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.
What kind of "mouthfeel" does your drinking water provide? The bottled water industry is pulling out all the marketing stops to convince you that their water is "more than…
John McCain may be "aware of the Internet," but Barack Obama is mastering it as a campaign tool.
Christian Science Monitor blogger Dante Chinni today
SANTA FE — Rep. Tom Udall on Wednesday voted against a spending bill that would significantly cut Los Alamos National Laboratory’s budget and halt plutonium pit production at the lab.
Over Udall’s objection, the House…
With an important vote on U.S. nuclear weapons funding looming, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is asking President Bush to pressure Congress to fund a new generation of nuclear warheads.
The House Appropriations Committee is…
The Justice Department has been recruiting law students based on "political and ideological factors" for the past six years, according to a report from the agency’s Inspector General’s office.
According to the
The chorus for mining law reform is growing.
Citing a New Mexico gold mining proposal, the New York Times yesterday issued its argument for changes to the 1872 mining…
SANTA FE – Meet Carol Miller. Actually, you’ve met her before—in 1997 and 1998—when she ran as a Green Party candidate for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District seat.
The Peñasco-area resident is…
A House subcommittee has voted for a modest cut to the U.S. nuclear weapons budget, which funds thousands of jobs at New Mexico’s national laboratories.
The House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee cut $100 million — or 1.6 percent…
SANTA FE — In April 2007, just a few months after a hard-fought and ultimately successful battle to ban energy development in northern New Mexico’s pristine Valle Vidal, local conservationists were brimming with confidence and…
As soaring oil prices fuel the call for more domestic oil and gas drilling, a push is on in Washington to protect millions of acres of wilderness across the U.S., including a 20,000-acre tract in eastern New Mexico, the Washington…
A controversial proposal to designate Mount Taylor a cultural property has some proponents in and around Grants fearing for their safety, according to one activist involved in the issue.
Chris Shuey, of the Albuquerque-based Southwest…
New Mexico’s U.S. Senate Race is holding strong as the second most likely in the country to switch parties, according to Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza:
Rep. Steve
…
Communities all over New Mexico are facing a tough real estate market, but perhaps none have it tougher than Los Alamos, a company town whose fortunes are tied closely to those of the federally funded Los Alamos National Laboratory.
State Rep. Debbie Rodella likes to practice "random acts of kindness," and apparently spent money from her re-election campaign to do it, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
One three occasions, Rodella, D-Ohkay Owingeh, gave constituents $100 to help cover funeral costs, reporter Raam Wong writes in todays editions.
And Rodella had other ideas for her kind streak. She asked the state Attorney General’s Office last year whether it was OK to spend campaign money on phone cards, pizza parties and other small expenses for voter, according to the Journal.
"My purpose in doing so would be to garner good will from these men and women and their family and friends," Rodella wrote.
Is seeking the good will of voters, through small purchases that benefit voters, a legitimate campaign expenditure?" Rodella wrote in the June 11, 2007, letter released to the Journal Tuesday.
The Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion last month that while some such expenses could be legitimate, depending on the circumstances, others could constitute an illegal bribe. Debbie Rodella is the wife of former Rio Arriba County Magistrate Tommy Rodella, whom the state Supreme Court removed from the bench last month for judical misconduct.
Elsewhere around the state, New Mexico Law enforcement agencies cracking down on DWI this summer are finding more than drunks at area sobriety checkpoints. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports today that at a checkpoint last week near Santa Fe, 16 Mexican citizens were detained as they tried to pass in a Ford F150 pickup. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department, which was one of the agencies opertating the checkpoint contacted immigration officials, who took the immigrants into custody, the paper reported. Federal agents involved in operations targeting criminal activihave taken at least 45 people into custody since late May.
Speaking of immigration issues, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports today that a steel and concrete fence erected on the U.S.- Mexico border around parts of Sundland Park isn’t doing much to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S.
The section of fence is in need of some updating. Large holes and an open concrete culvert are large enough for a person to fit through, the paper reports:
On Saturday, several children peered through a freshly cut hole in the fence, while about 300 feet away, men working on a new water treatment plant in Anapra, Mexico, stood at another larger hole under the fence, which anyone could walk through at any time.
Beep. Beep. Make way for Roadrunner — the world’s fastest computer. The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that the IBM-built machine, which will be housed at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
The national media spotlight that has been shining on New Mexico politics this week found the Santa Fe home of former Kennedy Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, who chatted with the New York…
Los Alamos voters may have heavily favored Republican U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson in Tuesday’s primary, but the statewide winner, Steve Pearce, is a key congressional ally to a controversial nuclear weapons program that…
SANTA FE—Ben Ray Lujan on Tuesday celebrated a surprising double-digit victory in the race for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District seat, bringing to a close a primary contest that had become…
Political change isn’t the only challenge New Mexico’s national labs are facing. Federal investigators released a report Monday underscoring the uncertain future of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear…
SANTA FE — John McCain’s declaration last week that he wants to slash the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal grabbed headlines. But some nuclear weapons policy wonks may have been just as…
