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.
New Mexico residents have mailed in 51 percent of census forms according to numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. This still lags behind the 60 percent nationwide participation rate.
The participation rate is the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them, excluding those that were sent back by the United States Postal Service as “undeliverable.”
Not much has changed as to which counties have high percentages since The Independent last looked at the participation rate last week.
Los Alamos County continues to lead the pack when it comes to New Mexico, with a 70 percent mail participation rate. The lowest mail participation rate in the state still belongs to Catron County, at 19 percent, up three percent since last Wednesday.
Bernalillo County, the most populous county in the state, is second with a 57 percent participation rate.
As for municipalities, Bosque Farms leads the way with 67 percent; Los Alamos is not included among the results.
Albuquerque is near the top of the heap at 57 percent, tied for 11th place, while Rio Rancho leads the largest cities in the state with a 59 percent participation rate.
Cloudcroft has just a 10 percent participation rate, the lowest int he state, while Taos Ski Valley, Red River, Angel Fire and Eagle Nest all towns near ski areas, round out the bottom five.
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.
Proposed boycotts of the census, either by conservatives scared of government intrusion or by Hispanics who might fear trouble from law enforcement, have not gained traction. The information collected from the census is confidential; that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t reveal the information on their own as President Barack Obama did earlier this week.
