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Farmington Police Department facing lawsuit
Legislation mulls over pot charges
Mystery bird at Bosque del Apache
PRC postpones appointments
Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/30/12
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Farmington Police Department facing lawsuit
Legislation mulls over pot charges
Mystery bird at Bosque del Apache
PRC postpones appointments
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Farmington Police Department facing lawsuit
Legislation mulls over pot charges
Mystery bird at Bosque del Apache
PRC postpones appointments
Farmington Police Department facing lawsuit
Two American Indian families have filed a lawsuit against the
San Juan County Sheriff's Office and the Farmington Police Department over
alleged abuse of power.
The suit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque
According to the suit, offices performed a felony stop with deputies
and Farmington
But a lawyer for the family says it was
obvious that the family had nothing to do with the crime. Both departments said
they found no wrong doing.
Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/30/12
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Mystery bird at Bosque del Apache
Whooping cough cases up in NM
Dept. of Transporation awards NM funds
Methadone treatment cut from jail controversy
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Mystery bird at Bosque del Apache
Whooping cough cases up in NM
Dept. of Transporation awards NM funds
Methadone treatment cut from jail controversy
Steve Pearce votes on jobs act
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| Add caption |
Today, Congressman Steve Pearce voted in favor of H.R. 6429, the STEM Jobs Act. The Act reforms outdated immigration laws so that American companies can remain competitive, instead of losing American-trained students to foreign competitors.
“Immigration laws need to keep pace with the global economy, and today’s legislation helps us do just that,” said Pearce. “America’s universities draw the best and brightest in the world, and the STEM Jobs Act allows our businesses to tap into this investment. By updating our immigration laws through the STEM Jobs Act, we open the door to a vast new source of enhanced innovation, growth, and job creation for America.”
The STEM Jobs Act will provide new access to green cards for foreign graduates of American universities with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As a result, American businesses will be able to keep these students here, and will have access to the world’s top innovators and problem-solvers. As a result, the U.S. economy will profit, instead of losing the investment of American universities to foreign competitors.
The Act also includes a pro-family provision to allow spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents (green card holders) to join their family member in the U.S. after they have spent one year on the waiting list. The STEM Jobs Act passed with bipartisan support.
Legislators mull over marijuana charge changes
The Drug Policy Alliance
on Thursday pitched a proposal to lawmakers to decrease penalties for having small
amounts of marijuana — eliminating any penalty for less than 1 ounce, and
reducing penalties and eliminating jail time for 1 to 8 ounces.
Currently,
possession of up to 8 ounces is a misdemeanor that under the law could trigger
a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
The alliance’s New Mexico
According
to the alliance, there were 3,277 arrests in New Mexico
Whooping cough cases up in NM
The number of whooping cough cases in
DOH says there have been 644 cases of the deadly
disease so far this year, including two child deaths. That is more than double
the total number last year, 275 cases.
To slow down this contagious disease,
the State Health Department is spreading the message, plastering it on
billboards and airing a public service announcement on Telemundo.
Health
officials suggest seeing a doctor if you have a cough for longer than a week.
Arguments over methadone cuts at NM jail
He said Thursday that he believes many who
get methadone re-offend and wind up right back in jail. And he said as of Dec.
31st prisoners will not get it. But that won't happen without a fight.
There is
concern that people will end up in the jail's detoxification unit and suffer
severe withdrawal symptoms without the methadone they're used to. Rustin said
no other jail in the state provides methadone and says people who get it aren't
the only ones who face withdrawal symptoms.
David Schmidt of the Drug Policy
Alliance of New Mexico said corrections officers could be assaulted by inmates
who act out violently while withdrawing and says inmate health is a huge issue.
The Drug Policy Alliance said it will file a temporary restraining order
against the jail to keep the program going if the jail does not respond to the
group regarding the policy change by Friday.
Members of LANL security force fired
Officials say five members of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
security force were fired because of "unauthorized visitors" at the
shooting range.
The lab said Wednesday that the unauthorized visitors were
allowed access to the shooting range and allowed to "operate a variety of
firearms." Lab officials say news of the visitors was discovered when it
received information from an anonymous source.
Five employees of the lab
security force, known as Securing Our Country, were fired earlier this month
for "inappropriate behavior" at Technical Area 72.
Names of the
former employees have not been released.
Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 11/30/12
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Ex-NMFA official pleads guilty
LANL security team fired
Jail cutting methadone argument
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Ex-NMFA official pleads guilty
LANL security team fired
Jail cutting methadone argument
Former NMFA official pleads guilty to forgery charges
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| Greg Campbell |
Under an agreement with prosecutors, ex-controller
Greg Campbell had faced up to six years in prison after pleading guilty
Thursday to two counts of forgery and one count of securities fraud.
State
District Judge Stephen Pfeffer placed Campbell
The 52-year-old Campbell
Felipe Calderón’s Legacy in Mexico
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| Mexican President Felipe Caleron |
To appreciate his legacy, we must recall that Mexico was not enjoying peace in December 2006. Powerful drug cartels were already at war with each other, and the government was already fighting back. Security analyst Viridiana RÃos of Harvard has shown that the violence began to increase as early as 2004.
If anyone doubts that, consider these Mexican news items from late 2004 and early 2005:
* In December 2004, U.S. consul Michael Yoder told Reuters that at least 22 American citizens had either disappeared or been kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo over the previous four months.
* On January 21, 2005, after six prison workers were executed by drug traffickers in the city of Matamoros (which sits next door to Brownsville, Texas), President Fox vowed to wage the “mother of all battles” against those responsible for the killings.The new president, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), basically had four options: 1.) Confront the drug cartels with federal, state, and local police forces. 2.) Confront them with the military. 3.) Try to cut a deal with the cartels that would allow them to continue most of their criminal activities, provided they kept the violence to a minimum. 4.) Ignore them and hope for the best. Read more
Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/29/12
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Two recounts ordered in NM legislative races
Teachers' union petition denied
ABQ mayor says city is cooperating with probe
New lawsuit for Mexican wolf program
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Two recounts ordered in NM legislative races
Teachers' union petition denied
ABQ mayor says city is cooperating with probe
New lawsuit for Mexican wolf program
New lawsuit against Mexican grey wolf program
The Center for Biological Diversity
filed a lawsuit Wednesday in a bid to push federal wildlife officials into
making rule changes, first recommended 11 years ago, to increase the population
of the endangered Mexican gray wolf.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal
court in Arizona
At the start of 2012, there were 58 wolves in
national forests in southeast Arizona and
southwest New Mexico
In June 2001, three years after the first release of wolves in Arizona
Two recounts ordered in NM legislative races
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Recounts
are set to start next week in two close
The state Canvassing Board on Tuesday ordered the
recounts to start Dec. 4. The recounts are required under state law because the
margin between the candidates is less than one-half of 1 percent.
There’s a
tie in a Southern New Mexico race between Republican Rep. Terry McMillan and
Democrat Joanne Ferrary, both of Las
Cruces Doña Ana
County
There was a
66-vote margin in a race for an Albuquerque-area House seat, with Republican
Paul Pacheco of Albuquerque
Well-traveled Trout not intimidated by New York – or Cotto
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| Austin Trout |
Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/29/12
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ABQ mayor says city is cooperating with probe
Lottery scholarship rules may change
BLM horse removal protest
State's largest jail cuts methadone treatment
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ABQ mayor says city is cooperating with probe
Lottery scholarship rules may change
BLM horse removal protest
State's largest jail cuts methadone treatment
Lottery scholarship rules may change
A college
scholarship that's bankrolled by the state lottery may become merit-based or
granted on financial need,
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Sen. Michael Sanchez told a
summit organized by University
of New Mexico
That's because a Legislative Finance
Committee reported in September that the scholarship fund is projected to run
out of money in the next fiscal year. Sanchez says making the scholarship
needs-based may be something that has to happen.
But Sanchez, who helped draft
the bill creating the program in 1996, said he would oppose making the
scholarship merit-based, using himself as an example of a student who didn't
perform well in high school but went on to graduate from UNM.
Teachers union petition denied
The state Supreme Court has denied a
petition from teacher unions, which had asked to court to strike down the
state’s new teacher evaluation system on the basis that it violated the
separation of powers in the state Constitution. After two attempts to overhaul the teacher evaluation system through legislation, the Public Education Department instead wrote administrative rules that required teacher evaluations to be based in part on student test score improvement.
The state chapter of the
American Federation of Teachers and its Albuquerque
State's largest jail cuts methadone treatment
Official say the move was made out of health concern for inmates. The
methadone program was initiated at the MDC by the New Mexico Department of
Health in 2006. Officials say pregnant women will continue to receive methadone
through their pregnancies.
