Free Republic

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Immigrant labor is like bread and butter to the New Mexico economy. Without it, according to economists and business owners, key industries – including oil and gas, agriculture, construction, and hotel and restaurant operations – would face major hurdles to keep the wheels turning. “Without immigrants, our labor force would essentially stop growing, making it very difficult to increase our gross domestic product,” said New Mexico State University economist Jim Peach. “I understand the desire to control our borders but, if you disrupt the ecosystem, there are going to be bad consequences.” “If the Trump administration removes...

Wildlife conservation groups are collaborating with a federal government agency to halt construction of the southern border wall by fudging science to claim that unimpeded trans-border corridors are essential to an “endangered species” with 99% of its population in Mexico. Under the plan, large areas of Arizona and New Mexico would be prohibited from erecting a border wall so that jaguars—which don’t even occupy the area—can roam back and forth between the two countries. More than ¾ million acres in Arizona and New Mexico would be designated as critical habitat for jaguars under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), which...

Sugar is the new tobacco. It may take a dozen years for that to sink in the way nicotine and cancer did but the outcome will be sugar and diabetes. A steady drumbeat of news stories now is focusing attention on sugar’s public cost. Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales’s proposal to put a 2-cent tax on sugary sodas is the latest event. It would be a wholesale tax so the buyer would not see it at the counter and because the mayor proposes the tax to fund pre-school education, it has a worthy cause. But if he really wanted a...

Mexico’s drug cartels earn billions of dollars in profits as they funnel heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into drug-hungry countries, including the United States. Crime, death and ruined lives flow right along with those drugs to places as varied as New York City, West Virginia coal country, Albuquerque, Española and western Europe. Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the cartels rival international corporations in size and reach. The drugs they peddle are cheaper and more plentiful than ever before, claiming thousands of victims every year. The Albuquerque Journal today begins a six-part investigative report on a criminal enterprise wreaking havoc...

The storm producing torrential rain in coastal Southern California into Friday night will also threaten lives and property in the deserts of Arizona, California and Nevada this weekend. In a sense, the rainfall will be like a fast-moving tropical system. A general 1 to 3 inches of rain will fall with locally higher amounts over the south-facing slopes of the mountains into Saturday night. "Much of this rain may fall in a few hours' time, which is more than enough to cause significant runoff, flash and urban flooding due to the landscape in the region," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan...

..... Alamogordo Police released the surveillance camera video from the incident that took place shortly after 9pm Thursday night. The surveillance footage from a home's front porch in the 200 block of Stanford Avenue shows a woman approaching the door to speak with the person inside...... Moments later a man carrying a handgun walked up to the home and the resident quickly shut and locked the door. The man then pulled the door open as two other men ran up to the porch..... One man appeared to be armed with an assault rifle.

Camel Rock is a landmark along the interstate betwSanta Fe and Espanola. It's a pile of rocks that look like a camel sitting down. Locals love it, and tourists flock to it. But Camel Rock now looks a little bit different. It's hard to tell from a distance but up close, it's easy notice a huge chunk of rock that created the camel’s mouth is now gone. When compared side by side, it’s easy to see. “I feel sad. I feel sad,” said Vincent Lopez, who lives nearby in Nambe. “It's Camel Rock. I mean, you could compare it to...

August 24, 2006 was a dark day for Pluto enthusiasts. It was on that day that the International Astronomical Union established three conditions a celestial body must meet in order to be considered a planet. A planet must orbit around the sun, it must be massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, and it must have “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit, which means, simply put, that it must have a certain amount of gravitational pull. Pluto does not meet the third condition, so once those rules were put in place, Pluto was demoted to “dwarf planet,” 75...

One Daily Lobo reporter's experience on World Hijab Day I have walked home from campus 92 times since enrolling at UNM. Only once was I so hyper-aware of my appearance that I held tight to the pepper spray on my keychain. Oh, I forgot to mention: It was also the first time I tried on a hijab. In honor of World Hijab Day, a group of Muslim women gathered outside the UNM Bookstore late Wednesday afternoon. The event was organized by Power Through Peace and the UNM Muslim Student Association, with help from local activist Shakir Farid Abdullah. Abdullah also...

