The next NMSU President may know how to milk a cow

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. These are interesting times at New Mexico State University as the NMSU Regents are set to select the next president. Smart money says they already have a choice but must go through the entire selection process for legal reasons. So there will be five people selected from which they select one.

     Is there anything wrong with some Regents in their heart of hearts knowing right now who they want for president? They have to put on a show and there is a slight chance someone could come in and wow them such that they would reconsider who they already want.

     But knowing already who they want is a good sign to me because the last NMSU President was a puzzle in that I could not understand what those Regents had in mind in their selection.

     What is most important in my mind is the question of institutional identity and that is at the forefront of any decision. The Regents get hundreds of people interested in guiding NMSU in the coming years so they must select someone who reflects and will defend NMSU’s tradition and missions.

     Unless the Regents want to change that mission in the future, the next president needs to know their way around the Ag Barns. In the pool of candidates for president there will be several possible identities for the institution.

     If a person with a background in Hotel Management is selected president, it would surprise me, and it would mean a sea-change for the institution compared to if they selected someone who knows how to milk a cow. I stay in hotels and drink milk so I have interest of both. And do not get me wrong, the NMSU President does not have to milk cows; I just want someone who knows how. Read column

The next NMSU President may know how to milk a cow

School bus crash revives seat belt debate

From KOB-TV.com - By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4  -  Monday morning’s school bus crash in Rio Arriba County has reignited the debate on whether school buses should have seat belts or not.  Currently, six states have seat belt laws that apply to buses, but not every state has provided school districts the necessary funding to comply with the mandates.
     Video from around the U.S. shows scenes of adults and children flying out of their seats during school bus crashes. But transportation experts argue buses are designed so that seat belts aren’t necessary. Statistically, most crashed are collisions with other vehicles. Read more

School bus crash revives seat belt debate

Smart Money Abandoning Renewable Energy

Commentary by Marita Noon - British Petroleum is still one of the world’s biggest oil companies. But as early as the late 1990’s they didn’t want you think of them that way. CEO Lord John Browne of Madingley argued that “the transition to alternatives could be accelerated by changing industry practices today.” While other oil companies eschewed climate change alarmism, BP embraced it. In 2002, Lord Browne declared: “Climate change is an issue which raises fundamental questions about the relationship between companies and society as a whole, and between one generation and the next,”
     As a result, Mother Jones reported in 2006: “BP vowed to cut its own CO2 emissions and invest heavily in solar, wind, and other alternative technologies; it even supported … the Kyoto climate treaty.” BP jumped into renewables and their moniker underwent an evolution from British Petroleum to BP, then to Beyond Petroleum. Between 2000 and 2005 BP invested $500 million into solar power and $30 million on wind and have invested more than $4 billion in alternative energy in the US since 2005.  ExxonMobil didn’t agree.
     ExxonMobil took a different course. In 2005, then-CEO Lee Raymond, said: “What all these people are thinking about doing, we did 20 years ago—and spent $1 billion, in dollars of that day, to find out that none of these were economic.” “In the late 1970s, as oil prices skyrocketed, Exxon diversified into an array of fossil-fuel alternatives, including nuclear and solar energy.” “After several years, Exxon still couldn't see prospects for renewable energy turning into a money-maker, especially since oil prices were falling in the 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the company decided to get out of the business.”
     Andrew Logan of Ceres, a Boston-based environmental group, sees two possible scenarios: “One is that all the scientists in the world are wrong, in which case there’s no climate change, in which case Exxon will do well.” He then says: “But if the scientists are correct and we have to find a way to transform the way we use energy, then Exxon is going to lag significantly behind its competitors.”
     It is obvious now, nearly a decade later, which was the sound strategy. Global warming is not the manmade crisis it was predicted to be in the mid-2000s and we know that oil is “going to last a whole heck of a lot longer.” Today, innovation and imagination are producing record quantities of domestically produced oil and gas. Robert Bryce reports: “we won’t hit peak oil until we hit peak imagination.” And, Exxon’s Raymond made the right choice to get out of renewable energy. Read more

Smart Money Abandoning Renewable Energy

Man posing as UPS worker forces into home and injures teen

From KOB-TV.com - An Albuquerque teen is recovering tonight after a man pretending to be a UPS worker forced his way into a home. That’s when police said the man slashed the teen’s face with a box cutter.  It happened Saturday afternoon near Winrock Mall. olice told KOB Eyewitness News 4 the man is still on the run.
     The teen’s uncle told KOB he was home alone when he heard a knock at the door. He thought his mom was expecting a package. The news had neighbors worried it could happen again. Neighbors who live near Pennsylvania Place are left with many questions Saturday. “What was the purpose? What was the intent?,” asked Carla Zuniga.
     Zuniga never thought she had to teach her son to never open the door to a mailman or a UPS worker. “I know he’ll go to the mailman. I think it’s more of educating him to know not to. It’s scary but who do you trust? You don’t trust anybody anymore,” added Zuniga, who’s lived in the area for more than 10 years.
     KOB learned people pretending to be UPS workers to commit a crime is rather uncommon. But still, Zuniga said she will use this situation as a tool. Read more

