Ben Lewinger is the manager director of the New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce.
(Chancey Bush/ Albuquerque Journal)
Ben Lewinger is the manager director of the New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce.
(Chancey Bush/ Albuquerque Journal)
Ben Lewinger is the manager director of the New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce.
(Chancey Bush/ Albuquerque Journal)
Ben Lewinger has journeyed from the world of conventional enterprise to the most recent New Mexico frontier: the hashish business.
As soon as an worker of the Higher Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, Lewinger now leads a a lot “scrappier,” however related, group: the New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce.
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“It’s a lot to my chagrin to search out myself on this place now,” Lewinger says. “I’m a hard-core progressive, and oftentimes, my private views don’t align with the views of business.
“What I do know how you can do very well is dealer concepts and assist individuals perceive greater image issues in all conditions. I believe my area of interest is engaged on actually messy, difficult issues which are going to make the world a greater place.”
Lewinger’s function on the conventional chamber was heading the Albuquerque Reads program, which pairs volunteer tutors with elementary college students. He additionally has been state director of Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving and a director on the New Mexico Group Basis.
However his largest tasks got here along with his function at Methods 360, a nationwide public coverage and advertising and marketing agency. Lewinger was on the workforce that helped launch the New Mexico United soccer workforce, and he labored on a profitable tax-boost proposal for the BioPark in 2015. He now runs the Fable Communications advertising and marketing firm with a childhood finest pal.
However Lewinger nonetheless holds quick to a childhood dream: turning into a faith trainer.
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“I believe faith creates and conveys which means,” Lewinger says. “It’s how we transfer what’s essential and what issues from technology to technology. From a really younger age, I knew I needed to be a faith trainer. So if any of your readers works at UNM or CNM …”
How did you get entangled within the hashish chamber?
“I used to be suckered into it. I’m not a hashish advocate. I take each alternative I can to acknowledge that there are advocates who’ve been engaged on this for actually many years in New Mexico. I used to be simply offered with this chance to step in and take over 9 months into its existence. I believe hashish goes to be enjoyable and difficult for awhile.”
Did something shock you in regards to the rollout of leisure marijuana?
“I all the time say every part on this business is 20% tougher and 15% dearer. There are issues that until you’ve gotten actually accomplished your homework or until you labored for one of many legacy operators, you wouldn’t know. Like there’s a federal tax code that principally prohibits hashish companies from writing off conventional enterprise bills, which if you happen to didn’t price range for that and also you’re operating a reasonably slim margin, that may be problematic. One of many advantages that can be perhaps one of many weaknesses is it’s really easy to get a license that I believe, sadly, plenty of companies will flip over. It’s an excellent aggressive business, and it’s extremely regulated. The revenue margins are fairly slim, regardless of what individuals would have you ever imagine.”
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What was your first job?
“I lied about my age, I believe after I was 15, and acquired a job as a dishwasher. After which after six months, I used to be within the kitchen. It was (a) bar and grill within the East Mountains. I grew up in Tijeras. And I cooked for another eating places and … I used to be a very good bartender. I believe I preferred the mind-numbing skill, within the means of cooking, of making an attempt to get a number of issues to come back up on the identical time, so every part is sizzling when it’s served. And I believe that’s the perfect distraction ever.”
How did you arrive on the purpose of faith trainer?
“I keep in mind the second. I used to be at Greatest Value Books and Espresso. I used to be sitting there with my buddies … and we might do that factor the place we might give ourselves a while, and we might go and search for a guide and convey it again and talk about it. And I might all the time carry again faith books. I keep in mind pondering, ‘I need to educate this, as a result of it’s so cool.’ I picked my undergraduate (training), based mostly on their faith division, at Tufts College.”
The place are your favourite locations on the earth?
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“Hawaii, clearly, as a result of I went to (graduate) faculty there. However I acquired in a very unhealthy scooter accident in Hawaii, and satisfied the college … to present me a yr off to work on my thesis (in) Taiwan. My thesis was on animal-headed demons in Chinese language and Jewish in style faith. If you wish to research Chinese language faith, Taiwan was the one place to do it. Numerous non secular establishments and programs and methods of pondering exist in Taiwan nonetheless that don’t exist in China anymore. And that was a very good spot. And I really like New Mexico.”
Do you’ve gotten any regrets?
“No. I simply paid off my school loans just a few months in the past.”
Do you’ve gotten any quirks?
“I’m a Simpsons (TV present) fan. Once I was in school in Boston, I had roommates, who’re nonetheless a few of my finest buddies, and ‘The Simpsons’ was on at 5, 5:30, 10 and 10:30. These had been the times. My buddies, nonetheless, we’ll textual content about actually cryptic Simpsons issues. It’s a contest of who truly is aware of what we’re speaking about. I’ve been watching a variety of ‘Star Trek the Subsequent Technology,’ currently, which I actually get pleasure from as a result of that was one of many issues my dad and I did collectively each Saturday.”
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Who evokes you?
“Jean-Luc Picard (a fictional character within the Star Trek sequence) as a result of he was the captain who led a workforce that boldly went the place nobody had gone earlier than.”
