News New Mexico: 12/09/10

Santa Fe prohibits against aggressive panhandling

From the Santa Fe NewMexican.com - People who are aggressively asking for money on the streets of Santa Fe could face arrest following the City Council's approval Wednesday night of a panhandling ordinance. The rules that will kick in early next year replace an unenforced blanket ban on panhandling that has been on the city books for years. In addition to prohibiting panhandling at bus stops, on buses, near automatic teller machines, within street medians and at schools, police will issue citations and arrest repeat violators if they block someone's path, follow a person who is trying to walk away, use profane or abusive language, or make "other communication which would cause a reasonable person to be fearful or feel compelled," among other provisions. Officials made last-minute amendments to the proposal that has been working its way through city committees for several months. Read more

Border Patrol Resumes Controversial Busing Plan

From the Texas Tribune.com - U.S. Border Patrol buses loaded with undocumented immigrants are set to begin rolling into Texas from Arizona again this week, Gov. Rick Perry’s office said on Wednesday. And he's not happy about it. "We weren't in favor of it then, and we certainly aren't now," Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger says of the controversial Alien Transfer and Exit Program. Under the program, the agency transports illegal border-crossers caught in Arizona to the Texas border and deports them back to Mexico. The Border Patrol first started the program in November 2009: Two buses per day, each loaded with up to 47 male illegal immigrants aged 20 to 60, were taken from Arizona to Presidio, where they were deported to Ojinaga, Mexico. Read more

Palin: Why I Support the Ryan Roadmap

From the Wall Street Journal.com - By SARAH PALIN - The publication of the findings of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was indeed, as the report was titled, "A Moment of Truth." The report shows we're much closer to the budgetary breaking point than previously assumed. The Medicare Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2017. As early as 2025, federal revenue will barely be enough to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on our national debt. With spending structurally outpacing revenue, something clearly needs to be done to avert national bankruptcy. Read more

Minimum wage increase adjustments ongoing

From the Clovis News Journal.com - by Sharna Johnson - As the two-year anniversary of a more than $2 increase in the minimum wage draws near, the hit ranges from heavy at some employers to nonexistent at others. The statewide minimum wage jumped from $5.15 to $7.50 by January 2009, outpacing the federal minimum of $7.25. The increase, coinciding with economic downturn, meant Leslie’s Candy Co. owner Greg Southard had to adjust his operation to compensate. He said the company is still feeling the effects. Southard, who ships his specialty candies nationwide, said he has a formula and history that helps him determine what percentage of payroll he can afford for a product to be profitable. Read more

Investigation reveals licenses given by driving school

From KOB-TV.com - by Gadi Schwartz, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Details of fraud and theft between a father and son have come to light in a settlement between the state and a long time New Mexico driving school. For years drivers certifications licensed to the driving school TLC had been fraudulently filled out and sold to non-New Mexico residents according to an investigation by the Department of Transportation and the Taxation and Revenue Department. Read more

Michael Moore Checks into a Weight Loss Clinic

I guess global warming got the best of him.
From dailycaller.com It’s not even the new year yet, but Michael Moore is trying to lose a few pounds. The liberal filmmaker recently checked into a $4,500 a week luxury weight loss spa in Miami, a patron of the spa confirms. Moore visited the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa in mid-November. The resort’s campus features “650 acres of lush tropical gardens, fountains, water features and other amenities,” its website boasts. More here

Bill Richardson Appoints Judge To District Court in Alb.

From the AlbJournal Alisa Hadfield named to replace Angela Jewell, who has retired Alisa Hadfield on Wednesday was appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson to the 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. She will fill the family court position left vacant by Judge Angela Jewell who retired at the end of November. Hadfield has been domestic violence commissioner with the 2nd Judicial District Court since January 2004. Hadfield will be responsible for handling the most complex domestic violence cases, according to a news release. Hadfield has worked in private practice as well as in the Public Defender's Office. She received her law degree from Hofstra School of Law in New York. More here

Chinese Firm Receives Stimulus for Texas Wind Farm

From gatewaypundit.com In February it was reported that 80% of Stimulus Dollars For Wind Power Goes to Foreign Companies- Including China. ABC reported that a Chinese company is helping build a massive wind farm in west Texas. The firm will receive $450 million in Stimulus cash. The project will save or create 300 jobs in Texas and 2,000 manufacturing jobs in China. That sounds like a good use of taxpayer dollars, huh? Apparently, nothing much has changed. Democrats are still giving wind farm jabs to the Chinese. Three weeks before Election Day, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., center, arrives for the dedication of a wind farm in Henderson, Nev., on Oct. 12, 2010. More here

$10M UNM lab building won't be fully operational

From KOB-TV.com - by Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4; Taryn Bianchin, KOB.com -Only one third of a new biology building at University of New Mexico will be usable when construction finally wraps up. Voters during the November election voted “no” to a bond issue that would have meant $155 million for higher education projects statewide, including $4 million for the university’s Castetter Hall addition. A project that completed will have cost about $10 million total. When the almost 16,000 square feet addition is complete, it will have three stories, but only the second story will be finished and ready for biology labs. The other two floors will remain empty, at least for the time being. Read more

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