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.
A raft of new commentary and news pieces in New Mexico are indicating some state leaders would prefer a salaried legislature.
If one were to read a newly released survey of state-by-state spending on corrections, you’d get the mistaken impression that New Mexico is throwing more money at prisons these days.
The report, completed by the Vera Institute of Justice…
Erin Armstrong, the young woman who lobbied state lawmakers tirelessly for New Mexico’s medical marijuana law (which bears her name), today told Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican that Susana Martinez’s desire to repeal the law represents an…
A U.S. Border Patrol official has told New Mexico lawmakers that the state’s border with Mexico is the most secure he’s seen in his three decades working with the agency,” the Associated Press is reporting.
But advocates for immigration rights…
Republicans might be gunning for a few Democrats this year, but Democrats aren’t sitting still it appears. They’ve recruited a candidate to run against veteran Republican state Rep. Jeannette Wallace, a 10-term lawmaker from Los Alamos.
Wallace is taking…
In out-of-state money, in oil-and-gas giving, in the number of eye-popping contributions, Republican Susana Martinez beat Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in the battle of dollars and cents. But a comparison of the reports Wednesday showed something else: Republicans from outside of New Mexico care big-time about winning the New Mexico governor’s race.
A Chimayó man who admitted to threatening a state court judge would have faced felony charges, and more time behind bars if convicted, had the Legislature passed legislation earlier this year raising the punishment for such threats, the Santa Fe…
Correctional officers earned $7.2 million in overtime last year, mostly working longer hours to make up for a system-wide staffing shortage at New Mexico’s prisons. In July, the Roswell Correctional Center, which reported a 27 percent vacancy rate, had to ask the state’s highly trained Special Operations Response Team to swoop in to search for contraband and to avert possible violence among that facility’s inmates.
Both candidates for governor support what’s called a tax expenditure report, a tool supporters tout as a way to reveal the hidden costs of the hundreds of tax credits, exemptions and deductions the state has approved over the years. New Mexico is one of a handful of states nationally to not compile even a bare-bones compilation of tax expenditures.
State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, who pioneered webcasting in the New Mexico state Legislature, is now pushing for webcasting of committee meetings year ’round.
Arnold-Jones has asked a powerful committee that meets Tuesday to direct legislative staff to consider…
Republican candidate Bob Walsh announced Thursday that he had pledged $20 to help Democrat Carl Trujillo pay for a recount in his race against House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe.
Walsh, who is running against Rep. Luciano…
More than half of New Mexico’s legislative seats were decided Tuesday night, but 34 House seats are up for grabs in November. And most of those contested posts – 26 — belong to Democrats vs. eight that are currently in Republican hands.
Democrats have more to lose, while the GOP has notable momentum.
The state will soon decide whether to close 14 of the state’s 32 rest stops in order to save money. A similar move in Arizona last year provoked a public uproar.
New Mexico’s financially strapped school districts could have received $15 million in “additional bonus money” if Gov. Bill Richardson hadn’t vetoed a measure that would have directed federal stimulus funds to education. But the governor’s office says legislators overstepped their bounds and only governors–not legislatures–can appropriate federal money. Meanwhile, schools are strapped for cash.
Colorado lawmakers recently decided to impose an online sales tax, a move that is generating a battle in Denver and highlighting the pressure states face to find new revenues. The New Mexico Legislature considered a bill to tax online sales during the 30-day regular session, but the bill never got out of the first committee assigned to study it. Rep. Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored that legislation, said she’s planning on introducing a similar bill in 2011 if she’s re-elected.
New Mexico isn’t a lone actor in its bid to tax cigarettes at a greater rate. As you may recall, the Legislature passed a 75-cent hike to the state’s 91-cent cigarette tax last week to help address next year’s…
The state budget may trim roughly $100 million on paper, but it leaves the details of how to reduce expenses to state agencies. So come July, when these changes take effect, what happens? Will longer lines form at motor vehicle offices thanks to a 4.2 percent reduction at the state Taxation and Revenue Department? Will fewer teachers greeting students this August? Meanwhile, how will New Mexicans accept paying more at grocery stores and in state income tax. No one knows for sure.
Yesterday we were unable to reach all of the House members who were missing from the debate and vote on a measure that raises about $240 million through various taxes and revenue-generating mechanisms. But we’ve since talked to them and…
The House Democratic caucus began a behind-closed-doors meeting around 10 a.m. Monday, as lawmakers learned details from a budget deal legislative leaders struck late last week.
Senate Democrats had yet to begin meeting, although an announcement just went over the…
Legislative leaders have struck a budget deal, and just in time. Details are few, but Gov. Bill Richardson saw it Friday and pronounced it good. Here are the general outlines of the deal. The recently struck deal involves raising $233 million in revenue. That revenue would come from increasing the state’s gross receipts, cigarette and compensating taxes. Certain foods also would be taxed for the first time in years, although it’s unclear what food items would fall under the state’s gross receipts tax. The proposed budget agreement also relies on spending decreases. State agencies are expected to shave spending. Public education, meanwhile, would be reduced by about 1 percent.
