NRA Shooting Competition loses money for Albuquerque; city official doesn't want to say why

From KOB-TV.com - By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - A spokeswoman for Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry told KOB Monday a cursory review of finances reveals the City of Albuquerque loses money by hosting the National Rifle Association Championships each September.
        An internal memo signed by APD Chief Gorden Eden states that one sergeant, 41 field officers and 15 public services aids were reassigned off their beats to provide security and traffic assistance for the competition. The payroll of all of these officers' time comes out to about $80,000.
      A contract between the NRA and City of Albuquerque reveals the city is obligated to provide telephone lines, buildings, air conditioners, communication tools, storage, fax machines, copy machines, tents, picnic tables, restrooms, ambulance crews, maintenance crews, press officers and custodial staff.
       All of these resources are dedicated for an event that is open only to police officers and closed to the public. In fact, during this year’s competition, APD forced KOB’s cameras off the property.
        With all this in mind, our news team had one question: How is this event of any public value to the Albuquerque community? Our team thought the question was simple enough, until we posed it to Mayor Richard Berry’s spokeswoman Breanna Anderson.
        Anderson refused to allow us to ask any city official this question. Instead, she sent a prepared statement from Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation, Garry Wolfe:  Anderson orchestrated all this to avoid answering one simple question: how does our community benefit from the NRA shooting competition? It’s a valid question, considering the Mayor’s Office obligated the city to host the competition until 2017.
      Anderson did say hotels and restaurants around the metro make about $160,000 from the NRA Shooting Competition, but admitted the city government loses money. More

NRA Shooting Competition loses money for Albuquerque; city official doesn't want to say why

Marita Noon: Regcession—why Americans aren't feeling Obama’s “vigorous recovery”

Commentary by Marita Noon - President Obama is trying, according to CNN, to “convince voters of a vigorous recovery that a majority still doubts.” Describing comments the president made on October 2 at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, CNN calls his attempt, the “political problem inherent in having to describe an economic recovery that many Americans still aren’t feeling.”
      The coverage points to polling data that shows the public still sees that the economy is “poor”—with 56 percent disapproving of how Obama has handled the economy.
        Perhaps people are beginning to sense what a new documentary makes clear. We may not officially be in a recession, as some numbers have ticked slightly up, but people, as CNN pointed out, aren't feeling it.
      What are they feeling? Higher electricity rates at home, plant closures, and jobs being sent overseas, while few new jobs are being created at home.
      On a recent radio interview, a caller told me that companies shouldn't be allowed to move their business—and the jobs previously held by Americans—overseas. He wanted laws passed that prevented closing an American plant and reopening in China, hiring the locals. I believe laws can be passed that would slow, what Ross Perot called, the “giant sucking sound”—the sound of jobs and economic growth being sucked from America to Mexico, China, or some other country that makes it easier to do business. Instead of controlling whether or not a company can do what is best for its bottom line, wouldn't it be better to make America the best business environment?
      Current government policy is actually the cause of that “giant sucking sound,” the reason people aren’t feeling a supposed economic recovery. These policies, in the form of regulations—especially those from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are keeping people from living the American dream and are even lowering the standard of living from that of our parents.
      While we may not technically be in a recession, we are in a regcession—an economic decline caused by excessive regulations. The cost of complying with the regulations makes it virtually impossible to meet them and remain competitive or make a profit. The result of these regulations: Americans lose their jobs, as businesses close or move to more hospitable countries. Read full column

Marita Noon: Regcession—why Americans aren't feeling Obama’s “vigorous recovery”

Albuquerque woman a victim of 'swatting'

From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —It’s called swatting. Swatting is when someone calls in a fake threat to get police to go to a person's house. Imagine police showing up at your home, pointing guns at you and you have no idea why. It's real, and it's happening in Albuquerque.
      Police have released video of an incident this past month in which a terrified woman calls 911 and tells the dispatcher she has no idea why officers are pointing rifles at her from outside her home.
      "Oh my God, he's pointing it right at me! I've got my hands up!" said the woman to the dispatcher. "They're asking that you step out with your hands in the air," said the dispatcher. "OK, please don't have them shoot me! I'm really scared!" said the woman.
      Outside, police watched her every move. "Looks like I saw some kind of movement on the south side of the door," said an Albuquerque police officer. Eventually the woman walked outside.
      Once police checked her for weapons, they explained why they were there: "We got a call there was a man inside the residence at your house and that he had killed his wife and was getting ready to kill his children, OK?" The woman had been swatted.
      Albuquerque police said it was the second swatting prank that week. No one was hurt, but they say this is no laughing matter. Investigators think the same person is behind both swatting calls. At this point, no one's been arrested. If someone is caught, Tixier said they'd likely be charged with phone harassment and false reporting, and would spend just a few months behind bars.
      APD said if you find yourself a victim of swatting, call 911 immediately. There have been a number of these pranks around the country in recent years. In some cases, people were seriously hurt. More

