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.
New Mexico would eliminate more than 900 jobs and reduce state workers’ salaries by 2 percent to balance the state’s out-of-whack budget, if it followed a budget proposal released Monday by the Legislature’s budget committee.
In October, New Mexico fined Optum more than $1 million and threatened to cancel its $1 billion contract for managing the state’s behavioral health services after hundreds of providers said they hadn’t been paid in months. Now the company says it is fixing the system–but the state may have to come up with Plan B if the situation doesn’t improve.
A possible deal to close this year’s huge budgetary shortfall emerged from a powerful House committee late Wednesday night, but some lawmakers are upset that the bill includes $54 million in cuts from K-12 education.
Several state lawmakers working with Gov. Bill Richardson to balance this year’s state budget shortfall said Tuesday that the governor’s suggestions were a good first step.
Last month’s paralyzing shutdown of the Secretary of State’s computer systems and web site has state lawmakers asking how to make New Mexico’s constitutional offices subject to the same IT rules most other state agencies comply with. But the state’s IT chief, Marlin Mackey — who has authority over how most state agencies manage information technology — doesn’t have such control over the state’s constitutional offices, Mackey said.
A new state agency will oversee how New Mexico spends $1.8 billion in federal stimulus money, Gov. Bill Richardson announced earlier today. The temporary agency — the Office of Recovery and Reinvestment — will also aim to boost the state’s chances of winning additional federal grants.
The budget bill scrapped $94 million for projects like domestic violence shelters and pre-K classes, but largely spared an equestrian center backed by Gov. Richardson. The vote led one Senator to declare, “Much of what we do in the Senate is indefensible.”
Is the governor in a weakened position as he heads into the 2009 legislative session beginning next week?
Inquiring minds wanted to know on Monday. Specifically, reporters at a press conference with Gov. Bill Richardson wanted to know.
Gov. Bill Richardson’s budget staff on Monday offered a view of the state’s deteriorating financial situation and proposed solutions on how to fix it. But not everyone was convinced that the administration’s view of the crisis reflected reality.
