ATF Started Texas Wildfire?

Pulaski note: If such allegations are true the federal government has a responsibility to give aid to Texas which Obama has already denied. Meanwhile Obama has given aid to Mexico to fight their wildfires. From reuters.com - The fight between Texas and Washington, D.C., over wildfires in the Lone Star State just got nastier. A county official in the Texas Panhandle is now blaming a federal agency for starting one of the fires through carelessness. Tom Edwards, the county attorney in rural Motley County east of Lubbock, said on Friday that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was responsible on Tuesday for sparking a fire that consumed 150 acres. "You can quote me on it: That bunch has a real corner on stupid," Edwards told Reuters. More News New Mexico

ATF Started Texas Wildfire?

EPA Backed Smart Grid Will Track Internet Use and CO2

From gatewaypundit.com -The proposed Smart Grid supported by the Obama Administration and the EPA will not only track your electricity use, it will allow companies and the government to track your internet use and CO2 emissions. Here is a list of SOME of the information that is to be collected through the Smart Grid as apart of that “Required Business Standard”: ** CO2 created by your Energy Use **Electricity, Gas Use and Current Rates ** Refuse (trash) and Sewerage Use ** TV Licence Use ** Internet Use More News New Mexico

EPA Backed Smart Grid Will Track Internet Use and CO2

Renewable Mandates Carry a Price Tag

Santa Fe New Mexican - Utility rate cases are a big numbers game, and Public Service Company of New Mexico's request before the Public Regulation Commission to raise electricity rates on a half-million customers is no different......
PNM has said rate and fee increases are needed to upgrade infrastructure, pay for new renewable-energy projects such as 22 megawatts of solar photovoltaic projects under construction, and cover other rising costs. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Renewable Mandates Carry a Price Tag

Doh ! Martinez Administration Officials Concede They Goofed on Use of State Jet

KRQE - When Gov. Susana Martinez was running for office last year, she made the Richardson administration’s rampant misuse of state airplanes a campaign issue. In fact, once elected, one of the Republican’s first acts was to promise to sell the state jet and put the brakes on the practice of high-ranking state officials using the taxpayer-funded planes as their own personal taxicabs. So it is, perhaps, ironic that the Martinez administration’s first blunder centers on misuse of state aircraft. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Doh ! Martinez Administration Officials Concede They Goofed on Use of State Jet

Richardson Judicial Appointee, Michael Murphy Indicted on Four Felony Counts

Bill Richardson

Las Cruces Sun-News - LAS CRUCES - Third Judicial District Court Judge Mike Murphy has been formally charged with four felony counts of bribery. A Doña Ana County grand jury indicted Murphy late Friday evening on charges of demanding or receiving a bribe; bribery of a public officer or employee; bribing, intimidating or retaliating against a witness; all third-degree felonies, and criminal solicitation, a fourth-degree felony. It's not yet public who Murphy allegedly bribed or who the witness was. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Richardson Judicial Appointee, Michael Murphy Indicted on Four Felony Counts

Senators Express Medicaid Revamping Concerns

Tim Jennings

KRWG - NEW MEXICO (krwg) - New Mexico Senate leaders expressed concern following the recent revelation that the Human Service Department (HSD) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to "substantially change" the structure of New Mexico's Medicaid program without reaching out to the public or legislature before its issuance. "I am troubled that the Martinez administration intends to change the structure of Medicaid which is about a $4 billion program in New Mexico without advance notice to the public or the legislature," said Senate Pro Tem Timothy Z. Jennings (D-Chaves, Eddy, Lincoln & Otero-32). "Many states face the same dilemma as New Mexico: how do we meet the demand for services when revenues for funding have decreased?

Dede Feldman

But other states have had extensive public debate over the issue. The manner in which this RFP has been carried out does not lend itself to full disclosure or transparency and erodes public trust in government," he Services Committee, Sen. Dede Feldman (D-Bernalillo-13), is also disturbed about the lack of communication and opportunity for collaboration between the administration and the legislature. "I am not opposed to Medicaid reform. In 2002, when our state was having financial difficulties, a process was established by the executive and legislative branches that allowed the public to take an active role in the development of reform. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Senators Express Medicaid Revamping Concerns

Medicare and Social Security Outlook "Bleak"

San Francisco Chronicle - The sluggish economic recovery has worsened the already bleak financial outlook of both Medicare and Social Security, according to an annual forecast released Friday by the Obama administration. The report offers fuel to President Obama's Republican critics and increases pressure on leaders of both parties to agree on a long-term plan to preserve the nation's principal safety net for the elderly. Medicare's main trust fund will be depleted by 2024, five years earlier than projected last year, according to the report by the trustees overseeing the program - largely because they have downgraded their expectations of economic growth.

The Social Security trust fund is now projected to last until 2036, just a year earlier than last year's estimate. Once the fund is exhausted, the incoming annual payroll taxes that pay for the program will only be sufficient to cover about three-fourths of the annual retirement benefits it is required to pay seniors. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Medicare and Social Security Outlook "Bleak"