down their improvement of AI models.

Amodei expressed concern that AI models are themselves pushing advances faster than engineers can understand them. He noted that July’s OpenAI–Hugging Face incident, in which programs designed to hack into systems found weaknesses that permitted them to escape the “sandbox” in which designers were testing them for about a week before anyone noticed had, luckily, been relatively harmless, but warned that “in my opinion, a swarm that possessed greater capabilities but a similar level of misalignment could have caused catastrophic damage.” Within a year, he warned, such a swarm could take over the entire internet, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.

In his essay, Amodei called for AI companies to commit to giving embedded third-party evaluators access to their work, rather like the regulatory supervisors in banking. He called for AI companies in democratic countries to establish safety standards and limit their rate of progress. And he called for “[t]he US and other democratic governments [to] attempt to coordinate with authoritarian governments, to the extent this is possible, while taking seriously the challenges of verifying compliance.”

Today on Face the Nation, Amodei explained to host Jo Ling Kent: “My view here is it has always been very strange that this technology is being built by a private company. People ask me that question all the time. Why isn’t this being built by government? And the strangest thing about it is, I agree with them. I’m uncomfortable. Government didn’t build this technology. This company, this technology came from the private sector, and we—Anthropic, and I would hope other companies, have done everything we can to try to have legitimate oversight mechanisms.

“I think the government and the public need to have a stake. And this is why we’ve supported regulation of the technology. Regulation constrains the private companies. Regulation allows the public and its elected representatives to have a say, and limits what the private companies can do.”

Asked if he would be willing to give the technology itself to the government, Amodei answered that he might be willing to give it to the right combination of governments. “I want to be very clear about this,” he said. “I am concerned that one single government could abuse this technology just as easily as a single company could. But I think a combination of democratically elected governments—I don’t know about hand over, but some kind of oversight, some kind of joint governance. Again, that would be the work of years, but I wonder if that’s the direction we need to go in.”

As Mike Isaac of the New York Times noted, Amodei’s call came days after an Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, resigned, posting on social media that neither OpenAI nor Anthropic was “acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” They are, he said, building “superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources.”

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon said. He claimed that people at OpenAI might not yet realize what they’re constructing, while those at Anthropic do understand but believe “they are locked in a race to get there first—they believe no one else will act responsibly, so they must do it themselves, despite the risk.”

Critics are skeptical, suggesting that AI leaders are hyping their product to make it appear more valuable than it really is. There is widespread concern that the massive spending on AI infrastructure like data centers and chips might not deliver the revenue and profits that would justify such spending. In June, Kate Brennan, associate director of independent research institute AI Now, told Aimee Picchi of CBS News: “The returns are not coming in, and the claims that are being made, in terms of efficiency or productivity numbers, are not netting out.”

Others wonder if Amodei’s public concerns aren’t designed to get the government to regulate AI in such a way that it creates a framework that would make it hard for smaller companies to break into the market.

Still, Kate Conger of the New York Times noted last week that in July, more than 1,300 employees from Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and Google’s DeepMind—all leading AI companies—signed an open letter asking the U.S. government to regulate AI to slow down its development. Conger also notes that in August, more than 100 tech companies offered their models to hospitals and infrastructure systems to enable them to guard against cyberattacks powered by AI.

After Amodei’s essay appeared, Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI; Elon Musk, who has been increasing spending on AI through his SpaceX rocket company; and Demis Hassabis, chair of Google DeepMind, all posted their support for slowing down the pace of AI improvements.

On October 30, 2023, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14110, calling for the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” The document said AI must be safe and secure. It called for the promotion of “responsible innovation, competition, and collaboration” and specified that AI must engage U.S. workers and advance equity and civil rights as well as privacy and civil liberties. The development of AI must protect consumers, it said, and the government must make sure the technology is deployed responsibly.

Revoking this executive order was one of the first things Trump did on January 20, 2025. Published in the official register on January 23, Trump’s order “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” called for reviewing “all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken” under Biden’s order and suspending, revising, or rescinding them. “[W]e must,” the order said, “develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas.”

During his second term, Trump and his sons have invested heavily in companies tied to the AI boom. Trump has called AI data centers “the oil of the next 50 years” and says they are delivering wealth and investment to communities in the U.S. In July he insisted that data centers are “Cash Cows,” creating taxes and jobs that “amount to LIQUID GOLD!”

But the American people disagree. A YouGov poll from late August showed that only 24% of Americans think the construction of data centers is a good thing, while twice that number, 47%, say it’s bad. A majority of Americans, 61%, don’t want one in their town. In response to their growing unpopularity, the administration is seeking to exempt data centers from having to notify the public about how much air pollution they will release.

As Cat Zakrzewski, Violet Jira, and Nitasha Tiku of the Washington Post reported, when asked today about the calls to slow down the development of AI models, Trump dismissed them, saying that the U.S. needed to stay ahead of China. He brushed off the warnings calling for the slower pace coming from the industry’s leaders.

“I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up,” Trump told reporters. “And they’re bringing up things that won’t happen.”

David Sacks, the venture capitalist who heads the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, accused the AI leaders of trying to avoid “massive product-liablity exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack.”

