News New Mexico

Pj Chick in Black wins $251,358 at Sunland Park

From ktsm.com - Carl Draper’s Pj Chick in Black scored a dominant one-length victory in the $251,358 New Mexican Spring Quarter Horse Futurity at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino on Easter Sunday. Under Sunland Park’s leading Quarter Horse rider Esgar Ramirez, Pj Chick in Black remained unbeaten in two starts after a scintillating win in the rich 300 yard dash for New Mexico-bred two-year-olds. The brown filly by Desirio was brushed at the break but quickly generated a burst of speed and had full momentum after the first 100 yards. Ramirez directed the talented freshman rocketed to a commanding lead. Racing at 9-2 odds, Pj Chick in Black gained a comprehensive win and earned $118,139 for owners Fredda Draper and Denny Bowen. More here

Support Waning for Mexican Grey Wolf Program

From necn.com -For the third time in recent weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had one of its partners abandon an agreement that was meant to bring more collaboration to the troubled effort to reintroduce Mexican gray wolves to the Southwest. While it's no secret the effort has been a point of contention among ranchers and environmentalists, one federal official says there will undoubtedly be a loss of perspective with fewer partners at the table. "We like to have that collaboration and that kind of thought process that leads to better decisions," said Wally Murphy, supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Service's ecological services field office in New Mexico. Murphy called the recent developments "disheartening," given that the wolf program is facing critical decisions this year that will affect its future direction. The Fish and Wildlife Service is working on revamping the wolf recovery plan, which, among other things, will spell out what it will take to eventually get the animal off the federal endangered species list. More here

Liberal Pac Wants Review of Fairground Lease

From businessweek.com -A union-funded political group asked New Mexico Attorney General Gary King on Thursday to investigate the awarding of a 25-year lease that will permit the Downs at Albuquerque to build a larger casino at the state fairgrounds. Independent Source PAC, in a letter to King, contends that the lease should be invalidated because businesses connected to two of the Down's owners contributed to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's political action committee potentially in violation of a state law restricting donations from potential government contractors. A spokesman for King, who is a Democrat, said the group's allegations will be reviewed. Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said the contributions were permissible under state law and didn't influence decisions on the fairgrounds lease. The state Board of Finance approved the lease last December. The governor voted for the lease. She is the board's president and appoints a majority of its members. More here

Study: Los Alamos Healthy and Wealthy

Los Alamos, New Mexico

NM Business Journal - In New Mexico, health follows wealth, a recently published study indicates. Los Alamos, ranked the wealthiest county in the nation by the U.S. Census Bureau, was also ranked the healthiest county in the nation. Only 15 percent of residents 20 years and older are physically sedentary, compared to the national average of 21 percent physical inactivity, the study said. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Charges Continue to Mount for Salinas

NMPolitics - Investigators allege that a Sunland Park contractor spent money on alcohol, strippers, prostitutes and a campaign video for city officials, then billed and was reimbursed by the city for the costs.

Daniel Salinas

Former Sunland Park Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas is facing 18 new felony charges alleging fraud and other crimes, many centered around having a city contractor pay for a campaign video, alcohol, strippers and prostitutes, then falsify invoices to get reimbursed by the city.

Two others face charges in the new case – Jesus Dario Hernandez, the city’s public works director, and Jorge I. Angulo, a manager of a company the city hired do to an environmental impact study for a possible border crossing in Sunland Park.

Hernandez, like Salinas, was already facing extortion charges related to using a lap-dance video to try to force one of Salinas’ opponents out of the March 6 mayoral election. Salinas also faces bribery charges in another public corruption case. Read full story here: News New Mexico

BLM Announces Big Fee Increase

Aguirre Springs

KRWG - Las Cruces, NM – In what it calls an effort to maintain and improve facilities and services at three popular fee sites, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las Cruces District is increasing visitor fees effective May 1, 2012. There have been no fee increases at the sites since 1996 when fees were first established. The sites include the Dripping Springs Natural Area and Aguirre Spring Campground in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, NM, and the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, near Tularosa, NM.
The new fees for day use at all three sites will be $5/vehicle/day, up from $3/day. Camping is also available at both Aguirre Spring Campground and Three Rivers Petroglyph site and fees for camping are $7/campsite. Fees are collected when visitors arrive, either by on-site BLM volunteer hosts, or by submitting payment in envelopes provided at fee kiosks near the entry locations. Read full story here: News New Mexico

