Rural post office hours reduced

Post Office in Lemitar, NM near Santa Fe

From KOB-TV.com - The U.S. Postal Service has started reducing the hours of rural post offices in an attempt to save money. The effort is part of what's called the Post Plan. KOB Eyewitness News 4 has learned that around 150 rural post offices are expected to have their daily hours cut.
According to postal officials, the Lemitar Post Office will reduce retail service from eight hours a day to four. The nearby Polvadera Post Office is going from eight hours a day to two. "I think it's sad for our little town, and all the little communities, that they're doing that," said Polvadera resident Julie Vega. Because Vega works a lot in Socorro she said she may not have time to visit the post office during the two-hour span it will be open.
Vega told KOB she is now having packages shipped to where she works instead of having them sent to the post office. "We order a lot of prescription medicines and don't want them sitting at the post office," said Vega.
Postal officials in Albuquerque say cutting hours to rural offices is being done to prevent the closing more than 50 of them statewide. Officials were concerned that closing offices would be inconvenient for many, especially for those who would have to drive to other communities in the winter to pick up mail and conduct other postal business.
The issue is also taking a toll on postmasters. Some are being told in order to keep their benefits they will have to find another full time job within the Postal Service. KOB was told the postmaster in Polvadera had to take a job in Reserve to keep her benefits. Read more

Rural post office hours reduced

Reese Family: being thankful for less pain

From NewsMax.com - by Jeff Knox - Barack Obama has nominated U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ken Gonzales to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. This nomination is particularly significant because Gonzales was the U.S. attorney who oversaw the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the Reese family. At the time of the Reese’s arrest, Gonzales had the audacity to release a statement saying, “Those who sell firearms knowing that they will be illegally smuggled into Mexico to arm Mexican cartels share responsibility for the violence that has been devastating Mexico.” So far, he has not called for the prosecution of any of the federal agents or administrators who oversaw the sale of some 2,000 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition to Mexican gun smugglers in Operation Fast and Furious.
Gonzales has much to be thankful for this season, but what about the Reese family? For them, being thankful is a relative term. The Reese family is thankful that, so far, the bad they’ve suffered has not been as bad as it could have been. They have been so abused, harassed and persecuted that they feel thankful for the crumbs of “less bad” news that comes their way. They’re thankful that federal agents arrested them while they were away from their home rather than taking them during the massive raid involving hundreds of officers, helicopters and armored vehicles. They were thankful last March when, after eight months in jail, Terri Reese was released on bail to a halfway house. They were especially thankful when youngest son, Remington, was acquitted of all charges (after spending a year in jail), and they were thankful when Terri; husband , Rick; and older son, Ryin, were cleared of all but one count each, two for Ryin, of the comparatively minor charge of lying on gun sales forms – even though the lies they were convicted of were perpetrated by federal agents and the Reeses’ crimes were that they “should have known” that the agents were lying. Read story

Reese Family: being thankful for less pain

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/27/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Gov. pushing Silver Alert Program
Mexican Grey Wolf pups reunited with pack
Willis Whitfield dies
Las Cruces utility box vandalism

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Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 11/27/12

Gov. pushes Silver Alert legislation

Albuquerque's Silver Alert program to locate missing elderly people could be expanding to statewide. 

Governor Susana Martinez was in Albuquerque Monday afternoon to announce her plans to push for legislation this January. The Silver Alert program started in Albuquerque last February. 

People can enroll family members who have dementia or Alzheimer's disease into the program. If somebody who is enrolled goes missing, the city issues a Silver Alert. When an alert is issued, lighted billboards around the city flash the missing person's picture and information.

Gov. pushes Silver Alert legislation

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/27/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Willis Whitfield dies
McKinley County audit finds problems
Elephant Butte Lake low
Bernalillo county jail considers inmate release 

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Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 11/27/12

Mexican wolf pups reunited

Two six-month-old Mexican gray wolf pups have reunited with their troubled pack in southwestern New Mexico, bringing some relief to environmentalists who were concerned about their chances for survival.

 Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say the Fox Mountain pack — including the two pups — was spotted feeding on an elk carcass late last week.

 Biologists say it's not uncommon for pups to start venturing out on their own at this time of year and that the two pups in question will likely return to the pack intermittently before they disperse for good. 

The pack's four wolves all have radio collars and the agency says they will continue to be monitored.

Mexican wolf pups reunited

Cleanroom inventor dies

Willis Whitfield

Willis Whitfield, an award-winning physicist known for inventing the modern-day cleanroom, has died. He was 92. 

Sandia National Laboratories, where Whitfield worked for three decades, announced Monday that Whitfield died in Albuquerque on Nov. 12. 

Lab President Paul Hommert says Whitfield's concept for a new kind of cleanroom came at the right time during the early 1960s to usher in a new era of electronics, health care and scientific research. Dubbed Mr. Clean, Whitfield had his initial drawings for the new cleanroom by the end of 1960. His solution for dealing with the turbulent airflow and particles found in cleanrooms of the day was to constantly flush out the room with highly filtered air. 

Sandia says within a couple of years, $50 billion worth of cleanrooms had been built worldwide.

Cleanroom inventor dies

McKinley County audit shows problems

An independent special audit shows McKinley County made about $240,000 in questionable payments to a business owned by the county commission chairman. 

State Auditor Hector Balderas released the finding of the audit Monday. His office says the county violated the state procurement code and its own purchasing policies. Balderas' office also says there are potential violations of the Governmental Conduct Act related to the county's contracts for plumbing, heating, air conditioning and other services with Dallago Corp. The company is owned by Chairman David Dallago. 

Balderas' office designated the county for a special audit in May after allegations of questionable procurement activity were reported via the auditor's fraud hotline.

McKinley County audit shows problems

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 11/27/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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FDA halts Sunland Inc. operations
Election results delayed for canvassing board
Bernalillo jail considers releasing inmates

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Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 11/27/12

Elephant Butte Lake low

Elephant Butte Lake's water level is low because of the drought that has diminished snow pack runoff flowing down the Rio Grande.  

Downstream results for the lake that parallels Interstate 25 include higher irrigation pumping costs for farmers and loss of favorite fishing spots for recreational users. 

The lake hit an 8-year low on Sept. 4 when it was 5 percent full. The last time the lake was that low was in 2004 during another period of drought when the elevation was three feet lower.

Elephant Butte Lake low

Bernalillo County Jail considering prisoner releases

Bernalillo County commissioners are considering a plan to release hundreds of prisoners from the county jail. 

The proposal is for the county to purchase another 300 ankle bracelets, so more low-risk prisoners can be released with electronic monitoring. The county is already capable of monitoring 200 inmates who are released that way. 

The jail is built to hold 2,200 prisoners. These days, the population is running about 400 to 500 over that capacity, and in the summertime it's much more crowded than that. The jail chief says electronic monitoring, drug testing and counseling are better options for those inmates, while the more serious and dangerous ones remain locked up. 

Support for the idea is growing among county commissioners.

Bernalillo County Jail considering prisoner releases

FDA halts Sunland Inc. operations

The Food and Drug Administration has halted operations of the country's largest organic peanut butter processor, cracking down on salmonella poisoning for the first time with a new enforcement authority the agency gained in a 2011 food safety law. 

FDA officials found salmonella all over Sunland Inc.'s Portales, New Mexico processing plant after 41 people in 20 states, most of them children, were sickened by peanut butter manufactured at the plant and sold at Trader Joe's. 

The suspension will prevent the company from distributing any food. The food safety law gave the FDA authority to suspend a company's registration when food manufactured or held there has a "reasonable probability" of causing serious health problems or death. 

Sunland sold hundreds of products to many of the nation's largest grocery chains.

FDA halts Sunland Inc. operations