Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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It’s a brand new year, with a brand new 60-day state legislative session. Yet as some talk about trying to move the state forward, one powerful New Mexico lawmaker would take it back, quite literally, to the dark ages of government accountability and transparency. It is shocking that Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, thinks it’s a good idea to allow public agencies in New Mexico to keep the results of their applicant searches secret until they are down to one (or a few) finalist(s) for a top job at a pub...
Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s tweets are like nails raking across a chalkboard — to borrow a metaphorical relic. Then again, with the stroke of a tweet, it appears he derailed, at least temporarily, House Republicans’ plan to gut the independent ethics panel charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against members of the House of Representatives and their staffs. The episode showed not only the strength the soon-to-be president wields over his party, it could be an insight into the willingness of House Repub...
It is a cautionary tale, from a respected outside institution, as to the folly of simply throwing money at early childhood education without accountability measures. Those who would advocate for another raid on the Land Grant Permanent Fund in the name of helping New Mexico’s youngest children should take heed. Because so far, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on New Mexico’s Head Start has left the Land of Enchantment dead last in the nation when it comes to instructional quality. And that should come as no sur...
Just 80 feet from the road to Sandia Crest. In view of a picnic table and a popular hiking trail. And in the path of a family pet named Cub. Last weekend, Cub stepped into a metal leg-hold trap. Luckily, Cub’s owner and a friend were hiking with the dog and were able to pry open the jaws of the trap before they caused any serious damage to the animal’s leg. Critics are already blaming Cub’s owner, saying John Ussery should have followed the law and had his dog on a leash. Absolutely. But that misses the point that Usser...
Overshadowed by the trio of Obama Administration scandals that have dominated Washington's attention in recent weeks is the renewed attention to sexual assaults and harassment in the military. Behavior that ranges from inappropriately boorish to criminal has long been a major problem. The issue resurfaced this month after an Army sergeant who was assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program was himself accused of sexual assault. In a news conference, President Obama spoke with passion and righteous anger about...
Sen. Tom Udall is preparing to take a needed run at cleaning up the horse racing industry by creating a national standard for the use of performance-enhancing drugs in races with interstate simulcast wagering. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act would set up a basic framework and then turn over drafting the rules and enforcing them to the United States Anti Doping Agency, an independent organization that polices U.S. Olympic athletes and promotes clean sports competition. The racing industry would bear the costs of...
For four years, Francisco Melgar-Cabrera has escaped American justice. And Stephanie Anderson has been dead. The first half of that equation needs to change, because the second part can't. Melgar-Cabrera, a suspect in the June 20, 2009, fatal robbery of the Denny's on Coors NW in Albuquerque, remains on the lam in El Salvador. In the years since the breakfast-crowd shooting: - Melgar-Cabrera's brother has almost completed his four-year sentence for aiding in his escape and is set to be deported and rejoin his fugitive...
The death penalty trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has reignited the national debate about abortion, specifically late-term abortions. Abortion is never totally out of the arena of public debate, but the gruesome allegations of necks being cut to kill babies who were born alive at Gosnell's squalid inner city abortion clinic have shocked a nation where abortion has become an everyday event. Gosnell, 72, is charged with killing four viable babies as well as a 41-year-old patient who died after allegedly...
According to the Oxford Dictionaries it means "dumb." Urban dictionary says it means "idiot." Wiktionary says it's "a stupid person." Yet Albuquerque attorney and mayoral candidate Pete Dinelli uses pendejo to describe all registered Democrats who have crossed party lines — to vote for a candidate who has a background they respect, who accurately represents their views on an issue, who has done their homework to earn their vote. Dinelli, who is running in a nonpartisan city election, says he wants to end "petty partisan p...
Gov. Susana Martinez has laid the ugly truth on the line. "We must diversify our economy and not have such a heavy reliance on federal jobs," she told about 700 people attending a luncheon hosted by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. "We can no longer rely on government as a growth industry in New Mexico." There it is. And probably not a big surprise to anyone who has been watching the state's economy carefully over the past few years. During a recent 12-month period, the state lost 1,200...
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, one in six Americans will have a food-borne illness every year. Of those, nearly 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. Since last summer there have been outbreaks of salmonella in peanut butter produced in New Mexico, as well as salmonella in mangoes and cantaloupes and listeria in cheese. These contaminations have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths. Last week, the FDA released draft rules to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act...
5 was a boom for new government regulations. Unfortunately, a lot of them aren't likely to do anyone any good, except perhaps as employment insurance for those bureaucrats already employed or hired to enforce them. The biggest regulation offenders on a Top 10 worst list, compiled by the conservative Heritage Foundation, range from a simplification of home mortgage rules codified in 1,099 pages, to new Energy Department rules governing dishwashers. And don't forget Mayor Michael Bloomberg's rationing of soda pop to force...
For the entire first Gulf War, U.S. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf was the face of a valiant and successful U.S. military. Schwarzkopf, who died Thursday at 78 from complications from pneumonia, commanded Operation Desert Storm, the U.S.-led coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991. Despite his postwar popularity, Schwarzkopf resisted efforts to get him to run for office. And while he initially supported the second Gulf War against Iraq, he later expressed reservations about that conflict and criticized...
