Oil and gas pipeline fatalities peak in NM, Tex., study finds

New Mexico and Texas have seen more people killed by oil and gas pipeline accidents since 2000 than any other states, concludes a new study of refinery and pipeline accidents and pollution released Thursday by the National Wildlife Federation. New Mexico has had 58 significant pipeline accidents over the past decade, killing 15 and injuring 17 people.

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Primary 2010: winners and losers

According to our panelists, winners include women and Hispanic Republicans. Losers include Libertarian Republicans and policy wonks.

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Susana Martinez announces plan to combat corruption

Under Martinez’s plan, public officials convicted of corruption would lose their pensions and a new State Police unit would crack down on crooked New Mexico politician. Martinez also said she’d push to ban for life state contractors and lobbyists convicted of violating the public trust, make it a crime for an elected official who knows of but does not report corruption and require the archiving of legislative meetings that are webcast.


Supreme Court rejects Blue Cross Blue Shield bid to stop rate hike hearing

New hearings on an insurance company rate hike will continue after The New Mexico Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to deny Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico’s petition to stop them. The company had asked the court to halt new Insurance Division hearings to review a previously-approved but controversial health insurance rate hike.


Corruption emerges as issue in race between Martinez and Denish

Susana Martinez has made corruption a major theme of her campaign for governor, linking high-profile scandals to the “Richardson-Denish administration.” Is linking Denish to the scandals that have rocked New Mexico Democrats, and Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, a fair reflection of the facts? Two political science professors say no. But planting seeds of doubt about an opponent is a longstanding tradition of political gamesmanship during elections, when campaigns fight over who controls the election-year narrative.


NM ranks near last in U.S. for child welfare

Despite bucking a national trend of increasing child poverty and a reduction in school drop-out rates, New Mexico ranks last or near-last in seven of 10 measures of child welfare, from teen deaths to proportion of children living in poverty, according to a report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.


On Bush tax cuts, an impending battle between Congress and administration

The Obama administration hopes to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 a year for couples. Some congressional Democrats want to keep lower taxes for all Americans until the recovery takes better hold. Most Republicans want to make the tax cuts permanent. That sets the stage for a serious fight.


Blue Cross accumulated record surpluses while raising rates, study shows

Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plans across the U.S. have raised policyholders’ rates while accumulating billions of dollars in surpluses – much more than necessary to protect the companies, according to a Consumers Union study released Thursday.


State budget shortfall puts lawmakers, candidates in a tough spot

New Mexico is $160 million in the hole three weeks into the new fiscal year, state officials learned Wednesday. The two women running to become New Mexico’s next chief executive responded Wednesday to news of the worsening financial situation with plans on how to address the problem that varied in degrees of specificity. But not before taking swipes at each other.


Concealed weapons permit info is confidential in NM

It’s unclear whether Robert Reza, the shooter in last week’s rampage that left two dead in Albuquerque, was one of the more than 17,000 individuals in New Mexico permitted to carry a concealed weapon. And you likely won’t ever know. Information about who can legally carry a concealed weapon in the state, including names, is confidential under state law (29-19-6, Subsection B). While New Mexico’s decision to make information on concealed-carry applications confidential appears in line with many surrounding states, it is by no means universal, a survey by The Independent has found.


NM health insurance exchange should drive reform, protect consumers, group says

New Mexico should use the creation of its own health insurance exchange to help drive reform and protect consumers, Gov. Richardson’s working group on health care reform recommended this week. State-based exchanges, part of federal healthcare reform, are intended to function as a clearinghouse for consumers looking to buy health insurance.


Artesia blast part of national pattern of fatal oil refinery accidents

The deadly March 2 explosion at the Navajo refinery in Artesia was just one of the latest in a series of refinery blasts that have killed at least 15 workers this year alone. Last month, the U.S. government began to impose higher penalties for safety violations and to implement of a new ‘Severe Violator Enforcement Program,’ which will allow patterns of safety violations in one state to prompt inspections of a company’s facilities nationwide.


In unemployment benefits extension, a logistical headache for states

On Tuesday, the Senate could vote to extend federal unemployment benefits—and states are scrambling to figure out how to retroactively disburse seven weeks of benefits worth more than $10 billion to the 2.5 million people needing them, as quickly as possible.


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Now is not a good time to sell the state jet, Denish says

Diane Denish would not sell the New Mexico state jet if she’s elected governor, her campaign told The Independent Thursday.

“Because of the sheer number of similar jets that are currently on the market, Diane does not believe now is a good time to sell the jet,” Denish said in a statement released by her campaign.

The lieutenant governor also defended her use of the jet, saying, “New Mexico is more than just Santa Fe and Albuquerque, …Many of the trips I have taken were small business forums to bring small businesses together and help them find access to capital and cut red tape. I will never stop advocating for rural New Mexico — and to advocate for rural New Mexico, sometimes you have to get out to rural New Mexico.”

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Diane Denish pitches green jobs plan

New Mexico should shift its state fleet to high-efficiency vehicles, increase the number of tax credits available to clean energy companies and make a priority out of starting a green-job business incubator, according to a green jobs plan Lt. Gov. Diane Denish laid out Thursday.

