Gwyneth Doland
Party like it’s 4:59 a.m.!! D.C. votes to let bars stay open late for inauguration week
From today’s Washington Times:
Hoping to tap in to an inaugural bonanza, the D.C. Council Tuesday night voted 12-1 to push back last call to 5 a.m. and allow bars and restaurants to serve food around the clock during inauguration week.
Millions of visitors are expected to descend on the city to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential swearing-in [...]
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Richardson to be nominated to president-elect’s cabinet this morning
Gov. Bill Richardson (whom Wonkette calls “stately, plump”) is expected to be formally nominated Secretary of Commerce at 9:40 am MST and the Journal has worked itself into a predictable froth of slideshows etc. Richardson will be the first Hispanic chosen for Obama’s cabinet.
Saxby Chambliss, Republican Senator of Georgia, was reelected yesterday after beating Democrat [...]
New Mexico Food Gap Task Force invades the ‘food desert’
The New Mexico Food Gap Task Force is expected to submit its first report to Gov. Bill Richardson today. The panel’s members want the state to pay for fresh fruits and veggies in schools, and to help rural communities gain access to fresh foods. But with state revenues plummeting, will they be able to wrangle the cash?
A new GOP guv in Arizona could limit abortion; Napolitano has acted as firewall
When Bill Richardson leaves the New Mexico governor’s mansion to become U.S. secretary of commerce, his Democratic lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, will take over where he left off. Although the two certainly have different governing styles, their policy views do not diverge wildly.
This is not the case in Arizona, where there is no lieutenant governor [...]
Hillary at State Depatment could have huge impact for women worldwide
Photo by Roger H. Goun
Much has been made of Obama’s “team of rivals” selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. But little has been said so far about what impact this prominent feminist and health care expert could have on the lives of women in other countries. But women’s rights activists say they’re extremely [...]
Obama’s ‘Benetton’ cabinet: Impressive diversity seen in national security team
Was anybody else as interested as I was to see the photos of Obama’s press conference this morning? Although we’ve known about his national security picks for some time now, it was a pleasant surprise to see them all standing on a stage together. Among the six nominees there were three women (Hillary Clinton, Susan [...]
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: The Jerome Block Jr. saga continues, another state task force is born, and don’t break out your snowboards quite yet!
In national news today, President-elect Barack Obama says he plans to keep Bush’s current defense secretary, Robert Gates — at least for the time being. Nobody wants to spend any money, but food stamp usage is nearing an all-time high.
Meanwhile, in Santa Fe, Jerome Block Jr. isn’t out of the woods yet, even though he [...]
Try not to get hit by a car while rubbernecking the train, people!
In anticipation of the extension of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express service from Bernalillo to Santa Fe, crews have begun test runs on the tracks into the capital, the New Mexico Business Weekly reports today. But the funniest part of the story is this line: “Motorists should know that while the runs are occurring, [...]
Watching fast food ads makes kids fat, study says (Duh! says everyone else)
Banning fast-food commercials on kids’ TV shows would reduce childhood obesity by 18 percent says a study published this month in the University of Chicago’s Journal of Law & Economics. According to the study, 23 percent of the food-related ads kids see are for fast food.
Overturning Bush’s ‘conscience rule’ could be a nightmare
As NMI noted earlier this week (and earlier this year), the Bush administration is considering enacting a last-minute rule that could make it much more difficult for women to get information about and access to birth control, abortion and sterilization. The rule is opposed by major health care organizations, Democratic legislators and many state government [...]