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Link only - Voter ID bill good as dead in NM House, committee chairwoman says

HOBBS -- A Hobbs man is shot dead after allegedly trying to break in to someone else's property. The fatal shooting happened around 10:30 PM Tuesday. Hobbs Police say that Watson Green called them Tuesday night, saying that someone was breaking into his home in the 1100 block of North Denson. Green, 70, told police that he had armed himself, but the dispatch officer told him to put the gun down and wait for police. Green decided to shoot the suspect through the door instead. When police arrived, they found the suspect -- 43 year old Wallace Roberson -- lying...

Democrat Jeff Bingaman is expected to announce that he won't seek reelection in 2012. The loss of the chamber's fifth-most-senior Democrat is a blow to a party that already faces a number of election challenges.

New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman generally cruises to re-election, and if he chooses to go for a sixth term, he would start off as a heavy favorite. But there has been some speculation he will instead retire. In his stead, Democrats should still be in strong shape to hold his seat unless popular former Governor Gary Johnson declines a run for president to make a bid for Congress’ upper chamber instead. With a 56-27 approval-disapproval margin, Bingaman is more popular at home than all but four of the 77 colleagues which PPP has measured in the last year or so....

In a stunning blow to the inexperienced administration of GOP Governor Susana Martinez, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Governor Martinez violated the state Constitution when she prevented a rule reducing carbon pollution from being published as codified state law. The lawsuit was filed by nonprofit New Energy Economy and reflects growing claims that Governor Martinez arbitrarily and illegally sought to suppress the rule. The rule requires facilities that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon pollution per year to reduce these emissions by 3% per year from 2010 levels starting in 2013. The rule aims to...

9:40am UPDATE: New Mexico's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has activated the state's Emergency Operations Center to a Level 3 operations status because of the effects of the extreme cold in communities across New Mexico, Secretary-Designate Michael S. Duvall said in a news release. Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White told KOAT-TV this morning that as many as 20,000 city residents could be without gas service today. Increased demand has led to lower gas pressure around the city and the potential for loss of service, and the city was contacted early this morning and told of the potential...

A man police are calling a would-be burglar lost most of his calf muscles Monday after an Avenida Cañada homeowner shot him at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. “(The homeowner) said he didn’t have the heart to kill him,” Española Police Lt. Christian Lopez said. “He shot him in the legs.” Joe Quintana, 28, was still in surgery at Española Hospital late Monday evening after he was shot by Joseph McNeil just before 9 a.m., Lopez said. A slug from McNeil’s shotgun tore through Quintana’s right calf muscle, which destroyed it, and went through his left calf, partially removing...

In a case that garnered nationwide attention, the Seattle man accused of disorderly conduct and other crimes following his refusal to show his ID at the security checkpoint of the Albuquerque airport was acquitted of all counts Friday.

Martinez Halts Environmental RulesPOSTED: 1:51 pm MST January 5, 2011 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Gov. Susana Martinez's administration is making good on campaign promises to drop new regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions by canceling their planned publication in the state register. Officials at the state Environment Department made the request to keep the rules from being published. A state records official confirmed Wednesday that he has received the request and the rules will not be published. The move is being criticized by environmental groups and lawyers who spent the past two years debating the merits of the rules before...

Parents of a little girl who disappeared Wednesday are hoping you can help find her.

Police in Deming, N.M., say a clerk foiled a robbery last week when she hit the culprit on the back of the head with a package of empanadas, a type of Latin American pastry.

One of only three states where illegal immigrants can still obtain driver's licenses, Washington is moving to tighten the rules.Beginning Monday, the state Department of Licensing will require people without a Social Security number who are seeking a new driver’s license to provide proof they actually live here.Washington stands with New Mexico and Utah in issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. And officials say an alarming number of out-of-state residents without Social Security numbers have been obtaining licenses here in recent years – this year more than double what it was three years ago.Officials believe many of these licenses are...

CNN) -- Eighteen people were killed in separate shootings throughout Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on Saturday, marking it as one of the bloodiest days this year in the nation's most violent city, officials said Sunday. In one incident, a family of seven was slaughtered while they were outside their home in the southeastern part of the city, Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said. "Among [the seven killed] were two brothers who we believe were targeted," Gonzalez said. Local newspaper El Diario de Juarez reported that five of the bodies were found inside a car and another two bodies...

Fear and loathing in the American body politic is not confined to the anti-tax Tea Party. Across the spectrum of the Democratic party, every hue is feeling it too. With a fortnight to go to the midterms, moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats are in big trouble. The party's left-wing "Yellow Dogs" are up in arms about being taken for granted by the White House "hippy bashers". Even black bloggers are warning President Barack Obama they won't be "pimped" for him. Gone was the red-faced, finger-wagging Bill... More at Telegraph.co.UK

Susana Martinez is one tough cookie. She has been elected four times as District Attorney. She was named the New Mexico "Prosecutor of the Year" earlier this year. She is the first Hispanic Woman to ever receive the Gubernatorial nomination of either major Party, and she is running on a solid law and order platform in a very Hispanic state. Did I also mention that she's a Republican? And is leading in New Mexico's tight Gubernatorial race according to a brand new Rasmussen Reports survey of 750 likely voters? I guess not every Hispanic in the United States of America...

On Facebook Wednesday, Sarah Palin endorsed Steve Pearce for the U.S. House of Representatives in NM-02: Steve Pearce for New MexicoWith less than four weeks until Election Day, the momentum is clearly on our side. We must keep it going! Today, I’m happy to endorse another principled conservative running for Congress. Steve Pearce, in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, understands what makes this country great. As a decorated military veteran, Steve served our country with honor and distinction. As a successful business-owner, he has created real jobs for New Mexico. By sending Steve back to Congress, we add one more...

(Sept. 22, 2010) — Although I and many others wish that it had always been so, if Captain Jim Wilmeth is any indication of the current state of local law enforcement, We-the-People are in good hands. During a recent conversation with Captain Wilmeth, he expressed to me what he called a growing nationwide movement within many Sheriffs’ departments, a movement away from viewing citizens as merely ‘potential lawbreakers’ and back toward the original intent of peacekeeping as indicated in the US Constitution. He also identifies the problem posed by federal law enforcement agencies as their largely unconstitutional incursion into local...

Study: NM state pension plan will run out of money in 13 yearsBy Rob Nikolewski on September 9, 2010 According to a recent study, New Mexico’s pension plan for state employees will run out of money in the year 2023, an event that would trigger a series of excruciating economic and political decisions for lawmakers that would affect not just the retirees inside the system but every New Mexico taxpayer. Economists Joshua Rauh of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business have developed a model of state...

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- Tourists hurry inside a shop here to buy books about the famed Navajo Code Talkers, warriors who used their native language as their primary weapon. Outside, on a walk sheltered from the sun, nine of the Code Talkers sit at a table autographing the books. Each is an old man now. They wear similar caps and shirts, the scarlet and gold of the Marine Corps, and turquoise jewelry. One of these men, who signs his name as Cpl. Chester Nez, is distinguished from the others......