News New Mexico: 11/10/11

Atrisco Heritage football react to judge's decision

From KOB-TV.com - It was hard for the Atrisco Heritage High School football players to hear from a judge that they will not be in the state playoffs. Their parents argued a referee's mistake cost the team a chance to compete for the state championship. Atrisco Heratige football players showed very little emotion as they walked out of court Thursday afternoon knowing they will not be in the state playoffs. They expressed gratitude to supporters. "It was only the coach that believed in us and then we believed in each other and then our school believed in us and then our community believed in us," said Atrisco senior Christian Tarbox. Last Thursday, with the clock stopped at 4 seconds, Atrisco was getting ready to kick a field goal that could have propelled them into the playoffs but for some reason, the referee started the clock and they never got a chance to kick. The team filed an injunction and Thursday Judge Shannon Bacon made her decision. "The plaintiff's asking the court to step into the shoes of the referee of the game, which is really asking the court to become a super referee or a super official over a sporting event and that simply isn't the role of the court," said Bacon. Read more

Santa Fe nearly nixes beer at baseball games

From Capitol Report New Mexico.com - It was the local government equivalent of a ninth-inning nail-biter, but the Santa Fe City Council on a 5-4 vote approved an ordinance late Wednesday evening (Nov. 9th) that clears the way for a newly-acquired minor league baseball team to sell beer at a public ballpark. Mayor David Coss cast the deciding vote on a resolution that for weeks has deeply divided this city that prides itself on its liberal ethos. “If they were voting on medical marijuana at the ballpark, it probably pass unanimously,” one Santa Fe resident cracked before the city council session. Instead, 44 city residents stepped to the podium and voiced their opinions to the council, with many of the speakers exceeding the 2-minute limit placed on comments. Read more

Time to change the way time is changed

From NM Politics.net - Commentary by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. - It is time we change the way time is changed twice a year in most of the country. Specifically, it is time to throw out Daylight Savings Time (DST) and throw it out for good. I wonder if we can get someone to sponsor a congressional bill to make this change. Most Americans would get along fine with year-round regular time. While government does not give up power over the people willingly, we can make a case that we should change what government is doing now. The government nannies and minders say they have our best interests in mind with DST. They say that during the summer months there is more time in the evening to recreate with DST, so we should use that time rather than lose it. Still, when DST starts it is mid March, and it is November when the time changes back. There is a lot of time that is not summer. Read column

Federal Settlements Give Western Tribes Water Right Shares

From denverpost.com -Six recent water settlements have forced the government to commit $2.04 billion for dam, pipeline and reservoir projects — giving sovereign tribes from Montana to New Mexico control over 1.5 million acre-feet of new water each year. Tribes have used lawsuits and hard bargaining to assert water rights. Now, with many Western rivers already over-subscribed, tribes are in a position to play a greater role in development. The Obama administration legal teams are negotiating 16 additional settlements. There's no better choice, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, inspecting the Nighthorse reservoir on a recent aeriel swing. More News New Mexico

Pearce Job Fair a Smash Hit

Steve Pearce

Silver City, NM (November 10, 2011) Today, Congressman Steve Pearce hosted his third job fair of the year in Silver City. Approximately thirty employers were present, and well over three hundred prospective employees attended throughout the day. “It was exciting to be a part of bringing together employers and job seekers today” said Pearce. “Jobs and job growth have been my top priority in Congress, and today’s event was one more way to find jobs for people in New Mexico. Everywhere I go, I hear from people who tell me they need jobs. Today’s event was a great success, and I look forward to more like it in the future, in other regions of southern New Mexico.”

Congressman Pearce opened the job fair with a short presentation on the importance of jobs, and by cutting a ribbon to mark the opening of the job fair. He then spent much of the morning visiting with attendees and personally helping employers connect with job-seekers. In addition to the large number of employers present, job-seekers had opportunities to learn about résumé writing and job interview skills. Since returning to Congress in January, Mr. Pearce has made jobs his top priority, and he has stated that he is constantly on the lookout for new ways to help put New Mexicans to work. Congressman Pearce also hosted job fairs in Las Cruces and Roswell earlier this year.

