Free Republic

ALBUQUERQUE: Financial troubles at St. John's Cathedral may be sign of broader collapse News Analysis By David W. Virtue The Episcopal Church, facing its worst spiritual crisis in living memory, is also coming apart at the financial seams. Around the country many downtown cathedrals face massive financial shortfalls coupled with dwindling congregations. One cathedral, St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, in the Diocese of the Rio Grande (New Mexico and Texas), announced on its website last week that it faces a $145,000 shortfall in its one million dollar 2004 budget. The dollar dry-up is another sign of the continued decline in parish...

DOÑA ANA RANGE— Soviet-built tanks and burned-out cars litter the area. Sand and dust coat the prayer rugs, power generators and other goods hawked by vendors. Some wary villagers in headdress sip water bottles and draw smoke from hookahs, eying the Yankee soldiers. Iraq's red, white, black and green flag flies overhead, and anti-American grafitti is scribbled everywhere. On the southern outskirts of White Sands Missile Range sits a new classroom modeled after war-ravaged Iraq. Here, nearly 3,000 reservists from around the country bound for the occupation's front are learning the latest tactics in staying alive and protecting foreign civilians....

Live threads have to start somewhere, might as well be here.

Fresh from a congenial debate and scrambling toward a seven-state vote, the Democrats who want to be president fanned out Friday, with two landing in New Mexico and two more on the way today. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark chose a hotel ballroom in Santa Fe to announce his intention to funnel $2.2 billion from oil and gas royalties into a conservation trust fund that would help to buy wild land, preserve historic places and build neighborhood parks. "Under George W. Bush, we've got a president who is running a stealth attack on the environment," Clark said. "He's trying to destroy...

On Friday, Mario Villarreal, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, announced that the agency plans a major operation to add manpower and equipment to the busiest parts of the Arizona-Mexico border. While the announcement didn't say where the equipment would go, we assume that Cochise County would be at the top of that list. The county has continually been the state's and nation's hotspot for illegal immigration. And the numbers since last October show that this year border apprehensions have increased, some in part to the agency's increased operations in this area. October is when...

Drought comes in second in WTE survey By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The election of Dave Freudenthal to the state's highest public job continued to be a top story in 2003, based on results from readers who submitted ballots to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Out of 36 ballots submitted, Freudenthal becoming governor of Wyoming in January got the most support as the top story of the year. Freudenthal's defeat of Republican challenger Eli Bebout was readers' top story of 2002. Jerold W. Manners of Cheyenne said he chose the inauguration as his top story "because...

Billy the Kid gets a lawyer 122 years after shootout, attorney to gather information for a pardon By Alan Boyle MSNBC Nov. 18 — Amid talk of posthumous DNA tests and a potential pardon, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has given his go-ahead for an attorney to represent the interests of Billy the Kid. The lawyer, Bill Robins, will work for free — but it’s not yet clear how big a role he’ll play in efforts to identify the Old West outlaw’s remains. THE GOVERNOR’S office said Robins’ primary task will be to gather and assess evidence during a renewed...

Authorities investigate theft of possibly explosive chemical Last Update: 11/26/2003 4:29:42 PM By: Todd Dukart Federal and local authorities are investigating 350 pounds of a potentially explosive chemical stolen from a Bernalillo County company. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department say seven 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate were stolen from Titan Energy, located off an Interstate 40 frontage road near Nine Mile Hill. The chemical is not volatile by itself, but it can be dangerous. It’s commonly used as fertilizer and a component of explosives for mining and construction. “There is a concern...

A rift in the faith By Darrell Todd Maurina Sunday’s consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church has led to protests from many in the denomination. The Rev. John Rollinson, pastor of Clovis’ St. James Episcopal Church and three mission churches in nearby cities, counts himself among the dissenters. “It was a very sad and tragic day for traditional orthodox Anglicans worldwide,” Rollinson said. “It was at the same time a very joyous day for those who hold a modernist and post-modernist view of the church.” Rollinson, who has spent...

<p>Another bad mark for Louisiana But, is state as bad as ranking might indicate?</p> <p>Eugene Sutherland / Staff Reporter Posted on November 3, 2003 A recent national ranking of the educational prowess of each state shows Louisiana 47th in terms of the overall education level of its residents.</p>

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ABP) -- "Our church will thrive as long as the River of Life flows in our midst and as long as our feet are firmly planted on a mountain called 'Calvary,' " declared the pastor of the first non-Catholic church west of Texas, during the recent celebration of the congregation's birth 150 years ago. Pastor Steve Taylor's words were reminiscent of those of the church's first pastor, Hiram Walter Read, who said, "Deo Volente (God willing), it is here to stay so long as the Rio Grande flows and the adjacent mountains abide." "Occasionally it does us good...

