Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/26/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Portales vehicle burglaries up
Powerball jackpot grows
Las Cruces conducts city-wide survey
Mexican wolf pups in danger






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DOE corruption—appointed and elected officials should face prison time

Marita Noon
Marita Noon - An exhaustive review of 350+ pages of leaked emails regarding the Obama administration’s handling of the various green-energy loan and grant programs makes several things very clear: they lied, engaged in favoritism, and rushed application approvals to suit the political agenda of the White House. At the same time, worthy projects that went through a complete due diligence process were denied or ultimately withdrawn, as the lengthy approval process “taxed investors’ patience”—as was the case with Aptera Motors, which worked closely with the DOE for two years. 
Paul Wilbur, President and CEO at Aptera, didn’t think they were treated unfairly. He told me, “At the end of the day, we couldn’t get through the process.” But, he admits, he hasn’t read the emails.
Aptera was trying to build a very efficient electric vehicle with an under $30K price point. Wilbur met with Secretary Chu who could see the value in the technology. But our research shows that value was not the deciding factor in which projects got funded and which ones didn’t. Wilbur reports that he didn’t donate to any candidate. He wanted to keep the whole process clean and do what was “good for America.”  Read More News New Mexico

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Las Cruces conducting city-wide survey

The City of Las Cruces will be conducting its first-ever, community wide citizen survey. 

The survey was randomly mailed to 1,200 Las Cruces households starting this week.Residents who receive the survey are asked to complete it and return it in the postage paid envelope. 

The survey is confidential and will assist Las Cruces city government in planning for the future. 

Questions include how respondents would rate Las Cruces as a place to live, raise children, work and retire. Other topics include public safety, employment and housing opportunities.

All responses will be compiled and a final report of the data presented to the Las Cruces City Council in early 2013.



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Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/26/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Las Cruces conducts city-wide survey
Sunland Park mayoral candidate still fighting results
Sunland peanut plant working to reopen
NM revamping insurance regulation 






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New study says home sites linked to plague

A new study finds rustic home sites in the mountains east of Albuquerque and in rural Santa Fe County are adding to the number of people infected with plague.

 The study co-authored by state public health veterinarian Paul Ettestad blames a trend that has seen affluent families building homes in areas rodents once had to themselves for changing the distribution of plague in New Mexico since the 1980s. 
The Albuquerque Journal reports the disease was previously most common in low-income communities in the northwestern part of the state.
The study was published earlier this year in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.


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Sunland Park mayoral candidate still fighting results

Gerardo Hernandez
A former mayoral candidate in a troubled New Mexico border town plagued by voter fraud and a secret topless dance video is still fighting to overturn election results eight months later. 

Gerardo Hernandez says the results were so tainted that they cost him the election. He says he has found 158 absentee envelopes that should have been rejected. But Dona Ana County Chief Deputy Clerk Mario Jimenez says the evidence Hernandez has is incorrect. 
Hernandez lost the Sunland Park mayoral race to Daniel Salinas, who was unable to take office after he was arrested in connection with trying to get Hernandez to quit the race by secretly recording him getting a lap dance. 
Hernandez is waiting on a hearing in district court to plead his case.


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Sunland peanut plant working to reopen

A Portales company whose peanut processing plant was linked to a national salmonella outbreak is working to restart operations. 

Sunland Inc. Katalin Coburn tells the Portales News-Tribune the firm's board plans a meeting Monday to talk about the company's fate. 
The company's peanut processing and peanut butter plant has been shuttered since the recall in September. Coburn said Friday the peanut processing part of the company's operations were being readied to restart. 
The company denied allegations in an FDA report released this month that it distributed peanut and almond butters even after testing showed the products were contaminated.


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Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 11/26/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

                                     Listen here:


Heather Wilson's political career likely over
Major problems with state MVD
NM revamps insurance regulation 







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NM revamping insurance regulation

As New Mexico prepares to enroll tens of thousands of people into health plans, the state is revamping its regulator that oversees insurance prices and policies. 

Under a constitutional change approved by voters, insurance regulation will no longer be a responsibility of the five-member elected Public Regulation Commission. 
Instead, there will be an appointed regulator who runs the independent Office of the Superintendent of Insurance starting next July. 
It's the job of the Legislature next year to decide details of the new regulatory system. 


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Major problems at state MVD

The administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson pushed ahead with a computer upgrade at the state's Motor Vehicle Department despite knowing the prime contractor allegedly lacked a proven track record in the field.  

Records obtained by the Albuquerque Journal show Hewlett-Packard was awarded the 2010 contract to revamp the MVD system even after lawyers for contract rival 3M warned the state that HP didn't have a proven track record in the field. 
The administration of now-Gov. Susana Martinez cancelled the deal last year after the state spent $5 million on the project and fired HP.
 Now the state is trying to figure out how to improve a system described in 2005 as one of the worst in the country.

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Heather Wilson's political career likely over

Heather Wilson
Heather Wilson says she's probably run her final race for elective office.  

The former Republican congresswoman lost a bid for a New Mexico seat in the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6. She tells the Albuquerque Journal in an interview she wishes the results were different but doesn't think she can ask her husband to deal with another campaign. The 51-year-old also says she thinks she's "done her time." 
Wilson says she wants to look for leadership opportunities in the private sector to achieve some of the economic development goals she had hoped to accomplish in Congress.

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