Police make unexpected arrests in Albuquerque hotel

From KOB-TV.com - By: Danielle Todesco, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Albuquerque police found something they never expected while looking for drug trafficking at a local motel.  Police said they nabbed several people here illegally who were trying to get New Mexico licenses. Albuquerque police were working with Homeland Security investigators on a tip called in from motel managers about suspicious activity. It is a partnership that Albuquerque police have worked out with hotels and motels along I-40 and I-25. The managers are on the lookout for anything that looks like drug activity and Albuquerque Police Department detectives pick it up from there. Officer Robert Gibbs said that is exactly what happened Monday. A motel manager called them, and when they arrived, police said they found several people here illegally from Guatemala and El Salvador.  "It just sort of fell into our lap. We weren't looking for that specifically," Officer Gibbs said. "That's not the purpose of what we do with this type of investigations that we run. It just so happens that we were lucky and had Homeland Security Investigators that assisted us in facilitating the investigation." Seven people were arrested, according to Gibbs. Read more

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Swickard: A possible slide toward one branch government

Commentary by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. - The more I watch Congress, the less power Congress seems to have. They get face time on the networks talking but not acting as a Congress. Remember, there are three equal branches of government which in theory hold each other in balance. But in the last three years this Congress has stopped functioning. Their primary role is the federal budget. But no federal budget has been passed in three years. Our Country languishes in a neverland of uncertainty while Congress does not do its duty.  It seems we have a one branch government or the makings of one. The only branch taking charge of things is the Executive Branch. The Supreme Court is set to rule on Healthcare, but the buzz is that if they rule against the Executive Branch, the Executive Branch will institute the intent of the legislation via Executive findings and agency rules. That would make the Judicial and Legislative Branches of Government irrelevant. No one seems concerned about the concentration of power in one branch.  Read column

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Richardson Expose a MUST READ

You may purchase a copy here. Author Harvey Yates Jr. sent News New Mexico a copy of Governor Richardson and Crony Capitalism; Contorting New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Exploration Industry. The book is a well researched, extensively documented expose of the incredible price New Mexicans paid to have Bill Richardson in charge of the state for two terms. Specifically, in his book Yates documents the incredible financial damage to public education, the state budget, state employees, taxpayers, and the reputation for free enterprise here due to rules and regulations designed to prop up some businesses while destroying others.
The Yates book is also instructive within the bigger scheme of public policy nightmares. As Yates describes the processes that unfolded in New Mexico the reader will gains a faster recognition of exactly how entrepreneurial capitalists who create real jobs can actually be methodically replaced by what Yates call nursery occupants.
Everything Yates describes in his book explains how Richardson took actions to the detriment of employment rates and living standards in New Mexico. These same insidious processes are a threat all over America.
The book is available at Intermedia Publishing Group. The website is intermedia.com. Governor Richardson and Crony Capitalism is a quick and fascinating read. The work is complete with illustrations, graphs, footnotes, and pie charts. Yates does a fantastic job of helping the reader grasp the magnitude of the damage done by crony capitalism in the state of New Mexico.
For anyone wanting an in depth understanding of how Bill Richardson’s ambitious political machine set the state back many decades and also who are some of the major exploiters of the Richardson’s system were, the Yates book is a must read.

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Painkiller use on rise in N.M.

Alamogordo Daily NewsSales of highly controlled prescription painkillers -- oxycodone, morphine and methadone -- increased 111.5 percent between 2001 and 2010. The overdose rate for the same prescription drugs also increased statewide by 61.8 percent. A recent report released by the New Mexico Department of Health indicates oxycodone sales led with more than 1,074 pounds sold in 2010 while hydrocodone was second with 441 pounds, followed by morphine with 396 pounds sold. Since 2007, the overdose death rate from prescription drugs like oxycodone, morphine and methadone has exceeded the death rate from illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Otero and Lincoln counties were fourth in the state's 13-digit zip codes in 2010. The prescription sales rate was 23.7 grams per 100 people in 2010, which is the same for the statewide increase for the same period. Otero County had eight overdose deaths in 2008, 15 in 2009 and nine in 2010 for a total of 32 deaths for the three-year period -- the latest data available. Otero County was 14th statewide in overdoses while Lincoln County was 21st. Read More News New Mexico

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Former State Employee Tries to Sandbag Martinez, Claims She Was Fired for Recommending Condoms

Susana Martinez
KOAT TV - A former state employee said on Tuesday that she was forced to resign just hours after she talked to Action 7 News about condoms.
Gov. Susana Martinez said the allegations are not true and she agreed with Erin Bouquin's statements made on air.
"What is the Department of Health trying to tell kids?" asked Action 7 reporter Christie Ileto.
"Use condoms," Bouquin answered. "Condoms are very important in controlling sexually transmitted diseases. I like the ABCs: abstinence, be faithful and birth control."
The department's former chief medical officer claimed her comments got her fired, but the governor stepped up Tuesday night to say that's not true. "There was nothing she said that I disagree with during her television interview," Martinez said. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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