In a conversation with New Mexico radio reporters yesterday, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, weighed on the idea that not keeping tax cuts in place for those with incomes over $250,000 would hamper economic recovery.  Most economists don’t believe it would, he said.

“Most economists I’ve heard from say that that’s not the case,” he said. “…clearly keeping taxes where they have been for the vast majority of Americans makes good sense in this economic downturn. And that’s what would be the case if we were to keep in place the tax provisions for everyone with up to $250,000 of income, that’s 98 percent of the population.”

“The remaining 2 percent will of course get the same lower taxes for the first 250,000 of income they receive, but they would then pay higher percentage on income above that 250,000 and most economists think that would not be a substantial drag on the economy.”

Bingaman also said it would be difficult to get things done in the lame duck session. This year the congress has had great difficulty getting over the procedural obstacles established by Republicans in the nature of filibusters, he said, so there are a lot of items still remaining unattended to, like the tax provisions. He’s not sure the congress will be able to get to everything before January, he concluded.

Three Farmington men who used a hot wire hanger to brand a swastika into the arm of a disabled Navajo man have been indicted on federal hate crimes charges. The indictment provides details about the assault that were not described to the public when the assault was first reported. In addition to the swastika branded on his arm, the defendants shaved a swastika into the man’s hair and wrote within the lines of that swastika “KKK” and “White Power.”

Paul Beebe, 27, William Hatch, 29, and Jesse Sanford, 25, all of Farmington, N.M., were indicted by a federal grand jury in Albuquerque for their assault on the 22-year old Navajo man, who is cognitively impaired. They are charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act that was enacted in October 2009.

In addition to the swastikas, the indictment alleges that the men used a marker to draw other derogatory symbols and language  on the man’s back, while telling him they were drawing feathers and “native pride.”  They also took advantage of the victim’s developmental disability to induce him to make a cell phone video in which he purportedly consents to the branding.

This case is being investigated by the Albuquerque Division of the Federal Bureau Investigation in cooperation with the Farmington Police Department and the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roberto D. Ortega for the District of New Mexico and Special Litigation Counsel Gerard Hogan and Trial Attorney Fara Gold of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

There are currently 2,807 medical marijuana patients, with 1,266 of those having individual permits to grow for their own personal use. In addition to the new non-profits, the Department is also considering changes to the regulations that govern the program. The next public hearing about the proposed changes will be on December 2.

“This will help patients in New Mexico get the medicine they need safely and legally under State law,” Secretary of Heath Alfredo Vigil said in a statement. “We are consistently examining our program to ensure our patients needs are met without jeopardizing public safety.”

The six new producers are located in San Juan, Sierra, San Miguel, Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties. The previously approved producers are in Santa Fe, Cibola, Harding, Doña Ana, Lea, Catron and Bernalillo counties.

The producers will have eight weeks to bring their operations up to speed, and then their contact information will be distributed by the department to patients. It will take three to six months, however, before they have medical marijuana for sale.

Each producer is limited to 95 mature plants and seedlings,  and they may also have a limited supply of marijuana on hand in addition to the plants. In addition to the nonprofit producers, patients themselves may acquire a permit to grow up to four mature marijuana plants and 12 seedlings, for their own personal use. New Mexico does not allow caregivers of patients to grow the drug, however, unlike some other states.

The Department will hold another public hearing to receive input on proposed changes to the regulations that govern the program. The hearing will be held 9:30 a.m. Dec. 2 in the Harold Runnels Building auditorium in Santa Fe. The Department made changes to its proposed regulations based on comments it received at an August public hearing.

“This gives the public another chance to review our proposals and make suggestions about how we can improve our program,” Dr. Vigil said.

New proposed changes include:

*Implementing an annual fee for nonprofit producers based on how long the nonprofit has been operating (previously proposed 7 percent fee on gross annual revenue). The fees would be $5,000 for producers licensed less than one year, $10,000 for more than one year, $20,000 for more than two years and $30,000 for more than three years.

