Aggie Women's Basketball Falls 88-79 In Season Opener At North Dakota State

bleedCrimson.net Report

The New Mexico State women's basketball team lost their season opener 88-79 at North Dakota State on Friday night. The Aggies could not overcome 43 free throw attempts by the Bison as NDSU converted on 31 attempts. The Bison also got career nights from Janae Burich and Katie Birkel who finished with 27 and 25 points respectively. The Aggies had five players finish in double-digits scoring-wise as Jasmine Lowe led the way with 13 points but was just 1-of-7 from behind the three point arc. Seniors Madison Spence and Danisha Corbett each scored 12 points while junior college transfer Ariella McGhee finished with 10 points and junior Tabytha Wampler added 10 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.

The Aggies trailed early 10-4 but cut the lead to 13-10 after a free throw by Tabytha Wampler with 13:26 left in the half. The Bison would go on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 11 at 21-10 and just three minutes later held a 16-point lead at 31-15 with 8:46 left to play. The Aggies would still trail by 15 points with 5:19 left as they were behind 37-22 but a jumper by Andrea Chenier with 4:48 left would spark a 12-2 run that cut the led to just five points at 39-34 with 1:10 left in the half. The Aggies would get a pair of layups in the the final 33 seconds of the half to go into halftime down by just three at 41-38.

The Aggies would tie the score at 72-72 with exactly five minutes remaining but a 6-0 run over the next 1:20 left the Aggies trailing 78-72. The Aggies would get no closer as the Bison would salt the game away at the free throw line hitting 7-of-8 free throws over the final 1:27 to seal an 88-79 victory and avenging the loss to the Aggies last year.

The Aggies return to action on Saturday night as they travel to Grand Forks, N.D. to take on North Dakota. Click here to read more.

Aggie Women's Basketball Falls 88-79 In Season Opener At North Dakota State

Aggie Men's Basketball Opens Season With 92-76 Victory At Louisiana

bleedCrimson.net Report
The New Mexico State men's basketball team got career highs from Troy Gillenwater and Hernst Laroche as the Aggies cruised to a 92-76 season opening victory over Louisiana on Friday night. Gillenwater scored 30 points hitting five twos, five threes and five free throws. Laroche had a near perfect night from the field hitting 6-of-6 from the field including 4-of-4 from three point distance. His lone miss came from the free throw line finishing 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

The Ragin' Cajuns jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead just over two minutes into the game but the Aggies would take an 8-7 lead on the first of Troy Gillenwater's five three pointers. The Aggies would score five more unanswered points to cap an 11-0 run taking a 13-7 lead with 14:06 left in the half. The Cajuns would trim the Aggies' lead to just two points at 16-14 with 11:29 left in the half but the Aggies would go on a quick 8-3 run to push their lead back out to seven points at 24-17.

Louisiana would cut the lead back down to two points at 24-22 with 6:56 left in the half but the Aggies would go on a 15-8 run over the next four and a half minutes to take an 11 point lead with just over two minutes left in the half. The Cajuns would close the half outscoring the Aggies 6-3 to send the teams to halftime with the Aggies leading 42-34.

Coming out of the break the Cajuns would cut the Aggies' lead to just five after a three pointer from Randell Daigle but the Aggies would answer with a three pointer from Hernst Laroche to go back up by eight points.

Louisiana would trail by 12 points after a pair of free throws by Scottie Farrington but Troy Gillenwater would bury a three pointer to put the Aggies up by 15 at 83-68 with 4:40 left. The Aggies would hold their largest lead of the game at 88-69 after a dunk by Hamidu Rahman with 3:00 left. The Aggies would score their final points of the night on a dunk by B.J. West with 50 seconds left as the Aggies led 92-73. The Cajuns would add three more points to make the final score 92-76.

The Aggies finished the game shooting 51.7 percent from the floor and were red-hot in the second half hitting 78 percent of their shots. Louisiana shot 44.6 percent from the floor for the game.

The Aggies return to action on Monday night when they open up their home schedule against Western New Mexico. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Pan American Center. Click here to read more.

Aggie Men's Basketball Opens Season With 92-76 Victory At Louisiana

URGENT: NM budget deficit NOT $260 million — try $452 million!

