Census: more people leaving NM than coming in

According to the latest census numbers, more people are leaving New Mexico than moving in. 

This might be a result of fewer jobs in the state. Those same census numbers show that a number of recent grads are heading to cities in Texas such as Austin, Houston and Dallas, all of which had a surge in population last year. 

Between July 2011 and July 2012, 5,200 people moved out the Land of Enchantment, nearly the entire population of Tucumcari, per census data.

 Paralleling the overall decline is what officials call a “very slow growth.” Jobs from the oil industry and newborns have contributed to this growth. 

New Mexico has lost 43,000 jobs since the recession began six years ago, according to a local economist.  

Census: more people leaving NM than coming in

New meeting notice and agenda law to take efffect

School boards, city councils, state agencies and other governmental groups must soon start giving New Mexicans greater notice of scheduled meetings and their planned agenda. 

A state law taking effect on June 14 requires governmental organizations to make their meeting agendas available to the public 72 hours in advance and post it on their web site. Current law requires a 24-hour public meeting notice. 

For governmental groups that meet more than once a week, a draft agenda must be provided 72 hours in advance and the final agenda has to be posted at least 36 hours before a meeting. 

New meeting notice and agenda law to take efffect

New NMSU pres. wants other finalists for provost

Garrey Carruthers

New Mexico State University President-designate Garrey Carruthers may hire one of the other finalists for president of the university as its next top academic administrator.

 The NMSU Faculty Senate on June 6 will consider allowing Carruthers to waive normal search procedures if he hires one of the finalists as provost. 

Faculty Senate Chair Dennis Clason says the finalists were carefully vetted during the presidential search process. 

Carruthers was named NMSU president May 6 and officially begins those duties Saturday. 

The other finalists were Guy Bailey, David Ashley, Elsa Murano and Daniel Howard.

New NMSU pres. wants other finalists for provost

Hospital considering Las Cruces Country Club location

Part of the site of the former Las Cruces Country Club is being proposed as the site for a new hospital that would specialize in cardiac medicine.

  If rezoning of the 30-acre site is approved, the 42-bed Park Ridge Medical Center project proposed by Galichia Hospital Group LLC would help fill an area that is the largest open space within the city limits of Las Cruces. 

The entire former country club property is 110 acres, and other development could include a hotel, a small office park, multi-family housing and a combination assisted-living center and rehabilitation hospital.

Hospital considering Las Cruces Country Club location

Alamogordo judge resigns to avoid disciplinary action

Judge William Brogan

New Mexico's highest court has allowed a state district court judge in Alamogordo to resign to avoid disciplinary action for alleged misconduct and failing to carry out his duties. 

District Judge William Brogan resigned Friday under an agreement approved by the state Supreme Court, which released a copy of its order on Tuesday. 

The Judicial Standards Commission had started disciplinary proceedings against Brogan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct since 2011, including repeatedly failing to follow rules for handing criminal cases. 

The commission said the judge "failed to maintain competence in the performance of judicial duties" or was "unable to perform judicial duties competently and diligently."

Alamogordo judge resigns to avoid disciplinary action

Meteorologist replies to Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the Moore, OK. tornado

Commentary by Bob Endlich, News New Mexico - On 20 May 2013 a devastating tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma with the loss of 24 lives, including 10 children, injuring hundreds of victims, and with damage estimates over $1.5 Billon.

     Within hours Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse was on the floor of the US Senate with a placard, “Time to Wake Up,” in a theme stating the cause of the wildfires in Texas, and tornadoes, was directly tied to man-caused CO2-fueld Global Warming. Sen. Sheldon’s speech included the phrase “the damage that your polluters and Deniers are doing…”

     He would include me on the list of “Deniers,” but I would like to include in this note some Science, where Senator Whitehouse desperately needs education.

     First, CO2 is not a pollutant, it is absolutely essential for life as we know it, because it is plants which turn CO2 into the food upon which we and all animal life on this planet depend for our sustenance. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere today, some 400 parts/million, is precariously low when compared over geologic time. During the previous glacial, the Wisconsin, 22,000 years ago, deciduous tree life collapsed in Georgia, and pine trees collapsed from CO2 starvation during the latter part of the Wisconsin as evidenced at the La Brea Tar Pits in California. 

