New Mexicans may not be able to use NM I.D. at airports

NewsNM: Swickard - I have a constitutional right to travel and I have a legal ID from New Mexico which serves in all 50 states as a drivers license. Guess it is time for the courts to slap down the federal government. From KOB-TV.com - By: Joseph Lynch - The strict rules designed to keep terrorists off planes may soon be keeping New Mexicans off them as well. If changes aren't made, come next month you won't be able to use your New Mexico driver's license as I.D. at the airport. Joe Metcalf hated the idea. "To not be able to use a state issued I.D. is ridiculous," he said.

You might not like it or be ready for it, but starting January 15 your New Mexico I.D. or driver's license won't be good enough to get you through the TSA checkpoint at the airport. It won't affect frequent traveler Austin Colbert, but it will affect many others. "I already have a passport and I have a government I.D. that can work. I think it sucks that people have to get a passport to travel," Colbert said.
The Department of Homeland Security said the reason it won't take NM state I.D.'s or licenses at the checkpoints is because New Mexico gives them to people without documented proof of citizenship. Doug Roger was just visiting New Mexico but hated the idea. "It's ridiculous. It's absurd, my opinion it's ridiculous. How much more do you need for I.D.?" Roger said.
Governor Martinez tried in previous legislative sessions to pass a law taking licenses out of the hands of those here illegally. Passing such a law would have New Mexico in compliance. But there's no way that it can happen before the new rule goes into effect on January 15.  Read more

New Mexicans may not be able to use NM I.D. at airports

Have you forgotten the Mayan apocalypse already?

From the American Thinker - by Rick Moran - Hey! It's 2012 people. It's December of 2012 and you know what that means. It's the end of the world, I tell ya. Mark your calendars; December 21 will either be the party day of the milenium or...the party day of all time. Whatever happens, there has rarely been a better excuse to break out your party hats and howl at the moon - at least until it disappears.
The always helpful (though not always accurate) Wikipedia has some background on the so-called "Mayan Apocalypse." Believe me, after that election debacle in November, we could use a little excitement in our lives. And what better way to forget about the election than to worry about the earth's magnetic polls flipping, or the earth passing close to a black hole, or our planet exploding? Read more

Have you forgotten the Mayan apocalypse already?

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 12/3/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Mescalero Apache windfall payout
NMSU get pecan marketing grant
Ruidoso firefighters take questionable pictures
PNM adhering to pollution controls

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Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 12/3/12

Mescalero Apache tribe to get windfall payouts

Members of the Mescalero Apache tribe are scheduled to receive checks of $1,500 each from a $32.8 million windfall received through federal settlement. 

The Albuquerque Journal reports that Tribal Council decided to issue the checks next week after getting pressured by community members to split up the entire $32.8 million settlement. The remaining $10 million is expected to be set aside to pay tribal members dividends next year. 

The Mescalero Apache's windfall of nearly $33 million came from an agreement, announced by the Interior Department in early April, to pay more than $1 billion to 41 tribes across the country to settle dozens of lawsuits over the mismanagement of funds and natural resources held in trust by the federal government for the benefit of tribes.

Mescalero Apache tribe to get windfall payouts

New Manhattan Project website features oral history

Testimonies from the workers who helped create the world's first atomic bomb have been posted on a new website.

 The "Voices of the Manhattan Project" website (http://manhattanprojectvoices.org) is the first step in what organizers say will create a central repository for the oral histories surrounding the once mysterious World War II-era project. 

Developed by the Los Alamos Historical Society and the Washington, D.C.-based Atomic Heritage Foundation, the website is an attempt to organize oral histories that for years have been scattered across the country and hard for the public to access. 

The top-secret Manhattan Project was a mission to develop the atomic bomb involving Los Alamos, N.M.

New Manhattan Project website features oral history

Redistributing Wealth from the West to the Rest

Marita Noon

Townhall - COP 18 started this week in Doha, Qatar, where climate campaigners will, again, try to get governments to commit to a $100-billion-per-year “Climate Fund” to redistribute wealth from the West to the rest—though $100 billion is already being considered “inadequate.” The Climate Fund “is designed to transfer wealth from the developed world to the developing world to fund mitigation and adaptation to climate change.” 

COP 18 is the latest in high-level, international meetings designed to continue progress on a comprehensive agreement to address global climate change. (COP stands for Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.)

