The news from Santa Fe is not good again for PRC candidate Jerome Block Jr. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the Secretary of State’s Office wants to investigate why Block donated $1,500 of his campaign funds to the Democratic Party in San Miguel County — the only county that Block won in the highly contested primary, and the source of most of his troubles lately. Read more here.

Albuquerque’s Downtown arena plans are progressing well; a consultant’s report says the city’s population is big and cool enough to support a new facility. And, according to this morning’s Albuquerque Journal, the WNBA is interested in putting a team here. The story quotes Mayor Marty as enthusiastic about the project, “In terms of an opportune time to make an investment, if anyone’s liquid enough, these are great times.”

Today the Albuquerque Journal also made endorsements in six state Senate races. The state’s major paper favored five Republican incumbents: Steve Komadina (Dist. 9), Republican John Ryan (Dist. 10), Diane Snyder (Dist. 15), Sue Wilson Beffort (Dist. 19) and Kent Cravens (Dist. 21). Only one Democrat got the Journal nod — Sen. Bernadette Sanchez (Dist. 26).

Yesterday the  Journal endorsed Republican Lisa Torracco over Democrat incumbent Kari Brandenburg in the race for Bernalillo County District Attorney. Today, blogger Joe Monahan reveals “a conspiracy theory circulated by some insider Dems,” that we found surprising:

GOP attorney Pat Rogers has close ties to the newspaper and wants Torraco as DA to turn up the heat on advocacy groups like ACORN that have registered thousands of new voters. Rogers, who played a major role in the NM end of the US Attorney scandal, is an attorney with the Modrall Law Firm and a member of the board of directors of the NM Foundation for Open Government (FOG), a group heavily supported by the newspaper. Torraco was asked about Rogers’ support during an appearance on KKOB-AM radio this week. She said he is just another Republican supporting her.

Tonight on TV: Barack Obama’s 30-minute ”campaign-related program” on CBS, NBC, Fox, MSNBC, BET and Univision. The Obama campaign, flush with cash, paid a reported $1 million to each network. But Obama’s getting plenty of free TV today, too. In addition to an interview on ABC with Charlie Gibson, Obama will appear tonight on the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Fire up the Tivo, people!

Speaking of Obama, Politico has a story today about how big donors to the campaign got special access to close advisers. According to the story, “Aides to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) scheduled pricey luncheons, roundtables, readings, VIP receptions and policy dinners with campaign officials and advisers, offering donors a taste of his potential administration.” A little worrisome, no? But according to Politico, “An admiring Republican official who looked at the list called the approach ‘very unusual. Creative.’”

UPDATE: Santa Fe Reporter Editor Julia Goldberg (my former boss) took me to task this morning for not giving SFR and staff writer Dave Maass credit for unearthing Jerome Block’s latest transgressions. Guilty as charged! In a story posted today, Maass explores some of Block’s eyebrow-raising expenditures, including the San Miguel County Democratic Party payoff payment for “collaborative campaigns.”