Protesters To Rally On City Buses; protester ends five day hunger strike

From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The (Un)Occupy Burque movement protesters said they plan to board city buses, and take their message to riders throughout the city. They said by riding the buses, they hope to spread their word city-wide and other neighborhoods. Since Oct. 1, protesters have joined in the Occupy Wall Street movement, gathering at University of New Mexico's Yale Park and on the weekends, marching along Central. UNM President David Schmidly said he met with protester Sebastian Pais who went on a hunger strike for five days until their concerns were heard. Read more

Protesters To Rally On City Buses; protester ends five day hunger strike

Hay prices double, supply suffers from drought

From KOB-TV.com -By: Liz Lastra, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - If you buy hay, you may have noticed prices have almost doubled this past year. Lester Begay is a local hay seller. He said last year he charged $8 for a bale of hay and now that same bale is going for $15 and the increase is happening all over. "Anywhere from Cuba around Bloomfield and all the way around,” he said. Begay buys hay from the largest supplier in the Four Corners, the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, also known as N.A.P.I. He said he sees out-of-state suppliers leave with more hay than he’s allowed and with better prices. “They just totally refuse to work with any of the Navajo hay vendors," he said. Leonard Scott from N.A.P.I. said they are honoring contracts that were made over a year ago, before the drought changed the price and supply. Recently, they had to cut how much hay could be bought by everyone. “If we didn't deplete some of those measures we would have depleted our alfalfa now,” Scott said. Officials said N.A.P.I will run out of hay by the end of the year. “We will take some extra measures and make sure that we have put a plan together for next year. That we don't get into this situation again,” Scott said. Begay is worried his customers will not be able to afford to feed their horses and cattle. “It's possibly gonna go right back up to $20," he said. Read more

Hay prices double, supply suffers from drought

Student jailed for 2 nights when she can't show ID

From the New York Times - By JIM DWYER - NEW YORK — The arresting officer came by the cell, Samantha Zucker said, to make snide remarks about finding her with a friend in Riverside Park after its 1 a.m. closing. Early in the morning on Oct. 22, a Saturday, Ms. Zucker, 21, and her friend Alex Fischer, also 21, were stopped by the police in Riverside Park and given tickets for trespassing. Mr. Fischer was permitted to leave after he produced his driver’s license. But Ms. Zucker, on a visit to New York City with a group of Carnegie Mellon University seniors looking for jobs in design industries, had left her wallet in a hotel two blocks away. She was handcuffed. For the next 36 hours, she was moved from a cell in the 26th Precinct station house on West 126th Street to central booking in Lower Manhattan and then — because one of the officers was ending his shift before Ms. Zucker could be photographed for her court appearance, and you didn’t think he was going to take the subway uptown while his partner stayed with her at booking, did you? — she was brought back to Harlem. There she waited in a cell until a pair of fresh police officers were rustled up to bring her back downtown for booking, where she spent a second night in custody. The judge proceeded to dismiss the ticket in less than a minute. Read story

Student jailed for 2 nights when she can't show ID

US drivers owe Ciudad Juarez $10 million in fines

From the El Paso Times.com - CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) - Miguel Angel Rodriguez had just parked his car when a Ciudad Juarez traffic officer wrote him a ticket and then unscrewed one of his license plates. The truck driver from El Paso, Texas, argued with the officer, but soon gave up. That didn't mean he was going to pay the 165 peso ($12.50) fine. He is one of thousands of people with U.S. cars who find it quicker and easier to just replace the plates or driving licenses that Juarez police routinely confiscate to guarantee payment. The city says it is owed about $10 million in fines on tens of thousands of unpaid traffic citations against U.S. drivers or vehicles. More than 74,000 seized U.S. plates and drivers' licenses sit in Juarez city government warehouses and most will never be retrieved. "The amount of plates is so big that they won't fit here anymore," said Mario Hernandez, an employee of the city's traffic department. "We had to take them to another warehouse, and we are thinking about destroying those taken before 2007." Rodriguez argues that he should not have been cited in the first place because the no-parking zone was unmarked "It was an unfair ticket," Rodriguez said. "The cop was waiting for me: The second I stepped out of the car he approached me." Read story

