KOB-TV reports tuition rises at UNM and NMSU

From KOB-TV.com - Two reports from KOB-TV detail that tuition for UNM and NMSU will rise about 8% this next year for in-state students. See UNM and NMSU stories. NewsNM (Swickard) wonders if the increase in the cost of tuition might mean that some college degrees may have reached a level of cost that is above the worth of the degree. Can that happen? Students keep borrowing more and more money to go to college and then owe so much when they graduate. Is there a point that students should no be loaned the money because they will have so much trouble paying it back?
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February power blackouts across Texas echoed 1989 failures, state report

From the Statesman.com - Power company executives passed around a gauge and explained that many of the power plant shutdowns could be traced to simple equipment failures because of a lack of adequate insulation and winterization. They promised fixes to prevent a repeat incident. That assessment would seem familiar to anyone who read the 1990 investigation : "The extreme weather pointed out several weak areas in power plant operations. Inoperative or inadequate heat tracing systems and inadequate insulation on instrumentation sensing lines seemed to be the most common technical equipment problem encountered during the freeze." Heat tracing typically involves wrapping energized wires around pipes to warm them. The companies reported a range of responses to the crippling event, from a total re-evaluation of weatherization protocols, to simply increasing insulation on affected equipment. "Whether the corrective actions being implemented by the utilities are sufficient to prevent future freeze-related power plant failures, only direct experience with another deep freeze will ascertain," the 1990 analysis concluded. Another result of the recent February power shortages is a bill introduced by state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy . It would require power generation companies to produce a weatherization plan that is available to the public and reviewed regularly by the Public Utility Commission. Read more
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Who Are the Winners.....You Ask?

Who are the winners in the compromise that averted the government shutdown by forcing the U.S. to continue to borrow $4 billion per day? This is the ridiculous question being posed by every media outlet in America. In just two years President Obama raised spending beyond the level anyone could have possibly imagined. So satisfied with how much he has jacked up the amount of money flowing through Washington the president was willing to stand pat in the budget poker game this week. When Obama finally offered to put what amounts to a penny down in the middle of the negotiating table to close the deal, he called what he reluctantly agreed to, “historic cuts.”
Harry Reid
Harry Reid used a different method to con the public. He decided to use “women’s health care” as cover for his support of borrowing recklessness this week. It looks like these manipulations worked and worked well. After House Speaker John Boehner shrugged and said that delaying a few days of billion dollar borrowing was the best he could get from Democrats in charge of the Senate and the White House, he went back into his negotiating cave to try to figure out how he could create the leverage he had just traded away.
John Boehner
What are those of us who can still run a financial calculator to think now? Our government in addition to spending every nickel it takes from our paychecks is borrowing more than $2,000 every month for each and every taxpaying couple in America. It is obvious Obama created his "Debt Commission" as a delay tactic. On deck is another debate. It will be over the only budgetary proposal that will actually put an end to the insanity, Congressman Paul Ryan’s ideas aptly named the “Path to Prosperity.” What can we expect? Look for more lies and extortion efforts to be packaged and peddled as "compassion" in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
The Winner
Who is the real winner in this deal? The answer is easy. The winners are America’s enemies who must be laughing as they build their arsenals and watch the increasingly hapless leaders in this country remain slovenly, undisciplined, and in complete denial about borrowing.

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Autopsy for a Wolf?

KOB-TV - GRANTS, N.M. (AP) - Authorities say a Mexican gray wolf has been dead in New Mexico from an apparent gunshot wound.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the carcass was discovered April 1 in the El Malpais National Conservation Area south of Grants. They say the dead male was part of a litter born into the Hawks Nest Pack in 2010. The body has been sent to National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Oregon to confirm the cause of death and look for any forensic evidence. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Newsnm note - (Spence) Many questions arise after reading this story. Did taxpayers provide the money to determine which "litter" this predator came from? Why don't the murders of every human being warrant the same concern for forensic evidence gathering as a wolf? How long are we going to allow people who want to spend our precious resources on wildlife predator death investigations remain in charge of the purse strings of government? Where is the $10,000 in reward money coming from? How much in reward money was put up by the same group for the last homeless person found dead from foul play?
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Gaming the Special Education Funding Formulas

Susana Martinez
KOB-TV - Governor Susana Martinez is calling out some school superintendents, saying there are signs that districts could be gaming the funding system. The states public education department tells Eyewitness News 4 that they are currently in the process of auditing the way schools are asking for funding. Sources tell KOB, some districts may be padding their funding by mis-labeling the type of students they teach. Under the schools funding formula, students that need special education or students who are learning English as a second language are worth more in unit values used to calculate how much funding districts will receive. Some of the ways school districts have been able to "game the system" in the past include classifying kids as English language learners because they have Hispanic last names or claiming kids have special needs when they don't. Governor Martinez said today they had found some anomalies when they discovered more units than were anticipated after the legislative session ended. "There are some huge red flags that are going up and we're going to scrub it - we're going to make sure its accurate to determine if in fact there's going to be that kind of a shortfall at all." Read full story here: News New Mexico
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O'Reilly Talks Beck

Bill O'Reilly
Townhall - My pal Glenn Beck is leaving his program on Fox News Channel later this year. This has caused great joy among some uber-liberals who object to free speech, as well as to anything Beck. The Media Matters outfit took just seconds to misstate why Beck is changing venues, but what else is new? George Soros partially funds Media Matters, so why would the website ever say anything truthful when far-left propaganda is so much easier to dish? When you get past all the rubbish, Glenn Beck is really Norm, the guy on the sitcom "Cheers." He sits on a symbolic bar stool and vents. He sees bad things happening to his country and objects. Because his rap is so interesting, millions of Americans want to hear it.
Glenn Beck

What on earth is wrong with that? If you just got off the plane from Mongolia and dialed into the left-wing U.S. media, you might think Glenn Beck is the Antichrist. The hue and cry about Beck is downright hysterical. Why do they care? Beck isn't an elected official; he's not even a journalist. He's just a guy with an opinion. So what's the beef? Well, again, it goes to free speech. Many hard-core ideologues in both camps simply do not want to hear opinions other than their own. And if someone is successfully bloviating views that differ from their orthodoxy, they go ballistic. And Glenn Beck is certainly successful. Read full column here: News New Mexico

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Saunders: Soaking Up Applause and Shifting Blame

Debra Saunders
Townhall - President Obama has dedicated his time in office to soaking up applause and shifting blame. Last year, when Democrats owned the White House, the House and the Senate, Congress didn't even bother passing a budget. Obama didn't seem to mind. But when Republicans put together a stopgap measure to fund the military and prevent a government shutdown, Obama promised to veto it. Obama called the measure "a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise for funding the remainder of fiscal year 2011." There must have been a lot of distractions last year. Read full column here: News New Mexico
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