Free Republic

New Mexico's two U.S. Senate contenders appear headed for a showdown on national TV. -SNIP- MARTY ON BARACK: The New Mexico Republican Party on Friday fired off a news release highlighting comments that Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, a Democrat, made to the National Journal about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. “The real question in my mind is whether Senator Obama is going to be able to capture Hispanics by a significant margin,” the magazine quoted Chavez as saying. “That's a big 'if,' because he's clearly an urbanite.” Chavez in a Friday interview with this newspaper said his point is that...

Your daily routine -- switching on a light, cooking a meal, driving down the street -- would generate less greenhouse gases under a first-of-its-kind regional strategy to curb global warming unveiled Wednesday at the state Capitol in Salem. The strategy emerged from the Western Climate Initiative, an alliance of Western states -- including Oregon and Washington -- and Canadian provinces trying to jump ahead of any federal move to regulate greenhouse gases. Large utility companies and factory owners would feel the effects first, followed by fuel distributors, as they face limits on their greenhouse gas emissions. Individual Oregonians would not...

MSUNuke and ArkPig620, and I are heading to NM for Memorial Day Weekend. We will spend 2 nights with friends in Las Cruces, NM, and 2 in Albuquerque, NM. We are wondering what attractions are in the Albuquerque, NM area and a safe area/hotel to stay? Of course we are in our 30s and want the drinking/shopping district;) All three (3) of us are military and have CHL, but would like to avoid any local criminals and overzealous law enforcement in our celebrations;) Thanks for the Albuquerque, NM area info!

Wildlife officials are still trying to figure out what kind of animal attacked Jose Salazar Jr. in the Sandia Mountains Saturday evening. The 5-year-old suffered a torn scalp and puncture wounds around his neck and arms. He underwent surgery at the University of New Mexico Hospital and is expected to fully recover. Now officials want to know if he was attacked by a mountain lion, bobcat, or bear. Rio Grande Zoo mammal curator Lynn Tupa has a few ideas about what could have mauled Salazar. She said it was most likely a mountain lion. "It was probably an immature cub...

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, April 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "I want to save others from the same fate that I was almost put into," said 14-year-old Janelle Bushnell referring to a silent protest against abortion she has been punished for planning at her New Mexico middle school. Bushnell and a friend have been distributing flyers to fellow students at their James Monroe Middle School, encouraging them to wear red armbands and duct tape in protest of the scourge of abortion that has silenced the voices of so many of Bushnell's unborn peers. Bushnell was inspired to protest abortion after learning that her...

Southeastern New Mexico, already home to the nation's first deep underground nuclear waste disposal site, might also be a good site for radioactive nuclear reactor waste, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., suggested at a congressional hearing this week. Domenici's comments come amid increasing concern by the U.S. nuclear industry about the government's failure to find a way to dispose of the highly radioactive waste left behind by nuclear power plants. Yucca Mountain, the Nevada site proposed as the permanent tomb for the waste, is years behind schedule and will not be ready to accept waste until 2017 at the earliest. Meanwhile,...

Alleged gun smuggling leader arrested in TucsonBy: The Associated Press Updated at: 04/04/2008 02:16:41 PM PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona authorities have arrested a Tucson man accused of being the leader of a gun smuggling network that supplied a Mexican drug cartel with weapons. Authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of 23-year-old Victor Manuel Varela Jr., who is accused of supplying the Juarez cartel in Palomas, Mexico with rifles and guns. Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says Varela’s network illegally bought the firearms in Arizona, transported them to New Mexico and then took...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

DEMING, N.M. (AP) - The police chief of a Mexican border town has requested asylum in the United States, where he told authorities his two officers have fled and he does not know their whereabouts. The Luna County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Border Patrol say Emilio Perez of Palomas came to the port of entry at Columbus late Tuesday night, requesting political asylum. The agent-in-charge of the Border Patrol station in Deming, Rick Moody, says Perez is in the protection of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Authorities have reported an increase in drug-related violence in Palomas, where at...

03/17/2008: "Eco-Terrorism On Orcas" ”I did it to punish the rich white people of Orcas Island and make them pay for the death of the whales and the depletion of the rain forests” -Mondragon Gabriel Thomas Mondragon, 29 years old, who recently arrived from New Mexico, explained to Sheriff’s Deputies that in an attempt to make the people on Orcas “suffer just like the whales and trees”, he attempted to use a tree limbing saw -on a metal pole- to cut through a 69,000 volt power line.

New Mexico Democratic officials still don't know who won the Super Tuesday presidential caucuses -- and may not for days. New Mexico is the only state of the 22 in Tuesday's primaries and caucuses without a declared winner. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., led Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by 1,123 votes statewide Thurday, the Albuquerque Journal said, with results hinging on nearly 17,000 provisional ballots. The Democrats may start counting those Thursday. Provisional ballots are issued to voters who show up at the wrong site or have problems confirming their registration and vote by affidavit. There were problems at the...

New Mexico is cruising into the legal fight over California's "clean car" program. The state and local air-quality boards voted about midnight Tuesday to enact strict low-emission standards for new cars and trucks. But the sweeping regulations already face a legal challenge from the auto industry and four state lawmakers. Their lawsuit— filed earlier Tuesday, before the regulations had been adopted— says the state Environmental Improvement Board lacks authority to adopt the regulations. If successful, the suit could result in the pollution regulations going before the Legislature next year. "The point is not whether those emission regulations are a good...

New Mexico's political scene continues its upheaval after Sen. Pete Domenici's announcement that he plans to retire at the end of his term. Rep. Tom Udall's office confirmed to Action 7 News Political Reporter Matt Grubs this afternoon that the Northern New Mexico Democrat might run. "New Mexicans have urged Tom Udall to reconsider running for the United States Senate and he's doing just that," said Udall spokesperson Marissa Padilla. If Udall decides on a senatorial run, he would face several Democrats who have already declared their candidacy. The most-recognized name among them is Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. Should Udall...

Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson is Playboy Magazine’s December interview, the first of the 2008 presidential hopefuls to sit down with the magazine. “Yeah, I swear. Yeah, I smoke a cigar occasionally. Yeah, I make mistakes. The American people should know who I am. I’m overweight; I’m trying to lose weight. But I’m comfortable with who I am,” Richardson says, “I don’t mope around at night worrying that I didn’t look good on Jay Leno — though I saw myself, and though I’ve lost 30 pounds I’ve got to lose more.” Richardson also pledges to run a clean campaign, “I...

 XXV BORDER GOVERNORS CONFERENCESEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2007PUERTO PEÑASCO, SONORA JOINT DECLARATIONPREAMBLEThe Governors of the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, of the United States of America, and the states of Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas, of the United Mexican States, meeting in the City of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora on the 27th and 28th of September, 2007, having analyzed, within the framework of the XXV U.S.–Mexico Border Governors Conference, issues relating to Water, Agriculture and Livestock, Science and Technology, Logistics and International Crossings, Economic Development, Education, Energy, the Environment, Health, Border Safety, Tourism and...

GALLUP, N.M. -- Gallup police reported a bizarre set of circumstances following a recent emergency call to the home of Roman Catholic Bishop Donald Pelotte. The most recent event happened Thursday when Gallup police reported receiving an emergency call from Pelotte, 62. An incident report from the McKinley Metropolitan Dispatch Authority reported that Pelotte told operators "...gentle little people, about 3 to 4 feet tall, and wearing Halloween masks" were in the hall. The dispatch log reported that Pelotte said he hid in a closet while the people were in his home. The report said Pelotte offered conflicting information about...

Editor, We wish to respond to the recent incident involving the desecration of the Mexican national flag that was raised Friday on the south side of Scholes Hall. The incident is still being investigated, but what we do know at this point is that after a ceremony celebrating the Mexican independence day - Dieciseis de Septiembre - the flag that was raised during the celebration was subsequently taken down and, as we understand it, ripped to shreds. We understand that a suspect has been apprehended by the police, but the investigation is still ongoing at this time. We want it...

A University of New Mexico student who tore down the Mexican flag from a school flagpole said Monday he was upset because the university was flying another nation's flag without the U.S. flag. "I was livid with the situation, and it wasn't the fact that it was the Mexican flag," said Peter Lynch, a mechanical engineering student who served in the U.S. military for nearly eight years. "It was the fact that it was any foreign banner." He said he was particularly upset that it happened on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, and that university officials did nothing to rectify the...

Peter Lynch never imagined that pulling a Mexican flag from a university flagpole and ripping it apart would thrust him into the center of a nationwide argument. Lynch, a University of New Mexico student and Air Force veteran, said he was angry on Sept. 17 when he saw the Mexican flag flying without the United States flag, a violation of flag etiquette. "I was livid with the situation, and it wasn't the fact that it was the Mexican flag," said Lynch, 30. "It was the fact that it was any foreign banner." UNM police charged Lynch with misdemeanor criminal damage...

The newest defendant in the Metropolitan Courthouse construction scandal worked briefly as a consultant for the state Transportation Department on its two planned office redevelopments in Santa Fe. Michael Murphy, a construction manager, is among five defendants in the Metro Court case in Albuquerque to be linked to one or both of the DOT projects. Murphy is accused in a grand jury indictment returned Aug. 23 of using his job as construction manager to take part in a conspiracy to skim $4.2 million from the courthouse construction. He has pleaded not guilty. The Transportation Department acknowledged Murphy's consultant role on...

The state of New Mexico has issued an estimated 30,000 driver's licenses to foreign nationals, requiring them to present only one form of identification such as a card issued by the Mexican consulate. And the Richardson administration has fought tooth and nail to keep from providing a list of those licenses to state Republican Party officials who want to cross-check them against the rolls of registered voters. The GOP argument is that the licenses, which aren't distinguishable from those issued to citizens, can be used as identification to register to vote— which non-citizens are not allowed to do. So far,...

E.W. Scripps Looking for Buyer for Albuquerque Tribune CINCINNATI (AP) -- Newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps Co. said Tuesday it is seeking a buyer for The Albuquerque Tribune, an afternoon newspaper based in Albuquerque, N.M. that publishes Monday through Saturday. E.W. Scripps will shut down the newspaper if it cannot find a "qualified" buyer, but did not indicate how long it will search for a new investor or what price it was seeking for the newspaper. The Albuquerque Tribune currently has a joint operating agreement with the Albuquerque Journal, the daily morning newspaper in the city. That deal, which is scheduled...

Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday ordered the state Department of Transportation to expand an investigation to include both of its proposed redevelopments in Santa Fe. At least two defendants in the Metropolitan Courthouse construction scandal in Albuquerque have links to the DOT projects.-SNIP- Meanwhile, Santa Fe businessman Gerald Peters held a fundraiser for Richardson's presidential campaign last week in Jackson, Wyo., as a Peters company held confidential contract talks on the headquarters projects with the Transportation Department. -SNIP- Peters also was a contributor to Richardson's gubernatorial campaign fund, as was Jaguar Development and Dellaportas. Finance reports for Richardson's re-election campaign...

A Republican-led campaign is sending autodialed phone messages to thousands of voters, asking them to complain to the mayor that Albuquerque police are too lenient with undocumented immigrants. "Under Marty Chávez's leadership, the Albuquerque Police Department will no longer report criminal illegal aliens to immigration officials," the message says. "The police have been ordered to turn a blind eye to criminal illegal aliens. Even violent felons ..." But Chávez and Albuquerque Police Department Chief Ray Schultz say that's flat-out wrong. "Anyone (who is) under arrest or is under investigation can be reported to INS," Schultz said. However, he said police...

WASHINGTON— Gov. Bill Richardson finally stood out in a presidential forum Thursday night— but not the way he wanted. The New Mexico governor, participating in a Democratic forum on gay issues in Los Angeles, declared that homosexuality is "a choice" rather than biologically determined. The governor's campaign issued a clarification of his statement immediately after the forum, but it still triggered an avalanche of criticism from bloggers and pundits across the political spectrum. Melissa Etheridge, a lesbian rock star and forum panelist, prompted the governor's political fumble. "Do you think homosexuality is a choice, or is it biological?" Etheridge asked....

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Gov. Bill Richardson weighed in Friday on the Desert Rock power plant planned for the Four Corners, saying he is "gravely concerned" about the plant's effects on the environment. He said the plant would dirty the air and use scarce water and is "a step in the wrong direction." Desert Rock is a coal-powered plant planned for a piece of the Navajo reservation southwest of Farmington. It would produce power for growing Southwestern populations, specifically the Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nev., areas. The plant has been welcomed by Navajo Nation officials, both for the jobs it would bring to the...

Monday night's CNN/YouTube "debate" among the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination was billed as a dramatic departure from politics as usual. Unfortunately, aside from fact that one aspiring questioner dressed like a Viking, the debate was only a little better than the one where CNN's Wolf Blitzer was hogging the microphone. To be sure, the YouTubers were more interesting, informed and mercifully concise than Blitzer, who managed to make himself the centerpiece of the last CNN debate. Indeed, the YouTubers were often poignant and powerful, as when Mary and Jen from Brooklyn asked the candidates: "If you were elected...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said today that if he won the White House, he would name a top-level envoy assigned to rebuilding shattered ties to the Muslim world. Richardson also called for a "multilateral Marshall Plan" to rebuild the Middle East. "Winning the war against al-Qaida has a lot to do with building goodwill," he said. "For a small fraction of the cost of the Iraq war, which has made us so many enemies, we could make many friends." The New Mexico governor spelled out his foreign policy views in a speech in Des Moines...

An activist group is considering filing a lawsuit against the cities of Orlando, Apopka and even Orange County over red-light cameras on roads. The Florida Civil Rights Association said red-light cameras that photograph and ticket drivers who ignore the signals are unconstitutional. The group cites a recent Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that the cameras violate due process because car owners cannot confront their accuser in court since the accuser is a machine. Also, Minnesota justices call red-light cameras unfair because the car's owner is automatically assumed to be at fault and since the cameras are not at all intersections, the...

CBS encamped 40 kids in an abandoned New Mexico ghost town for more than a month. The kids performed on camera for more than 14 hours at a stretch, seven days a week, making their own meals. They were filming during the school year, yet no studio teachers were present. They were working on a major television production, yet no parents were on the set. The show is CBS’ upcoming reality series "Kid Nation." When rivals first got wind of the concept, they declared the production an impossible endeavor: From a legal, labor, public relations and logistical standpoint, this show...

Mr. Richardson gave a speech and held a question-and-answer session with about 150 people at the United Steelworkers Local 105 hall in Bettendorf as part of his tour through Iowa this week. "If you want to be part of an insurgency, I'm it!" Mr. Richardson told the crowd, getting some laughs. Mr. Richardson said later that being an insurgent candidate meant being the underdog, he said in a phone interview with The Dispatch/The Rock Island Argus/The Leader. "I don't want to be an underdog much longer."

(AP) SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico has a new medical marijuana law with a twist: It requires the state to grow its own. The law, effective Sunday, not only protects medical marijuana users from prosecution — as 11 other states do — but requires New Mexico to oversee a production and distribution system for the drug. "The long-term goal is that the patients will have a safe, secure supply that doesn't mean drug dealers, that doesn't mean growing their own," said Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico. The state Department of Health must issue rules by...

State’s average second highest in the nation Never mind red or green. The attorney general has a new state question: Why are New Mexico’s gasoline prices higher than the national average? State Attorney General Gary King has sent a letter to petroleum suppliers, distributors and retailers, asking them to respond by July 25 with reasons for the higher prices. He also asked industry representatives to suggest how the state and federal governments could help address price disparities and high prices. “Recognizing that there are many factors contributing to the retail price of motor fuels in our state, I still believe...

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Abraham Lincoln Governor Richardson, I’ve got a message for you from President Lincoln: “Too late.” All the Democrats in Sunday night’s New Hampshire debate had one thing in common: The more they talked, the worse they sounded. And the poster boy for this trend was indisputably Bill Richardson. Who’s been spreading the idea that Richardson is the “break out” candidate in this race? He was lousy in the last debate and worse in this one. Richardson’s rambling, ill-informed musings were so jaw-droppingly...

The New Mexico Department of Health is prepared to keep New Mexicans safe if any individual in the state is affected by the U.S. resident who was diagnosed with extensively multi-drug resistant tuberculosis after traveling between Europe and the United States. Earlier this year, the Department of Health used its authority under the Public Health Act to quarantine an individual with multi-drug resistance tuberculosis who may pose a significant health risk to the public. The Department committed the patient to a secure treatment facility because the patient was actively infectious with a threatening communicable disease and had a history of...

SANTA FE— Rene Nicole was high on cocaine and weighed just 5 pounds when she came into this world. Her mother admitted to taking crack cocaine two days before the baby's birth in 2003. Now, it's up to the New Mexico Supreme Court to decide whether Rene Nicole's mother committed child abuse. Attorneys representing the mother contend New Mexico's child abuse laws don't apply to unborn children and argue that the state's highest court would be setting a "radical" precedent if it interpreted them as such. "This would be an unprecedented expansion of the law," Joseph Goldberg told the court...

THE DISPUTE between Democratic lawmakers and the Bush administration over access to documents and interviews with officials about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys seems to be escalating, not resolving. That's unfortunate, because it's become clear that the administration must make more information available than has been forthcoming. Perhaps the clearest case for that -- and the most troubling evidence of improper political motivations -- involves New Mexico prosecutor David C. Iglesias. -SNIP- Was voter fraud the real reason for his dismissal, or his alleged absenteeism because of military service? Or was it because he failed to produce in time...

FROM THE SENATE Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) chairs a Judiciary Cmte. hearing on the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys. D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, appears and is expected to testify that he did nothing wrong in coordinating the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. THURS., C-SPAN3, 10AM ET - Click link to watch FIRING ATTYS. WEBPAGE

THERE'S GOOD NEWS in the latest Ports-to-Plains progress report for Lubbock and West Texas residents who recognize the evolving trade route's potential economic benefit to our area. Extending from the most active U.S.-Mexico border port, Laredo, through Lubbock and West Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado, the Ports-to-Plains Corridor links the nation's plains states to the border centers of commerce. The Texas Department of Transportation is analyzing funding alternatives including opportunities for private investment and partnerships to pay for moving freight and utilities along the trade route. Using Ports-to-Plains as a case study, TxDOT will research the best potential applications...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic aspirant for president in 2008, said Monday that the wall being erected on the U.S.-Mexico border needs to go. "The wall should be torn down," Richardson told reporters after the Texas House and Senate approved resolutions in his honor. "It's bad policy. It was done to get election votes," Richardson said, referring to congressional action last year authorizing construction of a wall along parts of the border. "And the next president should not build it. I wouldn't build it." Richardson, 59, a former U.S. House member, energy secretary and ambassador to the United...

<p>He wanted to be considered because he wanted his name out there," a senior Democrat close to the vice presidential process said of Richardson. "And once his name was out there, he withdrew. So there was never a full vetting."</p>

<p>Three CD players hidden under a cathedral's pews blared sexually explicit language in the middle of an Ash Wednesday Mass, leading a bomb squad to detonate two of the devices.</p>

Intel Corp. announced that it will invest $1-to-$1.5 billion in its Rio Rancho, N.M.-based site to retool Fab 11X for production on its 45-nm manufacturing process. Fab 11X will be the company's fourth factory scheduled to use the 45nm process, with production in New Mexico scheduled to start in the second half of next year. Initial production of Intel's 45-nm products will be done at its Oregon development fab, dubbed D1D. The company is currently building two other factories that will use the 45-nm process. The $3 billion Fab 32 in Chandler, Ariz., will commence production late this year; and...

Keeping tabs on Gov. Bill Richardson as he seeks the Democratic nomination for president ... GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER: Richardson and other governors attending the National Governors Association's winter meeting are invited to the White House on Sunday night for a "black-tie evening with President and Mrs. Bush." A Richardson spokesman said the governor will be in attendance, but first lady Barbara Richardson is not making the trip.— J.J. PASS THE RELISH: Richardson got a pretty big piece in The New York Times on Friday. They call him "an imposing, exuberant figure with a relish for attention." They also...

WESTON, Fla. (AP) -- For Broward County Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ceasar, the presidential campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has meaning far beyond how well the candidate does against his better-know rivals. Richardson, who was scheduled to speak at a Broward Democrats' dinner Saturday night, represents two important growth targets for the Democrats, Ceasar said: he's Hispanic, and he's from a western state once considered solidly Republican. ``The challenge will be for him to show not just that he's the Hispanic candidate, but that he can mobilize that base,'' Ceasar said. ``His ability to do that will be...

It was Dreaded Don Imus, whose scowl might have been due to the salty tongue lodged inside. "I've come for you, Imus," said Big Bill. "Nobody calls one of my staffers a 'sniveling little weenie' and gets away with it." Dreaded Don flashed a Jack Palance smirk from his chair by the stove. "I wouldn't push too far, Billy Boy," he said. Big Bill cupped his hand by the six-gun at his side. "Billy Boy, yourself," he challenged. "And I'm not a 'fat sissy,' either. You're dead wrong about that!" -snip- "We were friends once," Big Bill said, glaring at...

WASHINGTON : North Korea could agree to implement a "first tranche" of measures to end its nuclear weapons programme during the next round of six-nation talks in Bejing next week, the top US negotiator has said. "What we hope to do in this round is to implement a first tranche of measures, which will be the beginning of the full implementation of the September (2005) agreement leading to full denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters on Thursday. He said that the move "will be a substantial start" to the full denuclearisation of the...

New Mexico State Senator Steve Komadina has introduced a bill into the New Mexico Senate which would protect the academic freedom of teachers to discuss scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution. The bill requires that the New Mexico Department of Education adopt rules to “give teachers the right and freedom, when a theory of biological origins is taught, to objectively inform students of scientific information relevant to the strengths and weaknesses of that theory and protect teachers from reassignment, termination, discipline or other discrimination for doing so.” The bill would not only protect teachers, but also students: it requires the...

Camper Lost in New Mexico Rescued Two Weeks After Search for Her Was Called Off January 14, 2007 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A camper who became stranded nearly five weeks ago in a national forest because she could not cross a swollen river was rescued Sunday, more than two weeks after the search for her was called off. A New Mexico National Guard crew waded across the icy Gila River to rescue a dehydrated and weak Carolyn Dorn of South Carolina, who entered the Gila National Forest alone on Dec. 6 for a two-week camping trip. Two brothers found her Friday...