Annual legislature basketball game is back
The annual legislative charity basketball game is back on for this year, after being interrupted last year by heated political debate. This year’s game is scheduled for Feb. 11, with the Senate “Lobos” taking on the House “Aggies” for Roundhouse bragging rights.
The Senate had a five-year winning streak going into last year’s game, which it had to forfeit after senators were brought back to the chamber floor due to a procedural fight that followed a four-hour filibuster over a highprofile renewable energy bill.
Last year’s game still raised more than $33,000 for the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the annual game has raised more than $200,000 in all since 2007.
The “Hoops for Hope” basketball game will take place at 7 p.m. in the Santa Fe High School gymnasium. UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez will coach the Senate team; a coach for the House team has not yet been named.
SCHOOL MEALS: A bill introduced by a first-term House Democrat would eliminate the co-pays some New Mexico students have to pay for school breakfasts and lunches.
The measure, House Bill 10, would appropriate $650,000 to the Public Education Department to offset the cost to school districts and charter schools of doing away with the payments.
Children of families who earn slightly above the federal poverty level — between $34,060 to $48,470 per year for a family of four — have to pay a reduced price co-pay to eat breakfast and lunch at school.
That can lead to some children ending up in school lunch debt or forgoing meals altogether, backers of the legislation say.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Willie Madrid, D-Chaparral, and is currently pending in the House Education Committee.
FLU SHOTS: The Roundhouse is notorious for being a germ cesspool, but there might be hope of avoiding the crud.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, along with the state Department of Health, are offering free flu shots for children and adults over the next two weeks.
No appointment is needed for the flu shots, which will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both Feb. 7 and Feb. 11.
The flu shots will be available on the east side of the Roundhouse in a Blue Cross and Blue Shield van, and Hepatitis A vaccines will also be offered for at-risk individuals.