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.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, says a proposal to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public will be the last item the Senate will hear tonight.
The Senate will hear House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, Sanchez said, rather than Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. Feldman requested earlier today that Cervantes’ bill be heard instead of hers because Cervantes’ has already passed the House.
Interestingly, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque and chair of the Senate Rules Committee, will present Cervantes’ bill tonight, rather than Feldman. That must have been done at the request of Cervantes.
When the conference committee proposal came before the Senate twice in 2007, it was defeated each time by one vote. Lopez missed one of those votes and, the second time, voted against the bill.
Lopez has been accused this year by the governor, activists and some in the media of stonewalling ethics reform. In fact, the proposal to open conference committees languished for most of the session in her committee without being scheduled for a hearing until an unusual procedural move by Feldman forced action on the bill.
The Senate is meeting now. Watch it here and join the New Mexico Independent’s liveblog here.
