News New Mexico: 06/03/12

NM dairies close amid high feed prices

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A dramatic increase in the price of hay and corn and low milk prices are putting some New Mexico dairies out of business. Dairy Producers of New Mexico President Luke Woelber tells the Albuquerque Journal that he knows of five dairies in the eastern and southern part of the state that have closed in the face of feed costs that have doubled in the past few years. The higher feed costs combined with higher fuel and transportation costs means that, for the dairies, the cost of producing a gallon of milk is greater than the selling price. And dairies' inability to raise prices in the face of global competition and federal price controls means their higher costs haven't shown up at the grocery store. A ton of hay sold for about $160 in late 2010, said Jerry Hawkes, a professor in New Mexico State University's agricultural economics and agricultural business department. Today, large purchasers of hay, like dairies, pay about $300 a ton. Hawkes said he has heard of the best quality hays selling for up to $350 a ton. "It's a scary time right now," said Beverly Idsinga, executive director of the Dairy Producers of New Mexico. New Mexico is home to around 150 dairy farms, with 320,000 dairy cows. Woelber said dairy cattle diets include corn, cotton-based feed, supplements and other components. The cost of feeding a dairy cow in New Mexico two to three years ago was between $6 and $7 per hundred weight of milk the cow produced — about 12 gallons. Today it costs between $12.50 and $14 per head, he said. Milk is selling for around $16.90 per hundred weight. Woelber estimated that the average New Mexico dairy is losing about $2 or $3 per hundred weight of milk. Read more

Espanola cop accused of kissing underage girl - real story is who let him use the police exit?

Police Officer Orlando Cordova

From KOB-TV.com - By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4; KOB.com Staff - An Espanola Police Department officer assigned to Espanola Valley High School as a resource officer is accused of kissing an underage student. On Friday, Orlando Cordova was at the Santa Fe District Courthouse to face a judge about the allegations. The judge upheld a protective order that forces Cordova to stay away from the girl. KOB Eyewitness News attempted to get reaction from Cordova as he left the courthouse. But, it appeared he was allowed special access for a quick exit through a door provided law enforcement. This happened despite a judge order for Cordova to turn in his badge. Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia said Cordova should never have been allowed through the exit. "That whole area is a secure area and that door is monitored and controlled by deputies at the front," he said. "The deputy who let him out had no business doing what he did. Again, I have concerns. No one should be coming in or out of that secure area unless they are bringing in inmates." Inmates are held in cells right next to the door. Garcia noticed an unauthorized female officer from a different jurisdiction pushing buttons on the door to let Cordova out. "I can guarantee you, this will not happen again. I can honestly tell you people have questions to answer and we'll get to the bottom of it," he said. Read more

Assessor’s association with state senator under FBI scrutiny

Assessor Karen Montoya

From NMPolitics.net - By Heath Haussamen - The FBI is apparently asking questions “about Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya and her association with state Sen. Tim Eichenberg, a consultant whose work includes helping people protest tax assessments set by Montoya’s office,” the Albuquerque Journal is reporting. From the newspaper: “Montoya herself said an FBI agent visited her office this week hoping to talk to her, but she was unavailable. The agent left his card, with a request for Montoya to call him after Tuesday’s primary election, in which Montoya is a candidate for the Public Regulation Commission.” Montoya was quoted by the Journal as saying there is “nothing that could be investigated” because she’s done nothing wrong. Eichenberg was quoted as saying he doesn’t get preferential treatment from Montoya’s office and hadn’t heard from the FBI. Eichenberg is up for re-election this year but has no contested primary on Tuesday. Montoya is in a hotly contested three-way primary race for the District 1 PRC seat. Read more

Another view of a Wal-Mart Shopper

There are websites dedicated to how bad some Wal-Mart Shoppers look. Most on those websites are not pretty. But a friend emailed me this Wal-Mart shopper. Pretty dang good!

New Mexico not the No. 1 state for lottery suckers

From MSN.com - Georgia's lottery players are the biggest suckers in the nation, according to Bloomberg Rankings, buying nearly $5 billion of the $50 billion a year in tickets for U.S. state-run games that have the worst odds of any form of legal gambling. Players in Georgia, whose per capita income is about 10% below the U.S. average, are doing the most damage to their personal finances. According to the Sucker Index created by Bloomberg Rankings, Georgia residents spent the second-highest chunk of their income on the lottery, which funds college scholarships and prekindergarten. Local governments use lotteries to help pay for education, environmental protection and other programs. In the past fiscal year, sales rose for 26 of the 43 states that have games, helping to close budget gaps caused by declines in tax revenue and federal aid. The pot comes disproportionately from lower-income residents, according to a Journal of Behavioral Decision Making study. Read more

Trout Successfully Defends Title, Again

Austin Trout

Las Cruces native son, Austin “No Doubt” Trout gave veteran Delvin Rodriguez a boxing lesson in Carson, California last night. In doing so Trout won a unanimous decision. After twelve rounds he improved his unblemished record to 25-0 while retaining his WBA Junior Middleweight title. Immediately after the fight Trout called on upstart Saul "Canelo" Alvarez the undefeated redhead from Mexico to agree to a fight that would pit the two unbeaten champions against one another.
When questioned by Showtime interviewers through an interpreter after Trout issued the challenge, Alvarez was cautious while not ruling out the possibility of a showdown. Alvarez was scheduled to fight middleweight Paul Williams in September. Tragcally, Williams was paralyzed from the waist down in a recent motorcycle accident.

Louie Burke

Austin Trout already has scored a victory over an Alvarez. He defeated Saul's older brother Rigoberto, last year.
Trained by fellow native Las Crucen Louie Burke, Trout is a Mayfield High School graduate. The champion chooses to live and train in his native New Mexico between fights. Before turning pro, Trout was an accomplished amateur. With fast hands and exceptional defensive skills he presents major problems for any opponent. Trout is hard to hit and a very effective ring tactician. He is not the sort of opponent that most boxer’s “handlers” want to meet.Whether Alvarez chooses to accept the Trout challenge remains an open question. If he accepts the challenge the fight figures to be the biggest payday of Trout's career.

Heavy Polar Ice Delays Arctic Drilling, Obama Blocks Extension of Drilling

NewsNM note (Spence) - This week the U.S. employment numbers revealed a grim jobs picture. This story below is several days old. It is unlikely to ever be reported anywhere except on Fox News because it simply does not serve the climate change/global warming narrative of the majority of media outlets. Plus, news "producers" at NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN realize this news item would help voters understand the White House is actively blocking the extension of high paying jobs and also thwarting domestic oil production on federal land. New Mexicans should recognize the president has the support of Jeff Bingaman, Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich, and Ben Ray Lujan on these policies.

PHY-ORG - The heaviest polar ice in more than a decade could postpone the start of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean until the beginning of August, a delay of up to two weeks, Shell Alaska officials said. Unveiling a newly refurbished ice-class rig that is poised to begin drilling two exploratory wells this summer in the Beaufort Sea, Shell executives said Friday that the unusually robust sea ice would further narrow what already is a tight window for operations. The company's $4-billion program is designed to measure the extent of what could be the United States' most important new inventory of oil and gas. Shell has pledged to end its first season of exploratory drilling by Oct. 31 in the Beaufort Sea and 38 days earlier in the more remote Chukchi Sea to remain within the relatively ice-free summer season.

Meeting with reporters and Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, on board the Kulluk drilling rig in the Seattle shipyards, Shell's vice president for Alaska operations, Pete Slaiby, said the company had given up on its controversial attempt to win permission from the federal government to extend Chukchi drilling through October as well. Read full story here: News New Mexico

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