Commissioners to decide whether pot measure makes ballot

From KOB-TV.com - By: Erica Zucco, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - On Monday, Bernalillo County commissioners are set to decide whether a controversial pot measure makes it onto the November ballot for voters.
      But county commissioner Wayne Johnson says he’s not sure the county commission has the right to put the question on the ballot, and he’s asking New Mexico’s Secretary of State for guidance.
      For months, proponents of reducing marijuana penalties passed around petitions to get the issue on the November ballot. Albuquerque city council voted to add it, but the mayor vetoed it. Now, it’s in the county commission’s hands.
      “It gives the voters a chance to weigh in and say yes, that's the direction we want you to take,” Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said.
      But Commissioner Wayne Johnson believes the push is really a political tactic. “There are some folks that feel it would drive a segment of the population for turnout,” Johnson said.
      Stebbins disagrees that it’s being used as a political tactic. She says it’s a way for the commission to get guidance on what the community wants. More

Commissioners to decide whether pot measure makes ballot

Report: Santa Fe students spend up to 15 hours on standardized tests

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - By Robert Nott - Students in Santa Fe’s public schools spend between six and 15.5 hours taking standardized tests every year, according to a presentation to the school board Wednesday.
      The most any student might spend on state tests is 19.5 hours — or 1.8 percent of instructional time over the course of a year, says a report prepared by the district’s chief information and strategy officer, Richard Bowman. In comparison, recent national studies show students in large urban districts spend between 20 and 50 hours on testing every year.
      School board President Steve Carrillo said testing has become an “explosive” issue, but “we’ve always taken tests. It’s not such a bad thing. … We can’t get rid of all testing,” he said.
      He said Bowman’s presentation was to give community members a realistic assessment of the time invested in testing, especially since test scores and participation are now a major part of teacher evaluations and are key in measuring a school under the state’s A-F grading system.
      In Santa Fe Public Schools, fourth- and seventh-graders are tested the most, at 15.5 hours per year. Third-graders spend 15 hours testing. Students in grades five, six, eight, nine and 10 undergo 13.5 hours of testing, while 11th-graders spend 11 hours testing. Students in grades K-2 take six hours of tests. More

Report: Santa Fe students spend up to 15 hours on standardized tests

APS still down 200 teachers, retired teachers filling in as substitutes

From KOB-TV.com - By: Kai Porter, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - ALBUQUERQUE -- Three weeks into the school year, Albuquerque Public Schools still need to hire more than 200 teachers.
     The district says this happens every year, and that despite the shortage, students are still getting the education they deserve.
      A grandparent of an APS student says he isn't surprised the district is still short. "I think we really need to spend more money on our education system," Fook Lee said. "If it's affecting the teachers, what does it pour down to? Kids themselves."
      The district still needs to hire 81 elementary school teachers, 15 middle school teachers, 21 high school teachers and 90 special education teachers.
       "It's not unique to New Mexico, but I do think New Mexico has a hard time competing with other states because our starting salary is only $32,000 [a year] for teachers," said Karen Rudys, the Executive Director of Human Resources.
      Rudys said the district is currently filling the vacancies with long-term substitutes, many of whom are retired teachers, until the district can hire permanent replacements.
      The 200 vacancies are less than one percent of the district's total number of teachers, and the district says it doesn't expect to fill all of those positions. More

APS still down 200 teachers, retired teachers filling in as substitutes

Marita Noon: Mr. President, what about a campaign-style push to talk up America?

Commentary by Marita Noon - One of the unique roles of the executive is to be a cheerleader for his/her individual state—or in the case of the President, for his country.
      This is, perhaps, best exemplified by Texas Governor Rick Perry who, as ABC News puts it: “has made a campaign-style push in states like California, Illinois and Missouri by hosting business meetings and appearing on TV and radio shows to promise low taxes and incentives for any businesses with an itch to relocate.” InJune, Perry was in New York and Connecticut “to woo firearm manufacturers and other companies.” He launched a $1 million ad campaign in New York touting low-tax Texas, with a variety of Texans praising their paradise.
      Imagine if President Obama had done this—instead of an apology tour.
      He’d air ads in Germany encouraging them to buy American coal—after all, ours is cleaner burning than theirs (and Germany is very concerned about the environment); we have plenty of it (especially since we won’t be using so much after his policies shut down coal-fueled power plants); the price has dropped (while natural gas has gone up); they can get it from a friendly supplier (unlike the natural gas and coal Germany gets from Russia); and most importantly, Germany needs it (and apparently, he thinks we don’t).
      Thanks to Obama’s policies, we are prematurely shutting down our coal-fueled electricity generation—with the idea that we can replace it with wind and solar. Germany is prematurely shutting down its nuclear-powered fleet. It has already tried to go with wind and solar—with a goal of producing 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050—but it is not working out so well. Since 2011, when Chancellor Angela Merkel launched the energy revolution, or Energiewende, designed to wean the country off of nuclear and fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions have gone up; the average price of electricity for companies has (according to the Wall Street Journal’s [WSJ] August 26 report) “jumped 60%” and are now more than double those in the U.S.; and, as nuclear plants are closed, they are being replaced with coal as “intermittent renewables alone” can’t “replace nuclear power and provide round-the-clock supply.”
      Germany’s story is a shock to many who see it as the model of “green.” Read full column

Marita Noon: Mr. President, what about a campaign-style push to talk up America?

