Delay in New Mexico’s scientific ghost town stirs skepticism of company’s grandiose plans

Washington Post - Pegasus Global Holdings’ surprise announcement that it was pulling out of plans to build a $1 billion scientific ghost town in eastern New Mexico is stirring skepticism of the private firm’s grandiose plans for transforming 15 square miles of this largely rural state into a next-generation research center. Lea County had been working closely with the company after winning the bid to house the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation. But “when we started pressing for details, that’s when they decided to look elsewhere,” county manager Mike Gallagher said. Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said he didn’t even know the group was abandoning its plans until he read a news report that followed a late -evening announcement on Friday, July 13. Cobb said he was told the group cited problems with mineral rights on the private land it was trying to acquire. But he said third parties hold mineral rights underneath a lot of New Mexico’s land and there are solid legal protections for financial reimbursement if someone decides to exercise them. Read More News New Mexico

Delay in New Mexico’s scientific ghost town stirs skepticism of company’s grandiose plans

Preibus: Harry Reid is a "Dirty Liar"

Harry Reid

Newsmax - Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is lying about Mitt Romney’s tax returns in order to divert the presidential campaign away from real issues.
At the end of an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Graham unloaded on Reid, saying, “I’ve been around this town for awhile—I actually like Harry—but what he did on the floor of the Senate is so out of bounds. I think he’s lying about his statement about knowing something about Romney’s [tax returns]…”
That sentiment was echoed on ABC, where Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus called Reid a “dirty liar” this morning on “This Week” for accusing presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney of not paying taxes.
Reid, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader from Nevada, has said in repeated interviews that, according to a source that called his office, Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for ten years. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Preibus: Harry Reid is a "Dirty Liar"

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Officials Get Greedy, Runs 19 Food Vendors Off

KOAT - Several long-time vendors are pulling out of this year's Balloon Fiesta because of a change in their contract. Steve Chavez of Chavez New Mexican Foods read off a list of vendors that have bowed out. “Chavez New Mexican Foods, after 28 years: Leaving. Perico's: Leaving. Rex Hamburgers: Leaving.”
Former City Attorney Pete Dinelli represents 19 local vendors. He spent time negotiating with Balloon Fiesta officials this week about a new contract this year. His clients were not happy with having to pay a higher rental rate, which is 30 percent of their gross.
Chavez explained how he cannot afford the increase.

“Our employee cost: 30 percent,” he said. “Our inventory cost: 30 percent. Our State of New Mexico gross receipt tax: 7 percent. Ovation comes in: 30 percent. And that leaves us with a 3 percent profit. You cannot make it.” Dinelli proposed a change. “It was a 15-percent increase with a flat fee,” he said. “They rejected that outright, and didn't even make a counter offer is what amazes me.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Officials Get Greedy, Runs 19 Food Vendors Off

Unemployment up to 8.3%, Obama: "Our Plan is Working" - Romney: "Extraordinary Record of Failure"

Fox News - The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent in July, reflecting a stagnant economic picture as hiring improved but not by enough to make a dent in the sea of unemployed Americans.
The Labor Department report, in a glimmer of positive news after three straight months of dismal jobs numbers, showed that hiring reached its best level since February, with 163,000 jobs added.

But the number brings the economy back to treading-water status. The economy added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed. It would take 250,000 new jobs a month to rapidly bring the unemployment rate down.

With the rate rising from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent, Republicans amped up their criticism of President Obama's stewardship Friday.
"Today's increase in the unemployment rate is a hammer blow to struggling middle-class families," Mitt Romney said in a statement. Speaking later in North Las Vegas, he called the sustained high unemployment an "extraordinary record of failure." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Unemployment up to 8.3%, Obama: "Our Plan is Working" - Romney: "Extraordinary Record of Failure"

Ronnie Daniels Disappears Into Oblivion

Ronnie Daniels

Albuquerque Journal - Maybe you heard. Late last month, the University of Washington received a verbal commitment from a hot young quarterback prospect.
If the kid follows through, he’ll arrive on U-Dub’s Seattle campus in 2017. Tate Martell is 14 years old.
Around here, Ronnie Daniels used to be Tate Martell. Daniels was the can’t-miss prospect with golden legs, breakaway speed and the unmistakable aura of a major talent. This was a kid who signed his first autograph at the age of 12. But somewhere along the line, this can’t-miss kid did, in fact, miss. Badly. And publicly.
What has become of Ronnie Daniels? You may as well ask a fifth-grader to try and read ancient Arabic. It’s a riddle no one seems able to solve. “Nobody’s heard anything,” said longtime family friend Alvin Meadors, a former coach of Daniels’ in AAU basketball. “I was at summer school this year at La Cueva, and nobody knows anything.” Since being thrown out of the Texas Tech football program in the spring, Daniels – a 2010 La Cueva graduate and surely one of the most exciting running backs New Mexico’s ever produced – has been, for all intents and purposes, in seclusion. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Ronnie Daniels Disappears Into Oblivion

