State budget fails in NM House on tie vote

From KOAT-TV.com - SANTA FE, N.M. —A proposed budget providing $6 billion for public education and state government next year has failed in the House on a tie vote. Republicans were joined by one Democrat - Rep. Sandra Jeff of Crownpoint - in opposing the measure on Friday.
     The 34-34 vote will force Democrats to regroup and potentially revamp portions of the budget. Two Democrats are absent this session because of health problems.
     Republicans objected that the measure didn't fund a number of the governor's educational initiatives, including merit pay for teachers. Before the final vote, Democrats rejected a GOP attempt to revamp the spending plan to shift more money to Martinez-backed programs.
     The budget proposed to increase spending on public education and government programs by 4.8 percent or $280 million next year. More

State budget fails in NM House on tie vote

Swickard: Repeal all minimum wage laws now

© 2014 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. The minimum wage is an example of wage control. There has never been any country where wage controls have helped the workers. Wage controls always cause lots of economic problems and it gives government much more control of our lives.

      We do not need polls, advice columns, or politicians sputtering, the economic data is compelling. When a minimum wage is imposed, it excludes the very members of the society that need a first job. Further, it treats employers improperly making them fund socialist benevolence via an unequal trade with their employees.

     How so? Businesses take a product and convey it to customers. Done correctly there must be a profit so the process can continue. The employer trades money with employees for their productivity in this process.

     If the value of the employee productivity is less than the money the employer gives the employee then there is an uneven trade. Both employer and employee must prosper for the relationship to continue. The employer must pay enough that employees can exist while employees must give employers enough productivity that customers are satisfied by quality and price.

     Further, customers decide how much they will spend so prices must conform to customer behavior. Therefore, if the cost of the product including the cost of the employee productivity is more than the customer is willing to spend, the customer will not buy. Often businesses will fail. This is Economics 101.

     So when the government forces employers to make a bad bargain of paying employees more than their productivity is worth one of two things will happen: the loss is passed on to the customer who is free to buy or not because the product costs more than it should. Customers are free to buy from any vendor so employers who lower the employee cost can lower purchase price.

     The second thing is that some employers may mechanize to keep from paying more for the employees than the employees can deliver in productivity. This is an adaption many businesses have used because of the minimum wage laws. Currently, many low-skilled jobs have been mechanized or moved off-shore.Read full column

Swickard: Repeal all minimum wage laws now

Hanna Skandera on News New Mexico Thursday

Hanna Skandera from the Public Education Department will be on News New Mexico Thursday to discuss the education budget. She will be interviewed by Dr. Michael Swickard and Bob Endlich in the second half of the show's second hour. Besides being on a number of radio stations, the program is streamed here

Hanna Skandera on News New Mexico Thursday

Salt truck catches fire at WIPP plant

From KRQE-TV.com - By Hawa Konte - CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) – Officials are reassuring the public they are not in danger after a fire at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Officials say a truck hauling salt caught fire at around 11 a.m. Wednesday and sparked an evacuation.
     There’s still a lot of smoke and firefighters are still trying to put the blaze out. Six employees were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Officials say none of the radioactive waste has been impacted by the fire.
     WIPP takes plutonium-contaminated waste like clothing, tools and other debris from Los Alamos National Lab and defense projects from other parts of the country. The waste is then buried in rooms cut from underground salt beds. More

Salt truck catches fire at WIPP plant

ENMU president under fire for remarks made to local paper

ENMU President John Madden

From KOB-TV.com - By: Lauren Hansard, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - The president of Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell is taking heat today after calling some voters “scum.” President John Madden was quoted in the Roswell Daily Record saying they’re “anti-everything.”
     This comes the same day as a special election that would increase taxes to fund programs at the university. KOB Eyewitness News 4 sat down with the president. Dr. John Madden has been president of Eastern New Mexico University’s Roswell campus for five and a half years.
     "I feel very strongly about this, and I know I've made some comments that were probably not polite, fair enough," said Madden. He said times are tough right now. The special election is for survival.
     “At this stage, we have laid off, retired, gotten rid of whatever you want to say of 1/3 of our employees. There's no place left to go," said Madden. Madden said if voters agree to the hike, the university will be able to continue operating its’ programs. But if it doesn’t the university will be forced to make some big cuts. More