*Eliminating the proposed open and closed application periods

*Removing size requirements from definition of mature plant and size limits from definition of seedling

*Allowing nonprofit producers to get plants, seeds and useable cannabis from other licensed nonprofit producers

There are 16 conditions for which medical cannabis is allowed: severe chronic pain, painful peripheral neuropathy, intractable nausea/vomiting, severe anorexia/cachexia, hepatitis C infection currently receiving antiviral treatment, Crohn’s disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Inflammatory Autoimmune-mediated Arthritis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with intractable spasticity, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, and hospice care.

“Burning less coal at Four Corners is a great start towards protecting both people’s health and Mother Earth’s health, but this won’t make current sicknesses go away. I would feel better if we made more jobs in transitioning the other units off coal and towards a cleaner energy from renewables like wind and solar,” said Elouise Brown of Dooda Desert Rock,  a local indigenous group.

“We can’t let anyone walk away from their responsibility for cleaning up the mess that coal leaves behind like toxic coal ash and polluted waters,” Brown concluded in a statement.

The ownership shift and plans are due to both California and federal laws related to coal fired power plant emissions.

Edison is having to comply with California rules that require it to phase out purchases of coal-fired power, so is looking to sell it’s ownership in the Four Corners plant.

APS is reacting to proposed EPA rules that would require it to significantly upgrade emissions controls on the three units it owns at the Four Corners plant in order to reduce nitrous oxide emissions by 80 percent. Nitrous oxide reacts with other chemicals to create ozone and airborn particulate matter, which are harmful to human health.

The 45 year old power plant is the largest single source emitter of nitrous oxide in the United States, according to the EPA. The proposed EPA rules would reduce emissions of that chemical from 45,000 tons to about 9,000 tons per year. The rules would also decrease the negative impact of the emissions on visibility in 16 national parks by 57 percent.

“The Four Corners Power Plant is the largest source of nitrogen oxides in the nation,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest Region, in October about the proposed rules. “Adding new pollution controls at this 45-year old plant will reduce these emissions by 80 percent—we will all be able to see the results and breathe cleaner, healthier air.”

APS senior vice president of fossil generation, Mark Schiavoni, said in a news release that there would be no layoffs due to the restructuring and new emissions controls. There are currently 549 people–74 percent of whom are Navajo–employed at the plant, which is located on Navajo Nation land in northwest New Mexico.

According to APS, the shut down of the three units, and the installation of emissions control upgrades on the remaining two units would reduce emissions of NOX  by 36 percent, mercury by 61 percent, particulates by 43 percent, CO2 by 30 percent and SO2 by 24 percent.

APS would replace the energy lost through the closure of the three older units with 739 MW from Southern California Edison’s 48 percent share of the newer, more efficient Units 4 and 5. APS currently owns 15 percent of the two units.

“Closing the three smaller, less efficient units and keeping the cleaner, more efficient Units 4 and 5 in operation would dramatically reduce the carbon footprint in the region and enable the plant to remain compliant with state and federal environmental standards,” said Schiavoni.

The Sierra Club acknowledged the downsizing of the plant, but also said that APS was in effect increasing the amount of coal-fired power it generates from the plant by 32 percent, in contrast to Edison, which is phasing out coal-fired power.

“The three smallest units at Four Corners are proposed to close, but even if this deal is approved, there are still two large, dirty and old units that need to have pollution controls installed,” said Sierra Club regional representative Andy Bessler.

“APS is clearly acknowledging that the modern pollution controls proposed by the EPA are the right thing to do for coal plants, but the best long-term solution for the pollution Four Corners emits would be shifting from dirty coal to cleaner renewable energy for the benefit of the tribes and area residents.”

Bessler noted the “tremendous” potential for renewable energy production in the region and said the Sierra Club would continue to work with allies like Dooda Desert Rock, Dine’ CARE, the Black Mesa Water Coalition, To Nizhoni Ani and the San Juan Citizen’s Alliance to bring about a just transition away from dirty and harmful coal-fired power as soon as is reasonably possible.

Folks shouldn’t expect the idea to go away, though. Legalization proponents stated yesterday that they’d continue working for the measure in coming election cycles.

