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.
While the national participation rate for the 2010 Census reached the 50 percent mark yesterday, New Mexico is lagging behind at 44 percent. In 2000, 65 percent of New Mexicans sent in their Census forms while the national average was 72 percent.
The information is used for congressional redistricting and to determine the amount of money the state gets for Medicaid, schools roads and other projects. But New Mexico isn’t in line to gain or lose Congressional seats as a result of this Census.
“We’re off to a great start, but we still have a ways to go to before getting a complete count of the nation,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said. “If everyone in the nation took the 10 minutes needed to fill out and mail back their 2010 Census form, we could cut the cost of conducting the census by $1.5 billion.”
When census forms are not mailed back, the Census Bureau sends workers to collect the information.
In addition to statewide numbers, the Census bureau also tracks participation rates for counties and municipalities in all states — from the smallest village to the largest city.
Los Alamos County is currently the only county that breaks the 50 percent barrier; Los Alamos has a 62 percent participation rate so far. In the 2000 census, Los Alamos led all New Mexico counties with an 85 percent participation rate — no other county reached the 80 percent mark in that census.
The lowest participation rate of any county is in Catron County, with just a 16 percent participation rate. In 2000, Lincoln County had the lowest participation rate, at just 28 percent. Lincoln County was one of six New Mexico counties to have less than a 50 percent participation rate in the last census.
Of the ten largest municipalities in the 2000 election, Roswell has the highest participation rate in this census, with 51 percent. Albuquerque has a 48 percent participation rate.
Other smaller municipalities have much smaller participation rates; Cloudcroft has just 10 percent while Taos Ski Valley and Red River have slightly higher rates at 11 percent.
Bosque Farms, however, leads all municipalities with a participation rate of 58 percent.
