There’s been a shakeup in personnel in the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Rep. Steve Pearce, blogger Joe Monahan writes today. Tom Carroll, whom Pearce named as his campaign manager just three weeks ago, is out, GOP insiders told Monahan. Pearce wasn’t talking about it, and neither was Carroll, but apparently Carroll’s plans for the battle with Democrat Tom Udall didn’t fly with other members of the campaign team. Carroll is the former head of the state GOP and until recently was a principal in the public relations firm D.W. Turner.

Charter schools are in a tough spot, The Albuquerque Journal reports. They have until 2010 to upgrade their facilities to state school standards or operate in a public building — but most don’t have access to capital construction funds. A recent change in state law will give the charters a portion of local property tax revenue for capital work, on a per capita basis, but that may not provide enough cash to the charter schools most in need, several sources told the Journal.

Work is halting on the Navajo Nation’s first casino, according to The Gallup Independent. Fill-dirt from an archaeological site was used without permission at the construction project near Churchrock. The local chapter house gave the go-ahead to use the dirt, but the contractor needed a permit from the Navajo Nation administration. One administrator said he thinks it’s more than a bureaucratic snafu, saying Navajo spirits are inhibiting progress. Ernest Yazzie told the paper that "skinwalkers," or ghosts, keep causing problems for the project. “Since the very first day they’ve been doing that to us," he said. “I won’t let any skinwalkers, witchcraft, godless people try to stop what we are doing.”

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) isn’t going to let concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change get in the way of new permits for oil and gas drilling in New Mexico, the Associated Press says. The agency on Friday rejected a protest filed in April by the Western Environmental Law Center and WildEarth Guardians over a lease sale in New Mexico, claiming the BLM failed to consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. It was a novel challenge, but BLM didn’t buy it. ”We understand that people are concerned about greenhouse gases and global climate change, as are the BLM and the Department of the Interior,” New Mexico BLM Director Linda Rundell told the AP. ”But we don’t feel this protest will help reduce the levels of gases released into the atmosphere. The real issue is worldwide demand and use of fossil fuels.”