On paper, New Mexico has a serious teen pregnancy problem. The state has the second-highest teen birthrate in the nation, at 53 per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. (The national average is 34.2.) And on paper, reducing that birthrate involves clear steps: Male involvement, comprehensive sex education, confidential clinic services, service learning programs and programs that teach parents to talk to their teens about reproductive health. It is vital New Mexico take all those steps, because in real life that high birthrate...
I t gives new meaning to ineffectual governance. Last session, the New Mexico Legislature knew a major provision in the state's public financing campaign law had been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. And it did nothing. The Supreme Court said in 2011 that privately funded candidates might be reluctant to spend money on political speech if they know it's going to be matched by publicly financed speech. It struck down Arizona's matching-funds provision as an unconstitutional infringement on political speech...
The state has cut the rate of improper unemployment payments by more than half, saving $36 million. Reducing the percentage of payments considered improper from 24 percent to 11 percent between 2011 and 2012 was the biggest drop in the country. Not only is the effort saving taxpayers money, it also is saving employers money. The first 26 weeks of regular benefits are 100 percent employer contributions to the New Mexico Trust Fund. The department also claims to have reduced the unemployment insurance fraud rate — cases i...
Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya, the newest member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, is arguably one of the luckiest candidates to come out ahead in the Nov. 6 election. Because if voters knew then what they know now, it's questionable they would be entrusting her with setting their utility rates, overseeing their insurance premiums and governing the safety of their ambulances. And it's unlikely they would reward the term-limited bureaucrat with a new $90K-plus annual salary. In the weeks since ballots...
A 14-year-old boy is accused of killing both his adopted mom and sister in their Tucumcari home late Monday before another adopted son tackled him, possibly saving the lives of an infant and others who were in the home. The mother, Sue Day, 67, was a foster mom who has taken in between 80 and 100 children over the past seven years. Tony Day, 14, faces murder charges in the deaths of Day and her biological daughter, Sherry Folts, 49. According to State Police, Tony Day admitted stabbing Folts and shooting Sue Day. He is...
On a frigid Feb. 3, 2011, more than 28,000 New Mexico Gas Co. customers lost natural gas service, plunging them into a deep freeze. That was mainly because rolling blackouts in Texas reduced the supply of natural gas that the company had ordered to meet winter demand. And that occurred during a period when some of the coldest weather in decades gripped the state. So the company had to cut off service in several areas to keep the entire system from going down. Lots of blame was passed around, and the company vowed to be...
The University of New Mexico Cancer Center is adding a new tool to its kit to diagnose and fight cancer. This fall the center will be among the first of a small number of sites worldwide to acquire a technology that can sequence an entire human genome in half a day for about $1,000. Whole genome sequencing now costs UNM about $10,000 per patient and takes an out-of-state company at least two weeks. To get a sense of how much of a giant leap forward this is, consider that the human genome consists of about 3 billion DNA rungs...
Consider it a perfect storm of supply not meeting demand. Not only does Medicare reimburse doctors about 45 percent of what commercial insurance pays, but an estimated 78 million baby boomers — Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — will be joining the Medicare rolls in the next 20 years. And if a recent survey is any indication, they will have one heck of a time finding a doctor. A check with doctors in the Oregon Medical Association three years ago, before the Affordable Care Act was a reality, showed 79 percent ranked Med...
What happened to Aileen Smith as she drove through New Mexico on one of the happiest journeys in a woman's life is a mind-numbing tragedy. But adding to the state's DWI laws in the name of getting tough on repeat offenders won't prevent the same tragedy from happening to someone else — unless and until New Mexico enforces laws already on its books. Smith was seven months pregnant on that day in June, and driving from her home in Colorado Springs with her husband, Zach Smith, to a baby shower in San Diego. She and her u...
Shame on the Department of Veterans Affairs for drawing a cloud of suspicion over what should be an honored organization that serves our military men and women. And kudos to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals for restoring a fiscal measure of confidence in the judiciary. The VA is under investigation for possibly squandering $9 million on exorbitant human-resources training conferences last year and violating ethics rules by taking booze, concert tickets and spa treatments from vendors. Contrast that with the Tenth Circuit...
Shame on the Department of Veterans Affairs for drawing a cloud of suspicion over what should be an honored organization that serves our military men and women. And kudos to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals for restoring a fiscal measure of confidence in the judiciary. The VA is under investigation for possibly squandering $9 million on exorbitant human-resources training conferences last year and violating ethics rules by taking booze, concert tickets and spa treatments from vendors. Contrast that with the Tenth Circuit...
Here's one case where bipartisanship ruled in Washington, but with a very negative outcome. For three decades Social Security's payroll tax collections had been producing large surpluses — had is the operative word — taking in more money than needed for administrative costs and benefit payments, mainly to retirees and disabled adults. But rather than holding on to that money for the expected day that expenses would exceed income, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been tapping the surplus — in exchange for IOUs — to...
