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.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Hilary Tompkins Wednesday as solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
Tompkins, a native New Mexican, previously served as legal counsel for Gov. Bill Richardson and has worked for the Navajo Tribal Courts and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sean Olson of the Journal tells us that Tompkins’ nomination was on hold due to Republican concerns.
Here’s an excerpt of the Journal story:
Tompkins’ confirmation had been temporarily held up by an Oklahoma senator. Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican, said he was concerned whether Tompkins would uphold new legislation prohibiting the Interior Department from banning firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges in states that allow concealed weapons.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who chaired Tompkins’ confirmation hearing in April, said in a statement late Wednesday that the procedural holds from Republicans had gone on too long.
The solicitor at the Department of Interior manages legal issues pertaining to public lands, water and mineral management, as well as Indian affairs.
Tompkins was born in the Ramah chapter on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation, Olson reports.
But she was adopted by a Quaker family and raised in New Jersey. Here’s a profile of Tompkins the Journal did back in 2007.
