Architects picked to design main spaceport facility

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A team of U.S. and British architects will design the primary terminal and hangar facility at Spaceport America, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority announced today. The American firm URS Corporation will team with Foster + Partners of the United Kingdom to design the facility, which is to be leased for at least 20 years by Virgin Galactic. The announcement was originally scheduled to be made at a news conference in Las Cruces on Friday. It was delayed because of a Thursday explosion that killed three people working on a rocket Virgin Galactic plans to use to fly paying customers into space from New Mexico. Though initial renderings are complete, they aren’t being released until the news conference can be rescheduled. Continue Reading

Article explores issues surrounding donor records

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I think regular readers of this site have a fairly comprehensive understanding of the arguments in favor of requiring the New Mexico State University Foundation to open its donor records to the public. I came across an article today that highlights the complexities of the issue and thoroughly explores arguments against making such records public. It’s a 2005 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that explores what has been a national controversy – whether state university foundations are, for purposes of government-transparency laws, public agencies. You can read the article by clicking here. Continue Reading

Guv at Obama’s heels in Iowa; Edwards up in N.H. poll

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Gov. Bill Richardson is within two points of Barack Obama in the newest independent poll of likely Iowa Democratic caucus goers. The news is huge for a candidate who recently moved ahead of John Edwards and into third place in New Hampshire in one poll and, for several weeks, has been gaining ground on the third-place Obama in polls in Iowa. It also comes as Richardson’s campaign began airing another clever television advertisement in Iowa on Tuesday. But the news isn’t all good for Richardson supporters. Another new poll shows Edwards ahead of Richardson in New Hampshire and Richardson’s support at a dismal 2 percent in South Carolina and New York. Continue Reading

Evans’ wife to run for his county commission seat

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The wife of District 4 Doña Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans will run for his seat next year, when he is forced from office by term limits. “Kent and I see the world in much the same way,” Anna Mae Evans, who like her husband is a lifelong Republican, said in a news release. “Over the past seven years of his term, I have come to know the issues facing Doña Ana County quite well.” Evans, who has attended almost all commission meetings during her husband’s tenure, said she is “well versed on where we’ve come from, where we are and where we need to go from here.” She has also attended a number of meetings of other local government committees and been involved in issues through her husband’s work. Evans has lived in the district for 32 years. She is a mother of three and grandmother of seven who has volunteered with a number of local organizations, including the Whole Enchilada Fiesta and Girl Scouts. Continue Reading

Lawmakers to seek AG opinion on NMSU Foundation

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A number of Doña Ana County lawmakers will ask the attorney general for a legal opinion on whether the New Mexico State University Foundation can keep information about its donors secret, and at least two are considering legislation to address the issue. State Sen. Mary Kay Papen and Reps. Andy Nuñez and Mary Helen Garcia will ask Attorney General Gary King for the opinion, and Reps. Joseph Cervantes and Nate Cote said legislation is a possibility. Though Cervantes doesn’t plan to sign the letter to the attorney general, Cote said he will probably do it. Continue Reading

McCamley attacks Pearce’s vote against farm bill

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Democratic congressional candidate Bill McCamley is criticizing U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., for voting last week against a farm bill that included a provision designed to combat the production of methamphetamine. Combating meth use is one of Pearce’s often-stated goals. House Resolution 2419 was approved last week on a vote of 231-191. It included a number of provisions to help fund and sustain America’s farms. It also included $15 million to encourage farmers to use fertilizers that don’t contain ammonia. A component of meth, ammonia is often stored in large tanks on farms and stolen by meth producers. Continue Reading

Iglesias to talk to ethics committee about Wilson

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The U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may finally be getting around to considering a complaint filed against Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., over her role in the U.S. attorney controversy. David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, will be interviewed today by the staff of the committee, the Albuquerque Tribune is reporting. It’s the first sign that the committee might consider the request made in March by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for a probe of the situation. House rules generally require a complaint from a House member before such an investigation can take place. Today’s interview is apparently a preliminary discussion. Continue Reading

LFC: $370 million available for capital outlay in 2008

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Lawmakers will have a much smaller pot of capital outlay money to draw from next year than they did this year or in 2006. According to a projection from the Legislative Finance Committee, about $370 million will be available in 2008 for state building projects, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting today. This year, there was about $1 billion available, and last year it was about $750 million. Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming and chair of the LFC, said lawmakers should focus this year on fully funding projects that currently only have partial funding, thereby reducing the $1.3-billion backlog in unspent funds. That will be a tough sell to lawmakers who are up for re-election in 2008, he acknowledged to the newspaper. Continue Reading

