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.
In 10 days, New Mexico’s state lawmakers will converge in Santa Fe for a special legislative session to address a half-billion dollar budgetary shortfall. And as they say, misery loves company. States across the nation are struggling financially, which doesn’t make the situation here any easier. But it’s nice to know you’re not alone.
So with that in mind, here’s a sampling of what’s going on elsewhere.Members of the largest public employee union in Rhode Island approved a $36 million concession package Tuesday to avoid layoffs, the Providence Journal reports. And in Florida, things look even more bleak. A new financial report shows that all the tax increases, spending cuts and raids on savings accounts in that state weren’t enough to repair its budget, which could have a deficit next year of as much as $2.6 billion, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
On a non-budgetary note, our eastern neighbor is back in the news because of the death penalty. The Texas Forensic Science Commission’s inquiry into a flawed arson investigation that led to the execution of a Corsicana man is on hold for now, The Dallas Morning News reports. I don’t know if you have followed this case, but The New Yorker recently had a long, immensely interesting story on the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, whom Texas executed in 2004 for the deaths of his children. They died in a house fire that a local fire inspector said was a case of arson. But Texas Gov. Rick Perry refused to halt Willingham’s execution despite an arson expert’s warning that the investigation of the fire was flawed.
Now let’s suspend belief for a moment and travel across the Atlantic Ocean to England, where the Man Booker prize, a major literary prize, was handed out Tuesday. The winning book has sex, infidelity, anti-authoritarianism and violence (think heads rolling). And here’s the kicker: it’s all set in the 16th century. Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Prize,” took the prize for a re-telling of the upheaval surrounding Henry VIII’s desire to have a male heir, his decision to leave Catherine of Aragon after looking upon the comely visage of Anne Boleyn and … well, you know the rest of the story. Heads roll, the Roman Catholic Church suffers a major schism and western culture is never the same again.
O.K., back to more quotidian matters, by which I mean politics. You know the White House and Fox News aren’t exactly on speaking terms. But it appears the organizations are trying to make nice nice. Politico reports that David Axelrod, one of President Obama’s senior advisers, recently sat down with Roger Ailes, Fox’s chairman. A Fox News spokesperson tells Politico the two men had a “cordial” conversation.
Welcome to the NFL, Rush. That may be what the conservative talk radio host hears soon. Limbaugh is part of a team vying to buy the St. Louis Rams, the Associated Press reports. As the author of the article asks, “Green Bay Packers fans are known as cheeseheads. Could fans of the St. Louis Rams soon be dittoheads?”
