Columns

Catch Of The Week: Tax Season Is Also Scam Season

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By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
For the Los Alamos Daily Post

It is that magical time of year when Americans gather their receipts, promise themselves they will be more organized next year, and log into tax software with mild dread. Unfortunately, it is also the time of year when scammers come out of hibernation.

Tax season is the prime hunting ground for cyber criminals. People are expecting messages from accountants, banks, and the IRS. That makes it easier for scammers to slip fake messages into the mix and hope someone clicks before thinking twice.

Every year the same tricks come back with a few updates. Read More

National Sunshine Week Runs March 15-21, 2026

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The Document Divide: Why public record laws are failing average Americans, and what to do about it

By DAVID CUILLIER
Brechner Freedom of Information Project
Feb. 9, 2026

Freedom of information should be freedom of information for all.

It is not.

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and celebrate national Sunshine Week March 15-21, we look back at the signing of the law by Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966: “I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded.” Read More

Robinson: Chronicling Tariffs’ Path Of Economic Destruction

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By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote
© 2026 New Mexico News Services 

Jerry Pacheco probably doesn’t own a crystal ball, but at the end of the year he wrote: “Countries that strongly trade with each other do not go to war with each other. The animus and uncertainty caused by starting a tariff war put the U.S. on the road to fractured relationships and isolationism.”

Pacheco is executive director of the nonprofit International Business Accelerator in Santa Teresa. He’s spent his career advising on international trade and recruiting companies to the border region. In the last year Pacheco has opined Read More

Duplicate Bridge In Los Alamos: March 11, 2026

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BRIDGE News:

Bev Cooper and John Ruminer were Monday winners in flight A. 

On Wednesday, Steve Kemic and Jennifer Young were 1st in Flight A. 

Bobby Haynes and Alan Wadlinger were high in Flight B.

Here is a competitive hand, which is common when the HCP are fairly evenly divided.

Board 9 from the March 11 game:  North is the dealer and E/W are vulnerable.

After North passes, East will open 1♦.  South can either bid 1♠ or make a takeout double, intending to bid spades and thus show a strong (17+ HCP) hand.  Assuming a double, the best choice, West will pass, and North will likely respond 1♥.  East should Read More

Weekly Fishing Report: March 16, 2026 

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By GEORGE MORSE 
Sports and Outdoors 
Los Alamos Daily Post 

The weather has been unseasonably warm in Northern New Mexico this past week. Winter is loosening its grip, and more fishing locations are opening. Bank fishing at lakes is normally good at this time of year. The streams have yet to be swollen from spring runoff and could also provide good fishing. 

The ice-fishing season was a real dud this year. The only spot open for most of the season was Hopewell Lake. Eagle Nest Lake was open for about a week, and Fenton Lake was never able to offer ice fishing. 

Several lakes in Northeast New Mexico opened Read More

McQuiston: Why Wildfire Risk Is Changing Home Insurance In The Southwest

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By ALLEN MCQUISTON
Jemez Insurance Agency
Serving Los Alamos Since 1963
Many homeowners are surprised to learn that wildfire risk is now one of the biggest forces shaping home insurance prices and availability across the region.

And the changes are happening faster than most people realize.

Wildfires in the western United States have become larger, more frequent, and more expensive over the past two decades.

Longer droughts, hotter summers, and expanding development near forests and open land have created what insurers call the “wildland-urban interface”. That’s where homes sit close

Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews: ‘The Optimist’

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By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

Now playing at SALA is a film worth your time, the “based on a true” story of a man whose early life he kept secret for sixty years.

Herbert Heller, played by Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar), is told by his oncologist that he should put his affairs in order. Even as he doesn’t tell his family this news, he has never told them that he survived Nazi concentration camps as a boy. But now, he commits to tell his survivor story to a project filming interviews with Holocaust survivors. 

Abby (played by Elsie Fisher), a young intern on the project, is left to interview Read More

Maggiore: Why I’m Running For Sheriff

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By ANTONIO MAGGIORE
Candidate for Sheriff

 Dear Los Alamos,

First I want to say thank you to everyone who has already reached out in support of my candidacy for Sheriff. I’m truly humbled and deeply grateful.

One question I keep getting asked is why Sheriff? Why not Council? I will be completely honest, County Council took a lot out of me. It takes more time and effort than I am currently able to give to the community.  I still want to serve Los Alamos to the best of my ability, and that means doing more than just pouring beer. I understand the importance of this job and the specific role it plays in our county. Read More

Catch Of The Week: That ‘Urgent MVD Ticket’ Text Is A Scam

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By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
For the Los Alamos Daily Post

Some New Mexicans are getting a text message that looks like it came from the Motor Vehicle Division. It claims you have an unresolved traffic ticket and warns that enforcement begins March 7 unless you pay immediately.

The message lists a series of consequences. According to the text, failure to act could lead to suspended driving privileges, suspended vehicle registration, collection agency fees, and even credit score damage.

That is a lot of legal drama coming from a random text message, and that should be your first red flag here. Read More

Robinson: Healthcare Supporters Enjoyed Some Wins, But Don’t Get Too Comfortable

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By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2026 New Mexico News Services

Sometimes I’m happy to be wrong.

Before the legislative session began, I didn’t have much faith that lawmakers would deliver on healthcare needs and told readers as much. But in the 30-day sprint we call governing, legislators pushed through a couple of the landmark bills, along with several important but less known measures.

And they showed some overdue love and respect to our dwindling number of doctors.

It’s a good beginning, but those of you who contacted your legislators, wrote letters to the editor or posted online should stay Read More