Albuquerque woman a victim of 'swatting'

Column - Those who use taxes for robbery

© 2014 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery." President Calvin Coolidge
     There is a general assumption that every nickel, dime and penny collected for taxes is absolutely necessary, is spent properly and the government cannot function otherwise. As anyone who has worked for government knows that assumption is wrong.
     Now do not be a Burro and think I am saying our society should have no taxes at all. Some taxes are necessary. There are things our government does that makes our country a great nation.
     While I am not a TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party member, I could join that group but I am not a joiner of organizations. Me and my TEA party friends are concerned about the attempt to constantly increase taxes, as if taxes must always be increased until they reach 100 percent. Consider: a tax rate of 100 percent will collect no money whatsoever since no one would work in that society.
     Therefore, can we get a constitutional amendment that your combined taxes cannot add up to over half of everything you make? No, we can never set a top percentage. Big tax proponents contend there is always a good reason to raise taxes. And to them cutting taxes is always wrong.
     Several years ago a New Mexico legislator on my radio talk show said emphatically the New Mexico Legislature had cut everything that could be cut, there were no more places to cut. With the downturn of the New Mexican economy in 2009 the legislature had tightened their belt to the last notch.
     Further, he contended, the only thing that would even allow government to continue in a limited way would be to raise taxes, and raise them quite a bit. I protested that between the years 2002 and 2008 the New Mexico budget had doubled while the population stayed constant so there had to be some fat to cut.
     We agreed to disagree on the need of the New Mexico budget for a large increase. But there is a constant push to take more money from people and businesses and give it to government. Always it is for a good reason. Always they say it is just a small amount. If it is small, then cut the fat from the budget.
     What I have never seen is either party show any ability to cut the fat from government. Both the Republican and Democrat leaderships constantly wants more money from the citizens. Yes, the Republicans want less money from the citizens than the Democrats. The rub with both parties is the notion that with just a bit more money everything will be fine.
     The dirty little secret of New Mexico that even the newspapers will not publish is that much of the money given in taxes is used for crony corruption. The leadership of both parties will not cut this fat from the budget, perhaps because they are the recipients of the corruption themselves. Of course no one will ever uncover it because everyone is trying hard to not find it and find it they do not.
     Every few years I propose something dead upon arrival. There is no interest in either political party or in the news media for something. What is it? That very many who gets in New Mexico government arise much more wealthy, even when they occupy a job with no salary. Track the wealth growth year by year of our elected servants from before serving to after service.
     Look at the growth of wealth for these individuals and their relatives in New Mexico government. How do some always seem to gain? We can never know since the news media is intimidated from investigating. If they start looking, really looking at corruption, they will be shunned by politicians.
     Suddenly those news teams will have no access, hence they will have no stories to file each day. And if they file no stories they are moments away from the unemployment line.
     Why are the politicians so vehement that taxes must always be raised? Because without the theft of more and more taxpayer money the embedded crony corruption cannot continue unabated. Taking more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.

Column - Those who use taxes for robbery

Jamie Estrada, former Gov. Martinez campaign manager, sentenced to 9 months for email scandal

From KOB-TV.com - : Blair Miller, KOB.com - Jamie Estrada, one of Gov. Susana Martinez's former campaign managers, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised probation, in federal court Wednesday.
      U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson also ordered Estrada to perform 100 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine.  Estrada pleaded guilty in June to stealing the governor's emails, sending them to her political opponents then lying to the FBI about it.
      According to case files, emails sent from Martinez and her supporters were sent to one of Estrada's computer accounts instead of the people they were meant to be sent to during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
      Estrada briefly served as campaign manager in 2009, as Martinez was beginning her bid for governor. According to the June plea agreement, Estrada changed the settings for the domain to direct all incoming email to an email account he controlled so that the emails were routed to him instead of the intended recipients. From July 2011 through June 2012, Estrada intercepted hundreds of email messages intended for recipients at the Domain, including the Governor. The intercepted emails included personal emails, internal political communications and emails from ordinary citizens to the Governor or her staff. In his plea agreement, Estrada admitted sharing the emails he unlawfully intercepted with the Governor’s political opponents to disseminate the emails to news media and other outlets.
      Some of the electronic messages were leaked to Martinez critics, who publicly released them. More

Jamie Estrada, former Gov. Martinez campaign manager, sentenced to 9 months for email scandal