Man posing as UPS worker forces into home and injures teen

Susana signs last-second tax bill into law

From Capitol Report New Mexico - On Thursday (April 4) in Albuquerque, Gov. Susana Martinez signed the tax bill that zoomed through the state Senate and House of Representatives at the last minute of the just-completed legislative session. “We have to choose to compete to turn our state’s economy around,” Gov. Martinez said during the signing ceremony for the omnibus bill, which was a product of old-fashioned political horse trading in which both Republicans and Democrats each received some prized pieces of legislation.
     For Democrats, they got 1) the so-called “Breaking Bad” bill that boosts the state’s rebate for television producers increases from 25 percent to 30 percent if they shoot at least six episodes in New Mexico and 2) what’s called “combined reporting” of taxes for “big box” retail companies — but only unless they have non-retail operations in the state employing at least 750 people.
     Republicans and the Martinez administration were able to get a lowering of the top corporate income tax rate to 5.9 percent (it’s now at 7.6 percent) that will be phased in over five years and a gradual elimination of the $140 million in “hold harmless” revenue given to local communities — something that has been reported to cost the state millions.
     “It’s not a perfect package,” Martinez said, “but Republicans and Democrats came together to pass a game-changing jobs policy.” Read more

Susana signs last-second tax bill into law

Features of society to which we can attach no benefit

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. A man brought a computer to the repair counter of a technology store. He said loudly to the technician, “Every time I hit the save button the computer immediately shuts down and I lose my document.” The computer technician looked puzzled for a moment and then said matter-of-factly, “Well, that certainly is a feature of the computer to which we can attach no benefit.”

     I laughed out loud but was the only one, in fact, both gave me a dirty look. But I do not care what you say, that is funny. Often we face the same kinds of problems and we wonder why a labor-saving device takes more energy than doing the task originally.

     It got me thinking about other problems in our country where we want to slap our heads in frustration. At times it seems we taxpayers are paying money to have a problem which of course is not good. There seems to be much of what the government does that we can attach no benefit. Example: when red light cameras came to communities at times there were more accidents rather than less. The idea in the ideal of red-light cameras was to make the intersections more safe rather than less.
     I have a theory about why the red-light cameras can make it more dangerous: drivers are aware of the red-light cameras and their ticketing of citizens. It makes them nervous watching the lights. While they are looking at the lights they are not looking at the traffic in the intersection. Looking at the red-light cameras is a distraction from the traffic in the intersection. When they do this, often they run into the back of other cars, an effect of red light cameras to which we can attach no benefit.
     The minimum wage was said to be for the least wealthy of our citizens. Those least wealthy also are often the least able to be productive because they have little or no job experience. So the government moves the minimum wage up and these people who were supposed to be helped were left out of the job market because they do not have job skills equal to the wages that employers must pay. So after all is said and done the people the minimum wage was supposed to help are unemployable, a result of the minimum wage to which we can attach no benefit. Read more

Features of society to which we can attach no benefit

New sex offender law closes major loophole

Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation that will require convicted sex offenders who move to New Mexico to register with authorities for the crimes they committed in other states. 

The governor said Wednesday the new law closes a loophole that had allowed some out-of-state sex offenders to avoid registration in New Mexico. The measure also will require offenders to supply authorities with more information, including their email addresses and monikers used on social networking site. 

The new law takes effect in July. 

Currently offenders must register with law enforcement if they've been convicted of certain sex crimes in New Mexico or the equivalents of those crimes in other states. 

However, a state Supreme Court ruling last year highlighted problems in determining whether out-of-state crimes fall under New Mexico registration requirements.

New sex offender law closes major loophole

Bingaman takes fellowship at Stanford

Jeff Bingaman

Jeff Bingaman, the former head of the U.S. Senate energy committee, is headed to back to Stanford Law School. 

The New Mexico Democrat and Stanford alumnus will be joining the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance as a distinguished fellow. The fellowship will last a year.

 The law school says Bingaman will be reviewing the status of renewable energy standards in dozens of states to determine what policies can be adopted to improve the programs. 

Bingaman says part of the mission is to find cost-effective solutions for advancing clean energy.

Bingaman takes fellowship at Stanford

NMSU regents approve 3% tuition increase

The New Mexico State University Board of Regents approved a 3 percent increase in tuition and fees starting with the Fall, 2013 semester.  

The increase means a full-time New Mexico resident undergraduate will pay $6222/year, while a full-time non-resident will pay $19,640.  Meal plan rates will rise 3.4%, which reflects an increase in costs, according to the University.  There will be no increase in housing costs.  

The increases received support from all members of the Board of Regents, with the exception of newly-appointed student Regent Jordan Banegas.

  NMSU remains among the lowest-priced schools among its peer institutions.

NMSU regents approve 3% tuition increase

Gov. signs corporate tax bill

Gov. Martinez

Gov. Susana Martinez plans to sign a measure into law to lower taxes on corporations as an economic development incentive.

The governor's office said Martinez will sign the legislation today.

Key provisions will reduce the state's corporate income tax rate from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent over five years, and provide a tax break to manufacturers that sell most of their goods and services outside of New Mexico. 

Supporters say the tax changes can help New Mexico in recruiting businesses or encouraging them to expand, potentially bringing more jobs to the state.

New Mexico's top corporate income rate is the highest among neighboring states. 

Friday is the deadline for the governor to sign or veto measures passed by the Legislature during its recently completed 60-day session.

Gov. signs corporate tax bill