A Wall Street Journal article today by Richard Rubin and Justin Lahart offered a different perspective on the fight over regulating AI. In a piece about the growing U.S. debt, they note that the Trump administration insists it can overcome the rising deficits it’s mounting and the debt that has recently hit 100% of the nation’s gross domestic product and topped $40 trillion through growth.

The idea that the U.S. could sustain high spending with low taxes by growing its way out of debt has been a driving force in the Republican Party since the 1980s, but as Rubin and Lahart note, the U.S. has not had the sustained 3% growth such a scenario requires since the 1990s, when companies were adopting computers and baby boomers were at their peak employment. During those years, under President Bill Clinton, the U.S. wiped out its deficit.

But then President George W. Bush pushed through another big tax cut and launched two unfunded wars, and both deficits and debt climbed again. By this century, the authors note, the conditions of the 1990s were reversed: baby boomers are retiring and productivity is slowing.

And yet Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told an audience at Southern Methodist University last week that he expects to see 3% growth again after the end of the war on Iran. “[T]he underlying economy is very, very strong,” he said, “and I think reaccelerating.” This expected growth seems to be what’s behind the administration’s faith that it can continue to cut taxes while dramatically increasing spending on the military and the Department of Homeland security.

Last week, Rubin and Lahart note, Trump told the Fox News Channel: “We’re gonna take care of the 40 trillion over a period of time through growth. We’re growing at a faster rate than we’ve ever grown before.” While the U.S. is not, in fact, growing at a record pace—growth during Trump’s second term has sat at 1.9%—it appears the administration may be looking at a giant boost in productivity led by AI as its Hail Mary pass.

—

Notes:

https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier

AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans

Misleading Metaphors and Real Risks

The Metaphors…

Read more

3 days ago · 464 likes · 86 comments · Melanie Mitchell

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-bubble-tech-selloff-investment-consumer-business-demand

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/01/2023-24283/safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/removing-barriers-to-american-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/president-trump-buys-2-ai-083200867.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/oil-next-50-years-trump-144401770.html

https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/55438-many-americans-think-data-centers-are-bad-for-the-us-more-oppose-them-locally

https://apnews.com/article/epa-data-centers-ai-public-comment-states-947eb927ae81162ad4cc3e828915c804

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/25/datacenters-air-pollution-epa

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/13/trump-rejects-calls-so-slow-ai-development-citing-chinese-competition

https://www.wsj.com/economy/federal-debt-growth-solution-c2868517?mod=hp_lead_pos5

Trump’s Truth:

statuses/40064

X:

hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843

DavidSacks/status/2098973625252708460

Bluesky:

atrupar.com/post/3mvftmuclo22c

What we know about the fairgrounds redo

The fate of the fairgrounds still undecided as annual event ramps up this week

BY GILLIAN BARKHURST / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 12, 2026

With the sweet smell of funnel cakes and cut hay in the air, State Fair season is upon us — although the future of the fairgrounds that host the annual event remains undecided.

In March, the State Fairgrounds District Board voted 6-1 to build a sports stadium and mixed-income housing on the southwest corner of the state-owned property. The board has not decided, however, whether the annual State Fair will come or go.

What local leaders voted on in March is called Phase One and will see the State Fair operating as normal while demolition and construction are underway. Phase One is planned to include infrastructure improvements for the fair and permanent retail spaces alongside the planned stadium.

The state will invest about $200 million in the first phase, including bonds and appropriations from the Legislature. That investment is expected to generate $5.7 million a year in tax earnings, double what the State Fair currently brings in, according to consultant estimates.

But some residents don’t approve of the price tag.

Thursday, on the fair’s opening day, neighborhood leaders and organizers with the Party for Socialism and Liberation protested the planned stadium.

“Is the stadium something we need or something the rest of the city wants?” said Natalie Vargas, president of the South San Pedro Neighborhood Association.

Despite complaints from neighbors, the stadium feels like a done deal, Vargas said. Though no official announcement has been made, the New Mexico United soccer team is rumored to be the stadium’s planned tenant, which could put an end to a yearslong search that has been continually met with resistance by nearby residents.

The city previously tried to find a home for the United stadium in Barelas and the Balloon Fiesta Park, with both attempts stymied by concerned neighborhood associations. Unlike those neighborhoods, Vargas said she and her neighbors have had much less input.

“Other neighborhoods had the opportunity to say no to this, not us,” Vargas said.

The South San Pedro neighborhood sits alongside the blighted East Central corridor. Vargas said her neighborhood struggles daily with the impacts of homelessness, drug use, litter and criminal activity. Though contractors believe the stadium will bring investment and revitalization to the area, Vargas disagrees.

Meanwhile, Vargas isn’t alone in her sentiment. Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa was the lone holdout in March’s vote. Barboa is a member of the State Fairgrounds District Board.

During the meeting, Barboa said she was not opposed to the stadium but felt that the surrounding community was not properly consulted and that the state should form an agreement to ensure nearby residents benefit from the redevelopment.

After her push to defer the decision for a month was voted down, Barboa ultimately voted no on Phase One.

The Governor’s Office did not respond to questions about next steps in the development process Friday.