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 Albuquerque Journal had a stellar, two-part report this weekend about a top manager at the state Department of Transportation. (Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.)
To get you interested, here are the first few paragraphs of Part 1 of the report:
“Lawrence Barreras is supervising 150 employees, cutting right-of-way land deals and earning nearly $88,000 a year as a top manager at the state Department of Transportation.
Not bad for a guy who was fired from the state Corrections Department for alleged financial wrongdoing and landed a classified DOT position only after the job description was changed.
In fact, Barreras has led something of a charmed life in the Richardson administration, where his responsibilities continue to grow despite revelations about his outside consulting work, his 15 percent pay raise during a salary freeze, his use of a state car to commute and employee complaints about his management style.
And about that firing?
You won’t find any record of it in his state personnel files. That’s all been cleaned up so that the files show only that he resigned in good standing.
Welcome to the world of state government and Lawrence Barreras.”
The report is definitely worth a read.
