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.
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Our biggest and best-ever election day coverage begins Nov. 2 at 9 a.m., when we launch an interactive live blog, in partnership with our colleagues at The Santa Fe New Mexican. Join us throughout the day to catch up…
Republican Party operatives from Texas have been training Albuquerque tea party activists as poll challengers for more than two weeks, GOP officials told The Independent Wednesday evening. The Democrats are training challengers of their own. But such “ballot security” efforts do more harm than good, a new study suggests, rarely catching fraudulent voting but frequently discouraging legitimate voters from casting ballots.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has asked Interior Department investigators to reopen their probe into former Farmington BLM area manager Steve Henke‘s acceptance of undeclared gifts from the oil and gas firms regulated by his…
This time around Democrat Diane Denish claimed the eye-popping contributions and raised the most out-of-state money. But two six-figure contributions and nearly $600,000 in out-of-state money wasn’t enough to power Denish past Republican Susana Martinez in dollars raised during the waning days of the 2010 New Mexico governor’s race, campaign finance reports filed Thursday show.
In a sharp rebuke of Democratic Secretary of State Mary Herrera (whose office will announce next Tuesday’s election results), five of New Mexico’s major newspapers endorsed state Sen. Diana Duran, Herrera’s Republican challenger.
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG) has called on state and local governments to end excessive copying fees for public records — fees that violate the state public records law, according to FOG director Sarah Welsh.…
Out-of-state groups have conducted a shadow campaign in the 1st and 2nd Congressional District contests this year, dumping nearly $4 million to sway the outcome of the two races, records show. The tsunami of cash is part of a growing trend nationally in which outside groups swoop in to hot congressional race to run what are usually attack ads, pay for mass mailings or conduct surveys. And it has election and campaign finance reformers concerned.
New Mexico is getting a federal grant to help beef up consumer protection efforts. The money will be used to help consumers file complaints and to appeal insurance company decisions, track and analyze trends in those complaints, and to fund a full-time staff position to assist consumers who are seeking health insurance coverage,
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…
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took no action against former Farmington District manager Steve Henke after the U.S. Interior Department’s inspector general found Henke had sought and accepted unreported gifts and donations from oil companies…
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.
Public Regulation Commission (PRC) Commissioner Sandy Jones’s quest to identify and fire the employee he believed leaked an audit report that was published Friday by The Independent is legally dubious, according to New Mexico…
Former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi is set to plead guilty to a crime in that state’s long-running pay-to-play criminal investigation, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Hevesi’s name might not mean anything to New Mexicans, but his guilty…
The Public Regulation Commission (PRC)’s Tuesday meeting erupted into a heated debate overa national auditors’ report that was sharply critical of the agency’s Division of Insurance. Although the report was released after a public records request, the agency announced that a new, more restrictive PRC-wide policy about employee contact with news reporters is being drafted.
The Public Regulation Commission doesn’t want to have a public discussion of a critical audit of the state Division of Insurance, PRC Commissioner Jason Marks charged Tuesday.
“They’re trying to cover it all up and keep it from…
The Senate plans to vote Thursday morning on the DISCLOSE Act — which would require organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of large donors and would bar foreign corporations, large government contractors, and TARP recipients from making political expenditures. The outcome is uncertain.
Hooray! NMI is proud to report that we’ve been selected to receive the annual First Amendment Award, to be given by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU-NM) at its Bill of Rights Celebration in October.
ACLU-NM Executive Director…