“National public sentiment is increasingly turning against the idea that responsible adults should be criminalized for using a substance less harmful than alcohol,” said Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project to CBS News. “We are already looking forward to achieving major victories in 2012.”

“It’s disappointing,” Jennifer Talinas, a Lovejoy volunteer who ran for Tribal Council in the primary told The Independent late Tuesday night. “With the primary landslide, for her to lose is shocking.”

Lovejoy’s gender was one of the issues raised in the race, with many traditional Navajos believing a woman shouldn’t hold the Nation’s top post. Talinas, who watched the returns coming in at election headquarters in Window Rock, AZ.,  said it was an issue, but that it wasn’t insurmountable.

“In the primary her gender wasn’t a factor, but in the general it was,” Talinas said.  “It’s something that’s an issue for traditional people but I think the Navajo people are changing or she wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

Shelly said during the campaign that gender wasn’t a factor, that the issue was a question of leadership. He and his running mate, Council Delegate Rex Lee Jim ran on a platform focused on economic development and government stability.

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich

Congressman Martin Heinrich, NM-CD1, won his first bid for re-election tonight. Polls showing his Republican challenger, Jon Barela, pulling ahead in the final weeks added an edge to the race, but Heinrich prevailed in the end. A primary reason, he told supporters during his victory speech, was that he didn’t hide from his record.

“We had the courage of our convictions,” Heinrich said.  “Unlike a lot of folks this year, I never shrank from the fact that I was proud to have voted for health care reform.”

That statement elicited a massive eruption of cheers and applause from the late night crowd of Democratic party faithful at the Hotel Andaluz in Downtown Albuquerque.

The race between Heinrich and Barela was notable for the degree to which the two debated the issues, in an election season marked by sharp negativity in the governor’s race and massive amounts of third party dollars pumping negative ads onto the airwaves.

Barela, a former Intel Corporation manager and Albuquerque School Board member, vigorously argued that the country is off track economically. But Heinrich defended the historic legislation passed by Democrats during his first term, including health insurance reform legislation, regulatory reform of the U.S. financial sector, and an economic stimulus package designed to shore up an economy teetering on the edge of economic recovery.

Back in 2008, Martin Heinrich threw his hat in early to challenge Republican Heather Wilson, before she announced she’d give up her seat to run for the Senate seat vacated by long-time New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici. Going up against Republican Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, the political winds were in his favor, with a popularity already established among the constituent base he served as an Albuquerque City Councilor, and a Democratic Party on the rise. Heinrich became the first Democrat to hold the congressional seat that represents Albuquerque, the metropolitan center of the state.

Once elected, Heinrich became part of a Democratic majority that held both Congressional chambers as well as the White House. Just two years later, high unemployment numbers and an intransigent Republican base led the Republican Party to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives tonight.

A member of the Democratic progressive wing, Heinrich survived the resurgence of the Republican Party tonight despite common wisdom that the reform measures and the stimulus package his party passed  are unpopular. Rather than distance himself, he took credit for the votes he cast.

The Haussamen piece credited New Mexico State University Professor Jose Z. Garcia with the “game changer” label, and analyzed the qualities that had great potential for leading Martinez to victory:

Jose Z. Garcia, a New Mexico State University government professor and political analyst, said Martinez’s entry into the race will be “a game changer,” both in the Republican primary and, if she wins the primary, a general-election matchup with likely 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Diane Denish.

Martinez is Hispanic. She’s a woman. She has a proven record of winning Democratic votes away from Democratic opponents. And she’s a prosecutor at a time when the state’s Democrats are mired in corruption scandals.

There’s more in the article. Check it out.

“We may have come up short, but I hold my head high, and you should, too,” Denish said.

Denish went on to lambaste the negative tone of the campaign. The competition of ideas has lost out to the competition of gotcha, she said. We are all guilty of playing along, including myself, she concluded.

“I’m proud to be a Democrat,” Denish told the crowd as she urged them to work for the good of the state, along with her as a private citizen come January 1st.

“Tomorrow is a new day. New Mexico faces a lot of challenges, and there is so much to be done,” she said.