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.
President Barack Obama repeatedly said in his State of the Union address that America must “win the future.” This came amid talk about jobs, ending tax breaks for the oil and gas industry and even a joke about smoked salmon.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman noted Obama’s attention to jobs in the address.
“Shifting our focus to homegrown, renewable energy — like wind and solar — will both stimulate job creation and reduce pollution,” Bingaman said in a statement. “As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to pass clean energy legislation.”
While Sen. Tom Udall said he appreciated Obama discussing “the development of clean energy technologies,” he had hoped for more information on Afghanistan.
“I had hoped to hear more detail from the President about whether he believes we’re on track to meet the ‘accelerated transition’ timeline he established for redeployment of our troops this summer,” Udall said in a statement. “The bottom line is this: our military commitment in Afghanistan must not be open-ended – both for the safety of our fighting men and women and the success of equally important domestic and national security priorities.”
Rep. Steve Pearce, the lone Republican in the New Mexico delegation, also mentioned jobs, saying in a statement that he was “sincerely pleased to hear [Obama] begin to take an interest in what the people have been concerned with for years.”
“We need real job creation and Washington needs to get its budget under control,” Pearce said. “While I am hopeful, the challenge comes with the specific policies our country and New Mexico need. I look forward to cooperating on the good ideas, especially those that will create jobs in New Mexico.”
Rep. Martin Heinrich pointed to Schott Solar and SUMCO Phoenix as central New Mexico employers that could benefit from Obama’s talk about investing in innovative technologies.
“The President was right when he said we need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” Rep. Martin Heinrich said in a statement. “That’s happening right now in central New Mexico.”
Rep. Ben Ray Luján also appreciated the talk of innovation from the president.
“I could not agree more with the President that in order to win the future we have to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world,” Lujan said. “That is why I am working to create an innovation nation, one in which the United States is a leader in new technologies that can grow our economy. New Mexico, with our national labs and research universities, is well positioned to be integral in this effort. I am in the process of starting a bipartisan Technology Transfer Caucus in the House to help move this agenda forward.
