Marjorie Childress

Richardson dio gracias a la comunidad latina esta mañana — en español por supuesto

In his acceptance speech this morning regarding his new position as Commerce Secretary, Bill Richardson spoke in Spanish to the Latino community, thanking them for their support and pointing out the strength and unity of the Latino community.

Commerce post will test Richardson’s free-trade reputation

When the news that Bill Richardson would be named Commerce Secretary came out, political pundits immediately starting characterizing it as a “demotion.” His impressive resume was referenced as proof that such a gig just isn’t good enough. An angered Latino punditry claimed that the Latino community was being slighted by Obama’s cabinet choices, compounded by the delay in announcing Richardson for the Commerce gig.

$8.5 trillion makes it a ‘Great Recession’ instead of a Great Depression

The total infusion of federal money to rescue our economy so far totals more than the annual gross domestic product of every national economy in the world except the United States, the European Union and China. According to the New Mexico Business Weekly, it’s about $8.5 trillion:
Federal bailouts, equity buys into banks and investment houses, [...]

TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Starvation in Palomas fed by a drug war… plus shopping to live on ‘Black Friday’

About half of Palomas — a border town of 7,000 in Mexico bordering Columbus, N.M. — is on the brink of starvation, according to a Las Cruces alternative weekly called the Grassroots Press. Apparently, the town has been devastated by the drug war currently raging along the border.
The Gallup Independent says that while the economy [...]

As Obama promises union push, business promises to push back

“It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.” These are the words President-elect Barack Obama used in March 2007 about organized labor’s top priority for the next administration: the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it much easier for workers to organize and gain first-time contracts with their employers.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES: ABQ balloon fiesta upgrades, racist rage and, oh yeah, have you heard the guv may be leaving us?

Remember the fight between Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez and the city council over a reflecting pool the mayor wanted to build at Balloon Fiesta Park? Well, now it’s just a big hole in the ground and all kinds of suggestions are floating around about what to do with it, according to Dan McKay of the [...]

Mayor Marty’s raising money, but he’s not saying what for

At his State of the City address earlier this week, Mayor Martin Chavez wouldn’t say if he was in the running for a fourth term as mayor in 2009 — or some other office. “We’re going to wait and see what happens…,” he said at press conference afterward.
Maybe one of those things he needs to [...]

The green life cycle’s final, logical conclusion… the eco-burial

It appears that everything is going “green” — even death.
I know, that sounds morbid. But seriously. There’s a very interesting article by the New Mexico Business Weekly’s Carrie Siedman about a 15-acre green burial ground being planned for the Galisteo Basin preserve. The idea is that the preserve — 13,000 acres about 15 miles southeast [...]

Albuquerque Public Schools board resists order to grow

Remember Constitutional Amendment 1, passed by voters on Election Day? While the amendment was approved statewide, in Bernalillo County the measure failed by a razor-thin 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent margin. In other words, the only place in the state affected by the amendment didn’t approve it. Now a legal battle looms.

ABQ City Council seems open to Downtown event center, but will we need a public education campaign?

As the Albuquerque City Council wound up its late-night hearing last night about the proposed Downtown event center complex, Councilor Don Harris questioned how the public would be educated about the project.
The $700,000 viability assessment commissioned by the council has now been completed and, despite stated concerns about the economic downturn we’re in, the council [...]