Latest Stories

Bingaman global warming bill has bipartisan support

By |

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced today bipartisan legislation his office says is “designed to stop the advancement of global warming while protecting the U.S. economy and American consumers.” The measure, which is cosponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is an economy-wide mandatory cap-and-trade program that limits the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted, according to a Bingaman news release. The bill would set an annual target on the amount of carbon that can be released into the atmosphere. It would allow firms to buy, sell and trade carbon credits and would provide incentives to promote a gradual transition to new, lower-carbon technologies. “There is a great desire in our country to address the global warming crisis,” said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Continue Reading

Poll: Richardson at 4 percent in Obama’s home state

By |

A new poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson gaining little ground over the last six months in Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois, whose primary is important because of its early date – Feb. 5 – and the Chicago media market. Richardson has spent little time in the state since jumping into the race on Jan. 21, so the new American Research Group poll isn’t a surprise. The poll, conducted July 6-9, has Obama in the lead with the support of 37 percent of likely Democratic primary voters. Continue Reading

County seeks applicants for tax advisory board

By |

The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners is seeking applications from residents who want to serve on a committee that will help it decide how to spend the county’s portion of the spaceport gross receipts tax. One-fourth of the quarter-percent tax increase approved by voters in April will be returned to the county for use on spaceport-related activities. The commission intends to use it for education in math, science and business that relates to the aerospace industry. In June, commissioners created a nine-member advisory committee comprised of representatives from each of Doña Ana County’s three school districts and New Mexico State University’s Education and Engineering colleges, as well as a representative of the aerospace industry, a commissioner and two members of the public. The Spaceport Educational Advisory Committee will make recommendations to the commission about how to allocate the funding to the Hatch, Las Cruces and Gadsden schools. Continue Reading

Gay slur comes back to haunt Richardson

By |

Gov. Bill Richardson is coming under fire for a gay slur he made during a radio interview more than a year ago. The site Gay News Watch reported Tuesday on Richardson using a Spanish-language slur for gay people during a March 29, 2006 interview with former talk-show host Don Imus. Imus used the word “maricón” – which is most commonly translated as “faggot” – in telling Richardson that an Imus staffer named Bernard “has been claiming that you’re not really Hispanic.” “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?” Imus asked Richardson. Richardson immediately replied, in Spanish, by saying, “I believe that Bernard, yes, he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic.” The incident went largely unnoticed, and Richardson had never publicly apologized or had to explain it before now, though he did apologize privately to one gay-rights activist, Gay News Watch reported. Continue Reading

King is working to combat government corruption

By |

Gary King took the reins of the attorney general’s office in January knowing he would have to focus much of his effort on rooting out government corruption. Six months later, King is making a difference. The indictments last month of the wife of state Rep. Richard Vigil and three others on government corruption charges were an indication that King, who like Vigil is a Democrat, places the law above politics. Other investigations are ongoing. King’s office is scrutinizing Land Commissioner Pat Lyons’ decision last year to bypass his own bidding process and lease thousands of acres of land in Las Cruces to a developer who gave $20,500 to a political action committee that passed most of it on to his re-election campaign. Continue Reading

New Mexico developers’ little secret: greenfield TIF

By |

By Carter Bundy When you were a kid, did you ever think you’d be reading about tax increment financing (TIF)? I didn’t, and unless your name is Alex P. Keaton, you didn’t either. But it’s an issue worth billions, so it can’t be that dull. It isn’t talked about as much as Alec Baldwin’s parenting skills, but TIF is important, especially in New Mexico. Truth is, it might the best kept secret this side of Vlad Guerrero. Continue Reading

The heat is on

By |

By Whitney Cheshire Ouch. Bill Richardson’s team may be at that point: That time in a campaign when strategists and consultants – those hired public-relations guns – clench their teeth, breathe in and beg for a little rain to come in and cool off what turned out to be a triple-digit scorcher of political screw-ups. It’s the kind of heat that can envelope a candidate and threaten to cook him alive. A little too melodramatic? Perhaps. Continue Reading

Homans to join rubber recycling company

By |

Rick Homans is leaving his job as director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to work for a Malaysia-based company that plans to build a rubber recycling plant in Gallup and its U.S. headquarters in Albuquerque. The state’s Economic Development Department announced today that The Petra Group plans to house both facilities in New Mexico, and will make a formal announcement Wednesday in Albuquerque. Michael Henningsen, spokesman for the department, confirmed that Homans would join the company, and said he would release more details later today in a news release. Homans said he could not comment until after that happens. The company has its fingers in a lot of projects, but one of its divisions focuses on environmental technology. Continue Reading