Methadone is a synthetic opioid that is used as part
of a drug addiction detoxification and maintenance program.
NM peanut plant lays off workers
A
A
salmonella outbreak traced to the peanut butter has sickened 41 people in 20
states.
Millions of pounds of the regions prized sweet Valencia
The tension boiled over on Monday, when the Food and Drug
Administration suspended Sunland's registration to operate because of repeated
safety violations. It came just as the plant was set to resume shelling the
bumper crop.
Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 11/29/12
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Protest to BLM horse removal
Jail to no longer offer methadone treatment
Sunland Inc. lays off workers
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Protest to BLM horse removal
Jail to no longer offer methadone treatment
Sunland Inc. lays off workers
State workers to contribute more to retirement
State and local government workers
and educators could see their take-home pay shrink in the next several years
under proposals to have them contribute more of their salaries for retirement
benefits.
A legislative panel on Wednesday endorsed a pair of proposals
to shore up the long-term finances of two programs for public employees — the
retirement system for educators and a separate program offering health
insurance to retirees from state and local government jobs as well as public
schools and universities.
One proposal calls for nearly 62,000 educators to pay
an extra $46 million over two years into their pension system. Under another
measure, 133,000 public employees, including educators, would pay $30 million
over three years for retiree health care while taxpayers pay $60 million more.
N.M. was selling 4,000 lotto tickets a minute
At least 30-percent of all lottery ticket sales go to the state's struggling lottery scholarship program. Overall lottery sales this year are down about $2 million from 2011 and down a whopping $17 million from six years ago. The scholarship program is facing a $5 million shortfall, and the Legislature is looking at tighter requirements. Read more
Roswell police warn of brazen break-ins
One woman didn’t want to be identified, but wanted to share her story with KOB Eyewitness News 4 so others would be more careful. She left her back door unlocked and heard her dogs barking so she went outside to look. She saw a man outside, closed the door but didn’t have a chance to lock it, and the man came right through. She pressed the panic button on her alarm system, but the man hit her.
“I turned around and he just nailed me right in the face, and the last thing I remember before passing out was my German Shepherd attacking him,” she said. “I woke up with my husband holding me calling my name, and RPD officers all over my house.”
She provided some descriptors of the man, but there are currently no suspects in mind.
In other cases, police have been able to apprehend burglars immediately. On November 18, 34-year-old Michael Samario and 23-year-old Richard Thyberg pounded on a family of four’s door until a man opened it, then beat the man and tried to steal some cash. Police arrived while the beating occurred and were able to apprehend and arrest both men. Read more
Walter E. Williams: Parting Company
Since Barack Obama's re-election, hundreds of thousands of petitions for secession have reached the White House. Some people have argued that secession is unconstitutional, but there's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits it. What stops secession is the prospect of brute force by a mighty federal government, as witnessed by the costly War of 1861. Let's look at the secession issue.
At the 1787 constitutional convention, a proposal was made to allow the federal government to suppress a seceding state. James Madison, the acknowledged father of our Constitution, rejected it, saying: "A Union of the States containing such an ingredient seemed to provide for its own destruction. The use of force against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound."
On March 2, 1861, after seven states had seceded and two days before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, Sen. James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin proposed a constitutional amendment that said, "No State or any part thereof, heretofore admitted or hereafter admitted into the Union, shall have the power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States."
Here's my no-brainer question: Would there have been any point to offering these amendments if secession were already unconstitutional? On the eve of the War of 1861, even unionist politicians saw secession as a right of states. Rep. Jacob M. Kunkel of Maryland said, "Any attempt to preserve the Union between the States of this Confederacy by force would be impractical, and destructive of republican liberty."
The War of 1861 settled the issue of secession through brute force that cost 600,000 American lives. Americans celebrate Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but H.L. Mencken correctly evaluated the speech, "It is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense." Lincoln said that the soldiers sacrificed their lives "to the cause of self-determination -- that government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish from the earth." Mencken says: "It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of people to govern themselves." Read full column
The American Dream: to control our own fate
© 2012 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. As a youngster I saw a poster with the inscription, “I am Captain of my ship, but I cannot control the weather.” I stood transfixed in front of the poster as I pondered the meaning. The poster showed a wild sea and someone grasping the wheel of the ship resolutely. I spoke to my father about the notion. He smiled indulgently and offered what he thought he was going to be doing upon high school graduation. It was photography, but he could not anticipate how it all changed because World War II started midway through his senior year. He quit school to join in the service of our county. Instead of taking hometown Wedding pictures, he became a combat photographer. He held a camera as he always intended to do, but the weather was quite different.
