CNM to resume publication of student newspaper

From KOB-TV.com - Central New Mexico Community College has decided to resume publication of the student newspaper the CNM Chronicle. The school had suspended publication of the paper Tuesday and Wednesday in response to an issue that focused on sexual orientation and other sex-related topics.
     The CNM publications board met Wednesday and made the decision to resume publishing the paper beginning Thursday. In a statement issued on CNM's website Wednesday, President Katherine Winograd said the school pulled the papers because a high school student was included in the issue. The school, she said, needed to research the legal implications of having a minor in their publication.
     She said the school was giving confiscated papers back to the newspaper staff.
     Chronicle Editor-inChief Jyllian Roach was pleased with the decision. "We're really really happy with the college's decision, we're excited to see that we're back on and that we get to go back to printing and won't have to stop our publication," Roach said. Read more
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Without water there is no New Mexico Green Chile

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. An Old West saying goes: Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. Well, New Mexico is in a fight for its very life and it is about water. There is not enough water for New Mexico’s Agriculture Industry. Without Agriculture jobs then the human capital of farm and ranch production leave the state, perhaps, forever. New Mexico is not New Mexico without Agriculture. Without water there is no Green Chile, or at least no New Mexico Green Chile. Water talks and everything else walks.
     While there may be enough water for coffee making and toilet flushing; it will not be enough to keep New Mexico Agriculture viable since Agriculture runs on lots of water. We are in the fourth year of a severe drought. Even in good years New Mexico gets ten or less inches of moisture. Native plants are fine but it is not enough for farmers who measure their water needs in acre feet.
     During droughts runoff is negligible. So the majority of the water is pumped. As water is increasingly pumped there is a net-loss of water from aquifers. Pumping must slow down or stop because those aquifers are dwindling, not to mention the lawsuits from Texas trying to take the last of our water. Texas could own all of our Agriculture water because of their lawsuits. Then what?
     At risk are all non-native trees such as the pecan orchards which must be watered or die. Also, when the farmland goes fallow, there is a risk the farmers will just quit the business. Alfalfa is grown, harvested and transported in New Mexico by an army of highly skilled workers. Stop planting that crop and those people and machines move somewhere else.
     Connected to those problems are the livestock producers who depend on alfalfa to supplementally feed their grazing animals. With less acres planted over the last decade the price of alfalfa has risen dramatically. Ranchers have had to go to slaughter with their animals because they could not afford to feed them. With good feed prices the legacy livestock can economically stay on the ranches to create the next generation of New Mexico livestock. These animals form the basis of our livestock future. However, when cattle operations have to sell off their herds, the years of research developing the right animals for our New Mexico climate is lost.
     Likewise, high feed costs endanger the milk and cheese producers who feel the increased cost of feeding milk cows. Further, when New Mexico Agriculture stops shipping food there are two problems: first, the money from these Agricultural operations is lost to New Mexico, and, secondly, we no longer control our food supply. Yes, we can buy food from other American producers, but increasingly we see our food coming from areas of the world that do not say, God Bless America. Bells should ring warning us of danger. Read column
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Radon found in state office building in Santa Fe


Government officials are advising workers to stay out of part of a nearly 80-year-old state office building in Santa Fe to avoid exposure to radon. 
Attorney General Gary King said Tuesday that workers in his agency temporarily will not use a section of the Villagra Building, which was built as a New Deal project during the Great Depression. The building is connected to a newer complex for the attorney general's office. 
General Services Department spokesman Tim Korte said elevated levels of radon were detected in the building's basement and corrective measures are planned. Radon wasn't a problem in other parts of the building. 
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and enters buildings through basements and foundation cracks. The Environmental Protection Agency says radon exposure can cause lung cancer.


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Wolf-dog hybrid found near Reserve


Federal wildlife managers have been working to return the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest for the past 15 years. 
Every now and then, there's a genetic hiccup. It happens when a wolf breeds with a domestic dog, producing a litter of hybridized pups. 
Just last month, an animal that looked like a wolf was spotted in the mountain community of Reserve near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Experts with the wolf management team say the uncollared animal was most likely a wolf-dog hybrid. 
While it doesn't happen often, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says hybridization is a concern. 


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With national attention, Gov. doesn't budge on marriage equality


While the U.S. Supreme Court mulls over California’s same-sex marriage law, New Mexico remains a state that does not allow or recognize those marriages.
 Same-sex marriage legislation died in the recent session of the state legislature, and supporters vow they’ll be back next year, but opposition remains strong. 
While polls show many Americans have changed their minds on gay marriage in recent years, there’s one New Mexico opponent who remains in a very powerful position – and she hasn’t changed her mind one bit. 
Gov. Susana Martinez campaigned as a backer of traditional marriage, and she’s still that way today. During the 60 day legislative session New Mexicans on both sides of the issue jammed the committee rooms at the State Capitol, hoping to testify. 
The legislation died in committee before the end of the session. Even if the legislature does pass same-sex marriage, the governor retains veto power. 
Martinez said she is closely following what the Supreme Court does in the California case to see what impact it will have on New Mexico.




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