I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
One of New Mexico’s constitutional amendments on the November ballot that everyone thought had passed was actually defeated. Amendment 4 would have allowed school board elections to be held on the same day as other nonpartisan races, such as municipal elections.
But making that change requires three-quarters of voters statewide and two-thirds of voters in each county, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
And as it turns out, only 74.48 percent of New Mexicans voted for it. Not all amendments require these higher percentages — most only require a majority. But, the Journal reports, “when it comes to sections that deal with voter rights, access to public education and the rights of people to hold office and sit on juries, the tougher standards apply.”
The University of New Mexico is implementing cost-saving measures in anticipation of reduced funding from the state. Over the weekend, UNM President David Schmidly announced a voluntary furlough program through which employees can take unpaid leave, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Plus there will be a small surcharge on athletic tickets. There’s also a partial hiring freeze in place and a limit on travel.
Schmidly also said his salary and the salary of Executive Vice President David Harris — the sizes of which have caused controversy in an ongoing dispute with faculty over how university resources are spent — will be handled differently. Currently, the entire amount of the salaries comes from instruction and general funds, which he said should have never been the case. In the future, only $150,000 of each will come from those funds, and the rest will come from the university’s revenue-generating operations. Schmidly’s base salary is $387,000, while Harris has a base salary of $293,500.
The Navajo Nation Council will hold a special session later this month to discuss the right of way for the Desert Rock power plant, which will be built near Farmington, the Gallup Independent reports. But in addition to such things as rights of way, a grassroots group in opposition to the plant — Dooda Desert Rock — said the health risk of a new coal-fired plant in addition to two that are already in the vicinity isn’t being discussed. According to Elouise Brown of Dooda Desert Rock, “The U.S. Geological Survey did a 2006 study that says that people in the Shiprock area are five times more likely to go to the Northern Navajo Medical Center for respiratory, or breathing, complaints” than other residents in the region. Plus, Brown said, children under the age of 5 and adults over age 56 in that group are two times more likely to get treatment for breathing problems.
The New Mexico Biz Weekly has a list of job losses, and gains, by city in 2008 — in all, 1.2 million jobs were lost in major cities last year. Albuquerque lost 1,600. El Paso gained 5,300, though.
The troubled economy is sending folks back to school. Eastern New Mexico University President Steven Gamble says a slow economy and rising unemployment are responsible for the highest spring semester enrollment the school has had in almost 40 years, the Clovis News Journal reports. The university’s spring semester enrollment rose by 8.3 percent.
Finally, the Albuquerque Journal provides an interesting history of the St. James hotel along the old Santa Fe Trail in Cimarron. A new owner is hoping to return the hotel to its original Wild West luster.
NMI’s Danielle Bauer contributed to this report.
