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.
Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican adds an interesting tidbit to a story the Independent broke Tuesday about a state agency’s hiring Gov. Bill Richardson’s brother-in-law last fall.
The New Mexico Retirement Health Care Authority hired Bill Walsh as its deputy director at a salary of $85,000.
Terrell writes:
The position is exempt, which means Walsh serves at the pleasure of the governor. Minutes of the authority’s meetings before Walsh was hired indicate the position had been classified instead of exempt, which means the previous deputy director could only be fired for cause.
Walsh is married to a sister of First Lady Barbara Richardson.
Update: Wayne Propst, executive director of the Retiree Health Care Authority, said in an e-mail this afternoon that Walsh’s immediate predecessor as deputy director also was an exempt employee. It was the deputy director prior to that who was a classified employee.