Problems with Socialism

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, it’s inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.."
-- Winston Churchill

Climate Change Advocate: "Shred Free Market Ideology"

Naomi Klein

The Nation - by Naomi Klein - It is true that responding to the climate threat requires strong government action at all levels. But real climate solutions are ones that steer these interventions to systematically disperse and devolve power and control to the community level, whether through community-controlled renewable energy, local organic agriculture or transit systems genuinely accountable to their users. Here is where the Heartlanders have good reason to be afraid: arriving at these new systems is going to require shredding the free-market ideology that has dominated the global economy for more than three decades. What follows is a quick-and-dirty look at what a serious climate agenda would mean in the following six arenas: public infrastructure, economic planning, corporate regulation, international trade, consumption and taxation. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Is Holder Obstructing Justice?

Eric Holder

Daily Caller - Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder is continuing to stonewall congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. This time, Holder is refusing to provide 11 of the 12 witnesses Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa have requested be made available for interviews. “We have requested 12 Justice Department witnesses be made available for transcribed interviews,” Grassley said in a Thursday Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting. “Despite the department’s promises of good faith cooperation, only one witness has been provided so far — former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke. The department has refused to schedule interviews with any of the other 11 witnesses. That’s not the good faith cooperation I was promised, and it is unacceptable.” Grassley and Issa are demanding to know who was involved in crafting a February 4 letter to the Department of Justice sent to Congress, which contained claims — now understood to be false — that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not allow guns to walk into Mexico. Read full story here: News New Mexico

How "Occupy Whatever" Will End

Big Government - The Occupy Whatever protest has an eerie feeling of déjà vu surrounding it. Back in 1985, when I was attending Cornell University, the movement du jour was encouraging universities to divest from companies that did business in then-apartheid South Africa. At the time, my addled mind convinced me this was a great idea — despite the logical arguments from my Texan Conservative floormates that this would have zero impact on changing the government there. It did, however, give me my first opportunity to try my hand at photojournalism — as all the accompanying photos demonstrate. For several weeks, the university was littered in red ribbons and armbands, signifying support for divestment. Read full column here: News New Mexico

NM Credit Union Accounts "Surge"

From newmexicoindependent.com -A survey by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) found that there are at least 5,100 new credit union accounts in New Mexico because of Bank Transfer Day. The New Mexico Business Weekly reports: The number of new accounts in the state could be higher because CUNA didn’t survey every credit union, said Credit Union Association of New Mexico spokeswoman Mary Beth King. The amount of deposit transfers to credit unions was not immediately available, King said. She said the CUNA calculates that each new credit union account amounts to an average of $36. More News New Mexico

Taxpayer-built Privately-owned Santa Fe Studios Opens

Newsnm note- With many questions regarding ownership and the financial involvement of New Mexico Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales unanswered, Santa Fe Studios threw a big bash yesterday. The party celebrated the opening of a massive movie studio complex built with taxpayer dollars that is somehow owned by private individuals.

Javier Gonzales

Santa Fe New Mexican - With a confident "if you build it, they will come" attitude, the partnership of Lance, Jason and Conrad Hool ceremonially opened Santa Fe Studios on Wednesday afternoon. Roughly 175 people attended an open house and ribbon-cutting replete with mariachis, a buffet and champagne at what was once a vacant 65-acre tract of public land off N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe. "Today started as a dream six years ago," Jason Hool told the gathering. The project's first phase — which includes two 18,000-square-foot soundstages, 24,000 square feet of production offices (including dressing rooms and two hair/make-up rooms) and 17,000 square feet of nearby warehouse space — was completed at a cost estimated at more than $25 million. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Private Employment Down 9.44% in Albuquerque

NM Business Weekly - Businesses in America's 100 biggest markets have reduced their workforces by 4.5 million employees since the onset of the recession in 2007 and Albuquerque is no exception. The Duke City has shed 9.44 percent of its private-sector jobs since September 2007, resulting in a loss of 29,900 as of September 2011, according to an On Numbers analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Latest from The Business Journals Honolulu loses 15,300 private-sector jobs in four years Sacramento private-sector jobs down 13% in four years Wichita private sector has lost 13 jobs a day over past four years Follow this company. Private-sector companies employed 75.07 million workers in the top 100 metropolitan areas as of September 2011. That was down from 79.56 million in the same month four years ago, according to the BLS data. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Sandia National Labs Constantly Fights Hackers

