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Elias Saavedra, one of the last survivors of the Bataan Death March, died Wednesday. He was 96. Saavedra died of natural causes at his San Rafael, New Mexico, home after battling a number of illnesses, his son Alfred Saavedra said. Born in 1918 in San Rafael, Saavedra joined the New Mexico National Guard at the outset of World War II. He was one of 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers taken captive by the Japanese in World War II when U.S. forces surrendered in the province of Bataan and Corregidor Island in April 1942. In all, tens of thousands of troops...

Officials at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Albuquerque say as many as 3,000 patients were assigned to a doctor who didn't actually see them, a New Mexico congresswoman said Wednesday. The officials told U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., that the practice of putting patients without primary care doctors into a separate pool was part of an effort to balance demand and a shortage of doctors at a facility that handled nearly 660,000 outpatient visits last year....

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Chester Nez, the last original Navajo Code Talker, has passed away in his Albuquerque home. Nez was recruited with 28 other Native Americans by the U.S. Marines to create a code the Japanese couldn't crack during World War II. Nez went into kidney failure Wednesday morning. He was 93. "Many people have met him," said Judy Avila, a friend and author of Nez's memoir. "When you meet him, you're charmed by him." He was the last living member of the group. "There were a lot of people and naysayers who said, 'How can these young Navajo men help...

Fracking Isn’t the Only Drilling Technique Driving Rapid Growth in U.S. Oil Production By Arjun Sreekumar | More Articles | Save For Later June 1, 2014 | Comments (0) As the U.S. energy boom has taken off over the past several years, the term "fracking" has become a household name. But fracking, which involves pumping massive quantities of water, proppant, and other chemicals into a wellbore to unlock trapped hydrocarbons, isn't the only drilling technique responsible for the surge in U.S. oil and gas production.Horizontal drilling, which allows operators to reach hydrocarbon formations that cannot be accessed via vertical drilling,...

New Mexico Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber told a group of political supporters that state voters need to send pro-life Gov. Susana Martinez back to “wherever she really came from.” The Weekly Standard reports: “So I’m asking you for your help, we need to make Susana Martinez a one-term governor. We need to send her back to wherever she really came from,” says Webber in a video obtained by The Weekly Standard. “I suspect it’s Texas. And that would be good for Texas and that would be good for New Mexico.” alanwebberMartinez, during the 2010 election campaign, gave an interview...

...Alan Webber and his Democratic supporters in New Mexico. The Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper has video of Webber insisting that Democrats had to throw Susana Martinez out of office. “We need to send her back to wherever she really came from,” Webber says to applause, adding, “I suspect it’s Texas.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber of New Mexico says of his likely political opponent, Republican governor Susana Martinez, that "We need to send her back to wherever she really came from." Watch here"So I’m asking you for your help, we need to make Susana Martinez a one-term governor. We need to send her back to wherever she really came from," says Webber in a video obtained by The Weekly Standard. "I suspect it’s Texas. And that would be good for Texas and that would be good for New Mexico." Martinez, who is up for reelection this year, is a Hispanic...

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Copyright © 2014 Albuquerque Journal A statewide effort is underway to forge new, comprehensive policies and strategies to promote energy development. The initiative, which the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department launched last fall, aims to shore up the state’s energy-related industries as a force for job creation and long-term economic development. That includes virtually every energy sector from oil and gas to biofuels, renewable electric generation and even nuclear power, said Daniel Fine, associate director of the Center for Energy Policy at the New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology in Socorro. New Mexico Tech is assisting in the...

SANTA FE, N.M. – A former congressional candidate in New Mexico draws high honors when it comes to loopy behavior. Tuesday, Gary Smith in an Albuquerque court pleaded no contest to aggravated stalking. He’s charged with repeatedly slashing the tires of his opponent in the 2012 Republican primary for Congress, Janice Arnold-Jones. Smith was also suspected of slashing the tires of his former campaign manager, Rhead Story. The incidents happened in 2012, with Story reporting that 54 tires on his vehicles were slashed and Arnold-Jones reporting $4,000 in damage from punctured tires in cars belonging to her and her husband,...

