Jan. 6, 2026

Bernalillo County, N.M. – Today, BernCo Fire & Rescue (BCFR) welcomed a new ladder truck into service with a traditional push-in ceremony at Fire Station 36, located in the North Valley.

The new ladder truck offers state-of-the-art communications and extended vertical and horizontal reach, allowing crews to more effectively operate multi-story incidents and complex rescue scenes. In addition, the shorter wheelbase will allow for easier maneuvering through North Valley neighborhoods.

“On behalf of Bernalillo County, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Office, our state lawmakers, the International Association of Firefighters and the BernCo Board of County Commissioners for their support and commitment in approving the purchase of the new apparatus,” says Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue Chief Zach Lardy. “The new truck not only enhances BCFR’s operational capabilities but also reflects the department’s ongoing commitment to providing reliable, high-quality emergency services to the community.”

The approximately $1.9M truck was purchased utilizing a combination of capital outlay monies, public safety tax dollars and county general fund monies.

The push-in ceremony honors a long-standing fire service tradition dating back to the late 1800s, when firefighters manually pushed horse-drawn fire wagons into their stations after returning from calls. During the event, firefighters pushed the new ladder truck into the station bay by hand, officially placing it into service.

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About Bernalillo County

Bernalillo County is 1,160 square miles and is New Mexico’s most populous county with more than 676,000 residents. Bernalillo County government provides a wide range of public services to residents who live in Albuquerque, Los Ranchos and Tijeras with approximately 106,000 residents living in unincorporated areas of the county. Bernalillo County employs approximately 2,800 people and has an annual operating budget, capital investments and other funds of more than $1 billion. Elected officials include five county commissioners, assessor, clerk, probate judge, sheriff and treasurer.   

Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest hunger-relief organization, has hired former Unum finance executive Camilo Echanique as chief financial officer.

Camilo brings nearly two decades of experience in leadership, financial management and strategy to the Auburn-based nonprofit.

“After an extensive search, we are excited to welcome Camilo Echanique to the Food Bank team in this important leadership position,” said Heather Paquette, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank. “In addition to his strategic expertise, Camilo brings a proven ability to lead through change, a focus on learning and collaboration, and a passion for talent development that make him an excellent fit for the Food Bank.”

Camilo’s experience includes more than a decade at Unum, a Tennessee-based insurer with a large office in Portland. Most recently, he oversaw the finance and actuarial functions for a key business segment.

A Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, Camilo was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He moved to New England as a child and attended the University of Connecticut, where he received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics.

Outside of work, the Yarmouth resident coaches youth sports and serves on the board of LearningWorks, a Portland-based nonprofit focused on education and community support.

“I am honored to join the team at the Good Shepherd Food Bank and collaborate with such dedicated people to advance our mission of promoting food security in Maine,” he said.

“The strength of our organization, the commitment of our partners and the generosity of our donors — especially in recent events — highlight the undeniable impact that the Food Bank has on Maine’s communities. I am eager to begin this journey and dedicate myself to advancing our mission.”

Good Shepherd distributes food to more than 600 partner organizations across Maine, including food pantries, meal sites, schools, health care centers and senior programs. It also engages in advocacy and nutrition education.

Eleven-year-old Amy was about half way through her haircut Monday afternoon but paying little attention to what stylist Amanda Lee was doing with her blond locks. She was too busy working on a piece of yellow putty in her hand.

At one point she shaped it into a heart. Later, it was something else. But when Lee was finished cutting and unbuttoned the smock pinned at her client’s neck, Amy had molded her putty into a miniature hand. With it, she grinned and high fived Lee in thanks for her new look.

Across the hall, stylist OmarAntonio had just finished cutting and styling a teen’s long, black hair. Moments later, she came back smiling and interrupted a conversation to tell him she loved it.

“There is something very important about our responsibility as hairdressers to really read the client, to really see them,” he said. “I want to reintroduce my clients to themselves, so a good haircut is so important.”

These seemingly small moments — a smile into a hand held mirror, a flip of the ‘do, a handshake — were happening Monday across the donated space at Church Unstoppable. For three hours, about 60 stylists and barbers volunteered their time and skill to give free cuts and styles to an almost equal number of children and young adults from 10 to 25, all of whom have been touched by foster care or social service programs.

There were three DJs on stage. There were two live singers. Along one wall were tables lined up and loaded with brand new backpacks for the taking. At the entrance to the hall were hand-painted trucker hats created by Dom Chi Designs in Sebastopol, also for the taking. In yet another room was free food and drink. Throughout the three-hour event raffle prizes were given out: Apple headphones, Beats headphones, a JBL speaker, tickets to a Santa Rosa Growlers hockey game, Amazon gift cards, restaurant gift cards and jewelry.

It was all the brain child of KT Maggio, a barber at Daredevils & Queens Salon and Barbershop in Santa Rosa. And it was born of a seemingly simple ask.

It started with an annual holiday giving event held by nonprofit Our Village Closet, a group that runs a full-scale, foster care support operation out of thousands of square feet of space at St. Lutheran’s Church on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa. Under the direction of executive director and co-founder Amanda Kitchens, foster care providers can pick up, for free, necessities for kids and young adults in their care, everything from strollers to socks to bathing suits and winter coats.

