Storm makes driving a challenge in Grants area

From KOB-TV.com - By: Maria Guerrero, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Along Interstate 40 westbound, the closer KOB Eyewitness News 4 got to Grants, the icier the roads became.
     Semi-tractor trailers weaved in and out of traffic trying to stay on the road. KOB found near white-out conditions near Laguna and snow packed icy-roads near Cubero. State Police and road workers helped a semi-tractor trailer that ended up stuck in the median.
     "I’m coming from the west from Shiprock. It's been pretty good til I got here. It's starting to sleet and getting windy here,” said one truck driver. Before long, Grants cleared up a bit.
     But the howling winds did not let up, which forced drivers to take a break. "It’s hard (laughs) to keep control of your car especially if you go under the bridges and stuff,” one woman said.“It wips ya. We almost saw a semi jack-knife in front of us."
     This might just be the beginning of more wind and snow coming to the area over the next couple of days. More

Storm makes driving a challenge in Grants area

Swickard: What do you believe in the news?

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Sometimes in newspaper stories the truth of what happened in the story is easy to see. At other times it is not. To deal with this ambiguity I have always wanted to enable readers to give a confidence rating to these more ambiguous stories. It would be a way of showing which stories, well, smell fishy.
     So some stories are just a matter of facts. An example would be: Bif Largecrash drove his rust colored 1986 Ford truck off the side of a hill last Saturday. He did so while trying to tune the radio to a different station because he said the song playing reminded him of his ex-wife’s lawyer.
     He was thrown from his truck and rescuers found him still clutching the aforementioned radio knob. An ambulance took him to the Emergency Room where he received 17 stitches and a stern lecture. Police chief, Al L. Blanks said, “It sure was good thing that the ground broke Bif’s fall or he could have been hurt.”
     Others stories contain more conjecture. Example: At the recent Town Council meeting Town Councilor I. M. Shady called Mayor Dee Power a cheater and stupid. “Am not,” replied Power. “Which one?” asked Shady. “Let me think,” said Dee.
     In the second example there is a conflict of opinions. We all have had those conflicts of opinion. It would be nice in the newspaper to have a section where the “conjecture” stories were all listed so that readers could indicate if the person is a cheater and stupid or just one. We need to know this.
     Here are some examples of facts and conjectures. Rate your confidence in the statements from 0 to 100. A rating of 100 means you are completely confident of it being true, like something your mother told you, whereas 0 means you do not believe it at all, like something politicians promise on the campaign trail.
1 - President Richard Nixon was a crook. _____
2 - Americans did land on the moon. _______
3 - Aliens crashed a space ship near Roswell. ______
4 - The police arrive quicker than pizza delivery. _____
5 - Van Gogh was an artist because he had no ear for music. ______
6 - Eight out of every five people cannot do math. _____
7 - Outlaws are more interesting than in-laws. _____
8 - Elvis is still alive. _____
9 - Japanese remember Pearl Harbor better than Americans. _____
10 - If taxes are outlawed, only outlaws will have taxes. _____
11 - The Marquis de Sade is an ObamaCare Administrator. _____
12 - 81% of American schools are below average. _____
13 - The number 13 is unlucky. _____
14 - If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three. _____
Read entire column

Swickard: What do you believe in the news?

NMFA hires new CEO

The governing board of the New Mexico Finance Authority on Wednesday approved Robert Coalter as its CEO. 

Coalter has been executive director of the Texas Public Finance Authority since 2012, and worked for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts from 1991 to 2011. 

Former state budget director John Gasparich has been interim CEO since last year when Rick May was fired after the discovery that a financial audit had been faked. NMFA ex-controller Greg Campbell pleaded guilty to forgery and securities fraud. 

The New Mexico authority uses bond proceeds to provide low-cost loans to cities, counties, schools and other governmental organizations for capital improvements. 

Coalter's starting date and salary is to be negotiated.

NMFA hires new CEO

Lawrence Rael announces gubernatorial candidacy

From KOAT-TV.com - by Pat Holmes - SANTA FE, N.M. —Joined by his wife, Kim, and their three children, Lawrence Rael announced his candidacy for governor of New Mexico in 2014. Rael currently serves as the president of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce.
     “I’m running for governor because, with the right leadership, I believe we can turn potential and possibility into real opportunity for every New Mexican -- by growing quality jobs, investing in quality education and ensuring access to quality health care for citizens in every corner of our state. I believe I can be that leader for the state that has given me and my family so much already,” Rael said.
     Rael was born in Santa Fe and raised in the town of Sile. He has served in local, state and federal government as well as spending time in the private sector.
     “Over the next year, I am going to fight to earn the vote of every New Mexican -- to win the Democratic primary next June and defeat Susana Martinez next November,” Rael added. “But my promise to the people of New Mexico is that I will fight just as hard for your future if I have the honor of being your next governor.”
     He has been chief administrative officer of Albuquerque, deputy secretary of Transportation for the State of New Mexico and director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments, serving Bernalillo, Valencia, Torrance and Sandoval counties.More

Lawrence Rael announces gubernatorial candidacy

Gov. Martinez proposes $112 million capital investment to NM water infrastructure

Gov Susana Martinez

From KOB-TV.com - By: Jorge Torres - The governor spoke today at the Rio Grande Nature Center to propose a capital investment in New Mexico's water infrastructure.
     The total proposal would be $112 million, which amounts to 60 percent of the outlay funding that will be available when the legislature convenes in January. 

