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.
The biotech company that received $100 million to grow genetically-engineered, fuel-producing algae near Columbus, N.M. is “one of the best-positioned companies” to make oil-producing “super algae” a competitive energy source, according to The New York Times.
It sounds like something you’d read in a history book: a community with no running water and no electricity; residents who carry water to wash dishes and take showers; unnamed dirt roads instead of paved thoroughfares that residents use.
And yet there Pajarito Mesa sits, on the ridge overlooking a modern American city; in this case, Albuquerque. The community’s plight was enough to draw the interest of the New York Times, which profiled Pajarito Mesa in today’s paper.
A nationwide New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday finds that a majority (53 percent) of tea party supporters are “angry about the way things are going in Washington,” most (63 percent) watch Fox News, and they are more than…
Arizona is one of the country’s seven worst states in emergency health preparedness, a new report says, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Whereas Arizona scored an overall 5 out of 10 in the report (least prepared), New…
The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sued the chip maker Intel, accusing it of using its dominant market position “to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly,” reports the New York Times. Intel has…
A credit rating agency downgraded the creditworthiness of the country’s largest pension fund yesterday, according to the Los Angeles Times. It’s the latest bad news for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System fund (CalPERS), which has been beset by…
Thirty-six states confront budget shortfalls totaling $28 billion this year according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Stateline.org reports today. New Mexico is listed in the report as struggling with one of the worst budget…
The number of people in U.S. prisons has grown at the slowest pace in nearly a decade, according to figures released Tuesday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, according to the Washington Post. The study also noted that incarceration…
The Obama administration says it is settling a long-running and contentious lawsuit over royalties owed to American Indians, the Associated Press reports. Under an agreement announced today, the Interior Department will distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 tribe…
The Colorado secretary of state on Friday approved two measures for the 2010 ballot that would slash at least $1 billion annually in state taxes and roll back property taxes statewide, reports the Denver Post. This comes at a time…
Gov. Bill Richardson recently ordered five furlough days for state workers and said he wants to eliminate more than 1,000 vacant positions across state government as a response to New Mexico’s worsening financial situation. But next year’s budget likely…
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has led the charge on bad actors in the investment world, including one or two here in New Mexico, now is going after Intel Corp, which has a big presence in the…
The special session ended Friday, or so we were led to believe. But Kate Nash of the Santa Fe New Mexican is dead on with her story today that suggests that maybe the session has gone into overtime, what…
Last week we wrote about the bleak financial picture for New Mexico come January — a possible $1 billion shortfall, and many tough, tough decisions still to come. Well, the Land of Enchantment isn’t the only state to face…
Businesses with federal stimulus contracts have created few jobs in states with the worst unemployment rates, according to data released Thursday by the federal government, reports the New York Times.
New Mexico relies most heavily on the state gross receipts tax for its revenue — to the tune of 36.1 percent, according to a new report. By comparison, the state income tax comes in third as a revenue generator,…
Talk of more federal stimulus aid is increasing in Washington as federal officials realize that many state governments may be worse off after federal stimulus money disappears, Stateline.org reports. Like many other states, New Mexico is looking at a…
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 …
The New York Times on Sunday published a jaw-dropping story on the lax enforcement of water laws by municipalities, states and the federal government. In “Toxic Waters,” The Times reported that “…Last year, 40 percent of the nation’s community…
These days it seems like it is a race between newspapers and banks to see which industry will have more entities disappear by the end of 2009.
After the Boston Newspaper Guild voted against a new contract, the New…
