Mescalero Apache leaders suspended

Fredrick Chino, Sr.

From the Alamogordo Daily News - by Dianne Stallings - MESCALERO -- Mescalero Apache Tribal President Frederick Chino Sr. and Vice President Sandra Platero were placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday by the tribal council. No wrongdoing is alleged.
     The action was taken to facilitate an operational and programmatic review of the tribe's activities over the next month, according to information from Acting President Alfred La Paz, who is a member of the tribal council and was serving as council secretary.
     "While the vote to place the president and vice president on leave was not unanimous, the tribal council will be working unanimously over the next month to ensure the smooth operation of tribal government," La Paz stated. "It is my understanding that a number of council members had concerns about the level of communication that existed between the president and the council."
     Frederick Chino Sr. took the oath of office as president in January 2012. He recently spoke of plans to provide future employment for tribal members. Those plans included allowing exploratory drilling in the Pajarito Mountain area for possible future mining of rare earth elements, as well as acquisition of U.S. Forest Service land to bring all of Ski Apache Resort into the reservation.
     Removal of tribal administration figures is not without precedent. After the death of longtime President Wendell Chino in 1998, his successor Paul Ortega and Vice President Oliver Enjady were removed months later. In that case, Sara Misquez, who had served as administrative assistant to the elder Chino, was installed as president.
     La Paz retired as a captain from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement division after a 30-year career. He has served on the tribal council since 2001. Read more

Mescalero Apache leaders suspended

State unveils new reading initiative

New Mexico children could win a trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom or ride in a hot air balloon with Gov. Susana Martinez under a program that state officials hope will encourage students to read when they aren't in school. 

The governor is to announce several reading contests on Wednesday in Albuquerque. 

The state is partnering with private and public organizations, including the city of Albuquerque, the University of New Mexico and the Albuquerque Isotopes. 

The governor's office says the goal is to prevent a drop in the reading proficiency of students during the summer months. 

Among the top prizes for winning students is an expense-paid family trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, throwing a pitch at an Isotopes baseball game and serving as a junior zookeeper at Albuquerque's zoo.

State unveils new reading initiative

Gov. named to health care task force

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has been named to a National Governors Association task force on health care. 

The organization announced Tuesday the panel will consider how states can improve the delivery of quality health care while controlling the costs of Medicaid, a program jointly financed by states and the federal government to provide medical services for the needy. 

Other members of the task force on health care sustainability are governors from Oregon, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, California, New York, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Maryland and Nevada. 

The Martinez administration has asked the federal government to approve an overhaul of New Mexico's Medicaid program, which provides health care for a fourth of the state's population. 

One goal is to better coordinate medical care in hopes of making New Mexicans healthier.

Gov. named to health care task force

Oil production up in NM

Oil production in New Mexico has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last three years, making it one of five western states that have helped boost national production over the last three years. 

Statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show onshore oil production increased nationally by more than 2 million barrels a day — or nearly two-thirds — between February 2010 and February 2013.

North Dakota and Texas have been the driving forces, but New Mexico along with Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah account for 15 percent of the growth.

Oil production up in NM

NM's potential for twisters higher in eastern plains

From KOB-TV.com - By: Jill Galus, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Tornadoes are not as common in New Mexico as they are in Oklahoma, but they do happen here. A severe tornado ripped through Clovis about six years ago, but still remains one of the most destructive tornadoes the state has ever seen, killing two people.
     Jennifer Palucki with the National Weather Service said, a tornado like that can, and probably will, happen again somewhere in our state. The eastern plains of New Mexico are considered the on-ramp to tornado alley. "The fact that we haven't seen it recently tends to take people by surprise," Palucki said.
     Since 1955 there have only been 9 years without a single reported tornado, according to weather experts. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said he remembers the last tornado to hit Albuquerque, back on July 14th, 1990. That is one of four to reportedly touch down in the city since 1985. "We didn't know until after the fact, but there was some noise involved as there always is with tornados and then we came out and found out the property across the street on San Pedro had been damaged severely," Berry said.
     Radar has improved tremendously since then. "We can tell the difference, whether it's hailing or raining or snowing, we can also see things like tornado debris balls," Palucki said. Without the moisture like in the midwest, it is unlikely to see a large magnitude tornado in New Mexico. Read more

NM's potential for twisters higher in eastern plains

Swickard: Give until it stops hurting

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  A friend in college was in a discussion group when someone said, “You must give until it hurts.” My friend corrected it to: “You must give until it stops hurting.” My, that is much better. With the tornado damage to Americans this week there is a divide in the discussions between: “Oh, just let the government take care of people in need because that is why we pay taxes,” and, “Here, my friend, I will help you.” 
Government, as it gets bigger, wants to be the entity that helps because it gives government a solid mission but we Americans were born to help each other. At least my generation was born that way. I am not saying there is not a place in a disaster for government. Goodness, there are always the needs of the many at the moment of disaster, but I am thinking of all the people in New Orleans and with Hurricane Sandy that sat and sat and sat waiting on the government. When Hurricane Katrina hit a friend of mine watched for a couple of hours on television and then, because he has a restaurant background, got a big truck and lots of supplies along with a generator. He and a couple friends headed down to New Orleans and parked in a closed Wal-Mart parking lot. For a week my friend served coffee and pancakes to the great relief of the people in the area. After a while the government got going but at the time of the disaster there was a schism between the Republican President and the Democrat Governor and Mayor of New Orleans. They initially told the president that they did not want help so when they changed their minds it was several days into the crisis. But in the middle of all that politics my friend made coffee, gave out bottles of water and served up pancakes to the grateful citizens. Then, with the big truck empty, he and his friends came home. On the way home they prayed that others would help because that is what we do, we give until it stops hurting. Read column