Albuquerque Public Schools at or above capacity

From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Albuquerque Public Schools remain crowded this year, so much so that some facilities and classrooms are at or above capacity. Among the crowded facilities are Painted Sky and Rudolfo Anaya Elementary schools and Truman Middle School. The district told Action 7 News that in the last six months, it built portable classrooms to accommodate everyone.
        In 2013, there were problems at North Star and Double Eagle Elementary schools. To solve those problems, the district reorganized attendance boundaries and started requiring proof of residency to crack down on who could attend which school.
        APS said it continue to see increasing enrollment in areas where there are still housing opportunities like the southwest. Officials believe their new kindergarten through 8th grade school, near Atrisco Heritage Academy High School, will help alleviate overcrowding in that area. Some students attending Barcelona, Navajo or Rudolfo Anaya or Harrison and Truman Middle Schools will end up going to the new facility when it opens in 2015.
        The district is also shopping for real estate. APS is looking for land to build more schools in the next six to 10 years. He said the district has to jump on vacant lots early Read more

Albuquerque Public Schools at or above capacity

The Lizard of Oz: Texas beats enviornmentalists

From Breitbart.com - Commentary by Marita Noon - On September 30, District of Columbia District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled against the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Defenders of Wildlife. The groups brought litigation in the hopes of requiring the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to reverse its 2012 decision not to list the lizard as endangered.
      The 2012 decision was the first time that community engagement beat back a proposed ESA listing—a stinging defeat to a movement that has historically used lawsuits as an effective weapon.
      In August 2013, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs was granted intervenor status in the case. In October, several regional and national oil and gas associations joined Combs.
      The DSL story represents a new chapter in ESA compliance that allows conservation and productive activity to coexist. Previously, presence of an ESA-listed species would shut down activity with harsh consequences for landowners and communities.
      The spotted owl stands as the posterbird for bad ESA policy. More than 20 years ago, the spotted owl was listed under the ESA. As a result, much of the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest is gone—leaving thousands unemployed and hundreds of communities decimated. Fifty percent of the nation’s forestry jobs lost from 1990 to 2009 were in just two states: Oregon and Washington. Yet, the listing did not stop the decline of the spotted owl. And, as a result of the listing, forest management in the West changed—leaving thousands of acres overgrown and unhealthy, resulting in the devastating wildfires we see today.
      Texas decided to do it differently. Aware that the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard was an ESA target, conservation efforts started in 2008. Private land in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico—an area that produces 15 percent of U.S. oil and 5 percent of natural gas, as well as a prime ranching and farming region—makes up about half of the DSL habitat. The locals were very worried that if the lizard were listed, the regulations would seriously impact their operations and impose substantial costs. Read full column

The Lizard of Oz: Texas beats enviornmentalists

Lawsuit filed against NM hotel chain

A federal agency is accusing a hotel chain of breaking the law by subjecting minority employees in New Mexico, Texas and South Carolina to a hostile work environment and firing those who complained.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Friday that it had filed suit against four Whitten Inn hotels and is seeking back pay, lost benefits and damages for workers.

Federal officials say employees endured racial slurs and derogatory comments.

Businessman Larry Whiten created a firestorm in 2009 when workers at his Taos hotel say they were forbidden to speak Spanish and told to change their Spanish first names.

A receptionist at the Taos inn said Sunday that Whitten was no longer the owner.

Information from The AP. 

Lawsuit filed against NM hotel chain

Immigration center drawing criticism

Trailers have been set up for a school at a federal immigration detention center in an isolated New Mexico desert town. A basketball court and a soccer field have been installed. And detainees are pleading their cases over a video link with judges in Denver.

Officials say that the facility could remain open until next summer to house women and children from Central America who were among a wave of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally this year.

The detainees at the Artesia Family Residential Center are growing increasingly frustrated that they are being held with no end in sight while earlier border-crossers were released with orders to contact immigration officials later.

The center opened as federal officials realized that the border-crossers had disappeared into the nation's interior.

Information from The AP. 

Immigration center drawing criticism

Martinez and King to spar in Spanish language debate

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and Democratic challenger Gary King are set to spar off in a Spanish-language debate aimed at the state's Hispanic voters. The pair is scheduled today to meet in a KLUZ-TV Univision-sponsored forum in their second debate. A spokesman for Martinez say the governor will answer her questions in Spanish. King will participate through an interpreter. Political observers say the debate in unique since only one of the candidates in fluent in Spanish. According to the U.S. Census, around 47 percent of the state's population in Latino — the largest percentage of any state. Absentee voting begins Tuesday by mail and at county clerks' offices. Early in-person voting expands to more locations on Oct. 18.

Information from the AP. 

Martinez and King to spar in Spanish language debate