Gary Johnson to reportedly announce run for 2012 Presidential race

From Capitol Report New Mexico - Gary Johnson, presidential aspirant? Is America ready for a President who: a) wants to slash federal spending (and is serious about it) b) greatly reduce (or even eliminate) the US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq c) eliminate President Obama’s health care plan and have states run their own systems and d) legalize marijuana? It looks like we’ll find out because there are reports that former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson – a Republican unlike any other, it seems — is going to announce his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election at the end of April. Fox News and Politico quote a political adviser saying that Johnson will make his announcement in New Hampshire, site of one of the most important presidential primaries and a place where the former Governor has been spending a lot of time in the past year. In addition, the adviser says Johnson will skip the process of forming an explatory committee to look at his chances and plunge right into officially declaring his candidacy. Read more
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NM Making Extra Energy Assistance Payments to Low Income Families

From therepublic.com -The Human Services Department says it will provide extra assistance to low-income families for winter heating costs, including natural gas, electricity, propane and firewood.  The agency will pay supplemental benefits from $18 to $126 for nearly 55,000 families who've qualified for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Those households have received benefits averaging $121.  The state can make extra payments because it got more federal money than anticipated. About $21 million is allocated to New Mexico.  The department encouraged low-income families to apply for the energy assistance if they haven't already submitted an application. Households can qualify if they have incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $2,289 a month for a family of three.  More News New Mexico
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Details Regarding Illegals Wearing Marine BDUs

From hstoday.us -According to the criminal complaints, intelligence derived from investigation of both the illegals and their alleged smugglers - three US citizens and one Mexican national - who were all arrested at the same time, indicated that the alleged smugglers were part of an on-going and highly organized human trafficking operation with participants on both sides of the US-Mexico border. While this seems to be the first known instance in which human traffickers have tried to disguise illegals as members of the US military and to transport them in a vehicle bearing stolen and altered US government license plates (the plates in this case were registered to a US Marine Corps cargo van at the Marine Corps Air Station at Yuma, Ariz.), the methodology has raised troublesome questions for homeland security officials. They include questions not only about whether this indicates a potentially disturbing new and widespread trend on the part of human smugglers, but also whether similar methods could somehow be exploited by terrorists. “And don’t think that Al Qaeda isn’t paying attention to this,” said a senior counterterrorism official on background because of the sensitivity of his position. “If people are pretending to be Marines for criminal reasons, we want to know why,"  More News New Mexico
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