THE BASICS: Ben Jacob Lewinger, 42, born in Albuquerque; married to Vanesa Lewinger since 2011; two kids, Makena, 8, and Willa Leona, 5; three pets, Ubie, a brown canine, and Ziggy and Gandalf, each cats; grasp’s diploma in Asian religions, College of Hawaii, 2008; certificates in Mandarin language, Nationwide Taiwan Regular College, 2006; bachelor’s in comparative faith, Tufts College, 2002.
POSITIONS: Government director, New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce since 2019; co-founder, Fable Communications, since 2019; senior vice chairman, Methods 360, 2015-2019; state government director, Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving, 2013-15; director of communications and collaborative partnerships, New Mexico Group Basis, 2012-13; vice chairman of Reads and Management, Higher Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, 2010-2012.
OTHER: Board member, Paws and Stripes, since 2016; appointed member, Bernalillo County DWI Planning Council, since 2012; founding board member of the Younger Nonprofit Skilled Community of New Mexico, 2011-2016.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Tru Washington scored 19 points as New Mexico beat Texas Southern 99-68 on Sunday night.
Washington added 10 rebounds and four steals for the Lobos (5-1). Mustapha Amzil scored 18 points, shooting 6 for 15 (2 for 6 from 3-point range) and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line. Filip Borovicanin finished 5 of 6 from the field to finish with 11 points.
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Kavion McClain led the way for the Tigers (0-5) with 15 points and six assists. Jaylen Wysinger added 12 points for Texas Southern. Zaire Hayes finished with 10 points.
New Mexico took the lead with 1:13 remaining in the first half and did not give it up. Washington led their team in scoring with eight points in the first half to help put them up 38-31 at the break. New Mexico extended its lead to 77-48 during the second half, fueled by an 11-0 scoring run. Borovicanin scored a team-high 11 points in the second half as their team closed out the win.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has reached a $20 million settlement with the family of a grandmother fatally shot by a police officer last year, according to The Associated Press and local media.
Felipe Hernandez, then working for the Las Cruces Police Department, fatally shot Teresa Gomez, 45, in her car in October 2023. Her family filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city, the police chief, and three members of the police force.
The settlement is the city’s largest agreement in a civil lawsuit, according to CNN affiliate KFOX14. The parties reached a settlement on November 7, according to a court filing. CNN has reached out to the city and an attorney representing the Gomez family for comment.
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“This settlement should be understood as a statement of the City’s profound feeling of loss for the death of Gomez and of the City’s condolences to her family,” the city of Las Cruces said in a news release sent Friday, according to AP.
Hernandez, who was fired from the police department months after the shooting, faces a second-degree murder charge, court records show. He has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to begin June 2. CNN has reached out to Hernandez’s attorney for comment.
Gomez was sitting in her car when Hernandez accused her and her passenger of trespassing, footage from the officer’s body-worn camera shows. He then shouted commands laced with the F-word at her and threatened to arrest her, “tase” her and make her life “a living hell” if she didn’t comply with his plan to investigate, the footage shows.
After Hernandez approached Gomez on a bicycle as she sat in her car, Gomez told him she had been visiting someone at the address and said she was looking for her misplaced keys, the body-camera footage shows. Gomez and the officer discussed why she and the passenger were parked outside a public housing complex – a place Hernandez said the passenger was not supposed to be. Gomez said multiple times she was unaware of any visitor rules, the video shows.
After Hernandez repeatedly asked Gomez to leave her car, Gomez stood outside it for a while, answering some of the officer’s questions, the video shows. Her passenger was never asked to get out or questioned in a similar way.
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The grandmother eventually found her car keys and, with the officer’s permission, sat back in the driver’s seat, according to the video and the lawsuit.
Half a minute later, she engaged the engine and, with her car door still open, shifted into reverse, pulled back, then put the car into drive, the video shows.
Hernandez shouted “stop!” three times, then fired his gun several times, the video shows.
The lawsuit alleges Gomez presented “no threat of any physical injury to Hernandez or anyone else” and Hernandez “left her to bleed out in her car as he turned away from her gasping body to retrieve his bicycle and flashlight.”
The suit claims Las Cruces “has adopted a de facto policy of indifference to the escalation of encounters between its officers and the public”and it “it allows officers to use deadly force in situations in which there is no threat of great bodily harm or death posed by the subject receiving deadly force.”
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The complaint also alleges city employees disproportionately use excessive force against people of color – like Gomez, who was Hispanic.
Gomez’s sister, Angela Lozano-Gutierrez, previously told CNN the video of her mother’s encounter with Hernandez was “shocking.”
“We may never get the apology we need,” Lozano-Gutierrez said. “We’re just trying to cling to each other, and we just keep telling ourselves: She would want us to continue to live to be happy.”
Texas Southern Tigers (0-4) at New Mexico Lobos (4-1)
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Sunday, 8 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Lobos -23.5; over/under is 155.5
BOTTOM LINE: Texas Southern takes on New Mexico after Duane Posey scored 26 points in Texas Southern’s 97-82 loss to the Samford Bulldogs.
The Lobos are 3-0 on their home court. New Mexico is fourth in the MWC with 40.8 points per game in the paint led by Nelly Junior Joseph averaging 12.0.
Texas Southern finished 16-17 overall with a 6-11 record on the road a season ago. The Tigers allowed opponents to score 71.1 points per game and shot 42.5% from the field last season.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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