ENMU president under fire for remarks made to local paper

When All of the Above Has Nothing Above the Neckline

Commentary by Marita Noon - The State of The Union Address (SOTU) reminded me of the idiom, “on one hand, on the other hand.” On one hand, President Obama extoled efforts to increase fuel efficiency to “help America wean itself off foreign oil.” He touted the new reality of “more oil produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world, the first time that's happened in nearly twenty years.” On the other hand, he promised to use his “authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations”—which is code for more national monuments and endangered species designations that will lock up federal lands from productive use.
     Concern was expressed for Americans who “are working more than ever just to get by.” He wants to help Africans “double access to electricity and help end extreme poverty.” But his policies are limiting access to electricity in America and raising the cost (20% in the past 6 years). Higher-cost energy is the most punitive to those struggling “just to get by.” Read full column

When All of the Above Has Nothing Above the Neckline

Deadline looms for Gila River decision

New Mexico officials are facing a looming deadline on how to manage the state's last free-flowing river. 

The state has rights to some of the Gila River and one of its tributaries under a 2004 settlement with Arizona but must decide by the end of the year what to do with the water. 

If New Mexico doesn't use the water, it could forgo millions of dollars in federal funds available for construction of a diversion project. 

Environmentalists and sportsmen say any dams or diversions would harm the area's wildlife and limit opportunities for recreation. But farmers throughout the region say the Gila would offer a backup source of water as dry conditions persist. 

Two state senators have introduced legislation this session to try and address the dilemma.

Deadline looms for Gila River decision

Hispanic students in NM top AP exam ranks

Hispanic high school students in New Mexico have taken the top spot nationally in getting passing scores in Advanced Placement classes. 

Gov. Susana Martinez announced that a new report shows nearly half of Hispanic high school graduates in 2013 scored a three or higher on an AP exam. Martinez says 43 percent of the students achieved the score and it is the highest percentage nationwide. She says it is the second year in a row Hispanic students in the state taking at least one AP class have ranked No. 1. 

The state's low-income student population ranked second nationally for AP scores. The report shows almost half of those students who graduated in 2013 took an AP class and 40 percent of them got at least a passing score.

Hispanic students in NM top AP exam ranks

Health exchange enrollment drops in NM

New Mexico's state-run health insurance exchange has sharply reduced its enrollment expectations for this year by about half. 

Mike Nunez, interim chief executive officer of the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, says problems with the federal healthcare.gov website slowed the state's efforts to promote enrollment. 

The state had expected up to 83,000 people to register this year, according to a 2011 study cited in an application for a grant under the Affordable Care Act. Nunez now estimates only between 40,000 and 50,000 will enroll. 

The exchange announced Thursday it was awarded a $69.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 The first open-enrollment period for individual policies ends March 31.

Health exchange enrollment drops in NM

Mayor Berry weighs in on green chile Super Bowl bet

Hatch Chile (click)

From KOB-TV.COM - By: Jeffery Gordon, KOB.com - Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry weighed in on the Super Bowl bet between the mayors of Denver and Seattle. One of the items at stake is Denver’s green chile.
     KOB Eyewitness News 4 caught up with Berry and asked him what he thinks of the bet. "If the Broncos lose, we'll send them some real green chile from New Mexico, some Hatch green chile and some red chile from Chimayo,” Berry said.
     Officials from Pueblo, Colorado say their area grows several types of chile that are somewhat similar to Hatch Valley Green Chile. Pueblo has an annual Chile and Frijoles Festival.
     The Denver Broncos took on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday in New Jersey and got whipped so New Mexico will need to send some real green chile. More.

Mayor Berry weighs in on green chile Super Bowl bet