US drivers owe Ciudad Juarez $10 million in fines

Carlsbad rancher gets tiny tax bill - 3 cents

From the Carlsbad Current Argus - By Stella Davis - Carlsbad — Former Eddy County Commissioner Laurie Kincaid said he considered just paying the first half of a property tax bill he received last week that is due this month, but changed his mind when he arrived at the County Treasurer's office on Tuesday and paid the second half in full - all three cents. Property owners have the option of paying their tax bill in full or in two installments. The first half is due in November and the second half becomes due in May. Like most property owners, Kincaid, a local rancher, received his property tax bill in the mail for his ranch property, which he expected. What he didn't expect was a second property tax bill totaling three cents levied on two cemetery plots he and his wife own. "The bill was three cents and it cost 44 cents to mail it," Kincaid said with a chuckle. "I jokingly told the clerk in the treasurer's office that I was going to pay the first half. She looked at the bill and shook her head." Read more

Carlsbad rancher gets tiny tax bill - 3 cents

Republican Senator Calls on Obama to Cancel Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bonuses

From FoxNews.com - A Republican senator is calling on President Obama to cancel the $12.8 million in bonuses that were approved for 10 executives at the government-seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that received a $170 billion taxpayer-funded bailout. “I am calling on the president of the United States to cancel those bonuses and explain to the American people, the taxpayers who bailed out Freddie and Fannie, why he continues to reward failure,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at a news conference Tuesday. Sen. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., is pushing a bill to suspend pay packages at Fannie and Freddie and require executives and employees of government-sponsored enterprises to be paid according to the federal pay scale. Politico first reported the $6.46 million in bonuses for the top five officers at Freddie Mac -- including $2.3 million for CEO Charles E. Haldeman Jr., who is stepping down next year -- and $6.33 million for Fannie Mae officials, including $2.37 million for CEO Michael Williams. A second bonus installment for Freddie executives in 2010 has yet to be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Politico reported. White House aides say the president took a lead on cleaning up excessive compensation on Wall Street with the Dodd-Frank bill, but those provisions do not apply to Fannie and Freddie. “The White House was not involved and nor should it be,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday. Read more:

Republican Senator Calls on Obama to Cancel Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bonuses

Fed Stands Pat, Announces No New Stimulus

From FoxBusiness.com - As expected, the Federal Reserve Board stood pat on Wednesday, refraining from further economic stimulus programs and leaving interest rates alone. The Fed said economic growth “strengthened somewhat” during the third quarter, which reflected a reversal from the spring when growth slowed due primarily to temporary factors such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March. The question on many minds ahead of the Fed’s decision was what weapons the Fed has left to spur economic growth. Another round of quantitative easing has been hinted at but there is strong opposition both in Congress and among the handful Fed dissenters to the central bank buying up more debt on top of the nearly $3 trillion already purchased since the 2008 financial crisis. The first two rounds of quantitative easing have been met with limited success at best and skeptics say another round isn’t likely to help much either. Besides, improving liquidity by essentially printing money eventually leads to inflation. Read more

Fed Stands Pat, Announces No New Stimulus

Tea Party members say they will picket occupy protest

NewsNM Swickard - Hey there we go, protest the protester. I'm in. From the Examiner - By Rhonda Parker, St. Augustine – While Occupy St. Augustine organizers have extended the invitation to all political parties in the area, both left and right oriented, breakaway members of the local Tea Party say they will picket the group’s protest in the Plaza de la Constitucion on Saturday. “We certainly plan to be there, but we’ll be there to protest them,” said Lance Thate, head of the local Tea Party movement who was on St. George Street this weekend handing out booklets of the U.S. Constitution with other members dressed in 1776 costumes. Read more

Tea Party members say they will picket occupy protest

Did the Greeks just steal Christmas?

From MSN Money - After a strong October rally, stocks and the economy seemed poised for a typical Santa Claus rally into the new year. But a Grinch from Athens has put all that at risk. Fate has been a cruel taskmaster lately. For more than two years, stocks have stumbled through a broad trading range as the initial excitement over the end of the recession was replaced by alternating waves of greed and fear. For the better part of October, it looked as if a turnaround was at hand. The NYSE Composite gained nearly 23% in just four weeks. Confidence was rising. Money was flooding into the stock market. Even the housing market was showing signs of life. The pieces were in place for a classic Santa Claus rally, lifting everyone's spirits and giving us hope that maybe, just maybe, the market could push to new recovery highs and the economy would break out of its jobless funk in the new year. Then, it all went wrong. The market turned down on Monday, Halloween, as the market realized Greece wasn't quite settled yet. But the real blow came Tuesday, when Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou dropped a load of napalm on the revelry. He would let the people of Greece decide what to do by holding a referendum on the latest bailout plan by January. The question would be simple: Do we reject or accept Europe's new plan for us? This pull of the string is unraveling a seam along what was always the eurozone plan's point of vulnerability: a lack of political support from Greek citizens unwilling or unable to bear the burden of their national debt. Read more

Did the Greeks just steal Christmas?