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.
Voters in Tuesday’s Albuquerque municipal elections decided to keep two incumbent city councilors in office but rejected one of Mayor Richard Berry’s top initiatives. A long-standing red-light photo-camera bill was also rebuked.
A report released Wednesday by the Center for Governmental Studies said the 2007 and 2009 publicly funded municipal campaigns in Albuquerque were a success, resulting in less money spent in the election and more focus on the issues.
A year and a half after the first of eleven bodies was found on the West Mesa, there is no sign of progress on a promised memorial to the victims. City Councilor Ken Sanchez says he thought a park, built on land donated by KB Home, would raise awareness of the crime. He’s still waiting for blueprints he thought KB would have delivered months ago. But the father of one of the victims says he trusts KB will follow through.
Albuquerque mayor Richard Berry announced today that everyone who is arrested in Albuquerque will have their immigration status checked, regardless of race. Berry announced the plan, which Berry characterized as a “not an immigration issue” but “a public safety issue,”…
The Independent teamed up with KUNM-FM and KNME-TV to host a discussion on jobs and the economy with Richard Berry, the mayor of Albuquerque; Tom Swisstack and Kate Noble, economic development specialist with the city of Santa Fe.
Click on the title to see the transcript of the live blog.
Please join us next Tuesday, May 11, when The New Mexico Independent, KUNM-FM and KNME-TV, team up to bring you a discussion on jobs and the economy with Richard Berry, the mayor of Albuquerque; Tom Swisstack,…
Mark your calendars now for another Independent Forum event!
On May 11, The Independent, in partnership with KUNM-FM and KNME-TV, will bring you a discussion on jobs and the economy with the mayors of Albuquerque (Richard Berry), Rio Rancho (Tom…
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry’s proposed budget for next year doesn’t raise any taxes to make up the city’s revenue shortfall, nor does it furlough or lay-off any employees. But it does balance the budget in large part by squeezing wages and salaries. Public employee unions presented alternatives to the city council on Wednesday, claiming that there are other options for balancing the budget that weren’t considered by the administration.
Albuquerque mayor Richard Berry has proposed cutting the city budget by cutting city employee wages by an average of 3 percent, eliminating vacant positions and raising rates on garbage collection, the Albuquerque Journal’s Dan McKay reports.
Part of the state budget package sent by the Legislature to the governor this week includes a food tax provision that will exacerbate Albuquerque’s budget woes.
Want to meet Albuquerque’s new mayor, Richard Berry? Now’s your chance–he’s holding open office hours Thursday for city residents, no reservation required. According to a statement, this is the first of several “office hours” he’ll hold this year, rotating through…
Research and Polling, the New Mexico firm headed up by analyst Brian Sanderoff, recently posted an analysis of Albuquerque’s 2009 municipal election on its Web site. The analysis, a series of charts, shows that overall turnout was 25 percent…
Gov. Bill Richardson
As 2009 staggers into the history books, exhausted and a bit lighter in the pockets than when it first appeared on the scene, let’s acknowledge this: the year gave us plenty to write about.
Accusations of pay-to-play, former elected officials getting indicted, electoral surprises and an occasional David toppling a Goliath — 2009 produced it all, giving the year a healthy luster of newsworthiness despite its threadbare look.
The year showed incredible stamina, in fact, with a steady drumbeat of scoops, gotchas and revelations, exhausting many a political junkie and news professional. And 2009 didn’t take long to demonstrate its capacity to shock.
On the fourth day of 2009, an announcement in Washington landed in New Mexico with all the percussive power of a bombshell: Gov. Bill Richardson was withdrawing as President Obama’s commerce secretary, citing a federal corruption investigation into how his administration conducted business.
And the news kept coming.
Some 360 later, the year is ending the way it began — scrutiny, including from federal prosecutors, on how the state invested its money over the past half decade.
In between those two bookends, the state of New Mexico also came to the disturbing realization that it was broke, Albuquerque’s longtime mayor fell short of winning a third four-year term — knocked off by a long-shot two-term GOP state lawmaker — and two former elected officials found themselves on the business end of a criminal indictment.
It’s unclear whether what transpired this year will change the political dynamic here in New Mexico, or lead to more government transparency. But before The New Mexico Independent gets back into the daily grind, let’s take a deep breath and reflect on the busy year that was.
Referring to the budget crunch faced by the city of Albuquerque as a “fiscal difficulty” would be understating the problem, Mayor Richard Berry said at a news conference today.
Halfway into the 2010 fiscal year, the best case scenario…
Richard Berry’s campaign reported a mailer, sent by the GOP in the final days of the Albuquerque mayoral election, as an in-kind donation on a campaign finance report submitted Nov. 20. In early November, The Independent reported that the mailer included…
Two of mayor-elect Richard Berry’s appointees will earn salaries of over $75,000 while collecting a pension from the Public Employees Retirement Association; one has opted not to collect his pension while working for the city.
Former City Treasurer Lou Hoffman was a vocal supporter of Richard Romero during Albuquerque’s mayoral campaign, but he’ll be the city’s new Director of Finance and Administration when mayor-elect R.J. Berry takes office Dec. 1.
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White is resigning his position effective November 30. White was appointed Albuquerque chief public safety officer by Albuquerque mayor-elect Richard Berry last month. The Bernalillo County Commission will appoint a new sheriff who will…
One thing that didn’t make it into today’s story about Albuquerque’s public financing system is this little tidbit: If campaign activity should have triggered matching funds before election day, but didn’t because of late/improper campaign finance reporting, the city…
While there are some kinks that still need to be worked out, advocates say, the mayor’s race showed the system does what it is intended to do–reduce the influence of special interest money on elections.
