NEW: Link to NewsNM's Around the Clock Audio Streaming on the Internet

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NEW: Link to NewsNM's Around the Clock Audio Streaming on the Internet

Another Dem Incumbent in Senate Calls It Quits

(Reuters) - Four-term Senator Herb Kohl said on Friday he will not seek re-election next year, joining five other Democrats who plan to retire and making it tougher for their party to retain the chamber. Kohl, 76, of Wisconsin, was re-elected in 2006 with 67 percent of the vote. He had been listed by the Cook Political Report, a prominent nonpartisan newsletter, as a solid favorite to win another six-year term in the November 2012 elections. "I've always believed it is better to leave a job a little too early than a little too late," Kohl said at a news conference at his Milwaukee office. "The interest and energy I had for this job will find a new home." Former Senator Russ Feingold, who was defeated in 2010, and Representatives Ron Kind and Tammy Baldwin appear to be the leading potential Democratic candidates for Kohl's seat. An online poll by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper showed Feingold and Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as favorites to succeed Kohl. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Another Dem Incumbent in Senate Calls It Quits

Russell: Looks, Loot, and Swing Voters

Brigette Russell

Capitol Report New Mexico -  I was surprised last week by the responses I had in person, e-mail and Facebook to the somewhat playful column I wrote about the physical attractiveness of candidates. I had thought it was a fluff piece, but it sparked quite a few interesting conversations with friends who normally do not follow politics and find my columns about the insolvency of public employee retirement systems and tax increases tiresome. The column also started a conversation with a young woman who is as politically active as I am, and who was insistent that a candidate’s attractiveness was completely irrelevant to her, and would have no impact whatsoever in how she voted. Of course it wouldn’t. I never meant to imply that it would. Voters like her, committed ideologues, whether conservative or progressive, will always vote on the issues. They would vote for a candidate who shared their principles even if he looked like the Elephant Man and was running against the winner of a Brad Pitt look-alike contest. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Russell: Looks, Loot, and Swing Voters

Washington-based Firm to Redesign NM Medicaid

Santa Fe New Mexican - Now we know who will help New Mexico redesign Medicaid, the government insurance program that one in four New Mexicans relies on for health care. Gov. Susana Martinez's administration announced late Wednesday the hiring of Washington-based Alicia Smith & Associates to help the Human Services Department reshape what has become an increasingly costly program. What isn't known is the scope of the redesign and how it will affect the more than half a million New Mexicans who receive Medicaid, about 336,000 of whom are children. Does it mean cutting services? Or tightening eligibility rules? Will it mean Medicaid recipients have to eat better and exercise more? Or that doctors and other medical providers will be paid less? And who will have to sign off on the changes if there are any — the federal government, which pays most of New Mexico's Medicaid tab? Read full story here: News New Mexico

Washington-based Firm to Redesign NM Medicaid

Primary Care Doctor Shortage in New Mexico

KOB TV - Right now in New Mexico there are not enough primary care doctors. There is a shortage of 400 to 600 full time doctors and it's a problem that affects thousand of New Mexicans everyday. "I went pretty much a full year without having a primary care doctor," said Andrea Leathers-Lopez. She says finding a doctor was a tough task. "Pretty much all of the providers in the UNM system, it's booked, it's really hard to get established with anybody, even getting in with residents, that are first starting, its really hard to get in," she said. It's not just the UNM Health System. "Where as the nation increasingly needs a larger and larger number of primary care doctors, the supply is going down," said UNM professor Dr. Authur Kaufman. Dr. Kaufman says better incentives and a higher income are driving medical student to become specialty doctors and with an aging population and many uninsured, primary care doctors are in higher demand. "We have a population that is uninsured and when they suddenly get medicaid under the new Affordabilty Care Act, that will kick in, in 2014, the demand for primary care will be huge, but the supply will not be there," Kaufman said. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Primary Care Doctor Shortage in New Mexico

Border Foods Sold to Illinois-Based Mizkan Americas

MT. PROSPECT, Ill., May 12, 2011 – Mizkan Americas, a leading condiment manufacturer, has acquired Border Foods, Inc® from Ares Capital. Border Foods is the nation’s oldest and most established processors of Green Chile, Jalapeño and Tomatillo peppers and manufacturers of enchilada sauces for both the branded and private label markets. Located in Deming, New Mexico, Border Foods began operations in 1972 and is the largest processor of quality Chile peppers in the United States. Border Foods has demonstrated consistent growth and is the market leader in the industry. The acquisition builds on parent company Mizkan Group’s plans for global expansion of its retail, branded, food ingredients and food services businesses. It also follows a relationship between Mizkan as a supplier to Border Foods®. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Border Foods Sold to Illinois-Based Mizkan Americas

Chavez: English for Immigrants

Linda Chavez

Townhall - President Obama invoked immigrant assimilation this week in a speech in El Paso, Texas, praising the notion embodied in the motto E pluribus unum: out of many, one. But it wasn't all that long ago when many liberals eschewed the idea of America as having one language, one culture, and one people. Ironically, it has taken an anti-immigrant backlash to awaken at least some liberals to the dangers of multiculturalism, which they pushed aggressively for decades. It was liberals -- not conservatives -- who originally claimed that today's immigrants couldn't assimilate, or, in their view, shouldn't even try. Liberals insisted that Hispanic kids, even those who were born here, be taught in Spanish and learn to revere their ancestral culture rather than to take pride in being Americans. The bilingual, multicultural approach became deeply imbedded in the public school curriculum, thanks to the efforts mostly of white liberals, with help from some college-educated, fully assimilated Hispanic activists. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Chavez: English for Immigrants

Poetry Night at the White House

Common

NH Journal - Some of Common’s poetry could also raise some eyebrows among those who might find cop-killing and racially-tinged or misogynist language beneath the Office of the Presidency. “Tell the law my Uzi weighs a ton … I hold up a peace sign but I carry a gun,” raps Common in one appearance that was posted onto YouTube. “Flyer say Free Mumia on my freezer,” he raps in another. Mumia Abu-Jamal is an incarcerated former member of the Black Panther Party who was convicted in 1981 for killing a Philadelphia police officer. Agitating for his release from prison has become a cause for many leftwing activists. Common named his daughter after Assata Shakur, a Black Panther who was convicted of first-degree murder 1977. She escaped from prison and exiled to Cuba. The FBI recognizes her as a domestic terrorist.

Jill Scott

Common has also been a vocal opponent of mixed race relationships and believes black men and white women should not date. In one rap he says, “I don’t know what it is / but white girls gettin’ ass / I know what it is / It’s cash.” Interestingly, Jill Scott, who will also join the White House celebration, opposes interracial relationships, as well. White House partisans will no doubt argue that poetry and art is supposed to push boundaries by confronting controversial topics. But cop killing and interracial marriage seem to be settled matters with the vast majority of Americans. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Poetry Night at the White House

Nate Cote Pondering Congressional Run

Nate Cote

From nmpolitics.net -Sunland Park Mayor Martin Resendiz says he’s running for the 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Steve Pearce, and former State Rep. Nate Cote says he may also jump into the race. Cote, a Democrat who represented parts of Doña Ana and Otero counties in the state House for four years, said he’s likely to run either for Congress or try to retake his old state House seat next year. Cote said he’s “seriously looking at” running for Congress and is trying to put the pieces together to form an exploratory committee. “I’ve asked some people to be on this exploratory committee and they’ve agreed. No one has said that it’s not a good idea,” Cote said. More News New Mexico

Nate Cote Pondering Congressional Run