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.
Last week, U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman said he was disappointed in the hold by an anonymous Republican on Hilary Tompkins. Tompkins, who served as counsel to Gov. Bill Richardson, was nominated to become the U.S. Interior Department’s solicitor. She still is waiting for a vote on the Senate floor.
It has been nearly two weeks since Tompkins was placed on hold, and U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, an Albuquerque Democrat, said that it is time for the hold to stop.
“For a Senator to place a hold on Hilary’s nomination as the Interior Department’s solicitor makes absolutely no sense to me,” Heinrich said. “I’ve had the pleasure to know Hilary and work with her in the past, and she is a consummate professional who is both fully qualified and deserving of this post.”
The U.S. Senate glossary defines a hold:
An informal practice by which a Senator informs his or her floor leader that he or she does not wish a particular bill or other measure to reach the floor for consideration. The Majority Leader need not follow the Senator’s wishes, but is on notice that the opposing Senator may filibuster any motion to proceed to consider the measure.