From Capitol Report New Mexico - New Mexico’s budget deficit has been revised upwards from an estimated $260 million for next year up to $452 million, according to outgoing Gov. Bill Richardson’s financial expert. The revision — which equates to a staggering 74 percent increase — means the state legislature and incoming Gov. Susana Martinez have a much more daunting task to balance the state budget for the next fiscal year which starts July 2011 and ends in June of 2012. The disclosure — reported by Barry Massey of Associated Press following an interview with Finance and Administration Secretary Dannette Burch – led to sharp exchanges from the incoming and outgoing gubernatorial administrations. The Martinez camp issued this news release late Thursday afternoon:

“The revelation of a near half-billion dollar deficit is far worse than expected and confirms our suspicions that the Richardson/Denish administration has been hiding the ball all along with respect to the true budget deficit. This clearly has very serious implications for all New Mexicans. I will work with the legislature to make the tough decisions necessary to balance the budget by getting spending under control. The long-term solution to our budget crisis is to get our economy moving again and that is why I will oppose efforts to raise taxes. We must put an end to the financial shell games that have been played for far too long.”

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos then issued his own statement saying:

“[I]t’s not surprising that Susana Martinez doesn’t understand the state budget and the growth of Medicaid since she ignored it during the campaign and has not yet accepted our offer for a thorough briefing.”

AP reports that Medicaid costs account for most of the budget shortfall — $397 million, according to Burch. Medicaid provides health care for roughly one-fourth of the state’s citizens. Read more

URGENT: NM budget deficit NOT $260 million — try $452 million!

APS Votes To Not Ask Students Their Immigration Status

From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Albuquerque Public Schools board members voted Tuesday to make it official policy that schools will teach all students, no matter what their immigration status is. The informal policy has been to not ask students if they are in the country illegally, but now board members have said that they would like the practice to be official policy. APS board member David Peercy said that they are now following federal guidelines. "These are kids. These are students. These are children. It's really important for us to protect the children that are in our country. Some of them have been born here and their parents may be illegal," he said. Read more

APS Votes To Not Ask Students Their Immigration Status

N.M. agencies step in for sacred lake

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - by Susan Montoya Bryan of The Associated Press — Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday called on a handful of state agencies to help expand protections for a small lake near the New Mexico-Arizona border that is held sacred by American Indian tribes throughout the region. Richardson signed an executive order that spells out the additional protections that tribal officials and traditional leaders at Zuni Pueblo had long been seeking. The order was signed during a ceremony at the pueblo that was attended by hundreds of people. "This day will be remembered in Zuni for a long time to come, not just for what is being signed by our friend Governor Bill Richardson today, but for all the battles that have been fought by a collection of individuals, tribal leaders, organizations and friends of our Mother, Zuni Salt Lake," said Zuni Pueblo Gov. Norman Cooeyate. Read more

N.M. agencies step in for sacred lake

Germany rebuffs Obama on trade gap

From the Washington Times - By Patrice Hill - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday rejected a U.S. proposal to try to cap global trade imbalances while the world's other export powerhouse, China, shunned U.S. calls for speedier economic reform. In one-on-one meetings with the heads of the U.S.'s biggest nemeses on trade issues at a Group of 20 economic powers meeting in Seoul, President Obama pressed his case for trying to curb ballooning trade deficits and surpluses to help prevent another financial collapse like the one that toppled the world economy in 2008. But Mrs. Merkel shut the door on any concrete commitment from Europe's export engine to limit its large trade surpluses to 4 percent of economic output — a proposal floated by the U.S. in behind-the-scenes negotiations. "To set political limits on trade surpluses and deficits is neither economically justified nor politically appropriate," the German leader told a G-20 business summit. At her meeting with Mr. Obama, the German leader repeated concerns about the Federal Reserve's controversial decision last week to buy $900 billion of U.S. Treasury debt in the next six months. European officials worry the move will provoke a round of inflation and destructive currency devaluations. Read more

Germany rebuffs Obama on trade gap

Is the Richardson-Susana honeymoon over already?