Swickard: Give until it stops hurting

Small Fla. city wonders who won Powerball jackpot

From KOB-TV.com - By TAMARA LUSH and BARBARA RODRIGUEZ - (AP) ZEPHYR HILLS, Fla. - Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million _ the highest Powerball jackpot in history.
     Whoever has the ticket had not come forward as of Sunday afternoon. "This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it’s the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot," Florida Lottery executive Cindy O’Connell told The Associated Press. "We’re delighted right now that we have the sole winner."
     Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said that there are a lot of rumors about who won, but the store doesn’t know. "We’re excited for the winner or winners," she said. O’Connell said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state but did not give any indication whether anyone had stepped forward with the winning ticket in Saturday’s drawing.
     But plenty of people in Zephyrhills _ population 13,337 _ are wondering whether it’s someone they know. Zephyrhills is a small city in Pasco County, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Tampa. Once a rural farming town, it’s now known as a hotbed for skydiving activity, and the home to large retiree mobile home parks and Zephyrhills bottled water.
     And now, one lucky lottery ticket. Read more

Small Fla. city wonders who won Powerball jackpot

US Interior Department sets new rule for ‘fracking’

From Capitol Report New Mexico - The new boss at the U.S. Department of the Interior has established a new rule for hydraulic fracturing (commonly called “fracking”) on federal lands that seems to have pleased neither environmentalists nor oil and gas producers. According to the Associated Press, new Interior secretary Sally Jewell and the Obama administration announced Thursday (May 16) that companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands will be required to disclose publicly the chemicals used in fracking operations. Not surprisingly, oil and gas producers complained about the ruling, saying it’s unnecessary.
     But at least one environmental group complained too, saying the decision is a watered-down version of an earlier proposal. “It is clear what happened: the Bureau of Land Management caved to the wealthy and powerful oil and gas industry and left the public to fend for itself,” Jessica Ennis, a spokeswoman for the environmental group Earthjustice told AP. A big reason for the complaint from environmentalists hinges on the ruling calling for disclosure of chemicals to go to a group called FracFocus, a voluntary site where companies self-report.
     According to the Interior Department, domestic production from more than 92,000 oil and gas wells on public lands accounts for about 13 percent of the nation’s natural gas production and 5 percent of U.S. oil production. In an Interior report last year, oil and gas activity on BLM-managed lands in New Mexico was linked to 47,807 direct jobs and $10.9 billion in direct output. Read more

US Interior Department sets new rule for ‘fracking’

The IRS wants YOU — to share everything

From the Politico.com - by David Nather, Tarin Parti and Byron Tau - The Internal Revenue Service asked tea party groups to see donor rolls. It asked for printouts of Facebook posts. nd it asked what books people were reading.
     A POLITICO review of documents from 11 tea party and conservative groups that the IRS scrutinized in 2012 shows the agency wanted to know everything — in some cases, it even seemed curious what members were thinking. The review included interviews with groups or their representatives from Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and elsewhere. The long-awaited Treasury Department inspector general report released Tuesday says the agency itself decided some of its questions to conservative groups were way over the line — especially the one about donors.
     The report shows that top IRS officials put a stop to some of the questions in early 2012, including the ones that asked tea party groups who their donors were, what issues were important to them and whether their top officers ever planned to run for office. And they told the investigators they planned to destroy the donor lists that had already been sent in.
     But interviews with members of the groups paint a more dramatic picture than the bland language of the report, which just says the IRS “requested irrelevant (unnecessary) information because of a lack of managerial review, at all levels, of questions before they were sent to organizations seeking tax-exempt status.”
      “They were asking for a U-Haul truck’s worth of information,” said Toby Marie Walker, the president of the Waco Tea Party. Some groups even gave up in the face of the IRS questions. Several of the groups were asked for résumés of top officers and descriptions of interviews with the media. One group was asked to provide “minutes of all board meetings since your creation.”
      Some of the letters asked for copies of the groups’ Web pages, blog posts and social media postings — making some tea party members worry they’d be punished for their tweets or Facebook comments by their followers. Read more

The IRS wants YOU — to share everything

NTSB wants to lower legal BAC levels

NewsNM Swickard - I'm with MADD - zero point zero is the only reading that makes sense. From KOB-TV.com - by Joseph Lynch, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Right now if you get pulled over with a .08 Blood Alcohol Content or higher, you go to jail.

     But the NTSB wants to drop that limit even lower. If it was up to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a point zero- zero behind the wheel is the would be the only acceptable blood alcohol level. The group said what the NTSB is proposing is a step in the right direction. The agency would like to see the national standard point .08 brought down to .05, but it's just a recommendation. Sonia Lopez of MADD New Mexico says it's never easy.
     "Every time that we do some type of legislation or policy we always get - We always get opposition from the alcohol industry and from the restaurant association."
     To become law, the recommendation would have to be passed by New Mexico Lawmakers and signed by our governor. Rio Rancho Police Seargant Nichlaus Onkyn says a lower BAC will lead to more arrests at DWI checkpoints. And even if you blow less than a .05, that doesn't mean you're off the hook.
     "If we are able to determine that an individual is truly intoxicated and that they are impaired due to their consumption of alcohol or drugs, it doesn't matter the amount of alcohol or drugs in their system."
     According to the DWI Resource Center in Albuquerque, the average person who is arrested for DWI has a BAC of .16 Read more

NTSB wants to lower legal BAC levels