Gila Regional Medical Center cuts employee hours
The Silver
City Sun-News reports that the hospital says the measures were needed after it
saw an increase in the numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients. The
hospital also is facing a cash crunch because of the shift from inpatient care
to outpatient care, and reduced reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
In
addition to the employee changes, the hospital is halting plans for the nearly
$40 million expansion project and postponing the conversion to a new health
information software system.
The employee status changes are expected to save
the hospital around $3.1 million.
SpaceX coming to Spaceport America
Governor Susana Martinez has announced that Space
Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, has signed a three-year
agreement to lease land and facilities at Spaceport
The company will be a new
tenant at Spaceport America ,
the state-owned commercial launch site located in southern New Mexico
SpaceX has completed
its first series of successful, low-altitude tests of the “Grasshopper” vehicle
in McGregor , Texas
and is proceeding to the next phase of development that includes testing in New Mexico
With
Grasshopper, SpaceX engineers are creating technology that will enable a rocket
to return to the launch pad intact for a vertical landing, rather than burning
up upon reentry in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Teenagers having a hard time finding work
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We paid a visit to Rain Tunnel Car Spa at Central and Rio Grande in Old Town, expecting to find some teenage workers. Wrong. You don’t find many teenagers working in the car wash industry now, with some notable exceptions. One of them is working at Rain Tunnel. Xavier Rojo is 18, and he’s a stud at Rain Tunnel – the drive-off man. But just about everybody else is over 21. Owner Buck Buckner says teenagers, especially high school
teenagers, just aren’t a good fit. “Because we’re a daytime business those hours are very limited for the teenager,” Buckner told us during a very busy lunch hour at the Rain Tunnel. “He has to come in and report at 3, and probably by 5:30 winter hours we close, and 6 o’clock summer hours we close. He’s off the clock, so it shortens his hours.”Xavier is a student at CNM, where he’s studying
automotive technology and design. His job fits his school schedule. “They were hiring and I just kept coming back and trying my hardest,” Xavier said while wipingdown a newly washed car. “You keep applying yourself and you go out there and look for jobs and you can find one. We’re in a tough economy but I believe you can really find a job if you really work hard, no matter what job it is.”New Mexico’s 19 percent teenage jobless rate is actually way better than most states. The national average is just over 24 percent. In California and South Carolina it’s 33 percent! So for once we’re not in the bottom ten! Read more
It is now President Garrey Carruthers
© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. A few weeks ago my column looked at what some said was already a decision by the New Mexico State University Regents to hire Garrey Carruthers as the next President of New Mexico State University. The Regents by law had to go through the open hiring process and so they did with five finalists. But I suspect they were already leaning toward Carruthers. I wrote:“The Regents … 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 his or her way around the Ag Barns.”
It became official when the Regents announced this week that Dean of the NMSU College of Business Garrey Carruthers is the next NMSU President. I applaud the decision for three reasons: first, he will hit the ground running and not take a year to get up to speed. Secondly, he understands NMSU’s mission and traditions. Finally, he is well liked and respected on the campus and around the state.
Other than one president in the 1950s who was only in Las Cruces a couple of years I have known all the NMSU presidents back to Hugh Milton who was selected before World War II. Most have been extraordinary.
Several, however, were not good and the chaos they caused was regrettable. Having the wrong person in charge as was shown with the last president caused lots of turmoil and intrigue. The last president did not like the smell of the Ag Barns. It is regrettable she was selected in the first place.
Carruthers does know his way around the Ag Barns and especially understands the Land-Grant mission. In the coming years those parts of the university that make NMSU unique will receive the priority they deserve. Further, Higher Education is changing and it takes a visionary to navigate the changes, holding on to what is important and taking advantage of the new opportunities. Read column
Lesser prairie chicken doesn't get federal protection
Gov. tightens control of capital improvement projects
Gov. Susana Martinez's administration
is tightening controls over capital improvement financing by requiring that
local governments, school districts and others in New Mexico have a current
audit before state money is released for a project.
Martinez issued an executive
order on Thursday to ensure that capital project financing goes only to
governmental organizations that have completed their annual audits and
corrected any problems identified by auditors.
The administration developed the
new guidelines after reviewing this year's $215 million in capital projects and
determining that some were for governmental groups late in submitting financial
audits required under current law.
NM Drought worst in the nation
In just the past week the percentage of New
Mexico
In the southwest New Mexico and Texas New Mexico
For
cattle ranchers that means high feed costs and
reducing their herd size. Farmers across the region are switching to
crops that require less water like cotton.
Also the danger of wildfire will only intensify as high winds and
hot temperatures combine in the coming weeks.
NMSU to announce new president Monday
Regents plan tentatively to reveal their pick on
Monday.
Finalists include NMSU business dean and former Gov. Garrey Carruthers,
former Texas Tech
University president Guy Bailey,
former University of Nevada , Las Vegas
president David Ashley, former Texas A&M University
president Elsa Murano and University
of Colorado Denver Dean Daniel Howard
Regents chair Mike Cheney says the bulk of deliberations about the candidates
will happen today.
Fire in Sandia Mountains
There is a
fire burning in the Sandia mountains four miles southeast of Bernalillo.
The
fire, which has been named the Piedra Fire, is approximately 50 acres in size,
according to Fire Information Officer Karen Takai.
The fire, which began around
2:30 a.m. Thursday, is burning in ponderosa pine and fir. Several spot fires to
the east of the main fire have been located. The cause of the fire is unknown. Officials
say no structures are in danger and the cause of the blaze near the historic village of Placitas
Hotshot crews and
Bureau of Indian Affairs crews are onsite, helicopters are making bucket drops,
and two air tankers and two air support modules are at the fire.
As a
precaution, Loop Road
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