LANL to shut down Friday unless shutdown ends

From KOB-TV.com - By: Erica Zucco, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Unless Congress reaches a deal and ends the government shutdown soon, Los Alamos National Laboratory will close this Friday. The entire town of Los Alamos is bracing for the impact, since the laboratory is the biggest employer there. A shutdown would also crush local businesses that rely on customers who work at the lab.
     The Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce says without those families spending, fragile local businesses could crumble. The shutdown itself will hurt city operations directly. “I see it as potential for a major failure,” Katy Korko said. “Our county government relies on Gross receipts taxes, which they receive from the operations of Los Alamos National Lab.”
     It’s a disaster they can see coming, and hope politicians will prevent. “The true impact of what's going on is not hitting home to the people in Washington,” Wells said. “I love our nation. This is a great nation. We need to act like we are.”
     It’s still unclear how many of the lab’s 10,000 employees will be affected. The House passed a bill to protect funding for the labs, but the Senate hasn’t touched it yet. They say they’re waiting for a bill to fund the entire government. More

LANL to shut down Friday unless shutdown ends

State to pay National Guard workers amid furlough

Gov. Susana Martinez's administration is stopping the furlough of several dozen civilian state workers for the National Guard by agreeing to cover their salaries this week while a federal government shutdown continues. 

A spokesman for the National Guard said Monday that the 55 employees maintain guard facilities across the state and include staff responsible for computer security and construction management. The state will pay about $53,500 to maintain the workers on the payroll this week by covering the federal share of their salaries. They otherwise would have been furloughed starting Monday.

 If the partial federal shutdown continues, the governor's office said New Mexico will consider whether to keep the civilian workers in their jobs.

State to pay National Guard workers amid furlough

Gov. speaks on youth ranch investigation

Gov. Martinez

Gov. Susana Martinez says evidence found at a New Mexico youth ranch for troubled kids corroborates allegations by current and former students of abuse. 

Martinez made the comments on Monday in defense of the state's handling of an investigation into the Tierra Blanca High Country Youth Program near Hillsboro . 

An Amber Alert and state police manhunt was launched Friday after officers found the ranch empty when they arrived to take custody of the children. Pete Domenici Jr., the ranch's attorney, said the children were safe and being returned to their parents. Martinez says officers issued the alert as they moved to verify that information. The alert was cancelled on Sunday.

 Police continue to seek the operator of the ranch, Scott Chandler, for questioning. Chandler has denied any children have been harmed.

Gov. speaks on youth ranch investigation

Get Rid of Ethanol Exchanges Too

Commentary by Marita Noon - Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of Obamacare. If it were front and center of the newscycle, as Obamacare is, most would also have the same repeal-or-revise attitude regarding ethanol mandates as the two are marching hand-in-hand. In addition to the odd collection of opponents—conservatives and unions in opposition to Obamacare; and environmentalists and big oil, auto manufacturers and anti-hunger groupsoppose ethanol—there are numerous other similarities.

      Healthcare for all sounds like a good idea, after all who wants to tell a mother holding a sick child that she can’t get care? Likewise, homegrown fuel that will increase America’s energy independence, sounds good—especially when the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was passed by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

     While both Obamacare and the RFS were passed by Congress, the particulars are left to government agencies to regulate. With the RFS, the EPA has missed statutory deadlines for issuing RFS volume requirements and then released rules mandating that refiners use 4 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel in 2013. Yet, according to the EPA, only 142,000 gallons have been available for refiners to blend so far. Reports indicate that for 2014, the target for cellulosic biofuel would be 23 million gallons—despite the fact that the fuel is virtually nonexistent.
     While the Obamacare exchanges have not been working as expected—with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina reporting only one person enrolled after 24 hours, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius admitted to Jon Stewart that if someone doesn’t participate “they pay a fine.” Guess what? Even though there isn’t enough cellulosic ethanol to meet the EPA mandates, refiners are required to blend it into gasoline—and, if they don’t, they pay a fine.
     Obamacare has created a whole new set of problems such as doctor shortages,reduced work hours, and sticker shock. The RFS, also, brings a host of unintended consequences:
•Ethanol reduces miles per gallon—At a time when the White House has upped the MPG a vehicle gets (known as the CAFE standards) it is also mandating the use of ethanol, which lowers MPG.