     Second, the 2011 fires in Texas and the accompanying drought were caused by the large multi-year climate fluctuations over North America, El Nino-La Nina, also called ENSO, El Nino - Southern Oscillation, not CO2. Sen. Whitehouse should see the map at
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensocycle/nawinter.shtml
from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, which shows the dry conditions from Arizona to Florida during La Nina conditions.Read column

Meteorologist replies to Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the Moore, OK. tornado

Specialists addressing high rate of preschool expulsions in NM

From KOB-TV.com - By: Heather Mills, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - New Mexico has one of the highest rates of preschool expulsion in the country. Specialists in UNM's Department of Psychiatry say there are several reasons for that. One, there's a high percentage of parents or caregivers with a history of substance abuse or mental illness. Two, there's a high number of immigrant families with one or both parents missing. Specialists are working on intervention and say it starts in the womb.
     Rocio Quintana and her husband have their hands full with four daughters. She says being a mom is rewarding, but it's not easy. "I don't know how to be a mom, I don't know if I'm doing a good job or not," Quintana said.
     Concerned when her 7-year-old started becoming more withdrawn, she brought her daughter to UNM's Young Children's Health Center in Albuquerque. "She started working closely with Dr. Anilla Del Fabbro. Quintana added, "At first it was really hard for both of us and now the help they've given me, it's teaching her how to do it and teaching myself how to do it."
     "Really child psychiatry should start as early as, when moms are pregnant." Dr. Del Fabbro says that's because, whether she knows it or not, a mom can harbor emotions from her childhood and pass them down. She says behavior modification is sometimes needed, but mostly she observes and teaches parents that they already have the tools they need to make their children happy.
     Dr. Del Fabbro received a grant through UNM. This summer she's establishing a group for moms and caregivers, for both support and parenting education. Read more

Specialists addressing high rate of preschool expulsions in NM

N.M. senators want expanded hours at Santa Teresa port of entry

From the Alamogordo Daily News - New Mexico's U.S. senators are requesting that hours at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry be expanded to an around-the-clock operation.
     Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, both Democrats, sent a letter Friday to Janet Napolitano, U.S. secretary of homeland security, asking for extended hours. Commercial hours of operation at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry now are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.
     "The additional capacity would help increase bilateral trade, grow our economy and create jobs," the senators said.
     Heinrich, in his first year in the Senate after representing the Albuquerque area in the House of Representatives, toured the Santa Teresa port this month. Read more

N.M. senators want expanded hours at Santa Teresa port of entry

Vandals take down APD surveillance unit

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE  - Two vandals had to have known they were being watched by a clearly marked Albuquerque Police surveillance camera set up at a park. But that didn't stop two brazen criminals from walking right up and committing a crime. The mobile video surveillance trailer has cameras that stand roughly 30-foot in the air. Officer Robert Gibbs, of Albuquerque Police Department, said in this case, police were trying to capture an alleged flasher at the park.
     However, vandals sent that expensive surveillance tool to the ground Saturday. It's a camera that catches criminal activity when no one else appears to be watching. Video from APD's mobile surveillance trailer shows two vandals approaching the unit around 3:30 Saturday morning. The suspects check it out, then apparently try to knock it down.
     "This trailer is clearly marked with Albuquerque Police decals and markings," explained Gibbs. "These individuals had no regard to this property knowing that it belongs to the police, essentially the taxpayers. Also, it was set up for public safety."
     Although it took them several minutes, checking each side of the trailer, even climbing on top of it at one point, the two suspects eventually knocked the surveillance trailer down, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The mobile surveillance unit is worth nearly $70,000 and can be monitored 24-hours-a-day from APD's real time crime center. Read more

Vandals take down APD surveillance unit

Thanks and Devotion This Memorial Day

Commentary By Jackie Gingrich Cushman - If you were to suddenly appear this weekend at the numerous barbecues or pool parties, without any knowledge of our nation's history, it might be hard to understand the real meaning of Memorial Day. Is it a day to sell cars, clothes and mattresses? Is it a day off of work, a time to join with family and friends, and grill out?
     For our family, Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer. School is out, and we transition from the school year to summer activities. But, oh, it is so much more.
     Memorial Day can be traced back to John Logan, who served as an Illinois congressman prior to the Civil War, then volunteered as a Union soldier and was promoted during the war to general. He issued an order in 1868 to honor those who died in the war. At that time, he was serving as commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of former Union soldiers.
     "The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country," stated the order. "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance," it said, adding that their deaths were "the cost of free and undivided republic."
     The Civil War was the most deadly war for Americans. More than 600,000 American soldiers died. That first year, approximately 5,000 people gathered at Arlington Cemetery to decorate the graves with American flags. Since then, the custom has grown and spread.
     Arlington Cemetery, located in Virginia, across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, is today the military graveyard of hundreds of thousands of United States soldiers. On a recent visit to our nation's capital, I had the opportunity to walk through the cemetery and visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
     Walking through the cemetery, surrounded by thousands of small, white gravestones, perfectly aligned, row after row, it is easy to remember the sacrifice that has been made on our account. Soldiers have died. Families have lost sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. There are miles and miles of trails through the cemetery.
      At home, at the beach or at the pool, taking time to reflect on the importance of Memorial Day may prove difficult to do amid the sales and BBQs, the day off from work. But we should all pause and remember -- to honor those who have given their lives for our country and to dedicate ourselves to living in a way that ensures their sacrifices were not in vain.Read full column

Thanks and Devotion This Memorial Day