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.
Governor Susana Martinez yesterday announced the five finalists she’d selected from a list of 90 hopefuls for the Public Regulation Commission seat vacated several weeks ago by Jerome Block Jr., who resigned after pleading guilty to several felonies. Among the quintet are three Democrats, a Republican, and an Independent.
This past Friday, former Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Jr. showed up for a mandatory meeting with his Adult Drug Court administrator in Santa Fe’s First Judicial District courthouse only to fail his mandated drug test. As a result, he was remanded into custody at the county jail. Within a few hours, campaign-finance figures for three of the 88 declared candidates were released.
Over 800,000 New Mexicans will face price hikes in their electric bills after a Colorado-based company and its 44 local co-ops voted 43-1 to raise the rates by 4.5 percent.
The New Mexico House subcommittee investigating allegations against PRC Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. in preparation for a possible impeachment trial has hired former U.S. Attorney and Albuquerque lawyer Robert Gorence as counsel.
Public Regulation Commission Chief of Staff Johnny Montoya has proposed limits to employee gas cards stemming from records showing Commissioner Jerome Block charged $5,000 in six weeks to his card.
Jerome Block, Jr., absent since July 28 after records surfaced that he misused a state-issued gas card, returned to Santa Fe Tuesday and said he had a prescription drug addiction but would not resign from his post on the Public Regulation Commission.
A search warrant unsealed Friday shows that Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr., did not only buy multiple gas fill-ups — within minutes of each other and for other people as well as himself — but he also bought chimichangas, cigarettes and Gatorade. He also used the PRC cards of two other employees.
Embattled Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr., received a vote of “no confidence” Thursday that removed him from his post as vice chairman of the committee.
All four Public Regulation Commissioners signed a statement urging Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr., to resign his seat Tuesday; Block was not present at the proceedings.
Scandal-plagued Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. is a suspect in a stolen auto case, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican.
KOB News has been investigating Public Regulation Commissioner Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr., and found that he drove a state vehicle for 11 months with a suspended license and racked up $5,000 in charges to a state-issued gas card in six weeks.
The New Mexico Supreme Court struck down a surcharge designed to compensate utilities for electricity conservation, saying that the Public Regulation Commission did not apply a cost-benefit analysis to the rule.
Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr. has struggled to pay more than $2,000 in debts over the past year, including one to a fellow commissioner and another to a youth group on whose board of directors he sits. Those debts are just the latest headache for Block, who said he has already paid $400,000 in legal fees to defend himself against criminal charges stemming his handling of public campaign funds.
Democrat Stephanie DuBois has lost her bid for the powerful and controversial Public Regulation Commission (PRC)’s District 2 seat to outgoing state land commissioner Patrick Lyons, a Republican, she conceded at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday night. Lyons will replace PRC chairman…
The state Division of Insurance will not publicly disclose a corrective action plan prepared in response to a scathing audit that slammed Division oversight of the insurance industry, according to an e-mailed Division response to The Independent’s Inspection…
Planned policy changes announced last month to restrict employees’ contact with journalists at the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) will not be implemented in the near future, Chief of Staff Michael Rivera has told The Independent.
“It’s going…
Legislators have drafted a constitutional amendment and companion legislation that would abolish the controversial Public Regulation Commission (PRC), New Mexico’s most powerful regulatory agency. The move came as a surprise to commissioners.
Sharp divisions surfaced on renewable energy and insurance rate regulation between Public Regulation Commission (PRC) candidates at an industry-sponsored candidates’ forum Wednesday, with District 4 Republican candidate Gary Montoya defending the use of coal-burning power plants while his opponent, Democrat Theresa Becenti-Aguilar, advocated more use of solar power.
The state Division of Insurance, and the Public Regulation Commission (PRC), will seek legislation this coming session that would grant new, strengthened regulatory powers to vet premium rate hike requests from health insurers. If passed, the new powers would allow the insurance agency to consider an insurer’s investment income, surplus and cost containment and an insurer’s overall profitability rather than just the profitability of a particular line of insurance.
State Insurance Superintendent John Franchini has said he plans to meet individually with members of the Public Regulation Commission to discuss how the division plans to fix serious problems pointed out in a recent national audit. “They may think they’ve figured out a ‘loophole’ [in the Open Meetings Act], but they’ll lose the public’s trust and confidence in the process. So what have you really gained?” says Sarah Welsh of the Foundation for Open Government.