Oil companies say a weeks-old Obama administration ruling that protects a Southwestern prairie bird has already halted oil-drilling operations in Kansas and is costing the U.S. economy tens of millions of dollars, as a GOP congressmen suggests the move is another “job-killing” attack on fossil fuel. The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that was announced in late March and took effect May 1 includes a provision that should allow federal officials and landowners in the five impacted states -- Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas -- to manage conservation efforts. But oil producers say the interim...

For the past several years, the Permian Basin remained an area where vertical drilling was still the principle method of extraction, even as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing become ubiquitous in the Eagle Ford Shale, the Bakken, and other shale plays in the United States. However, horizontal drilling is on the rise in the Permian Basin, as well, according to new data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Horizontal drilling began to increase in the Permian Basin early in 2013, the EIA said. By the end of 2013, oil extraction in the Permian accounted for half of the total increase...

U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) misstated basic facts while praising communism in an online video conference this week. Garcia, who represents southernmost Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, told video conference participants, “We’ve proved that communism works. If you give everybody a good government job, there’s no crime.” Garcia made his comments while discussing immigration, border security agents, and crime rates in El Paso, Texas. “Let me give you an example, the kind of money we’ve poured in,” said Garcia. “So the most dangerous — sorry, the safest city in America is El Paso, Texas. It happens to be...

Gov’t, locals want to fend off a new Bundy-type clash. New Mexico ranchers are plenty mad over the U.S. Forest Service’s refusal to open a gate blocking their cattle from reaching water ... still standing are the metal fences and locked gates along the banks of the Agua Chiquita, put up by the Forest Service to keep local cattle out. ... Ranchers point out that the fence has been opened for years every spring to allow the cattle access to the creek, which is also used by elk, deer and feral wild hogs.

<p>Land Grab: The Bureau of Land Management plans a Bundy-like seizure of New Mexico land for a national monument that will restrict Border Patrol access and provide an open corridor for drug and human traffickers.</p> <p>In August 2002, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ranger Kris Eggle was killed in the line of duty. Allegedly the killers were drug smugglers crossing through the Arizona park, which shares a border with Mexico. Since Eggle's death, Organ Pipe has been called the most dangerous park in America.</p>

After meeting with Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, at a political event, Garcia reached out. “We talked on the phone he said he really wanted to help me and help my campaign,” Otero said. And Garcia stayed true to his word, sending an email addressed to “Fellow House Members, Senate Colleagues, Elected Official Friends” Monday night.

President Obama on Wednesday will designate nearly half a million acres in New Mexico as a national monument, the latest in a series of executive actions intended to improve environmental protections of federal lands. The president will sign a proclamation establishing the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument, the largest such designation of his presidency, during a ceremony at the Department of the Interior, the White House said Monday. It will be the 11th time the president has established a national monument during his term, and the largest designation in terms of land mass during his presidency.By contrast, former President...

Obama Administration is set to unilaterally designate a 600,000 acre national monument in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexican border. The sanctuary, which will be called the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, has drawn sharp criticism from law enforcement who say it will impede border security. "By creating this monument, President Obama is ensuring a pathway to get drugs into the country" Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, told Breitbart Texas. The Obama Administration will ultimately control how much access Border Patrol agents will have to the land, including whether or not they will be...

President Obama on Wednesday will declare a national monument in southern New Mexico, delivering a win for environmentalists but angering ranchers and local law enforcement, who say the land restrictions will end up creating a safe haven for drug cartels to operate within the U.S. Mr. Obama will declare about 500,000 acres as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. About half of that land is expected to be set aside as wilderness, meaning it will be closed to vehicles and construction.

A pending proposal from President Obama to create a vast new wilderness area on the U.S.-Mexico border is drawing criticism from Republican lawmakers and local law enforcement officials who say it would significantly impede border security. The Obama administration is set to designate a 600,000 acre national monument in south-central New Mexico to be managed and controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency. The designated land will be called the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, and environmentalists have long-sought the designation.