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.
Funding for Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories helped New Mexico bring in more federal dollars per person than all but four other states, federal databases show for fiscal year 2009. Only Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland and Virgina received more money from the federal government.
The New Mexico Department of Human Services received the lion’s share of federal money—$2.9 billion. Lockheed Martin Corporation, which operates Sandia National Labs, and Los Alamos National Security LLC came in a close second and third, receiving $2.4 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. The state Department of Health and Social Services and Transportation Department received $765 million and $505 million, respectively, federal databases show.
More than $27 billion was spent in New Mexico, according to data in the Census Bureau’s current Consolidated Federal Funds Report. Federal spending databases detail only $22.7 billion of that money, due to reporting lags by federal agencies.
The bulk of New Mexico’s share of federal money, $5.5 billion, came from the U.S. Energy Department. Federal Medicaid and Medicare represented another $5.4 billion, while Social Security spending totaled $4.5 billion for 2009.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which oversees the Energy Department’s national laboratories.
Federal spending in the state climbed 15 percent between 2008 and 2009, due largely to federal economic stimulus grants.
