Farming in the past for real ‘down-home’ taste

Mischa Popoff

From NMPolitics.net - Commentary by  Mischa Popoff - As a former organic farmer, take my advice and DO NOT buy anything from any farmer who claims to use horses. A horse is less than a hundredth as efficient as the smallest diesel tractor. A horse releases more pollution into the atmosphere because it eats, farts and poops all year long while a tractor is shut off when the work is done. Growing feed for horses requires more farmland, which means less natural habitat and yet more pollution. Old-timers can attest that almost half of all farmland used to be set aside just to grow feed for horses. What’s so green about that? We now basically use 100 percent of our arable farmland to feed humans, and that’s a huge leap forward that we simply cannot afford to take back! There are many examples of such modern-day Luddites masquerading as valiant organic protectors. The worst are those who not only brag about using horses, which they claim cut down on fuel, but who also believe windmills and solar panels have a place in the business of producing food. I have just one question for these people: Are you all nuts? Read column

Farming in the past for real ‘down-home’ taste

Report: Sante Fe Cleanest Air in the Country, Las Cruces One of the Worst

From krqe.com -A new report shows Santa Fe has the cleanest air in the nation but Las Cruces has joined the 25 worst-polluted cities. Santa Fe came in with the purest air in all three categories of the yearly American Lung Association report released Wednesday. The categories include particle pollution, short-term particle pollution and ozone pollution. Albuquerque made the list of the 25 cleanest cities for both short-term and annual particle pollution. 

Report: Sante Fe Cleanest Air in the Country, Las Cruces One of the Worst

TX Man Ordered to Pay $2.7M for Starting NM Wildfire

From foxnews.com -A Texas man has been ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution for burning used toilet paper that sparked a wildfire, scorching nearly 83 square miles of a national forest in New Mexico.  Rodrigo Ulloa-Esquivel of El Paso also was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service. Ulloa-Esquivel, 30, in October pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the April 2011 wildfire. Two other charges in an indictment were dismissed in the deal. The fire started when Ulloa-Esquivel was with friends near a campsite, and he lit some used toilet paper on fire to keep from leaving behind litter. High winds sent sparks from the burning paper into nearby brush, and Ulloa-Esquivel and his friends were unable to control the fire in the area known as the Guadalupe Ranger District.  More New Mexico

TX Man Ordered to Pay $2.7M for Starting NM Wildfire

Rural kids, parents angry about Labor Dept. rule banning farm chores

Daily Caller - A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves. The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land. Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work “in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.” “Prohibited places of employment,” a Department press release read, “would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.” The new regulations, first proposed August 31 by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, would also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course. Rossie Blinson, a 21-year-old college student from Buis Creek, N.C., told The Daily Caller that the federal government’s plan will do far more harm than good. “The main concern I have is that it would prevent kids from doing 4-H and FFA projects if they’re not at their parents’ house,” said Blinson. Read More News New Mexico

Rural kids, parents angry about Labor Dept. rule banning farm chores

Avionics company bringing jobs to New Mexico

From KOB-TV.com - By: Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Some high-skill, high-paying new jobs are on the way for Albuquerque's recovering economy. We're talking avionics here - aircraft instruments. Bendix/King, a major player in the field, has picked Albuquerque for its corporate headquarters and will eventually employ about 140 people, many of them local hires. Bendix/King makes equipment for communications, safety, navigation, identification, and flight controls. The company's president, Kevin Gould, said workers at the new Albuquerque plant will earn $50,000 to $150,000 a year, adding that he looked at a lot of cities before picking Albuquerque. "When it came right down to it, for a business-friendly environment, for a place with an attractive cost-structure, for a pool of experienced aerospace resources, and last but not least great flying weather year-round, Albuquerque was the choice," Gould said. New tax breaks that Governor Susana Martinez fought for in this year's legislative session did not hurt either. "We have reduced taxes in construction industries and manufacturing," Martinez said. "It's extremely important for us to be competitive with our surrounding states and the rest of the country." Read more

Avionics company bringing jobs to New Mexico

Albuquerque police commander under fire for shooting email

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - AP - ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque police commander is under fire after he sent an email to neighborhood leaders blaming two dozen officer-involved shootings on bad parenting, schools and the news media.  Foothills Area Commander Cliff Saylor's email from earlier this month also faulted courts, the mental health profession and the men shot for not following orders, The Albuquerque Journal reported "It is absurd to blame the 23 officer-involved shootings on APD," Saylor wrote on April 13 from his city email account.  Saylor's email was in response to a letter from four City Council Democrats to Mayor Richard Berry in which the councilors called on the mayor to take action to restore trust in the police department, following two dozen officer-involved shootings since the beginning of 2010. Seventeen have been fatal.  Some minority activists are pressing for a U.S. Justice Department probe into the shootings and have held a number of protests outside City Hall.  Police Chief Ray Schultz called the email a "lapse in judgment" and said Saylor received "a verbal counseling" for inappropriate use of his city email account.  "Obviously we believe he had a lapse in judgment," Schultz said. "These were completely his own opinions and, while I know he was frustrated, he should not have made these comments."  Councilor Ken Sanchez, one of the four who signed the letter to Berry, said Saylor's email was out of line. Read more

