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.
Republican Jon Barela continues to avoid questions posed by The Independent about the business his company gets due in large part to government programs. Last week a Barela spokesperson did not reply to the Independent’s question on why a company in which he has a partnership stake, Cerelink, promotes the New Mexico film tax credit program on its website and in press releases. The Barela camp also declined to say whether Barela believes the program is beneficial to the state’s economy or whether he thinks it should be reduced in scope given the state’s ongoing budget deficit.
A new report shows that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pays for its political attack ads out of the same pot of money that holds all of it’s foreign donations. In other words, the trade association’s extensive…
The last opportunity for New Mexicans to register to vote is tomorrow, October 5. And beginning tomorrow, voters can go to their county clerk’s office, request an absentee ballot, and vote on the spot.
In anticipation of the next phase of…
In an interview with Harold Morgan of the blog Capitol Report, New Mexico’s Democratic nominee for governor Diane Denish talked about the small business she created during the 1990 campaign for Bruce King, and how she would deal with…
Republican Jon Barela, vying to unseat Freshman Democratic Rep. Martin Heinrich, has often said that government spending isn’t a solution to stimulating the economy and that if elected he’d end “wasteful government spending.” In yesterday’s Albuquerque Journal, he was quoted saying it’s risk-takers that lead to economic growth, not government incentives. Yet Barela’s own company—Cerelink—has benefited significantly from taxpayer cash assistance, through New Mexico’s film tax rebate program and from high speed computing infrastructure owned by the public.
Running for Congress isn’t something that Jon Barela sought out on his own. Instead, he was encouraged to run for New Mexico’s first congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, he told The Independent in an interview. That…
The company that purchased the 55,000 acre former Atrisco Land Grant on Albuquerque’s west side is brand spanking new. It incorporated in Delaware on September 15, just a few days before buying the massive property at an auction on…
A piece of land on Albuquerque’s west side that’s large enough to hold a mid-sized city was sold yesterday on the Bernalillo County Courthouse steps for $148 million. The land was purchased by SunCal Corporation in 2007 for $250 million from…
First-term Democratic Congressman Martin Heinrich talks about the economy, clean energy and the importance of Sandia National Labs and Kirtland Air Force Base.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center filed an appeal Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision to allow (ISL) uranium mining in the Four Corners region of New Mexico.
That decision threatens the safety of…
New Mexico’s approach to medical marijuana is one of the most strictly regulated in the country, but patients here share problems with those in less regulated states when it comes to lawfully obtaining seeds or plants. Currently, New Mexico patients who are authorized to grow their own medical marijuana don’t have many legal ways to buy seeds or starter plants. Now the state has proposed a fix to the program that could change that.
While the Department of Homeland Security has taken credit for a significant drop in unauthorized immigration since 2007, pointing to increased enforcement by the Obama administration, the the decline is actually most likely due to the recession, according a new…
The New Mexico Department of Health is seeking public input on some proposals for changing the state’s medical marijuana program, including ways to make the program financially self-sufficient and more tightly regulated.
One of the proposals would levy an annual fee…
Susana Martinez has pledged to sell New Mexico’s state jet if elected—but she told The Independent she would not sell two other aircraft that cost almost as much to operate. Martinez would use the other planes for “emergency situations or official state business that is a priority,” according to her campaign. Flying the jet—a Cessna Citation Bravo—costs $2,852 per hour, compared to $2,346 per hour for the state’s King Air and $2,347 for an older Turbo Commander.
House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said earlier this summer that if the Republicans regain control of the House this year, among the initiatives they would likely consider would be raising the age of social security retirement to 70. Most New Mexico congressional candidates, including incumbent Democrats Martin Heinrich and Harry Teague, as well as Republican challengers Jon Barela and Steve Pearce, offered varying degrees of resistance to that idea. Democrat Ben Ray Lujan was vague in his answer, while his challenger, Tom Mullins, said the retirement age will “undoubtedly” be raised.
During Thursday’s gubernatorial debate on education, Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez asked Lt. Gov. Diane Denish if she had used the state jet to travel to a commencement ceremony in Roy, which is about two and a half-hour drive…
Susana Martinez isn’t the only big-ticket candidate in New Mexico’s fall elections who questions whether human society is the root cause of global warming. The three Republicans running for Congress expressed opposition to climate change legislation and were generally hesitant to acknowledge that human activity is having important negative effects on the planet.
The national GOP “blueprint” for victory in the November mid-term elections is coming into focus, Politico says in a piece today. And if that political journal is correct, the only “hot” race in New Mexico is the one in…
Officials in Gallup, New Mexico have signed an agreement with the Navajo Nation aimed at helping the two governments work together to address human rights in the city. The agreement is an initiative of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission,…