Threats, weapons and fights. A violent work environment is part of shocking stories from one whistleblower who works on board Albuquerque city buses. After ABQ Ride's director told KOB he was surprised to hear about a stabbing on one of his buses last weekend, an employee spoke out. The current employee who asked not to be identified said everyone from drivers to security guards have begged ABQ Ride's leadership to do something about the violence for years, to no response. "Swords have been pulled. Bats have been pulled. Pipes have pulled. Guns have been pulled, and it's just a matter...

A new bill was introduced this week that aims to extend background checks to almost all private firearm transactions in New Mexico, reports KOB 4. Currently, a buyer only needs to undergo a background check if he/she is purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. If they were to purchase a gun online, at a gun show, flea market or from any other private seller, a background check would not be necessary. However, if the bill, known as House Bill 50, passes, a licensed firearms dealer would be required to carry out all firearm transfers, which would include issuing a...

Cooper, CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocates] of Lea County’s much loved Canine Companion, passed away on December 6, 2016 at the age of 9 years after falling ill during the past Thanksgiving holiday. Cooper was “purpose bred” for service work in northern New Mexico and professionally trained by Assistance Dogs of the West in Santa Fe. There, his amazing intuition to human nature was nurtured and he learned the many commands and behaviors that would allow him to excel in his work. He began his work serving Lea County in January 2010. Cooper faithfully served the children of Lea County...

New Mexico Attorney General agents have raided the office of a southwestern New Mexico district attorney in connection with a suspected DWI traffic stop. The Attorney General's office on Tuesday seized documents and a state car driven by Francesca Martinez-Estevez. The search warrant at the Grants Country office is linked to the district attorney's June traffic stop. Martinez-Estevez, the district attorney for Sixth Judicial District, had faced calls to resign after a video of the traffic stop showed her swerving across several lanes of traffic and stumbling during her conversation with officers.

U.S. News compiled data on car thefts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2014 – the most recent year for complete data from the bureau – to determine which of the 100 largest metro areas in the country had the highest rate of car theft. Albuquerque, New Mexico, takes the top spot for highest rate of car theft, with a total of 6,131 thefts in 2014 and 676.9 thefts per 100,000 people. The City of Albuquerque acknowledges its high rate of auto theft on its website, noting New Mexico’s shared border with Mexico gives car thieves added incentive because...

Former 2008 Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson on whether the Electoral College should meet over the alleged Russian hack of the 2016 election.

The EPA is without a doubt the most corrupt agency in the Obama Administration. That’s saying something when you consider the fact that there have been over a dozen scandals during his reign. Remember when the EPA accidentally dumped millions of gallons of toxic waste into the drinking water that was used by thousands of people? They’ve never been punished for it in a meaningful way and apparently that could change very soon. From The Daily Signal: “New Mexico and Colorado are both suing the EPA, and now the Supreme Court has asked the acting solicitor general of the United...

A business owner in Albuquerque has announced that, due to his opposition to “fascism,” he will henceforth refuse to do business with Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump supporters. According to KOB 4 News, Matthew Blanchfield runs the online marketing company 1st in SEO, and he’s so upset about the presidential election he’s willing to shed customers to show his disgust. “America has elected Donald Trump, a racist, sexist, fascist, to be our next president,” Blanchfield says in a blog post two days after the election. “If you are a Republican, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump, in any...

Mentor Williams, a longtime Taos resident and nationally known singer-songwriter, died at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday (Nov. 16), according to a family source. Williams was best known for writing "Drift Away", a middle-of-the-road playlist classic performed by Dobie Gray in 1973. He is the brother of songwriter-actor Paul Williams, according to an online biography.

Nearly seven years after it applied to the IRS for nonprofit status, the Albuquerque Tea Party has finally been given a decision: Denied. The tax agency, under orders from a federal judge, is belatedly tackling the remaining tea party cases that it delayed for years, and so far the tea party isn’t doing well. Only one of the three groups in the case was approved, and the other two, including Albuquerque, got notices of proposed denials last week. The applicants will have a chance to appeal, but the denials aren’t sitting well with the groups, whose attorney said it’s more...

This might be a surprise, Trump continues to trend up !!!