•Ethanol mandates have devastated the dairy industry (and turkey growers are none too happy, either)—In rural California, dairy farmers have been deeply affected by the rising cost of feed (which has jumped as much as 240 percent since 2005) brought on by mandated ethanol blending by the RFS.

•Ethanol damages small engines and outdoor power equipment—In my bookEnergy Freedom, I have an entire chapter on ethanol. For it, I interviewed Abe at K & S Services Center in Albuquerque, NM—which specializes in small engine service and repair. He told me that 85 percent of the repairs they do are caused by fuel problems. Read full column

Get Rid of Ethanol Exchanges Too

Balloon Fiesta wraps up with mass liftoff

From KRQE-TV.com - by Bill Diven - ALBUQUERQUE - The 42nd Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta floated into history Sunday with the farewell mass ascension of its nine-day run.
     While winds blew out some events during the Fiesta, breezes Sunday morning were light enough to allow pilots a last flight.
     It's not known if the wind had picked up enough later in the morning to contribute to what witnesses called a difficult landing that injured a passenger. Rio Rancho police report a balloon was attempting to land near the 500 block of Quantum Road shortly before 9 a.m. when the gondola dragged into a curb.
     That tipped the basket and resulted in a leg injury to a passenger. Police said the 68-year-old man was taken to Rust Medical Center for treatment.
     His identity and medical condition have not yet been released. More

Balloon Fiesta wraps up with mass liftoff

Swickard: That One Moment of a Mobster President

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “You don’t understand, I could have had class. I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.” Marlon Brando in the 1964 movie, On the Waterfront.
     Some think too little about it while others think too much. At some point most people consider their legacy. “How will I be remembered?” Most people are born relatively anonymously. They live and die such that only friends and family know them, but the world does not unless they have “That One Moment.”
     Almost everyone famous has had That One Moment when they went above themselves, or below. Some are branded by events that define their entire life. Former President Richard Nixon is best remembered from the aircraft door waving as he left his tarnished presidency. Harry Truman is remembered holding up an incorrect newspaper headline: Dewey Wins. President Gerald Ford will forever be stumbling down stairs.
     President Bill Clinton is remembered for his believable denial, “… I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky…” It was a great performance ruined later when he confessed he was lying the whole time. Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller had a heart attack possibly in the intimate embrace of a woman who was not his wife.
      First President George Washington was afraid he was going to be impeached before he could finish his second term. History instead remembers his best moments. History gave a moral pass to Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon Johnson, James Garfield, perhaps Eisenhower and certainly Franklin Roosevelt.
     Last week there was a moment which may become the legacy of President Barack Obama. It was the placing of an unnecessary fence around the World War Two Memorial. No other government shutdown resulted in the closing of Memorials.
     The core issue is that President Barack Obama was trying to make the partial government shutdown worse than it needed to be for ordinary Americans. There was no reason to hold 90 year-old veterans hostage other than the spitefulness of a Chicago style Mobster President.
     To many Americans this action was an indecent exposure of the Mobster President’s soul. This evil will be his legacy. It erases all of the good he did in other things because history will remember him for That One Moment. Read full column