There are 1,000 individual kids or young adults registered with OVC, but the number of people who access their free services typically hovers around 5,000, Kitchens said.

Our Village Closet for the past five years has held a holiday giving program that has grown from 167 youth in 2021 to 769 kids this year. It was for that event that someone at OVC reached out to Maggio and asked if she could provide gift certificates for hair cuts.

Maggio said she would do one better. One a lot better.

She put out the call to the wider stylist and barber community in Sonoma County and asked for folks to show up for three hours on Monday, donate their time and skills, and send young adults back into the world looking sharp and feeling good.

“I didn’t even say much,” Maggio said of the invitation to her peers. “They just said ‘We’re in, we’re in, we’re in.’”

To say people rallied for the event would be underselling what unfolded Monday.

The top shelf cuts, the next level raffle prizes, the DJs, the food — it was a full-scale experience.

“I wanted them to feel special today,” Maggio said.

Barber Jesus “Chuy” Dominguez helped with perhaps the most obvious transformation Monday when a young man with sandy hair falling down to his shoulders sat down in Dominguez’s chair and said he wanted it all off.

“He asked for a five guard on top which is less than half an inch and then he wanted a rat tail in the back,” Dominguez said. “I always triple check when it’s a transformation that big but he was on it and I was like, ‘Alright, bro.’”

“He knew exactly what he wanted,” he said. “It was cool.”

And it was. After Dominquez tapped a stylist to braid the rat tail in the back, the young man cracked a small smile into the mirror.

“Things like this just fill my heart,” Maggio said, noting that Daredevils & Queens regularly supports haircuts for the homeless events and community outreach efforts. “I just wanted to come together and make these kids feel like number one.”

In addition to her colleagues at Daredevils & Queens, she tapped friends at Chuck’s Barbershop in Santa Rosa and Oak and Ivy Salon in Rohnert Park, who brought folks on Monday. She also tapped longtime friend Jose “JayTee” Tapia who, in addition to his 293,000 Instagram followers, runs the 15-chair Visionz Barbershop in Santa Rosa and, to Maggio’s way of thinking, is a star in the barbering world.

That would explain the small crowd of fellow barbers that gathered around Tapia when he pulled out his scissors and began to ply his craft on the dark locks of a young teenaged boy Monday.

“For men, for boys, it’s like our make up,” Tapia said of a haircut. “For me, being able to build confidence in a kid, there is nothing like it. People come to us before a first date, before a wedding, before any special day because a haircut alone can make anyone feel that much more special and that much more confident.”

That is what moved OVC’s Kitchens on Monday — the gift of confidence, the gift of being seen.

“It’s the fact that this many stylists and barbers showed up and showed up with heart,” she said. “It’s ‘You matter.’ Not necessarily you matter because of what happened to you but you matter just because of who you are…A haircut for so many of us, especially in this age group, it’s about how we show up in society. To be able to show up like everybody else and blend in is such a gift.”

Alexandra Montoya feels this.

Montoya is raising her 12-year-old granddaughter, Irie. Irie is bi-racial, her hair looks different from her grandmother’s, and that has made finding a stylist tricky. On Monday, Montoya was emotional about seeing her granddaughter pampered.

“Somebody needs to know her hair,” she said. “The truth is, I don’t.”

But the people who volunteered Monday did.

“This is wonderful, this makes a difference,” Montoya said. “It’s the mix of people. The cutters, the stylists, they volunteered their time. We understand what that means. They put heart into it.”

As stylist Natalie Dixon finished cutting Irie’s hair, they had a brief conversation. Irie decided she wanted her hair straightened on this day. Dixon got to work. Nearby, Montoya watched, deeply moved.

“All of these kids have lost someone, in one way or another,” she said. “That’s what makes what they are doing here a thing of beauty.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.

Organizers at the Santa Cruz County Fair are asking the public for ideas for a theme for the 2026 County Fair.

Anyone who has a “phrase that pops” or a “rhyme that shines” is invited to submit it.

“Imagine your words splashed across every poster and sign,” The Fair Board stated in an announcement. “If you’ve got a clever saying or catchy theme, now’s the time to share it in the Santa Cruz County Fair Annual Fair Theme Contest.”

Anyone with a creative theme— “with a little red, white, and blue sparkle” in honor of the United States’ 250th birthday,” is invited to send in their ideas.

The winning theme will be featured throughout the fair, and earn four free fair tickets plus a free parking pass.

The deadline is Jan. 13 at 5pm.

To submit your theme, email in**@*****************ir.com, send mail to Santa Cruz County Fair, Theme Contest, 2601 East Lake Avenue, Watsonville, CA 95076 or visit visit bit.ly/4bkX2RS

Funding available to activate Youth Week events on Redlands Coast – Redland Bayside News

NOT-FOR-PROFIT organisations are being encouraged to apply for funding to deliver free or low-cost events on Redlands Coast as part of Queensland Youth Week 2026. Redland City Mayor Jos Mitchell said funding was available through Council’s Activate Redlands Coast Youth Week Program for events and …