Nava named interim chief of Gadsden schools

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State Sen. Cynthia Nava of Las Cruces has been named interim superintendent of the Gadsden Independent School District in southern Doña Ana County, the Las Cruces Sun-News is reporting. Nava, who has worked for the district for 26 years and is deputy superintendent, was already filling in when outgoing Superintendent Ron Haugen was out of the district. She will remain in the interim job until the board hires a new superintendent, the newspaper reported. Haugen’s last day is today. The popular leader is taking a job as superintendent of the school district in Anthony, Texas. Continue Reading

New foundation agreement raises more questions

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The new agreement between the New Mexico State University Foundation and the university raises some new, interesting questions. Perhaps most interesting – at least to me – in the new agreement is the statement that the agreement supersedes and replaces the Feb. 11, 1991 agreement between the NMSU Foundation and university and additional agreements dated June 1, 1993 and Aug. 25, 2005. That’s interesting because, in May, when I formally requested a copy of the agreement between the foundation and university, foundation Director and university Vice President Rebecca Dukes told me the most recent agreement, which she called “old,” was from 1991. Continue Reading

AG will investigate; NMSU releases agreement

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The Attorney General’s Office will review my request and issue a determination on whether the New Mexico State University Board of Regents violated government transparency laws. The questions relate to the use of secret donors to boost the financial compensation of the president and former men’s basketball coach and issues surrounding recent approval of a new agreement between the university and the NMSU Foundation. I sent a letter to the attorney general Friday, which you can read by clicking here, requesting an investigation into three issues: • Whether the regents violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act by meeting on July 17 even though the meeting was not properly noticed. The university postponed formal action until a July 23 meeting but still discussed the formation of public policy that day. • Whether the university violated the Inspection of Public Records Act by considering e-mail requests for records to be invalid and by refusing to release a new agreement between the foundation and university. Continue Reading

Federal examples of e-mail as a legal form of writing

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Since state Rep. Joseph Cervantes told me last week he believes federal law does state that e-mails are legal forms of writing, I’ve come across a few examples that seem to back him up. Cervantes’ comments came in the context of me writing about New Mexico State University’s assertion that e-mail is generally not a valid way to request documents under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, which states that requests, to trigger the requirements in the act, must be written. My frustration with that assertion by NMSU is part of a larger complaint I have with the university’s skirting of government transparency laws, which you can read about by clicking here. Cervantes, an attorney who has worked closely with government transparency laws in his legislative role, disagreed with NMSU last week, telling me “there’s lots of federal law that says it is a writing.” I’ve come across some examples. The federal Rules of Evidence state that “‘writings’ and ‘recordings’ consist of letters, words or numbers, or their equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photography, magnetic impulse, mechanical or electronic recording, or other form of data compilation.” Surely, that includes e-mails. Continue Reading

Pearce doesn’t vote to oppose long-term base in Iraq

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The U.S. House of Representatives easily approved last week a resolution that would make clear that the United States will not establish a military base in Iraq for the “permanent” stationing of troops there or attempt to control Iraq’s oil. Those are hot-button topics among liberals since the White House has recently indicated that President Bush may intend to keep a military presence in Iraq similar to its presence in South Korea, where American troops have been stationed for more than 50 years. Still, House Resolution 2929 was uncontroversial enough that it was approved on a vote of 399-24. The resolution states that the United States’ policy is “not to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq and not to exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.” It also states that no funds made available by Congress shall be used to establish a permanent base in Iraq or control that nation’s oil. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., joined with 23 other representatives to vote against the resolution. Continue Reading

Officers frustrated with children’s court judges

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The two newest district judges in Doña Ana County are facing criticism from law-enforcement officials who believe they’re being too lax with juveniles, the Las Cruces Sun-News is reporting this morning. Children’s Court Judges Fernando Macias and Lisa Schultz defended their decisions as appropriate. The number of juveniles housed at the county detention center has recently fallen to half of its historical average of about 20. District Attorney Susana Martinez told the newspaper she was “shocked” to learn that, “particularly with the level of repeat offenders and violent crimes the county has been experiencing lately.” Macias told the newspaper that, where juveniles are concerned, “detention is for those that haven’t necessarily been convicted of a crime, it’s for those that are awaiting their adjudicatory process.” He said the lower population in the detention center is partly because “the number of cases that are coming into the delinquency court are a little bit low.” He also said the court’s aim is to try to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, and some are placed “in other kinds of settings” such as treatment facilities. Schultz said she doesn’t have a “cookie-cutter approach” to deciding whether juveniles should be kept in the detention center or sent to other programs. She said the juvenile probation office, district attorney and police are doing a good job. Continue Reading