News New Mexico

NM urges taxpayers to file electronically

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico no longer will automatically mail out personal income tax packages to individual taxpayers. The Albuquerque Journal reports that the move is expected to save the state more than $70,000. The Department of Taxation and Revenue says that last year, it mailed tax packages to 88,000 individuals at a total cost of $140,000. This year, the department will send those same taxpayers a postcard urging them to file electronically, and tax packages will be mailed only if requested. Officials say that paper filings have an error rate around 28 percent because of illegible information that results in human errors. Read more

NM banks to work with renters, cut out the middle man

From KOB-TV.com - by Mike Daniels, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Beginning January 1, 2012, a new law will allow banks to work with renters whose landlords are not paying the mortgage in New Mexico. In the past, the tenants would likely be evicted. With the new law, it gives the banks the option to cut out the middleman and work directly with the renter. Two days before Christmas, Gavino Rivera found out his landlord had not been paying the mortgage. “It's me and my children. I'm a single father. To hear something like this is devastating," Rivera said. Since March, he has paid $1,100 a month in rent. Rather than kicking him out, Wells Fargo will work with him to keep him in the house. All they are going to require is that he pay them $790 a month. Rep. Zachary Cook of Ruidoso, introduced H.B199. It was passed unanimously in March by the state legislature. "It will cut down on the bureaucracy that lenders have to do in order to collect money that's owed to them," says Rep. Cook. It will also cut down on the amount of renters evicted, which could mean less property crime because tenants are in the homes. Read more

Gary Johnson switches parties in run for president

From the Ruidoso News - by Milan Simonich Texas-New Mexico Newspapers - SANTA FE - Governor No is a Republican no more. Gary Johnson, a former two-term governor of New Mexico known for wielding his veto power, will become a Libertarian candidate for president on Wednesday. Johnson, who turns 59 next week, plans to formally announce his change of parties at the Capitol in Santa Fe. He has been in the presidential race as a Republican since April, but has barely registered in the polls. Johnson was shut out of all but two of 15 presidential debates this year. "Anyone who looks at what has happened would say I've been treated unfairly," Johnson said in a recent interview. "I think I've been hung out to dry by the Republican Party." In turn, Johnson will defect from the GOP in hopes of pumping oxygen into a presidential campaign that even he said was dying. Read more

Solar system that heats home through air circulation doesn't qualify for tax credits

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - by Staci Matlock - Using an old technology that's gaining new attention, Alex Avery is partially heating her home with help from the sun. She's hoping the solar hot air circulating system she had installed in October will reduce her electric bill considerably. A duct system equipped with a small fan draws air from inside Avery's home near Santa Fe and funnels it up to a solar collector on her roof. The air flows through the collector, passing between a black-painted aluminum sheet and a special thermal glass, and is warmed by the sun. Then the air is blown by the system back into the house. Dampers control the air flow and a thermostat controls the temperature. So far, Avery's been pleased. "It can be 16 degrees outside, and inside it will by a steady 68 degrees [with no additional heat source]," she said. It only works during the day, and is best, of course, when the sun is shining. At night and on New Mexico's rare cloudy days, Avery uses a wood stove and electric heaters to boost the temperature. Read more

Wealth of members of Congress TRIPLED in 25 years - while average U.S. family suffered a DROP in their worth

From the Daily Mail Online.com - By David Richards - The wealth gap between those governing the U.S. and the people they represent has dramatically widened, research shows. Against a backdrop of a vast budget deficit and fears of the fragility of the economy, analysis by the Washington Post shows that the median net worth of a member of Congress has nearly tripled over 25 years while the income of an average U.S. family has actually fallen. It calculated that their median net worth, between 1984 and 2009 and excluding home equity, rose from $280,000 to $725,000. Over those same 25 years the wealth of the average U.S. family slipped from $20,500 from $20,600, a University of Michigan study shows. In 1984, one in five House members had zero or negative net worth and by 2009 that number had dropped to one in 12. 1984 was chosen as the starting point for the analysis because it is the earliest year in which consistent wealth statistics are available, Read more

Only in New Mexico

Christmas in Clayton

Union County received substantial snowfall over the holiday weekend and we received this picture from one of our listeners.

Ski Resorts and Shops Doing Brisk Business

KOB TV - New Mexico ski resorts seeing some of the best snow in history and according to KOB TV ski rental shops in Albuquerque are breaking records as well. New Mexicans and out of state visitors are taking advantage of all the fresh powder with some purchasing ski or snowboarding equipment, and many others keeping the rental departments busy.
Sandia Peak has a 47-inch base, Santa Fe is at 45 inches and Taos has 50 inches. Even in Southern New Mexico where snow is harder to come by is doing a brisk business. New Mexico State Tourism officials are working hard to get out of town visitors to try area ski resorts for the first time and Governor Martinez released a statement on Monday encouraging everyone to take advantage of the conditions.

Environmentalists Use Stealth Attacks on Martinez Via Press Releases by "Independent" News Agencies

Oil well fracking has been around for sixty years. It is a technique used to improve extraction rates. In recent years as the anti-fossil fuel movement has taken on a religious like approach groups have cropped up everywhere to oppose the practice. Below is a press release for an organization that calls itself: Food and Water Watch. This organization is targeting Governor Susana Martinez: "New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has made boosting opportunities for small businesses in the state a priority, but several groups dealing with environmental and health care issues say those efforts are falling short. One of the groups crying "foul" over the small business initiatives is Food and Water Watch. State organizer Eleanor Bravo says one of Martinez's early actions upon taking office was to form the "Small Business Friendly Task Force." Bravo says small is not what this task force is about. Well, it is neither small, nor business-friendly. It is made up of big lobbyist corporations." These types of organizations press releases find their way into our news feeds on the outside columns of this site. They are not actually news pieces. Instead they are opinions disguised as news.

Montana tribe’s high-interest online lending venture booms

From KOB-TV.com - An Indian reservation in the heart of Montana’s farm country may seem an unlikely place to borrow a quick $600, but the Chippewa Cree tribe says it has already given out more than 121,000 loans this year at interest rates that can reach a whopping 360 percent. As more states pass laws to rein in lenders who deal in high-interest, short-term loans, Indian tribes like the Chippewa Cree and their new online lending venture, Plain Green Loans, are stepping in to fill the void. The Internet lets them reach beyond the isolated Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation to borrowers across the nation, while tribal immunity has allowed them to avoid bans and interest-rate caps several states have set. To Neal Rosette, Plain Green Loans CEO and the Chippewa Cree’s former executive administrative officer, it’s a win-win. The online lending venture is a resource for people who can’t or won’t borrow from banks, while it gives the tribe a steady revenue stream and jobs with unemployment on the reservation at nearly 40 percent. Rosette said this model could be the successor to gambling for tribes looking for an economic boost. Some tribes have owned online lending businesses for several years, and Rosette said the Chippewa Cree and three other tribes have started the Native American Lenders Alliance to encourage more. "I believe this is the new outlook for Indian Country, not just Rocky Boy," Rosette said. "We are sovereign nations and we have the ability to create our own laws that regulate our businesses such as this." That’s a problem for consumer groups and the states that have tried to bring such lending under control. The issue with these loans, consumer advocates say, is that their high interest rates make it too easy for a borrower to become trapped in a cycle of debt as they have to borrow more to repay their original loans. Read more

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