Swickard: That One Moment of a Mobster President

Contaminated gas in 3 states, refinery admits mistake

From KOB-TV.com - By: Ryan Luby, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Roughly 100 people believe they pumped diluted gasoline into their vehicles earlier this week at a half dozen Giant convenience stores, according to the company tied to the problem. A spokesperson for Western Refining, which owns Giant, told 4 On Your Side that a gasket failed on a large petroleum storage tank near Gallup.
     "We have a number of safety processes and quality control processes in place, but one of the seals failed and allowed some water to leak into that tank, and it once it did, it got into a couple loads of our gasoline," spokesperson Gary Hanson said.
     Hanson said company workers did not realize the leak occurred until a customer called to complain on Tuesday. He said customers would not have been able to determine if the gas was contaminated.
     About a half dozen Giant convenience stores were affected -- including one in Rio Rancho on Route 528, and one in Albuquerque on Paradise and Universe Boulevards. The remaining stations are in: Show Low and Springerville, Arizona; Cortez and Durango, Colorado.
     Hanson said drivers who believe their vehicles have damage from the contaminated should callthe company's claims line at 1-877-511-1012.. He said they should have a receipt as proof of purchase and a damage estimate from a mechanic.
     "The process will probably take a couple of days. Once they get the repairs, our intent is to collect the receipts and get them a check as soon as we possibly can," he said. Dealers across the Albuquerque metro said they're working with more and more customers who have the same type of damage.
     Meanwhile, workers at the refinery are still trying to figure out what failed. "I don't have all the answers just yet, but obviously you try to learn from your mistakes and this is something that we want to make sure that doesn't happen again," Hanson said. More

Contaminated gas in 3 states, refinery admits mistake

Dumpster diving bears get new home at zoo

From KRQE-TV.com - ROSWELL, N.M. - There's new hope for a pair of dumpster diving bear cubs. They're the newest attraction at a southeastern New Mexico zoo after they were picked up off a Ruidoso street rummaging through trash bins with their mom.
     "Momma was a trash bear and the babies learned very quickly that the cafeteria was a trash can," said Roswell Spring River Park & Zoo Director Elaine Mayfield.
     But now these two cubs are the newest residents at the Spring River Park & Zoo in Roswell.
     It's a place where zookeepers say the animals will never have to scrounge for food again.
     "It's nice that we have them here," said Mayfield. It's a shame they can't be in the wild, but we will take them. They will be education ambassadors."
     Mayfield says the 7-month-old bears don't necessarily have the best record with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department and neither did their mom.
     "Several weeks ago, we had a female bear causing problems, breaking into cabins and things like that. She had lost all fear of humans and this was actually in downtown Ruidoso, so our officers responded, and of course this female bear had a couple cubs," said New Mexico Game and Fish public information officer Mark Madsen.
     Madsen says the mother bear had created so many problems he and his staff had to put her down.
      Luckily for the babies, now known as Sierra and Ursella, the Roswell zoo just happened to be looking for a new addition. Their bear, Otto, passed away last month.
     Zoo officials say the cubs are being housed in a temporary pin while they do some maintenance work on Otto's old home. They say they hope to have the bears moved into a permanent enclosure within the next month. More

Dumpster diving bears get new home at zoo

Navajo Nation reverses stance on horse slaughter

Bill Richardson and Robert Redford

The Navajo Nation, under fire by animal protection groups for its wild horse roundups and public support for a return to domestic horse slaughter, says it is reversing its stance following talks with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. 

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly says he met with Richardson over the weekend and the two have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to work together to find more long-term and humane solutions to the horse overpopulation problem. 

Tribal officials estimate the Navajo Nation has 75,000 feral horses drinking wells dry and causing ecological damage to the drought-stricken range.

 Richardson and actor Robert Redford this year created the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife, which is fighting efforts by a Roswell company to a horse slaughterhouse.

Navajo Nation reverses stance on horse slaughter

Flooding causes nearly $20 million in damage

Photo:KRQE

New Mexico officials say recent flooding caused about $19.8 million in damage to roads. 

In a briefing for a legislative panel on Tuesday, state Department of Transportation estimated it will cost about $13 million to repair state Route 159 in southwestern New Mexico. 

Part of the road leading to the tiny community of Mogollon was destroyed last month after heavy rains caused flooding. A department spokeswoman said reconstruction of two miles of the road near Mogollon will cost about $3 million and it will take $10 million to realign other parts of the road and deal with extensive erosion. Bulldozers have created a temporary road only for local access by high clearance vehicles.

 Damages totaled about $3 million to state Route 1 in Socorro County.

Flooding causes nearly $20 million in damage