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.
Last week, New Mexico Senator Tom Udall and six of his fellow Democratic colleagues proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate the campaign finance system.
Today, Rep. Martin Heinrich, another longtime advocate of campaign…
As stated in Article V, Section 7 of the New Mexico Constitution, “when the governor travels outside New Mexico’s borders . . . the lieutenant governor shall act as governor.” Governor Susana Martinez recently told the Albuquerque Journal that she’d…
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…
Governor Susana Martinez yesterday appointed Santa Fe energy consultant Doug Howe to fill the vacancy on the state’s Public Regulation Commission. Replacing the indicted Jerome Block Jr. on the embattled commission, Howe steps into the position having worked as vice…
Last week, New Mexico Senator Tom Udall, along with six of his fellow Democratic colleagues, proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate the campaign finance system. Long an advocate of campaign finance reform, Udall…
On the same day that Governor Susana Martinez’s administration went before members of the Legislature’s Economic and Rural Development Committee in Santa Fe to again propose merging the Tourism and Cultural Affairs agencies, state Tourism secretary Monique Jacobson was down…
Late last week, an amendment proposed by Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D), of New Mexico’s third district, attempting to alter a deal between the U.S. government and a major mining firm was voted down. Lujan had been seeking to tweak the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2009, legislation originally introduced by Senators John Kyl and John McCain allowing for an exchange of land between the federal government and the Resolution Copper Co. Lujan had hoped to protect this land,
After watching businesses in their neighboring states profit for years, businesspeople and officials along the Mexico-New Mexico border impressed it upon their beltway representatives that they, too, finally wanted to cash in on what has not been coming their way.…
Late last week, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reinforced an earlier decision by the 9th Circuit Court, in reestablishing a Bill Clinton-era ban on roadway construction on almost 60 million acres of forest and grassland in 38 states, including over 1 million acres in New Mexico. “It’s not a surprise but it is a welcome relief,” said Bryan Bird of WildEarth Guardians, the Santa Fe-based environmental-advocacy group. “We’ve always known the Clinton ruling was sound.”
Last Tuesday, David Norvell, the board chair of the New Mexico Gaming Control Board, which oversees the integrity of gaming regulations at licensed racetracks and monitors tribal gaming activity in the state, told lawmakers at a meeting of the Legislative…
The fallout from the investigation into the case of Las Cruces’s Third District Court Judge Michael Murphy has proven to have not only political ramification but practical ones as well. So far this year, there have been five murders in the Las Cruces area; none of the cases, though, are ready for trial. Overall, more than a dozen individuals in Doña Ana County are awaiting trial on murder charges (some cases going as far back as 1998), but actually getting those defendants into court could take years.
In an effort to stem the tide of controversy and criticism leveled at her since being designated earlier this year by Governor Susana Martinez as state education secretary, though not yet confirmed by the legislature as such, Hanna Skandera sent out a letter last week to the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators asking for their help in reshaping the state’s social promotion bill, among other requests.
Governor Susana Martinez yesterday announced the five finalists she’d selected from a list of 90 hopefuls for the Public Regulation Commission seat vacated several weeks ago by Jerome Block Jr., who resigned after pleading guilty to several felonies. Among the quintet are three Democrats, a Republican, and an Independent.
Liberal muckraker and private investigator Michael Corwin, of the Albuquerque-based Independent Source PAC, a liberal political action committee, recently launched a trio of radio spots not merely critical of Governor Susana Martinez and her administration but seemingly intent on exposing…
As part of the required National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, officials from the U.S. Air Force and Clovis’s Cannon Air Force Base held another public hearing last night in Las Vegas concerning its plans for low-altitude tactical navigation (LATN) training flights over southeast Colorado and eastern New Mexico.
In a surprising reversal of his earlier dismissal of four felony charges against District Judge Michael Murphy of Las Cruces, District Judge Leslie Smith reinstated those charges yesterday, setting a trial date of February 5.
This past Friday, former Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Jr. showed up for a mandatory meeting with his Adult Drug Court administrator in Santa Fe’s First Judicial District courthouse only to fail his mandated drug test. As a result, he was remanded into custody at the county jail. Within a few hours, campaign-finance figures for three of the 88 declared candidates were released.
Yesterday The National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed its plans to replace an aging Los Alamos National Labs facility, which runs across a major fault line, with an estimated $4-6 billion plutonium lab. According to the NNSA notice, the new building “would provide vitally essential technical support capabilities to NNSA’s national security mission.”
This July, Governor Susana Martinez, a descendant of unauthorized immigrants, implemented what she called a residency certification program — an effort to review the authenticity of foreign nationals’ drivers licenses. The state currently has about 85,000 licenses issued to foreign nationals.
In three weeks, the Wall Street protest movement hopes to implement a November 5th walkout, the effects of which could have a far greater impact than months of sit-ins and protests. Being billed as Bank Transfer Day, and as of…
