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.
Yesterday, the Obama administration fast-tracked seven transmission projects across 12 states — including one in New Mexico — that will generate thousands of construction jobs and increase electric output in the Southwest and Rocky states.
With last week’s announcement that the Obama administration is offering states the opportunity to opt out of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements in exchange for more vigorous school accountability and teacher assessment standards, analysts around the nation are…
Later this morning, President Obama and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan are expected to announce a set of criteria for states to opt out of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law following a long period of…
This week, the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee released a report on Medicaid that outlines cost-saving measures decided upon by 31 Republican governors. Among the policy recommendations is a proposal to require the federal government to pay for the care of undocumented immigrants.
President Obama awarded Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry the Medal of Honor yesterday in the White House, only the ninth person (second living) to receive it during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
The White House today issued on its website a certified copy of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate. It confirms, as is well-documented, that Obama was born in Honolulu’s Kapiolani Maternity Hospital in 1961.
A new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News reveals mixed messages from the American public over the country’s budget crisis.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a $26 billion bill that includes extra health care funding — a projected $126 million — and additional education money — $65 million — for New Mexico at a time when the state is in desperate need of a cash infusion. But State Rep. Keith Gardner, R-Roswell, said the move is a Band-Aid that only masks the need to make more cuts.
New Mexico apparently played a role in the Obama administration’s recent decision to ban most abortion procedures covered under a new federal health care program that began this month.
On July 1, New Mexico, like most other states, launched…
This week, Senate Democrats will attempt to push through a jobs bill that has stalled in the chamber for seven weeks. If Congress does not pass the bill, hundreds of thousands will lose their federally extended unemployment insurance. Doctors will take a 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates, and states will see less money for Medicaid.
President Obama joined the chorus of governors and state officials across the country Saturday as he urged Congress to extend the boosted rate of federal government spending on Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program. More …
Despite initial hopes in the green movement that the spill would spur a move away from the country’s reliance on oil, the disaster has had the opposite effect. An expansion of offshore drilling was supposed to be one of the key compromises that would bring oil-state Democrats and moderate Republicans on board with a climate bill. Now, with the country’s appetite for offshore rigs vastly diminished, the compromise has collapsed.
In Washington, President Obama has overhauled the nation’s nuclear policy, including for the first time declaring that the U.S. won’t use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that aren’t trying to acquire such weapons, even if they attack the U.S. using…
The nation’s governors and state school chiefs will propose standards Wednesday for what students should learn in English and math, from kindergarten through high school, a crucial step in President Obama’s campaign to raise academic standards across the…
Foreign aid trickled into Haiti’s devastated capital on Thursday morning as survivors of Tuesday’s earthquake, many of them injured and homeless, woke to another morning with no electricity and dwindling water, to search for the missing and claim their…
After 90 minutes of impassioned debate that invoked the sweep of American history, the New Jersey state Senate yesterday voted down a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Gay-rights advocates immediately said they would bring their…
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…
New Mexico is one of the growing number of states that allows marijuana for medicinal use. Now New Jersey appears poised to become the next state to allow residents to use marijuana, when recommended by a doctor, for relief…
The use of food stamps, the federal program, has increased dramatically during the recession, reports the New York Times. Food stamps pays benefits to individuals and families making around the poverty level — around $22,000 for a family of…
Some states, struggling to balance their budgets, are selling or leasing public property, including state office buildings, prisons and major toll ways, and Stateline.org has a story that examines the pros and cons of such decisions.
