Gov. Bill Richardson laid out his foreign policy vision for America on Wednesday in a speech at NMSU. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

These days, Big Bill doesn’t seem to be looming so big as a Vice Presidential contender, the Albuquerque Journal notes. The print edition devotes most of page A4 to an AP story about the contenders, with a sidebar by Jeff Jones, who writes:

Prominent blogs and newspapers mentioned his name frequently as a potential VP selection earlier in the year, but he recently has been excluded in much of the published speculation, at least when it comes to the vice presidential nomination.

Part of the reason we’re not hearing so much about Bill as Veep is because the focus of the buzz now is centered around the possibility of a Secretary of State job for the guv.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation is in a pickle because two tunnels and an overpass it built for the Rail Runner Express meet height guidelines set by the feds—but not the state. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports this morning that the state won’t rebuild the tunnels because the older state guidelines were set for bigger freight trains, not today’s smaller passenger trains. "It’s not a safety issue, it’s a jurisdictional issue," the paper quoted Rhonda Faught, Secretary of Transportation, as saying after a Public Regulation Commission meeting. The department had asked PRC for a variance from state regulations last fall, then withdrew the request when its lawyers said the PRC didn’t have jurisdiction. That’s what the two bodies are trying to sort out now.

Speaking of trains, Santa Fe’s Railyard Co. developer has been sued by at least three subcontractors who claim the company hasn’t paid more than $2 million of its bills. According to the Reporter:

 

In 2004, Railyard Co., a partnership between Richard Jaramillo and Allen Branch, won $30 million in bids from the city and the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corp. to develop the Railyard’s underground parking garage and the Market Station complex above it. The building is nearly finished, with one of its most prominent tenants, Recreation Equipment Inc. (better known as REI) scheduled for a soft opening in August.

However, as of July 28, the Santa Fe County Clerk’s Office shows that Stock Building Supply Inc., a Raleigh, NC-based material supplier, has a $41,700 lien against the Railyard Co. property. Jaramillo tells SFR that the debt has been paid and there are no current liens against the property—a requirement for the construction loans the company recently procured. Nevertheless, it was the third lien filed against the company this year. Contractors might take a cue from Am Fab Inc. and Thos. Byrne Ltd. if they want to collect: The fastest way to get Railyard Co. to pay up is to complain in court.

In Ruidoso, relief and recovery efforts are underway after the Rio Ruidoso flooding, but aside from bridge closures and Red Cross announcements, the home page of the Ruidoso News shows a sliver of a silver lining: a photo of a gutsy kayaker enjoying a muddy splash through the unusually wild Cedar Creek.

In other news, the House Judiciary Committee voted this morning to hold Karl Rove (the former presidential adviser known as "Bush’s Brain") in contempt of court for failing to respond to its subpoena. The committee had subpoenaed White House staffers in regard to the Valerie Plame leak. Rove’s attorney had claimed Executive Privilege. Follow the story here.