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.
Lawmakers and community advocates from Albuquerque’s fast-growing West Side rallied Tuesday outside the Capitol for more representation, as the Legislature is drawing plans to redistrict House and Senate seats during the special session.
New Mexico House Republicans continue to complain about the slow pace of the special session so far, with one member asking on the floor whether legislators were there as part of an “economic stimulus for Santa Fe.”
New Mexico House Democrats reintroduced a compromise bill tightening requirements for foreign nationals applying for driver’s licenses Friday, but Gov. Martinez called it a “partisan gimmick.”
In the legislative redistricting process, the Republican-leaning west side of Albuquerque will likely gain seats while eastern and north-central New Mexico will lose them, according to Brian Sanderoff of Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., a longtime consultant to the legislature.
Amid the backdrop of newspapers shedding jobs and narrowing news coverage, the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership is expanding its news operation to Santa Fe. The Daily News announced that Milan Simonich will report for the eight-paper partnership from the Roundhouse, beginning with the upcoming legislative session, the first for Governor-elect Susana Martinez.
New Mexico House Speaker Ben Lujan retained his position in a Democratic caucus vote Sunday after a challenge to his leadership. But it may not be over if three Democrats defect to the Republican side. More from Steve Terrell:…
Here’s the standard disclaimer Gov. Bill Richardson’s office often gives when a report surfaces saying Richardson is a candidate for a job somewhere outside of New Mexico.
“The governor is not interested in this job and he is not…
With the proposal to create a state ethics commission under consideration in the Senate Rules Committee, activists lobbying for the bill say they’d like to see a better balance between confidentiality and the public’s right to know than would be created by some of the bills under consideration.
Rep. Al Park, D-Albuquerque, stood up this afternoon to bring back a revenue-enhancing bill that narrowly failed on Friday, 34-33. The motion by Republicans to table Park’s motion failed 26-40 and the bill was put back on the president’s table.…
For your convenience: downloadable schedules for both the Senate and the House can be found here. And here’s a list of some of the things we’re looking at, after the jump.
The Legislature appears to be moving toward asking Gov. Bill Richardson to make cuts to his spending on exempt employees, rather than trying to force him to do it.
But it’s mostly a symbolic gesture.
“Everybody wants to do…
During a discussion on the Senate floor Wednesday about whether lawmakers should voluntarily reduce their per diem as the Legislature addresses a massive budget shortfall, Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, spoke out heatedly about colleagues who he said abuse the…
According to an Associated Press report, spending on lobbying was down this year at the Roundhouse by a third over last year, the lowest since 2000. In 2000, which had a 30-day session, lobbyist expenditures cost $309,000. As one…
The public financing bill sponsored by Sen. Eric Griego, SB 165, “sits in committee” as the Senate Rules Committee ended this morning’s meeting.
The Roundhouse may be awash in a sea of lobbyists, but good luck finding out who they are or how much they’re spending.
NMI’s Trip Jennings reported in January that there were already 500 lobbyists and 600 lobbyist organizations…
“‘We’ the pronoun means: everyone including me.”
So begins the little essay taped up in the hallway outside the Senate Finance Committee, up on the third floor of the Roundhouse. Pointing out the “seriously declining revenues” of the state, the…
It’s 2009. Want to see the Obama inauguration live, but don’t have a television in your office? Just look online — a live webcast will be readily available. Want to talk to your folks who live on the other side of the country? Just hook up your personal web cameras and have at it. But if you want to watch the New Mexico Legislature online, you’re mostly out of luck.
The total amount of tax breaks on the books is larger than New Mexico’s general fund, a report says, but it’s hard to tell who’s benefiting and what to cut, thanks to a 2007 veto by Gov. Bill Richardson.
I got a second mailer from SunCal Corporation promoting TIDDs this week, and it seems that just about everyone I know in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County did as well. This direct-mail promotional effort must have cost SunCal a bundle.…
The last time I saw Manny Aragon, we were at a backyard gathering of Democratic activists to honor women who’d stuck their necks out for the right reasons. It had been years since I’d seen him, and nothing was the same. He sat a patio table with other guests in a corner so secluded that it took awhile before I even noticed him.