UNM Athletic Department a Sea of Red Ink

Albuquerque Journal - University of New Mexico athletics is expected to finish the fiscal year ending June 30 with a deficit of between $1.5 and $2 million, mostly due to lagging football attendance. “There’s still a lot of numbers that are in play and subject to change,” athletics director Paul Krebs said in a telephone interview Friday. “It’s a best estimate at this point.”
Krebs said the biggest contributor to this year’s shortfall is the football program, which brought in “less than anticipated revenues to the tune of about half a million or $600,000.”

UNM football game attendance:

2008: 178,275 over six games.

2009: 161,661 over six games.
2010: 125,330 over six games.

2011: 120,160 over six games.

Source: UNM athletics Read rest of story here: News New Mexico

NewsNM notes - Paul Krebs hired Mike Locksley. UNM regents will "loan" the UNM Athletic Dept. $1.25 million to help cover the shortfall in Krebs Department. Every UNM student's fees will be jacked up by $50 per year to pay for the mess. While UNM spent $700,000 to fire Locksley before his contract was up, Krebs remains on the UNM payroll at a salary of approximately $350,000 a year.

NBC Fired Producer After "Mistake"

Reuters - NBC News' decision to air an edited call from George Zimmerman to police in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin was "a mistake and not a deliberate act to misrepresent the phone call," according to the president of the network's news division.

The edit in question, which aired on the network's flagship "Today" morning show last week, made it appear that Zimmerman told police that Martin was black without being prompted, when, in fact, the full tape reveals that the neighborhood watch captain only did so when responding to a question posed by a dispatcher.

Under growing public pressure to explain the incident, NBC News President Steve Capus provided Reuters with the fullest explanation to date of how the edited call made it on air and what the network is doing to prevent such a consequential error from happening again. Capus confirmed a previous Reuters report that an internal network investigation had determined that a producer made the editing error, and that the network's editorial controls - including senior broadcast producer oversight, script editors and often legal and standards department reviews of sensitive material to be broadcast - simply missed the selective editing of the phone call.

He said the producer has been fired and "several people" involved were disciplined, though he declined to specify the nature of the disciplinary actions, saying they were internal personnel matters.
Sources at the network told Reuters on Thursday that NBC News executives did not know the emergency call was misleadingly edited until news reports surfaced days later on blogs including newsbusters.org and Breitbart.com. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Eastern NM farmers could plant less this spring

Star-Telegram - There's a good chance fewer acres of crops will be planted in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, according to agriculture officials. Parmer County, Texas, Agriculture Agent Benji Henderson said farmers will likely be planting a lot less corn this spring. "With our water situation the way it is with the drought, we're trying to find a substitute for corn silage," Henderson said. "We're planting a lot of sorghum silage instead of corn silage. And I think we'll still see a lot of cotton planted." Henderson said cotton is much more tolerant of the drought, because it can tolerate less water whereas corn cannot. He said green beans and black-eyed peas are the main vegetable crops in Parmer County. "We gotta have some help to make them (vegetable crops) work. It takes a lot more emphasis and a lot more water to grow a vegetable crop," Henderson said. "There will be some planted but who knows. We learned last year we don't have enough water to go with 100 percent irrigation. We need some help from Mother Nature." Henderson said green bean and black-eyed pea crops should still be able to fair this season. Eastern New Mexico received a little more than 10 inches of precipitation in 2011, according to Accuweather.com, which is way below the historical average of with 19.11 The dry weather has continued in 2012 with .25 inches of moisture through March, with the normal amount being 1.88 inches. Across the border in New Mexico, farmers are taking a wait-and-see approach. Read More News New Mexico

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/07/3867213/eastern-nm-farmers-could-plant.html#storylink=cpy

News New Mexico

Total Pageviews

Archives

Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico