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AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS; PROHIBITING COYOTE-KILLING CONTESTS; DEFINING "COYOTE-KILLING CONTEST"; PROVIDING PENALTIES. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO: SECTION 1. A new section of Chapter 30, Article 18 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read: "[NEW MATERIAL] LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.--The legislature finds that it would benefit the state to retain its tradition of nonfrivolous hunting by eliminating the practice of coyote-killing contests in concert with long-standing conservation guidelines for hunters and anglers."

8th Annual Sanctity of Life Awareness and Unity Day Huge Success Thousands brave inclement weather to demand pro-life legislation An estimated 2000 people processed throughout the Plaza area of Santa Fe today to the New Mexico government seat, commonly called the Roundhouse. The procession followed a Catholic Mass at the Cathedral of St Francis concelebrated by 2 of the 3 bishops of New Mexico and over a dozen priests. Joining the procession was an additional crowd of Christians of other denominations who held a praise and worship service outdoors in the plaza. All joined together in unity to tell the...

Two environmentalist groups filed suit Tuesday seeking stronger protection for a bird found only in Colorado and Utah ... The Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project said in court papers that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should go back and produce an “adequate finding” on the status of the Gunnison sage grouse ... The threatened designation could result in restrictions on oil and gas drilling, agriculture, recreational and other land uses. ... both camps will be watching litigation closely, in part to see how it might influence policy on the more common greater sage grouse. The...

Expert says western yellow-billed cuckoo may be more prevalent than first thought. Paonia ornithologist Jason Beason likes to say that there are a lot of cuckoos out there. The line is good for laughs at presentations like the talks he gave in the Roaring Fork Valley last week, and it accurately reflects the fact that dozens of species of cuckoos populate the Earth in both the Old and New Worlds. These include birds people might not immediately think of as being cuckoos, such as the greater roadrunner in the southwestern United States. But in the case of the cuckoo of...

ALCO stores nationwide, including those in South Hutchinson and 21 other small Kansas communities, are closing. The stores, which typically serve small towns with few other options for everything from clothing to housewares and groceries, began conducting going-out-of-business sales on Friday morning, a day after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas authorized ALCO’s owners – Tiger Capital Group LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Great American Group LLC – to begin doing so. In all, 198 stores in 23 states will close, as will the 113-year-old discount retailer’s 352,000-square-foot distribution center in Abilene. During the liquidation sale, the company plans...

<p>Prince Andrew’s freaky ­financier pal Jeffrey Epstein was not only a pedophile but a bedroom bigot, too, according to a woman who claims she was his teen “sex slave.”</p> <p>Epstein would bed as many as seven young girls — some as young as 12 — each day, but never black girls, Virginia Roberts told her lawyers, according to a transcript of the conversation that was filed in court.</p>

Remember when Valerie Plame was the poster girl for Bush and Cheney-haters? A desk jockey at the CIA with some flowing blonde hair claim to glamour (in terms of image exploitation, a Wendy Davis-like figure), Plame was supposedly endangered when her name was supposedly leaked by someone in the Bush administration, supposedly in retaliation for her husband Joe Wilson’s criticism of Iraq War policy.

Two Albuquerque, New Mexico, police officers are facing murder charges for the shooting death of a homeless man last year. (snip) James Boyd, 38, a mentally ill homeless man, was camping illegally in the hills above Albuquerque when he was confronted by police. During a standoff, police say he refused to drop a knife. The helmet cam video, however, appears to show Boyd surrender. When he begins to run, police open fire. On Monday, Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg filed murder charges against SWAT team member Dominique Perez and former detective Keith Sandy.

Two Albuquerque police officers were charged with murder Monday in the shooting death of a knife-wielding homeless man that led to violent protests and brought new scrutiny to the police department amid a federal investigation. The decision to bring murder charges occurred at a time when police tactics are under intense review nationwide, fueled by the fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, and the chokehold death of another unarmed man in New York City. Grand juries declined to charge officers in those cases, leading to large protests. Acknowledging the frustration over the secrecy of the proceedings in...

(Reuters) - Prosecutors in New Mexico are seeking murder charges against two Albuquerque police officers in connection with the 2014 shooting death of a homeless man, which sparked protests in the city, police said on Monday. Former Albuquerque police detective Keith Sandy and current officer Dominique Perez could face murder charges linked to the March 16 killing of mentally ill homeless man James Boyd, police spokesman Tanner Tixier said. That shooting prompted protests sharply critical of the Albuquerque police department, which the federal government found has used excessive, even deadly, force against civilians. It is now facing reforms and is...

