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.
Amid all the scandals and alleged corruption, other stories managed to compete and demand New Mexicans’ attention. One of the biggest, still-developing stories is all the red ink associated with the state’s budget, and how it’s addressed could determine how deeply hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans are affected.
Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Like the rest of the country, the sluggish national economy has wreaked havoc with how much New Mexico collects in revenues, and the resulting budgetary shortfall has led to controversial decisions.
Gov. Bill Richardson pledged in November to axe 1,000 vacant state jobs, ordered 17,000 state workers to take five furlough days and to cut state agencies. Some state lawmakers say that’s just the beginning and many more difficult decisions lay ahead as the state faces a shortfall of up to $1 billion for the year that starts July 1.
Because of the severity of the state’s budget situation, state human services officials comtemplated previously off-the-table scenarios, including eliminating many, if not all, optional services provided by Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program. The implications of such deep cuts are potentially dire for New Mexico, where one in four residents gets health coverage in whole or part through some form of public assistance.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers squared off over the tumultuous debate that will happen during January’s legislative session over how much to raise taxes or cut programs to close the budgetary shortfall.