FORT HUACHUCA -- The sky over this Southern Arizona Army post will be the test area for unmanned aerial vehicles that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking at to provide border security. "We are looking at several different types, a broad range of UAVs," said Dennis Murphy, a spokesman for the department. A team is on the post preparing to test the unmanned aircraft to determine a number of operational items, such as what altitudes they will have to be flown, and what kind of capabilities they can provide the department's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Murphy...

Panel reluctant to intervene in remap battleJudges hear Democrats' suit alleging violation of Voting Rights Act08:22 PM CDT on Thursday, September 11, 2003By PETE SLOVER and ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News LAREDO – A panel of federal judges offered Democratic senators little hope Thursday they will order a halt to the redistricting train set to roll next week. The three judges questioned the need for them to wade into the Texas fight, as requested in the Democrats' lawsuit alleging that the GOP redistricting effort violates the federal Voting Rights Act. "What concerns me is the freezing...

Democrats' racial tactic may backfire Thursday, August 28, 2003 The continuing complaint of Democratic senators who fled to New Mexico is that fines for their absence amount to a poll tax: a fee that once kept minorities from voting. Underlining race might be good legal strategy for the Democrats, who allege that forced congressional redistricting injures the influence of Hispanics and African Americans and amounts to racial discrimination under the U.S. Voting Rights Act. But unless they include discrimination against rural voters (including whites) — and what difference they think it makes in congressional votes on jobs, Social Security and...

Dems avoid arrest; tour N.M. Capitol 'Texas Eleven' learn about state politics By RACHEL GRAVES Aug. 21, 2003, 10:37PM SANTA FE, N.M. -- Faced with arrest if they visit the Texas Capitol, 11 Democratic state senators in self-imposed exile on Thursday toured the New Mexico statehouse. The senators plan to stay in New Mexico at least until Wednesday, the day a federal lawsuit they have filed in Laredo is scheduled for a hearing. The outcome could allow them to return to Texas. Eleven of Texas' 12 Democratic senators bolted Texas on July 28 to foil a Republican congressional redistricting effort....

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 Eleven Texas senators say they are prepared to spend 30 days or more at the Albuquerque Pyramid Marriott, where they have been welcomed by Gov. Bill Richardson. As part of that welcome, Richardson says he will have State Police protect the renegade Democrats. They fled Austin on Monday hoping to block a Republican plan to redistrict the state's congressional seats. By leaving Texas, they are denying the GOP-dominated Senate a quorum. But not everyone is happy with the Texans' visit. Republican Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White wrote a letter to the governor Tuesday protesting the use...

The carved inscription over the main doors of the Roman Catholic St. Francis Cathedral contains the four consonants of the ancient name for God in Hebrew. It may be a reminder in stone of a little-known element of New Mexico's highly touted diversity the role of its early Jewish settlers. Jews were an integral part of life in 19th-century New Mexico, as merchants, bankers, miners, ranchers, soldiers, politicians and governor of Acoma Pueblo. But only recently, in two separate projects, have the strands of that history been woven together into a broader picture of this small, vibrant group. The New...

<p>Arizona and New Mexico are positioning to be national political players in the high-stakes battle for the White House.</p> <p>The two states, once largely overlooked by presidential contenders in the early sweepstakes, are now enjoying unprecedented attention from those aspiring to seize the nation's top political job.</p>

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Three teenagers who authorities say were apparently playing with fireworks were charged Friday with starting one of two wildfires that burned along the Rio Grande north of downtown and drove hundreds of people from their homes. An Arizona wildfire that devastated a mountaintop hamlet a week ago also was caused by people, officials said. But they said they do not know yet if it was deliberate. Ricky Navarette, 16, Fernando Anaya, 13, and Steven Sedillo, 13, all of Albuquerque, were booked on arson and related charges. Sedillo also was charged with tampering with evidence. The fire, which...

Los Alamos can't find two vials of plutonium Lab thinks they were mislabeled, discarded Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau Thursday, June 19, 2003 ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback Washington -- The Los Alamos National Laboratory has lost track of a small quantity of plutonium, raising new questions about the New Mexico nuclear weapons lab's handling of radioactive material. Officials at the lab, which is managed by the University of California, said the material -- two vials of plutonium oxide -- was probably mislabeled by lab employees. Lab managers believe it was most likely discarded in a waste drum on...