New Mexico Business Weekly - President and Director Paul Hommert said the lab has greatly increased its research and development efforts in cyber security in recent years. Hommert was keynote speaker Wednesday morning at the Albuquerque Economic Forum’s monthly breakfast meeting in Old Town. Hommert said Sandia’s budget for cyber security-related work has grown to more than $100 million, up from $20 million five years ago. That reflects the growing threat of hacker attacks. Sandia has been attacked up to 30,000 times per hour, Hommert said. Lab officials estimate that in an average day the lab is attacked 250,000 times, said Sandia Spokesman Neal Singer. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Rep. Begay Fights for Jobs at Four Corners

Capitol Report New Mexico - A Democratic state representative says he’s planning to introduce a resolution in the upcoming legislative session to protest the Environmental Protection Agency’s rejection of a plan adopted by the state to clean up the air surrounding the coal-fired San Juan power plant outside Farmington. Instead, the EPA has insisted on a tougher, more expensive plan to reduce regional haze in the Four Corners area. Rep. Ray Begaye (D-Shiprock) told Capitol Report New Mexico on Monday (Nov. 7) says he’ll introduce a resolution in the 30-day January session of the legislature protesting the EPA decision — or co-sponsor a similar measure: Read full story here: News New Mexico

Collectors Item: Banner That Greeted Obama at Solyndra

ABC - A banner that greeted President Obama on his 2010 visit to California solar energy start-up Solyndra was to be a memento of the presidential push which helped get the company off the ground. Now it’s up for auction, part of a trove of Solyndra assets for sale after the company filed for bankruptcy, all relics of a federal loan program gone awry. A website for the auction company Heritage Global Partners lists the banner among dozens of computers, pieces of office furniture, robots, even electron microscopes worth $500,000 or more.
The seven-foot-by-30-foot banner featuring an American flag and heralding Solyndra and “Made in the USA,” a backdrop for Obama’s tour, has yet to receive any bids, according to the auction website. Read full story here: News New Mexico

PRC's Car Take Home Policy

Capitol Report New Mexico - By statute, the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) has a lot of responsibilities — as diverse as regulating utilities, insurance, transportation, even taxi cabs and overseeing the state’s fire marshal’s office. The commission also has a big fleet of state vehicles — 102 of them for an agency with 260 employees. In an effort to boost efficiency and reduce potential abuse, the people running the PRC are instituting reforms and safeguards to make sure staffers are using those state-issued vehicles for legitimate purposes. “I have made it clear to staff what our policy is,” PRC chief of staff Johnny Montoya said Tuesday (Nov. 8), “so I am approving all take-home vehicle practices.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

Senator Kent Cravens Replacement: A Democrat

Lisa Curtis

Capitol Report New Mexico - Democrats seem to have check-mated Republicans and Gov. Susana Martinez when it comes to naming a replacement in the state Senate … and the GOP is angry about it. Comissioners in Sandoval as well as Bernalillo counties have each put forth the same name – Lisa Curtis, a Democrat who is president of the state’s trial lawyers association — as a replacement for state Sen. Kent Cravens, a Republican who recently resigned from his seat. And there doesn’t seem to be any recourse for Martinez but to accept her. Here’s why: Cravens’ district included parts of Bernalillo and Sandoval counties and under the rules for replacing a legislator, the governor can name a replacement — but the replacement has to come from a list chosen by the county commissioners in the respective counties the former legislator represented. Sandoval County commissioners recently selected Curtis as their choice to replace Cravens — even though Curtis doesn’t live in Sandoval County – and last night (Nov. 8th) in a heated session, the Bernalillo County Commission also selected Curtis on a 3-2 vote. All three Democrats on the commision voted for Curtis and both Republicans voted against her. So where does that leave Martinez? Apparently, out of luck. “I don’t see anyway around it,” one Roundhouse staffer with knowledge of legislative procedure told Capitol Report New Mexico. “In theory, the governor could ask the counties to reconsider and come up with some additional names but if the counties come back and say, ‘no, we’re done,’ you’re done.” Read full story here" News New Mexico

News New Mexico

Total Pageviews

Archives

Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico