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.
Two different bids to bring back the death penalty in New Mexico were tabled in a House committee Tuesday night on party-line votes.
Even though the death penalty has been abolished in New Mexico, it has made an appearance in the gubernatorial race between Democrat Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and Republican Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez.
Last week, Michael Paul Astorga…
The California Democratic Party for the first time formalized its opposition to the death penalty by writing it into its platform last month, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The position defies conventional wisdom and has raised questions about how…
The number of executions in the United States increased this year, but the number of new death sentences handed down fell to the lowest total since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to a new report from the…
What is the difference between a judge who thinks the abstraction of following procedure is more important than stopping the execution of an innocent person—and someone who would go to the ends of the earth, applying every legal skill to…
Here’s a summary of what I’m reading this morning. Every state is swimming under a tide of new applications for food stamps, the federal program that helps the low-income with food purchases. New Mexico isn’t an exception. But one state over, Texas is at risk of losing federal food stamp money due to a high error rate and failure to process applications in a timely manner and. A federal official has suggested the nation’s second most populous state should hire a food stamp czar to correct the significant problems, reports the Austin American-Statesman. More …
While Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law a bill abolishing the death penalty this March, there are still men who are facing the death penalty; those already on death row and those whose crimes were committed before July of…
The Albuquerque Journal’s Thomas J. Cole has an insightful column on the political ambitions of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish on the newspaper’s front page today. The most fascinating part deals with Denish’s task of separating herself from Gov. Bill Richardson as the state…
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White was always critical of the death penalty repeal, which Gov. Bill Richardson signed on March 18 of this year. Less than 24 hours later, White was already looking at ways to overturn the…
Gov. Bill Richardson’s office just released a picture of the governor meeting the Pope this morning in Rome.
On Wednesday, the Roman Coliseum, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, will be lit in honor of New Mexico repealing the death penalty.
Gov. Bill Richardson and Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan are part of a New…
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who is term-limited out of his current position, is working to repeal the state’s death penalty repeal — even before the death penalty repeal goes into effect.
Supporters of the now-abolished death penalty in New Mexico have hit the airwaves hoping to bring the ultimate punishment back to state law, reports KOB-TV.
Organizers of the effort to repeal the repeal, mostly law enforcement types, have created a…
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White has formed a political action committee aimed at repealing the death-penalty repeal recently signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson, and the PAC’s first TV ad is running statewide beginning Monday.
It is less than 24 hours after Gov. Bill Richardson announced he would sign the death penalty abolition bill. The death penalty has been replaced with life without the possibility of parole.
But already those who support capital punishment…
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is urging Gov. Bill Richardson to sign the death penalty repeal on his desk. Richardson has until today to decide whether or not to sign. The Senate passed the bill on Friday.
I have nothing more than a gut feeling, but my money is on Gov. Bill Richardson opting to sign a bill that would make New Mexico the 15th state to repeal the death penalty. For the politically savvy and embattled governor, there’s nearly every reason in the world to sign the bill — from a political standpoint — and few to veto it.
NMI and the Santa Fe Reporter’s SFReeper.com cohosted a webcast and live blog from the New Mexico State Senate on Friday. During this session, the Senate passed a death penalty repeal and a resolution that will implement webcasting as soon as possible. Click the headline to read the transcript.
The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell wrote an interesting blog on the history of executions in New Mexico.
This is particularly relevant, of course, because of HB 285. That bill – legislation that would repeal the death…
One reason why a bill to repeal of the death penalty hasn’t gained much attention in New Mexico is because Gov. Bill Richardson has expressed his opposition in the past.