Washington, DC – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today issued a Secretarial Order calling for a comprehensive science-based strategy to address the more frequent and intense wildfires that are damaging vital sagebrush landscapes and productive rangelands, particularly in the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California. The strategy will begin to be implemented during the 2015 fire season. Goals include reducing the size, severity and cost of rangeland fires, addressing the spread of cheatgrass and other invasive species, and positioning wildland fire management resources for more effective rangeland fire response. “Targeted action is urgently needed to...

SANTA FE – Lawsuit claims about young female sex slaves allegedly kept by billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein and offered to a worldwide list of the rich and famous have reached New Mexico. In a new court filing in Florida, plaintiffs’ lawyers maintain that a woman identified as Jane Doe No. 3, said to have been coerced into Epstein’s camp when she was 15 years old, was frequently sexually abused by Epstein “not only in West Palm Beach (Fla.), but also in New York, New Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, in international airspace on … Epstein’s private planes, and elsewhere.” Epstein...

A Native American man found dead in a New Mexico field last week near the Navajo Nation reservation may have been mauled by a pack of as many as 10 dogs, police said on Monday. Gallup Police Department spokesman Rick White said the man, who did not have identification on him but appeared to be in his mid-40s, was found by a passer-by. “We do not have a definitive cause of death yet but it appears he was attacked by dogs,” White said, although he could not give a precise cause of death. “There definitely were defense wounds from dog...

~~snip~~ Voting against Boehner (10) Gohmert* Yoho* Rep. Steve King (Iowa) Rep. Jim Bridenstine (Okla.)* Rep. Dave Brat (Va.) (freshman) Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.)* Rep. Gary Palmer (Ala.) (freshman) Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.)* Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) Said prior to 2014 election that they would vote against Boehner (2) Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.) (freshman) Rep. John Ratfliffe (Tex.) (freshman) Voted against Boehner in 2013/haven't weighed in (2) Rep. Steve Pearce (N.M.) (spokesman says he's "undecided") Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) Voted against Boehner in 2013/will support him (3) Rep. Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) Rep. Raul Labrador (Idaho) Rep....

On his way out of the door, his final day as a U.S. Senator, Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) released a blistering oversight report that finds the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) isn’t “successfully executing any of its five main missions.” Coburn’s criticisms include, but also predate, the Obama administration. Among the key findings: · DHS spent $50 billion over the past eleven years on counterterrorism programs but cannot demonstrate if the nation is more secure as a result. · 700 miles of the Southern border remain unsecured. · DHS is not effectively administering or enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. Only...

An Albuquerque police officer was shot and injured while making a traffic stop in northeast Albuquerque early Saturday morning, according to a police department spokesman. The officer was struck twice and is expected to survive, officer Tanner Tixier said. Police are still searching for the suspect. The officer pulled over a man suspected of driving drunk at San Mateo Boulevard and San Mateo Lane near Del Norte High School around 2:30 a.m. As the officer was approaching the vehicle, the man fired shots at the officer, Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gorden Eden said. “The driver fired at the officer several...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a “victim” of bad publicity, according to Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor and U.N. ambassador. “He has been the victim, Kim Jong Un, of a lot of bad press, a lot of bad international attention, with the Sony hacking, with [being] taken to the International Criminal Court by some U.N. countries, a number of other very destabilizing moves that he has made, shooting the missiles, nuclear testing,” Richardson said on Friday on MSNBC’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall.”

Scientists are beginning to question the ramifications of a giant Delaware-sized methane hot spot high up in the air. The “giant plume” is the largest collection of greenhouse gas in the air above the U.S. and is likely the result of natural gas leaks. It’s located over a stretch of desert in Southeast New Mexico, and NASA scientists have studied the methane cloud as a potent climate changer for the past three years. When it first appeared, scientists questioned its existence. “We couldn’t be sure that the signal was real,” NASA researcher Christian Frankenberg told the Washington Post. But NASA...

Minnesota Congresswomen and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has become the latest politician to call for an impenetrable fence along the entire length of the border with Mexico. "President Obama has failed the American people by failing to secure the southern border," said Bachmann. "I will secure that border and that will be Job One." Statements like that may get some attention, but they are not practical. Don't take our word for it; take Rick Perry's. The Texas governor has been called a lot of things, but he's hardly a mushy liberal. Yet even this tough Texan sneers at calls for...

House Bill 44 has been re-introduced by Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque) in the state legislature. No surprises here, as a certain political party has a penchant, for victim disarming gun control. Gun owners need to start early and get on the ball opposing it. HB 44 does away with private party sales at gun shows, and it’s really the start, of banning all private sales. What the gun prohibitionists love to call the “gun show loophole.”