From Capitol Report New Mexico - It seems like just yesterday. No, wait it minute. It was yesterday. On Tuesday, Governor-elect Susana Martinez and outgoing Gov. Bill Richardson posed for pictures and were all smiles. Wednesday Heather Wilson of the Martinez transition team released this letter sent to Richardson’s chief of staff: ...Dear Brian, In my first communication to you on November 4, 2010, I asked you suspend any transfers of personnel from exempt positions to classified positions effective immediately. I suggested if there are particularly compelling circumstances, we should discuss them on a case-by-case basis. Today’s Albuquerque Journal reports that, “More of Gov. Bill Richardson’s political appointees have slid into career civil service jobs with state government in recent months … Appointees, or so-called exempt employees, serve at the pleasure of the governor.” These kinds of personnel actions in the waning days of an administration certainly seem to circumvent the will of the people of New Mexico who voted in a new administration into office just a week ago. The fact that some of these employees are apparently moving into jobs with very high salaries when there is a freeze in place for hiring and a $250 million-plus state budget deficit is inappropriate. The Governor-elect has made clear that current employees are welcome to apply for jobs in her administration. She is looking for highly-qualified people of character who share her vision for the state of New Mexico. I am reiterating my request that you immediately suspend any transfers of political appointees to classified posts. Read more

Is the Richardson-Susana honeymoon over already?

Is the “Orange Barrel Capital” back?

From KRQE.com - ALBUQUERQUE - by Jeff Todd - “It’s a nightmare,” Joe Lerma said as he was waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. “I live on the West Side, and it’s terrible over there," added Louise Cordova. "Every other corner up there off Unser and I-40, there are barrels all up in there." No matter which quadrant of Albuquerque you visit, there’s at least one major road construction project going on. But while drivers are learning to cope with the orange barrels, the city is saying all the construction is a good thing. “We're going after, aggressively, all the capital money that we have that the voters have entrusted us with," said Michael Riordan, the acting director of municipal development for the city of Albuquerque. "When the mayor started his administration, he challenged me, he challenged my department to get as much work as he could. "It takes some time to develop those projects now we're meeting the fruition of that." Almost all of the projects are being paid for by general obligation bonds, and the city says the massive amount of projects underway right now is a good thing for the community. "In about a year from now, when the projects are complete, year to 18 months, the public is going to get the benefit of the new infrastructure, and in the meantime the construction industry is getting the benefits of the jobs," Riordan said. Read more

Is the “Orange Barrel Capital” back?

Lawmakers face $1 trillion decision

From the P0litico.com - Amid voter anger over spending – and in the shadow of a punishing election for Democrats – congressional leaders are struggling to perform their most basic duty: funding the government. None of the options ahead are politically appetizing: one big trillion-dollar-plus "omnibus" bill to cover the rest of the fiscal year; a yearlong continuing resolution (CR) that would keep government agencies funded at their current levels, or a short-term resolution that would punt everything to the new Congress – and the new GOP House majority. Since Congress has failed to clear any of the 12 annual appropriations bills, any option lawmakers choose now will come with an eye-popping cost as they try to fund everything from defense operations to student loans. Read more

Lawmakers face $1 trillion decision

Republican Strategy? Run Rahm's Renter

From Chicago Now.com - by Emily Zanoti - Next time I'm condo hunting, I'm going to search high and low for the most infamous landlord Ican find, because clearly, signing the right lease with the right guy can make you a star:

In his bid for mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel could face an unlikely challenger: the man who's currently living in Emanuel's own house. Rob Halpin, the man who currently occupies Emanuel's Northside home -- the same one who refused to move out once Rahm decided to move back to Chicago -- is considering running for mayor himself.

"It's not a joke, I do want to be mayor," Halpin told Ward Room Wednesday. "I'm a businessman and I want to bring jobs to Chicago not the suburbs."What a fortuitous coincidence. It seems as though Mr. Halpin was approached 19th Ward Republican James Parrilli and businessman John Cleary during Sunday's Bears game, explained to him why he'd make an excellent mayor, and recruited him to run, cigars and all. Turns out, he's perfectly qualified: he's a businessman, he can pronounce the word "Chicago" properly, he's got campaign priorities (creating jobs) and, most importantly, he hates Rahm Emanuel. Read more

Republican Strategy? Run Rahm's Renter