Denish also advocated using a portion of tax revenue to pay for incentives and programs focused on helping to fund renewable-energy products and creating “centers of excellence” for green-energy development at the state’s research universities. More »


Planned Parenthood rallies supporters against Operation Rescue

Planned Parenthood is organizing a rally of abortion rights supporters in Albuquerque this Friday. The rally comes after a controversial anti-abortion rights group, Operation Rescue, moved into Albuquerque and ramped up protests at local clinics.

After Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered at his church, two of the doctors who worked with him began working with Dr. Curtis Boyd in Albuquerque. Subsequently, Operation Rescue announced it was sending two “missionaries” to set up a satellite office in Albuquerque.


Public option revived by House Democrats, including Lujan

New Mexico Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujan has co-signed a House Bill that would add a public option to the recently passed health care reform bill.

As The Washington Independent reported today, House Democrats have returned to a top liberal priority that didn’t make it into the final health care reform bill.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that offering a public option alongside private plans in states’ health care exchanges would reduce the federal deficit by $68 billion between 2014 and 2020.


Health care reform remains popular, poll shows

Public support for federal health care reform, passed this year by Congress, has remained stable and opposition has dipped slightly over the past month.

That’s according to a tracking poll released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit focused on health care, showing the percentage of people who view the law unfavorably decreased by 6 points to 35 percent over the past month, while support remained stable at around 50 percent. More »


Denish won’t say what she’d do with the state jet

New Mexico Republican gubernatorial candidate  Susana Martinez told The Independent Wednesday that she’d sell the state jet. Her remarks came after KRQE-TV investigative reporter Larry Barker’s report earlier this week that since 2006, the bill for Democrat Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s state aircraft usage was $367,236. Barker also she he had found that Denish had flown on state planes 39 times in violation of state regulations requiring cost-efficient use of aircraft.

But the Denish campaign won’t say what kind of policy she’d have for the state if she becomes governor. The Independent twice posed the question to a campaign spokesman Wednesday. Both times he ignored the query.


Navajos speak out about race relations

The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission has published a report about race relations in towns bordering the reservation. The commission conducted 25 listening sessions over the course of a year, hearing from anyone who chose to speak about racism and discrimination. Of the 25 towns highlighted in the report, 12 are in New Mexico. The process was described as an opening of “forbidden doors” against candid discussions of racism and discrimination, which the commission says will thrive among mankind until it’s collectively acknowledged and eliminated.

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News from around New Mexico

KOB-TV reports the union workers of the Bernalillo Counter Water Utility Authority are suing the Water Utility Authority in hopes to prevent their contracts from expiring before they finish negotiating pay raises.

According to an analysis by RealtyTrac, home foreclosures in Santa Fe have skyrocketed in the first half of 2010 with an increase of more than than 200 percent in total foreclosure activity. That’s in today’s Santa Fe New Mexican.

The Las Vegas Optic has a story about Mayor Alfonso Ortiz, who has announced he won’t run for a second term after feeling satisfied that he made positive change in the city such as raising taxes and utilities fees.

In a meeting last night, the Socorro Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees discussed dropping the co-op’s lawsuit against its member-owners who demanded the board adhere to new transparency bylwas, reports El Defensor Chieftain.


Schwarzenegger to cohost border guvs conference in Santa Fe

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will co-host a Border Governors Conference on September 19-20 in Santa Fe. Leaders from Mexico and U.S. border states will discuss border security, economic development and energy.

The meeting will be paid for by Govs. Richardson and Schwarzenegger, but mostly the money will come from private sponsors, according a press release from Richardson’s office. It was originally scheduled to be held in Arizona, but Gov. Jan Brewer canceled the meeting after several officials said they would boycott because of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.


Judge blocks major parts of Arizona immigration law

A federal judge in Arizona has blocked some of the most controversial elements of an immigration law that goes into effect tomorrow.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from requiring that people carry proof of their immigration status and to prevent law enforcement officers from being required to ask about immigration status when they stop people.


Martinez says she’d sell state jet

Susana Martinez, GOP nominee for governor, said Wednesday that she’d sell New Mexico’s state jet.

“The jet will be sold,” Martinez said at a late morning press conference. “No one in state government is above the law. It’s this attitude of being above the law that we need to get rid of in state government.”

Martinez made the statement following the disclosure that the bill for Lt.Gov.  Diane Denish’s use of the state’s fleet of aircraft since 2006 was $367,236, according to a report by KRQE-TV.


Martinez/Denish race is a ‘toss up,’ WaPo says

The New Mexico governor’s race has gotten more competitive lately, according to Washington Post political writers Chris Cilizza and Dan Balz, who today moved it from “lean Democratic” to “toss-up.”

The paper rates Senate and governor’s races across the country. Here’s their take on New Mexico: “National Republicans did everything they could to ensure that Dona Ana District Attorney Susana Martinez won the June Republican primary. And, for good reason. Even Democrats acknowledge that Martinez is a quality candidate against Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.”


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