Politics / Current Events

Unless you are a member of Ligature Church and you are totally approved by Head Pastor Steve Smotherperson, don’t even think of running for Bernalillo County Sheriff because Jesus will bust you until the world looks level.

You see, God controls the law in Bernalillo County, so you had just better mind your Ps and Qs. As a matter of fact don’t even think of being a voter in Bernalillo County without belonging to Ligature Church. Remember last year, when Jesus personally handed out diplomas to all the new BC deputy cadets right here in good ol’ Ligature Church?...

Because the Albuquerque Journal has the resources – a team of investigative reporters and excellent politics and government reporters – I have been waiting for the state’s leading daily to produce a story explaining how many, if any, of New Mexico’s legislators are under the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC).

ALEC trains state legislators and gives them boilerplate legislation to introduce in their states, furthering the national agenda of ALEC’s corporate backers. Read this story in The Nation to learn about its connection to the Koch brothers. Last week, four legislators were “outed” as supporters of this “bill mill”, but not by the Albuquerque Journal...

My friend, Kris Olson, is a fifth grade teacher at Monte Vista Elementary.  Last week we were visiting over a cup of coffee and just catching up on one another’s summer adventures and about the upcoming school year. In the midst of this, Kris shared with me that she had attended the candle-light vigil at Bataan park for Travon Martin and how deeply that experience had touched her.

A few days ago, in preparation for school, Kris told me about going to Chama to clear her head and have some time to reflect before going into the classroom with her new fifth-graders.  While standing on the platform with many others awaiting the Cumbres and Toltec train, Kris said she noticed two gentlemen that walked up with these cowboy style hats on...

Classes begin this week at the University of New Mexico and other state colleges and universities. The tuition for some students will be covered by the New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship. Each level of education these students attain will mean higher incomes and lower levels of unemployment.

The lottery scholarship has made it possible for tens of thousands of New Mexico youth to attend college, but the trust fund that supports the scholarship is fast running out of money.  Unless the Legislature finds more money for the trust fund, limits the number of students who can receive the scholarship, or lowers the amount of the award, the fund will be nearly depleted by the end of fiscal year 2014...

It’s no secret that Albuquerque retiree Jerrymander Ginsburg wants to buy the North Valley because he absolutely detests going in circles and he absolutely hates Isaac Benton who is running for city council in the Valley.

It seems Ike who was on the council before he was re-districted out of his elected position has been doing some terrible and evil things that renegade Democrat Jerrymander wants everbody to know about. This is why Jerrymander has given $40 grand to help some mysterious shadow group from outer space that has blanketed the North Valley with incredibly beautiful mailers...

When the Albuquerque Tribune closed its doors in February 2008, our city not only lost an afternoon daily with a blue collar, left of center slant, it also lost a pool of reporters and editors, experts in the ways of local politics, society, history, and culture.

When the Trib’s doors closed, it was like having an eye poked out. Our world became harder to see and harder to understand.

As the Albuquerque Journal gets smaller and smaller every morning, as its newsstand price goes up to compensate for falling revenue, the troubling thought crosses one’s mind of living in a city with no daily newspaper, and no pool of print reporters and editors. It would be like flying blind...

While the Koch Brothers were wining and dining Governor Martinez and some big name Republicans here in New Mexico last week, one group of New Mexico legislators were high-tailing it out of town for some wining and dining of their own.

The shadowy corporate lobbying group ALEC held a closed-door convention last week in Chicago and this week they sent an expletive filled public letter –supposedly signed by 300 ALEC member legislators who attended the national ALEC conference - to a US Senator trying to investigate their involvement in passing “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida and pushing them on states like New Mexico...

A 14-year-old girl dies tragically at a rave at the New Mexico State Fair replete with operational failures including non-existent security that did not check IDs or conduct pat down searches. Hannah Bruch’s father has reported to the Santa Fe New Mexican, that he believes that Hannah’s death may be related to the use of Ecstasy, which can cause the body temperature to escalate to fatal levels.

Ecstasy use is not exactly a secret at raves. It is so widely known that even the US Department of Justice has produced guidelines for ensuring the safety of minors at raves. Too bad New Mexico State Fair Manager Dan Mourning didn’t bother to read the materials. The operational failure that included a lack of security falls squarely on Mourning’s shoulders.

Yet, State Fair Manager Dan Mourning still has a job. He shouldn’t...

Let me start by calling the Governor a liar. A few days ago in an article on the status of mental health services here in Las Cruces, she said that some CEO's of the mental health facilities were getting a salary of 1.5 million dollars a year. At no time have any of these CEO's in New Mexico come close to making that type of salary. The number is deceitful, doesn't apply to any CEO salary and surfaced in reference to multiple individuals at an agency based in Santa Fe -- not any one person. It had nothing to do with any organization in the southern part of the state but the Governor repeats the number because it elicits outrage, as it should. If it were true...

When Tijeras incorporated as a village in 1973, it had about 300 residents, a cement plant next door and a highway to Albuquerque, where most of its residents worked. Preparing to celebrate its 40th birthday Aug. 17, it has 546 residents, a cement plant next door and a highway to Albuquerque, where most of its residents work.

By this perspective, remarkably little has changed over the course of a generation. That continuity, however, represents a notable achievement, according to Mayor Gloria Chavez, the village’s longest-serving chief officer, because the whole purpose of incorporation “was to have a voice.”

The village has not wanted to pursue the Edgewood model of expansive annexation and tumultuous commercial growth...