Considering that alarmists believe that carbon emissions from coal and oil-based energy is the primary driver of climate change—rather than natural causes, it is ironic that COP 18 is being held in Doha, in the heart of the OPEC region. Reports claim that Qatar has some of the “highest emissions per capita” and has barely been involved in climate negotiations. Some have even said: “having one of the OPEC leaders in charge of climate talks is like asking Dracula to look after a blood bank.” Read more News New Mexico

Redistributing Wealth from the West to the Rest

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 12/3/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Ruidoso firefighters take questionable pictures
Los Lunas officer fires gun at colleagues
PRC mandates utility weather preparedness
NMDPA marijuana proposal 

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Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 12/3/12

PNM to move forward with pollution controls

PNM Resources Inc. plans to move ahead with the installation of federally required pollution controls at a coal-fired power plant in northwestern New Mexico that serves more than 2 million customers in the Southwest. 

A stay granted by federal regulators so parties could evaluate alternatives for the San Juan Generating Station expired with no agreement on an alternative. 

The federal plan calls for selective catalytic reduction on each of San Juan's four coal-fired units. 

The 1,800-megawatt plant is New Mexico's single largest source of electricity, and also provides power to customers in California, Arizona and Utah.

PNM to move forward with pollution controls

NMSU gets pecan marketing grant

Researchers at New Mexico State University are sharing in a $2.4 million grant that will be used to market the benefits of pecans.

 The researchers are working with colleagues at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M. 

Their focus is helping pecan growers stay competitive by capitalizing on the crop's nutritional benefits. They'll also be looking for ways to improve production efficiency and profitability. 

Georgia leads the nation in pecan production, followed by New Mexico and Texas. Federal agricultural statistics show New Mexico's growers produced about 61 million pounds of pecans last year. The state's crop was valued at more than $162 million.

NMSU gets pecan marketing grant

PRC requires utilities to be prepared for winter weather

New Mexico gas and electric utilities are going to be required to have plans in place for severe weather-related crises.  

The Public Regulation Commission's recent 5-0 vote mandates state-regulated utilities be better prepared.  The new guidelines mean utilities must "explicitly" take into account issues such as backup capabilities and alternate fuel-delivery systems.

 The rules stem from recommendations made in a PRC report on the impact of a deep freeze in February 2011. The freeze caused natural gas outages and loss of service for several days for at least 28,000 customers. 

A New Mexico Gas Co. spokeswoman says the utility supports the new provisions.

PRC requires utilities to be prepared for winter weather

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 12/3/12

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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NM graduation rates
Bernalillo County uncounted ballots
Proposed marijuana bill
PRC weather preparedness

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Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 12/3/12

NM Drug Policy Alliance changing marijuana proposal plan

The authors behind a proposed bill to legalize marijuana possession in New Mexico plan to revise their pitch.  

The New Mexico Drug Policy Alliance is not giving up on their proposal, which was not endorsed by a legislative committee last week.

 Director Emily Kaltenbach says the drug-law reform group will spend the next month considering how to utilize lawmakers' suggestions. 

The bill would allow adults to have up to an ounce of marijuana without penalty. Having 8 ounces would incur fines but no criminal charges. Current state law deems possession of up to 8 ounces a misdemeanor.

NM Drug Policy Alliance changing marijuana proposal plan

Uncounted absentee ballots found in Bernalillo County

Election workers in Bernalillo County discovered about 125 unopened and uncounted absentee ballots.  

 The county discovered several bundles of absentee ballots — still in their envelopes — locked in a tub. 

 Bobbi Shearer, elections director for the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office, says the ballots will be counted and incorporated into official election returns. 

Shearer says election officials don't yet know where the county's procedures broke down.

Uncounted absentee ballots found in Bernalillo County

NM graduation rates rank bottom in the nation

The U.S. Department of Education says New Mexico has one of the worst four-year high school graduation rates in the nation.  

New federal numbers from 2010-2011 preliminary data showed that New Mexico also falls at the bottom of the pack when analyzing rates across nearly every demographic. 

Nevada had the lowest graduation rate, with 62 percent graduation, just behind New Mexico's 63 percent rate. Iowa had the nation's highest with about 88 percent of students graduating. 

Education Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera said New Mexico was "fundamentally failing" its mission on educating all of its students.

NM graduation rates rank bottom in the nation