The more I thought about the poster the more I could see I was in control of myself and at the same time was not completely in control of all of the stuff around me. The weather notion held my attention through many years and many times when the weather had the upper hand over me and yet I always felt I controlled my destiny. I have that saying over my desk as I write.
Perhaps it is true since against all advice I write and talk for a living after coming from stock that worked with their hands. While I am able to repair and construct stuff, I would rather do something else. And who is to stop me other than myself? That is the essence of the American Dream.
Among other things it is the American Dream for each of us to control our own destiny. That is a freedom our country was founded upon, that each of us has our own future in hand and can select different futures if we want. Most of us did not ask someone before we went after a dream, and many of us succeeded or failed against the advice of loved ones and friends. We individually own our failures and successes.
In the Old Country where generations ago many of us originated, if you were born the son of a pig farmer, you would more than likely die a pig farmer. Why? Because your future was not yours, it belonged to the society which needed a dependable supply of pig farmers. You lived for the society so there was little control of your own destiny. Read full column
Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/28/12
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Rural postal service cut
Research lab gets animal control exemption
RGA keeps Martinez
NM lottery facing crisis
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Rural postal service cut
Research lab gets animal control exemption
RGA keeps Martinez
NM lottery facing crisis
LANL working on security problems
Los Alamos National Security is
bringing in outside help to deal with the botched construction of a security
upgrade at the lab.
The Los Alamos Monitor reports that the trade journal
Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor says Los Alamos National Security has
hired attorneys to help the lab pursue claims against subcontractors that did
the work on the security system.
Lab Director Charlie McMillan told employees
in a memo that the system was supposed to cost $213 million, but cost overruns
have jacked the project up to $254 million. The cost overruns could be paid for
by money that had been earmarked for the Chemistry Metallurgy Research
Replacement facility or the bonus that LANS receives for running the lab.
Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/28/12
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RGA keeping Martinez on executive committee
LANL fixing security problems
Man facing charges for killing hawk
GOP appoints House leaders
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RGA keeping Martinez on executive committee
LANL fixing security problems
Man facing charges for killing hawk
GOP appoints House leaders
UNM students helping to solve lottery scholarship crisis
The New Mexico Lottery Scholarship is running out of cash fast,
so Tuesday students at the
The fund will be broke by next year,
according to projections. According to the study, more and more students have
become eligible for the lottery scholarship since it began in the late 1990s. Right now, 80 percent of incoming freshmen at UNM meet the scholarship’s
requirements.
On Tuesday, a couple dozen students and a few teachers offered
suggestions to keep the fund solvent, such as raising eligibility requirements,
increasing needs-based requirements or a combination of both.
The student group
will give their opinion to legislators during the upcoming legislative session
in 2013.
NM man faces charges for killing hawk
A
18-year-old William
Hefley was arrested on an extreme cruelty to animals charge for shooting and
killing a five-year-old Harris Hawk valued at $3,000.
Luna County Sheriff's
investigator Israel Saenz saysHefley told deputies he shot the bird while out
to kill a family dog that was old. The owner of the hawk holds a registered
Falconry Permit and apparently raised the hawk from a young age after being
given permission to rescue it in Texas
Investigators said the case is being turned over to the New Mexico Game and
Fish Department.
GOP appoints House leadership
Republican state Rep. Donald Bratton
of
The
Albuquerque Journal reports that Bratton will replace Tom Taylor of Farmington
House Republicans
also elected several members of the party's younger guard to top-ranking
positions. Rep. Nate Gentry of Albuquerque
The leadership posts were filled during a
closed-door caucus meeting held Monday night in Albuquerque
U.S Justice Dept. launches APD investigation
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The U.S. Justice Department says it
is launching an investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department after a
string of officer-involved shootings and a number of high-profile abuse cases.
A
press conference was held Tuesday to announce the details of the pending probe
following a visit by federal officials to New Mexico
The Albuquerque Police Department has been under fire from civil rights
advocates in recent months. The department has had 25 officer-involved
shootings since 2010 — 17 of them fatal.
The department also has been
criticized over a number of cases alleging abuse by officers.
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