Albuquerque police commander under fire for shooting email

Saturday Ruidoso fire could have been worse

From the Ruidoso News - Firefighters responded to a fire north of Ruidoso Saturday and held it to about a third of an acre. "We were lucky on this one," incident commander and Bonito Volunteer Fire Department Deputy Chief Rick Hall said. "It could have been much worse." Hall said winds were calm Saturday. A Bonito Volunteer firefighter thinning trees on a lot nearby spotted the smoke and sounded the alarm at 2:45 p.m., according to the Bonito Volunteer Fire Department. A neighbor also spotted the fire and used a garden hose to help contain the blaze. One Bonito Volunteer Fire Department unit with five personnel, three U.S. Forest Service engines with 12 personnel, a Ruidoso Fire Department engine and crew and a Lincoln County Sheriff's deputy responded to the fire and had it contained by about 4:15 p.m. Crews returned Sunday to insure the embers were completely extinguished. A homeowner burning slash piles caused the fire, which was reportedly moving into heavy timber and underbrush with downed logs and moving up trees when firefighters arrived. The Bonito Fire Department reported the homeowner had notified the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department of the slash pile burning Friday and thought the remains were OK to leave until Saturday. Read more

Saturday Ruidoso fire could have been worse

House Democrats launch probe of alleged Wal-Mart bribery

NewsNM Swickard - my friend Patye says, "How funny....we have the GSA scandal..The Secret Service Scandal..The Solyndra and all the Green Energy Scandals..and Fast and Furiious and this is what the Dems focus on....Wal-Mart..." From FoxNews.com -  A pair of top House Democrats disclosed Monday they are investigating allegations that Wal-Mart's Mexican subsidiary paid bribes to speed permits for new-store openings. (D-Md.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) are seeking an in-person meeting with company officials this week to address the allegations that employees of Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) made a series of illicit payments to local government officials in Mexico prior to 2006, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The Mexican government said late Monday it sees no need to itself investigate the retailer, with the office of President Felipe Calderon saying in a statement that, if the accusations are true, then the issue is a local matter as bribes for construction and other permits would have been paid to municipal or state officials. Read more

House Democrats launch probe of alleged Wal-Mart bribery

Las Cruces to Turn off Utilities for Unpaid Tickets

From thenewspaper.com -With more and more vehicle owners simply deciding refuse to pay red light camera and speed camera tickets, private, for-profit companies and municipalities are growing increasingly desperate. America's second-largest city shut down its photo ticketing program last year largely because residents who could not afford the $500 citations did not pay them. On Monday, Las Cruces, New Mexico announced it would shut off the utilities of city residents who refused to pay Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that owns and operates the cameras. "The city is notifying offenders by mail that they have until the due date stated in the letter to pay the fines or make satisfactory payment arrangements," a Las Cruces press release warned. "Failure to comply will result in termination of utilities services." Las Cruces claims vehicle owners owe $2 million. To encourage payment of the $100 photo fines, the city says it will employ an ordinance the council adopted in 1988 giving itself the right to shut off utility service to residents declared delinquent for any reason.  "The city may decline, fail or cease to furnish utility service to any person who may be in debt to the city for any reason, except ad valorem taxes and special assessments," city code Section 28-10 states. The city provides gas, water, sewer and trash services. Ordinarily, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission prevents shutting off the utilities of low-income residents from November 15 to March 15. This is primarily a safety issue as lack of heating during a cold snap -- Las Cruces recorded a -10 degree temperature in 1962 -- could endanger the elderly. The commission also protects the seriously ill and customers on Medicaid or on assistance from a charitable organization. A spokesman for the commission, however, told TheNewspaper that no such protections apply to utilities run by a municipality. To have service restored, Las Cruces and its private vendor will charge a $48 re-connection fee on top of $125 per ticket.

Las Cruces to Turn off Utilities for Unpaid Tickets

NM Land Office and UNM Sign Research Agreement

 From newschannel10.com -The New Mexico Land Office and the University of New Mexico have signed an agreement that clears the way for sharing information about plant and animal species on state trust lands. The memorandum of understand was signed during a ceremony Monday on the university's campus in Albuquerque. Land Commissioner Ray Powell says the agreement will lead to a better understanding of state trust lands as well as better management practices. For UNM faculty, staff and students, the agreement provides for what officials call a "unique opportunity" to make advances in biology and ecology. Officials say researchers will be able to look at how New Mexico's flora and fauna are responding to changing conditions and how those responses could impact everything from food security and sustainability to invasive species.

NM Land Office and UNM Sign Research Agreement