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.
On the economics beat, KOB TV’s Jeff Maher has an eyebrow raising story on the hefty subsidy the state is currently paying to the Mexican airline Aeromexico.
Under the deal struck back in February when the direct service between Chihuahua City and the Albuquerque Sunport was launched, taxpayers are on the hook for a certain amount of seats if they’re not sold. So far, the state has shelled out $90,000 to purchase vacant seats, so says the KOB report.
The killer soundbyte/quote from the story comes from ABQ City Councilor Michael Cadigan, who instantly convinced me the Aeromexico deal is a bad deal.
The idea of handing out free money to corporations to try and create markets that don’t exist, just doesn’t make sense when we’re broke.
On the politics beat, the Portales News-Tribune has some insight on gubernatorial explorer Allen Weh’s recent trip to Clovis. Weh, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and the ex-state GOP chairman, is currently traveling around the state to test the waters for a possible governor’s run. In Clovis, Weh talked business and education and said he’s in “campaign mode.”
And in another interesting AP story, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King is on his way to Rome! The reason: a conference next week to learn about how Italy has fought Mafia-related organized crime. King is one of three attorneys general in the United States delegation to the conference. From the story:
King said there are lessons related to New Mexico because of violence in Mexico linked to drug cartels. He said it’s “clearly in New Mexico’s best interests to study what Italy has done to address similar crimes.”
I imagine there might be a cynic or two out there who’d object to how “clearly” it is that you need a tax-payer-funded trip to Rome to learn what re-watching the Godfather trilogy could mostly teach.
Just kidding.