Best of Show for Monday

News New Mexico will be playing a "Best of Show" on Monday so that the staff can be with their family. Thanks for your support and attention.

Best of Show for Monday

NM winery gets federal grant for chile wine

From KOAT-TV.com - DEMING, N.M. —A New Mexico winery has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the federal government to expand production of its chile-infused wines.
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall announced the funding during a visit to St. Clair Winery in Deming on Wednesday.
      With the funding, the New Mexico Democrat said the winery will be able to boost revenues and grow its customer base for its chile-infused line of wines by reimbursing production, marketing and distribution costs.
      The winery's chile wines are made using hot peppers from the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico.
      The grant was awarded through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that helps agricultural producers grow their businesses by turning raw commodities into marketable products. The grants often support development for niche and specialty products in rural communities. More

NM winery gets federal grant for chile wine

Survey: State’s pinon juniper trees are growing

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Good news for pine nut lovers. Not so good for allergy sufferers. A five-year inventory of New Mexico’s forested lands shows positive growth rates among the state’s most important pinon and juniper species. However, other trees in the drought-stricken state have struggled more in recent years.
      Researchers with the State Forestry Division and the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station studied more than 3,000 areas across New Mexico between 2008 and 2012 to get a better idea of what was happening within the state’s forests. Officials say the resulting inventory is the most comprehensive collection of forest health trends in the state’s history.
       While the recent drought has undoubtedly affected pinon and juniper resources in New Mexico, researchers said the magnitude of the impact varies widely and future mortality rates will depend on temperature and precipitation trends.
       Pinon and juniper trees make up the most abundant types of forest in New Mexico. They cover more than 13.6 million acres, and more than half of those acres include pinon groves old enough to produce harvest-worthy quantities of pine nuts.
       Data collected by the researchers suggest that in the absence of a major disturbance, New Mexico’s pine nut output will likely increase over the next 20 years. More

Survey: State’s pinon juniper trees are growing

Lawsuit alleging long Election Day lines in Sandoval County will move forward

From KOB-TV.com - By: Kai Porter, KOB Eyewitness News 4  A judge is allowing a lawsuit to move forward that alleged long Election Day lines in Rio Rancho in 2012. The lines were long because of an alleged lack of polling equipment, and the lawsuit demands changes to the way Sandoval County runs elections.
      A voter and two candidates who lost in the 2012 general election claim in the lawsuit that thousands of voters were denied their right to vote. Some people allege lines were so long, they just gave up trying to wait.
      Some potential Rio Rancho voters were forced to wait up to five hours – a result of the county having just five voting centers for more than 80,000 people.
       Sandoval County Clerk Sally Padilla defended her job at the time. "I think I did my job; I've been doing it for many years, and I did my job the best I could," she said.
      The lawsuit asks for a series of changes to the way elections are run in Sandoval County, including no fewer than 15 voting convenience centers in Rio Rancho and more ballot printers.
      Last week a judge denied the county's request to have the lawsuit dismissed. During that hearing, the state said county officials took full responsibility for what happened in 2012. More

Lawsuit alleging long Election Day lines in Sandoval County will move forward

Marita Noon: U.S. Government releases predators against its own people

Commentary by Marita Noon - Many times the sound of howling and yelping coyotes awake me from a sound and cozy slumber. I sit bolt upright in my bed as my sleep-filled brain tries to calculate where my critters are and whether or not they are safe. The dogs on the floor beside me, the cat on the foot of the bed, I roll over and go back to sleep.
      In the years that I've lived in the mountains outside Albuquerque, I've lost three cats and three ducks to coyotes. I know they are natural predators and if my pets are outside, there is a chance they’ll fall prey. I hear the coyotes, but I hardly see them. They don’t generally come close to humans. They are after the squirrels and rabbits—and an occasional cat or duck.
      But that could all change due to a new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plan to expand the area for the Mexican grey wolf reintroduction. The current plan calls for virtually all the southern half of New Mexico to become wolf habitat—but wolf advocates at a hearing about the plan, held in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, on Wednesday, August 13, repeatedly declared that Southern New Mexico wasn’t enough. They want the wolf introduced north of I-40—which would include Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Some called for wolves to be released in the Grand Canyon and the Four Corners area.
      Wolves are master predators—and they are enemies of coyotes. Wolves attack bigger prey: deer and elk, horses and cattle—but are known to carry off a dog or cat as well. The wolves that are a part of the reintroduction program are not afraid of people and will come right up to a house if they are hungry. Read full column

Marita Noon: U.S. Government releases predators against its own people

UNM soccer coach gets suspension

 University of New Mexico women's soccer coach Kit Vela has been suspended for a week without pay and 22 players will be suspended for one game over a hazing incident. 

Athletic director Paul Krebs says he expects Vela's suspension to begin immediately, but university policy dictates she has 10 days to appeal. Krebs says assistant coaches Jorge Vela and Krista Foo will receive letters of reprimand. 

School officials say last Sunday's hazing involved seven true freshmen and two were taken to the hospital for excessive alcohol consumption. Twin sisters Danielle and Devin Scelsi quit the team Monday, withdrew from school and returned to their home in Orange County, California. 

On Tuesday, Krebs announced the team's season opener Friday at Texas Tech was canceled.

UNM soccer coach gets suspension