Man who seconded Barack Obama's 2008 nomination stumps in NC for Mitt Romney

Artur Davis

Campaign Tracker - When Artur Davis stumped for Democrat Larry Kissell in Charlotte in 2006, he was a rising Democratic star. The Alabama congressman was vice chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. An African American with a law degree from Harvard, he was an up-and-comer. In 2008, he was the first congressman outside Illinois to publicly back then-Sen. Barack Obama, who would become a confidant. He went on to second the nomination of his fellow Harvard law graduate at the Democratic convention in Denver. So how did the 44-year-old Davis come to campaign in North Carolina Thursday for Republican Mitt Romney? After losing a 2010 bid for governor of Alabama, Davis moved to suburban Washington to practice law. Last May, he announced he was switching parties. "I made a decision that on every single issue we’re debating in the country right now, what Republicans were saying made more sense to me than what Democrats were saying," he said by phone during a swing through eastern North Carolina. "I saw a Democratic solution that always amounted to 'Let's take more money from people that are successful and grow the footprint of government... That became the two-pronged, all-purpose solution to every economic problem." Read More News New Mexico

Read more here: http://campaigntracker.blogspot.com/2012/08/man-who-seconded-barack-obamas-2008.html#storylink=cpy

Man who seconded Barack Obama's 2008 nomination stumps in NC for Mitt Romney

And the redistricting price tag keeps growing — now the figure is $8 million

From Capitol Report New Mexico.com - Earlier this week, we reported how the initial cost for legal fees in the redistricting hassle here in New Mexico came to nearly $3 million. Then a couple hours later, we received a phone call from an official at the Legislative Council Service telling us that adding in other legal costs and assorted fees, the figure was really $5.4 million – “at least,” the official told us. Now, three days later, Barry Massey of Associated Press has tabulated the costs of everything — including the special session the legislature convened last September to supposedly hammer out a redistricting agreement. The price tag for taxpayers now? Nearly $8 million. Read more

And the redistricting price tag keeps growing — now the figure is $8 million

State government foul-up puts brakes on trucking company

From the Alamogordo Daily News - By Milan Simonich - SANTA FE -- Gov. Susana Martinez talks all the time about creating a business-friendly state. This week she learned that her own administration caused roadblocks for a small trucking company that had just made a major investment. The problem, a routine title transfer for a new $143,000 semi-trailer, took more than two weeks to complete. The truck could not be driven all that time, putting J.A.P.S. Freight Lines in a financial bind. "I've got a $2,500 payment coming due for a truck that I haven't been able to get on the road. The downtime is terrible for us," said Joe A. Parra, owner of the company. He and his business partner, Elizabeth Sosa, said dealing with state government was a maddening experience. Desperate to obtain the vehicle title he needed to do business, Parra said he traveled to state Motor Vehicle Division offices in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. He left each one empty-handed. So problematic was this title transfer that the governor's staff eventually phoned Sosa to assure her that the problem would be corrected. It finally was on Thursday, two days after that call from the top office in state government. Mark Williams, director of the state Motor Vehicle Division, said his agency fumbled this case.  "It should not have happened," Williams said in an interview. Read more

State government foul-up puts brakes on trucking company

My How the Tune Changes

Washington Times - President Obama's administration doesn’t see the need for defense contractors to warn employees about possible layoffs from across-the-board budget cuts, but in 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama railed against employers for failing to notify workers who were in danger of losing their jobs.

“The least employers can do when they’re anticipating layoffs is to let workers know they’re going to be out of a job and a paycheck with enough time to plan for their future,” Mr. Obama said in a news release on July 17, 2007, while campaigning for president.
The Obama administration said Monday in guidance from the Labor Department that federal contractors don’t need to warn their employees that they could lose their jobs because of the looming budget cuts that are slated to begin Jan. 2. Read full story here: News New Mexico

My How the Tune Changes

Solyndra's: "Bank of Washington"

Chris Gronet (left) with "Bank of Washington" Obama

Daily Caller - Solyndra’s CEO labeled President Barack Obama’s administration “The Bank of Washington.” Chris Gronet offered the description in an internal email one year before the company collapsed in 2010, costing taxpayers roughly $500 million. The email was obtained and published by the Republican National Committee. “The Bank of Washington continues to help us!” he wrote in the October 2009 e-mail, which sketched plans for Solyndra to exploit several additional federal programs and tax-incentives. “Some names fit,” said Darrell Issa, the GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee. “Using the name of ‘Bank of Washington’ has a legitimacy that I think will transcend this election,” he said in a Thursday press conference called to highlight the Solyndra email. Read full story and see copy of the email here: News New Mexico

Solyndra's: "Bank of Washington"