McCamley campaign has some big-name contributors

By |

Bill McCamley’s campaign contributor list includes a number of high-profile business owners and New Mexico Democrats, and it’s earning him some national attention. McCamley announced Sunday that he raised $139,600 during the second quarter of 2007. He spent $6,300 and had $133,300 on hand. All money McCamley raised is for the primary election, according to the report he filed with the Federal Election Commission late Monday. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, the Republican McCamley is attempting to unseat, hasn’t yet filed his report with the FEC. Continue Reading

County to begin Webcasting commission meetings

By |

Doña Ana County will soon begin broadcasting commission meetings live on its Web site and archiving the recordings for those who want to access them at a later date. Commissioners voted unanimously today to adopt a system proposed by the county attorney’s office. Under the new system, audio and video recordings of meetings will be broadcast and archived on the county’s Web site. Archives of the meetings will be organized based on the meeting’s agenda. Markers in the recordings will allow people to click on a specific agenda item and watch or listen to the discussion on that item. Continue Reading

County funding makes film-industry lobbyist a reality

By |

On a 3-2 vote, the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners decided today to provide $25,000 to NMSU to help pay an employee whose job will be attracting films to the area. The vote formally approved an agreement with the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University designed to help draw films to the area. The City of Las Cruces and NMSU have already agreed to each provide $25,000 for the position, so the county’s vote ensures it will become a reality. The position is essentially that of an economic development employee who will lobby Hollywood to shoot films in Doña Ana County and help coordinate such projects. Having such an employee recently helped draw the filming of part of the fourth Indiana Jones film to the Deming area. Continue Reading

County likely to increase public input in development

By |

The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners appears prepared to place new requirements on developers that are designed to ensure the public has input in the approval process. Commissioners, at today’s meeting, unanimously approved a resolution that will direct staff to begin drafting amendments to the Land Use Regulations and Zoning Ordinance to require developers of projects of 100 lots or larger to hold two “town-hall” style meetings prior to the county review process. The amendments, which are likely to be approved by commissioners at a future date, would apply to development proposals only in unincorporated areas of the county that are not in the extraterritorial zone around Las Cruces that is governed by a joint city/county board. The proposal by Commissioner Bill McCamley would require developers of such projects to hold such meetings at reasonable times and in publicly accessible locations as close to their proposed developments as possible. It would require the developers to give the county notice of such meetings 10 days before they’re held to allow the county time to publicize them. Continue Reading

Bingaman to introduce bill to fight global warming

By |

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman will unveil a long-awaited proposal on Wednesday aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States through the establishment of a cap-and-trade system. Bingaman’s office said today that the state’s Democratic senator won’t release details until the news conference, which will be held in Washington at 10 a.m. MST. He told me in January, during an interview at his Washington office, that the legislation would cap emissions and allow the trading of usage permits, which the senator called “the most significant action we could take to begin dealing with this issue.” Even before it’s formally announced, Bingaman’s plan has drawn the ire of many on the right and left. The Competitive Enterprise Institute criticized a draft circulated in January as legislation that would “increase consumer energy costs, chill investment in new coal-fired plants and usher in a new era of anti-energy litigation.” And the site Blue Climate criticized Bingaman’s proposal in January as one that “falls short” because it doesn’t do enough to combat global warming. Bingaman told me in January that he has supported more drastic measures in the past, but they were easily defeated, and he is trying to put together legislation that will reduce emissions and that actually has a chance of being approved by Congress and signed by President Bush. Continue Reading

Chávez promotes pet programs in Las Cruces

By |

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez got a chance to promote changes his city has made in its attitude toward pets today in a presentation to the Las Cruces City Council, which is considering a number of issues to deal with problems here. Albuquerque has made a number of changes in recent years, including a mandatory spay and neuter program and the construction of several dog parks, that have lowered the city’s euthianization numbers by 9 percent and earned it a ranking of the third most pet-friendly city in the nation. In the wake of a number of high-profile animal hoarding cases, Las Cruces officials are considering how to deal with an out-of-control pet population and attitudes that lead to such problems. Also presenting to the council was Heather Greenhood, Animal Protection Voters of New Mexico legislative director, who said the Las Cruces humane society takes in 40 animals each day and spends $715,000 each year euthanizing animals. Reducing its number of euthanized animals by 9 percent would save the city about $65,000 each year, she said. How to do it? Continue Reading