     With many communities in New Mexico on the brink of a water shortage, the governor says the time to act is now.
     "While we cannot dictate the duration or the magnitude of the drought that we face, we can dictate our response. I'm proposing one of the largest investments ever made as a state in water infrastructure projects throughout New Mexico."
     Governor Martinez says the money should be used to improve state watersheds, provide repairs for communities that may go dry, and make critical repairs to dams.
     She considers water security a critical need for New Mexico communities, which is why she says that capital funds should be used to address those needs. More

Gov. Martinez proposes $112 million capital investment to NM water infrastructure

Sec. of Education happy with stipend program

New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera says the state is "off to a good start" with 15 teachers each approved to receive a $5,000 stipend for transferring from a top-graded school to a low-graded one. 

The teachers worked for the Las Cruces, Taos, Las Vegas City, Espanola, Estancia and Gallup school districts. 

Teachers qualifying for stipends must have worked full-time at schools with A or B grades last year and they must now teach full-time at schools with D or F grades. And they have to stay at the D-F school through the 2014-2015 school year. 

The state began the program in September but Skandera says all the teachers receiving the stipends had transferred before the announcement.

Sec. of Education happy with stipend program

Gov. Martinez in AZ for GOP meeting

Gov. Martinez

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez plans to travel to Arizona this week for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association. 

Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey said the governor leaves Tuesday for Phoenix and will attend a fundraiser that afternoon to benefit the Arizona Republican Party. 

The meeting of Republican governors ends Thursday, but McCleskey said the governor may stay longer to spend time with her husband, Chuck Franco, and his seriously ill aunt, who lives in Phoenix. 

The governors' group is paying for Martinez's travel. She serves on the executive committee of the organization, which helps elect GOP governors. 

The RGA was the top contributor to Martinez's 2010 campaign, giving about $1.3 million. 

A new RGA chairman will be elected at the meeting.

Gov. Martinez in AZ for GOP meeting

Officials question firing of Lottery CEO

Tom Romero

State lawmakers are questioning the sudden and mysterious firing of state lottery chief Tom Romero – and the golden parachute that seems to be coming his way in the form of severance pay. 

$265,000 is the amount the state still owes Romero under his contract that runs until August 2015. Lottery officials say they don’t owe that whole amount, but they won’t say how much Romero will get. 

Republican State Rep. Bill Rehm of Albuquerque has tried to ban golden parachutes like this one for years. 

Romero ran the lottery for eight years. He is a former police officer with the state Department of Public Safety.

Officials question firing of Lottery CEO

ABQ abortion goes to vote today

Today voters in the city of Albuquerque will decide whether or not to ban late term abortions. 

It’s the first municipal election in the nation on abortion rights, and it's getting plenty of attention all over the country. National leaders on both sides of the issue have their eyes on Albuquerque, because cities may be the next battleground after decades of debate in Congress and state legislatures. 

Voting starts at 7 a.m. today at 50 voting locations around the city. Registered Albuquerque city voters with a photo I.D. will be able to vote at any of those locations.

ABQ abortion goes to vote today

The Fracking Fight Goes Way Left

Commentary by Marita Noon - The fight against hydraulic fracturing has recently ratcheted up. On November 5, one town in Ohio and three in Colorado, passed ballot measures designed to ban or temporarily halt hydraulic fracturing—the brief (3-5 day) phase, often referred to as “fracking”—that is essential to the advanced oil-and-gas extraction processes that have given America the lead in global energy production. 

     A fourth Colorado town awaits a recount. Initial election results showed the moratorium in Broomfield, Co—failed by 13 votes. However, on November 13, after all the overseas, military, provisional and other outstanding ballots were counted, it had passed by 17 votes. A margin of less than 0.5 percent triggers an automatic recount—leaving the final outcome currently unknown. In Bowling Green and Youngstown, Ohio, the opposite happened. Similar proposed bans against fracking were defeated.
     Of the four votes in Colorado, Tisha Schuller, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) calls the Boulder and Lafayette votes merely “symbolic,” and noted that “Lafayette's last new well permit was in the early 1990s and Boulder's last oil and gas well was plugged in 1999.”
     However, Fort Collins, CO, is near the promising production of the Niobrara shale. The Fort Collins city council passed a resolution encouraging voters to reject the proposed moratorium. And, in Broomfield, the city council, in August, entered into a memorandum of understanding that would allow energy company Sovereign to drill 21 wells—as long as stringent standards are met. In these cities, these five-year bans will bite. More

The Fracking Fight Goes Way Left