Confidence Plunges, Again
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Updated content for clarity: Mayor Ken Miyagishima and City Councilor Dolores Connor are the only elected officials in the area that have agreed to appear on News New Mexico and state their views on the public policy snafu at City Hall known as the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Councilor Connor is scheduled for 7:30am Tuesday morning to offer her views.The mayor has already come out in favor of the 100% privately funded extension of the four lane thoroughfare known as North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. He did so Wednesday morning July 7th on News New Mexico.
At stake for the community is $10 million in direct economic stimulus. The good news for taxpayers is the source of the road building funding comes entirely from liens on 1100 acres of land held by a single property owner. And the New Mexico Finance Authority has already given the indication of its intention to buy the entire Special Assessment District bond issue. This means with a few more administrative steps the funding can be in place with no financial risk to the city. The bad news is somehow moving this project along has not made it to a vote.
The project will create hundreds of jobs. It will generate almost $700,000 in primary gross receipts of which the Las Cruces City government will get a good percentage and even more generate secondary gross receipts. Further it will provide a high quality road for the transportation of school children to nearby Monte Vista Elementary and Mesa Middle Schools. The road will also improve access to Highway 70 for other area residents. Still, the remaining five members of city council remain silent day after day. 
News New Mexico listeners are anxious to learn if Councilor Dolores Connor will serve as the catayst at City Hall that propels this sorely needed project to completion. Pictured throughout this story are the remaining five councilors who have thus far been unwilling to accept an open invitation make their views know on News New Mexico. They are from top to bottom, Gil Sorg (top left), Miguel Silva (top right), Olga Pedroza (center left), Nathan Small (center right) and Sharon Thomas (bottom left). Through e-mail exchanges with Councilor Thomas NewsNM has discovered that she disagrees with the mayor's position on this project. Contact information for all members of city council and the Las Cruces Public School Board are posted on the Call City Hall page of the News New Mexico website.
Governor Richardson Talks Border Security
Richardson applauded the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to add to his U.S. Department of Justice expenditures. The Holder decision does represent new borrowing to finance the suing of Arizona. News New Mexico has audio clips of the governor's statements and we will discuss his comments on the radio show this morning. Arizona senatorial candidate J.D. Hayworth took issue with Richardson's views. We will play clips of what he had to say also.
Stories about Sex Offenders entering the US illegally
Two news stories recently about Sex Offenders entering the United States without legal status. With such an open border NewsNM wonders how many sexual predators crossed without legal status and were not caught?From the Holtville Tribune - Calexico, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Calexico Station arrested a convicted sex offender who was illegally present in the United States early Thursday morning in the desert east of Calexico, Calif. On July 8, at approximately 5:45 a.m., agents encountered a 41-year-old male approximately 16 miles east of the downtown Calexico port of entry. It was determined he was a citizen of Mexico without any legal immigration documents. He was subsequently arrested and transported to the Calexico Border Patrol Station for further processing. At the station record checks revealed the man had previously been convicted of Lewd and Lascivious acts with a minor in Santa Paula, Calif. The individual is being prosecuted for 8 USC 1326 re-entry after deportation.
In a copyrighted story KVIA Television in El Paso reported that a 29 year old man was arrested attempting to cross the border illegally. He had a criminal history including criminal sexual pentration of a child younger than 13 and many other crimes... read here
Commentary by Walt Rubel - Steele's criticism brings up old debate
From the Las Cruces Sun-News - by Walt Rubel - Is it possible to support the troops but oppose the war? That question, which sparked burning debate during the presidency of George W. Bush, was revived earlier this month when Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, (photo left) while speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Connecticut, criticized Barack Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan. "... this was a war of Obama's choosing," Steele proclaimed. "This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." A day later, under intense pressure from Republican hawks, Steele backtracked, expressing his support for both a war he had just deemed unwinnable and, of course, the troops. During the height of the Iraq War, opponents went to great lengths to express their support for the troops while protesting the mission of those same troops. You can't have it both ways, Bush supporters argued. As an opponent of that war, I think the Bushies were probably right. Read more
Joseph Phillips - New Black Panther Party
In its coverage of the Philadelphia voter intimidation case, conservative media has unfortunately chosen sensationalism over clarity. There are layers to this case to be explored that might highlight the idealism of the right and expose the pessimism of the left. Unfortunately, those layers of exploration are not as sexy as the continuous video loop depicting New Black Panther Party member King Samir Shabazz screaming about killing crackers. Read more here:
This Week's Scheduled Guests
News New Mexico education editor Del Hanson is scheduled for Monday morning at 8:30am. On Tuesday morning at 7:30am Las Cruces City Councilor Dolores Connor will join us and make her views known on the controversy surrounding the extension of North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. Mayor Ken Miyagishima will follow on Wednesday morning. NMSU Head Football Coach DeWayne Walker will be our guest on Thursday.
BP Hopeful That Damaged Well Can Stay Closed
Educational Inertia and the Impending Train Wreck
What we are doing in public education isn’t working. Oh, there are pockets of excellence and many hard-working, dedicated teachers still toil under difficult, if not nearly impossible, circumstances. However, if public education were an automaker, it would be belly-up and closing its doors, or at least re-structuring under bankrupcy laws. If ever a giant corporation needed to re-tool and re-organize, public education should. But, is it too big to die? It may not be too large to die, but it is definately too large to reform itself.
The most positive step forward in recent years was the creation of a mechanism that generated charter schools. The report is mixed on the success of charter schools, with pockets of excellence mixed with cesspools of scandal and closure. However, the charter movement seeks to move outside the carefully fortified boundaries of institutional structure that has become public education, a fortress made impregnable not by results, but by the sheer power of funding
Lest one rise to his or her feet and accuse this writer of being another negative Nellie bashing education, I might add that I have worked hard in public education for over three decades, always supporting and often defending it. However, even I can sense and see that what we are doing isn’t working. It benefits few, especially the children we purport to serve, to pretend that things are good and getting better. Eight years of Draconian measures spurred by No Child Left Behind haven’t made even a big dent in the overall success of our schools, except to provide a massive jobs program for test manufacturers. School children, their parents, the teachers, and the nation deserve better.
Will This Create a Consensus on Border Security?
ALBUQUERQUE - Federal authorities confirmed Friday they are investigating the death of another endangered Mexican gray wolf that was found shot along the New Mexico-Arizona border. The male wolf is the third to be found dead within the past month. It was a member of the Hawks Nest Pack. Read more here:
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