Health
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 [...]
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Hantavirus takes the life of an Otero County woman
Hantavirus has taken the life of a 22-year-old Otero County woman. Meanwhile, a 36-year-old lawyer accused of killing a pedestrian in Santa Fe and then fleeing the scene initially told police he hadn’t been drinking.
In Albuquerque, a Sandia National Laboratories solar energy researcher is a finalist in Discover Magazine’s “The Future of Energy in 2 [...]
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 [...]
New Mexico reporter/blogger jailed… but for good cause
A local reporter radio reporter and blogger has been sent to jail.
Peter St. Cyr wrote about the situation on his blog, What’s the Word with Peter St. Cyr. “Just before Thanksgiving, and just in time for the holidays,” St. Cyr wrote, “a warrant was issued for my arrest.”
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.
Waxman ushers in new era
Party tactics trumped seniority. Democrats take a bold step as Henry Waxman, who is far more in line with the president-elect’s agenda, replaces John Dingell as chairman of one of the most powerful House committees.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Legislative watchdog says state overpaid insurers by $200 million
The Legislature’s watchdog committee is saying New Mexico has overpaid insurers by $200 million, a contention the state disputes. Santa Fe officials are set to kick off a major annexation effort to extend the City Different’s city limits. Mexican officials are saying the nation’s former drug czar took hundreds of thousands of dollars to leak [...]
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 [...]
Dems give Waxman key chairmanship long held by Dingell
Congressional Democrats have ousted longtime Michigan Rep. John Dingell as chairman of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee and replaced him with the more progressive Rep. Henry Waxman of California.