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.
It was unclear whether Gov. Bill Richardson was waxing optimistic or whimsical during a late-morning press conference in his cabinet room.
Richardson predicted that the New Mexico Legislature wouldn’t need a special session to allocate federal stimulus money to various agencies and programs. The state is expecting roughly $1.8 billion as its share of the federal stimulus package that Congress is currently debating. The question is, when will the financial injection hit New Mexico?
The Legislature adjourns March 21. If the federal stimulus money arrives toward the end of the session, that massive injection of funds may require a special session for lawmakers and the governor to allocate the funds.
But Richardson, for one, was hoping for no special session.
“I don’t want to have a special session,” the governor said in response to a question from the media. “I think we can do it informally. I think we can do it during the session itself, allocate the education, health care and other funds that are coming to us.”
It’s unclear how lawmakers would react to that kind of scenario.
Richardson also dismissed any insinuation that the domestic partnerships legislation is dead this year.
“Domestic partnerships. It’s not over. Keep on eye on it,” Richardson said.
Domestic partnerships appeared to have hit a road block last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, when supporters failed in an effort to push the legislation through the committee.
Under the domestic partnerships legislation, individuals in committed relationships — both same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples — would enjoy many of the same rights as married couples. That includes medical coverage through a partner’s health insurance plan and the right to visit a partner in a hospital. They could also take family medical leave to care for a partner who is ill, earn property rights in a partner’s pension, and have inheritance rights.
