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.
Expect for the Senate health care reform bill to be a big topic in Congressional Roundups for the foreseeable future — especially with the news that the Congressional Budget Office scored the Senate version of health care reform.
The CBO says the bill “will cost $849 billion over 10 years, cover 94 percent of the country’s population, and reduce the deficit by $127 billion,” according to our colleagues at the Washington Independent.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is meeting with three conservative Democrats—Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is not among them.
Talking Points Memo DC reports that Organizing for America, part of the Democratic National Committee, will be organizing a rally in favor of health care reform set for noon tomorrow.
Senate committee chairmen, including Senate Energy and Natural Resources chair Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., are split on what a climate bill should look like according to The Hill. “We’ve got all kinds of difference of perspective of where the Senate is and where the votes are and where the Senate should try to move,” Bingaman told The Hill, speaking of a meeting with four of the other chairmen who will have a hand in crafting climate legislation.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., says a jobs bill isn’t necessary at the moment. “I don’t think we need to do another stimulus package,” he said. “All we need to do is move in regular order and do what we need to do for the country.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Cali., said yesterday she hopes to move on a job bill next month.
And it wouldn’t be a Congressional Roundup without some polling news. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has some interesting data on the demographics of both online and offline political participants.
One in five (18 percent) of those in the lowest income category (who earn less than $20,000 per year) take part in two or more offline activities, compared to 45 percent of those earning $100,000 or more per year, a difference of 27 percentage points. For online acts the difference between these two income groups is identical: 8 percent of those in the lowest income category as opposed to 35 percent for those in the highest income group.
For political and polling junkies, the whole report on Internet and Civic Engagement is worth a read.
In a separate study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, you should know that if you have a teen who is of driving age, the odds are one in four that your teen has texted while driving.
Do you have a story from Congress that you think should be included? Send your tips to mreichbach@newmexicoindependent.com.
