North Mesa Gymnasium Discussed At Jan. 26 Work Session
Interior rendering of the proposed North Mesa mixed-use gymnasium near LAMS. Screenshot/ladailypost.com
Exterior rendering of the proposed North Mesa mixed-use gymnasium near LAMS. Screenshot/ladailypost.com
From left, Acting Superintendent Jennifer Guy, Board President Antonio Jaurigue, Vice President Ellen Specter, Secretary Christine Bernstein and members Melanie Colgan and Sondra Wyman at a work session Thursday at Aspen Elementary School. Screenshot/ladailypost.com
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com
The main business discussed at Read More
Additional Learning Time Soars Through Key Committee With Rare Bipartisan Support
President Ellen Bernstein
Albuquerque Teachers Federation
By ROBERT NOTT
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Educators may be divided on a bill that would extend the number of hours they spend teaching students and building their own skills and knowledge, but lawmakers displayed rare bipartisan support for the initiative.
The House Education Committee on Friday voted unanimously to endorse House Bill 130, which would mandate an increase in learning time in public schools to 1,140 hours, including up to 60 hours of professional development for teachers, while allowing districts some flexibility Read More
Canceled: Feb. 1 Tourism Implementation Task Force Meeting
COUNTY News:
The Los Alamos County Tourism Implementation Task Force scheduled for noon Wednesday, Feb. 1, has been canceled. Read More
Dr. Scrase To Retire As State Human Services Secretary
Dr. David Scrase
By PHILL CASAUS,
DANIEL J. CHACON
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dr. David Scrase, whose near-weekly briefings during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic often served as a barometer of the state’s desperate fight against the virus, announced he will retire from state government late next month.
The announcement came late Friday afternoon, often a time when officials release surprising or disquieting news. Scrase, the Cabinet secretary of the state Human Services Department, is one of the few holdovers remaining from the original members of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Read More
Legislative Roundup: 50 Days Remaining In Session
Legislative Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Castration talk on Fox News: State Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, appeared Thursday night on Fox News with Tucker Carlson to discuss a bill that would allow a court to order a convicted sex offender to undergo chemical castration as a condition of their parole.
Carlson kicked off the nearly 4-minute segment by asserting Democrats from 30 years ago would be “shocked” at what has happened to their party.
“If they could fast-forward decades, they wouldn’t recognize it,” he said. “All of a sudden, the party as a party is aggressively sexualizing children, Read More
Interesting Facts: What Country Has A Cheese Stockpile?
Hundreds of feet below the ground in Missouri, there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of American cheese. Deep in converted limestone mines, caves kept perfectly at 36 degrees Fahrenheit store stockpiles of government-owned cheese comprising the country’s 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese. Courtesy/farmlinkproject
Interesting Facts:
The concept of a strategic reserve is fairly straightforward: A nation stores vast quantities of a product or natural resource that is crucial to its citizens’ well-being in case of an emergency that disrupts the normal flow of such materials to the Read More
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury Appointed To High-Profile House Oversight Committee
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury
From the Office of U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.-08) appointed U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) today to serve on the high-profile House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, a key post in the oversight of government accountability and transparency, representing the people of New Mexico.
Rep. Stansbury will serve under the leadership of Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (Md.-08) and help carry out the Committee’s mission as the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Read More
Bill Would Add Penalties For Livestock Rustling
Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell
By ROBERT NOTT
The Santa Fe New Mexican
This is no bull — and no joke.
There’s a crime still all too common to those who run farms and ranches around New Mexico: livestock rustling.
And not just cattle theft. Horses, donkeys, pigs, llamas and all sorts of poultry also are being hauled away by truck, trailer and any other means possible, agricultural experts say.
“In the days of the old West, rustlers who were caught ended up hanging from a tree or scaffold,” Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell said.
Those times are over, but discouraging measures need to be enacted to deter Read More
Ringside Seat: Bill Advances To Codify More Secrecy In Government
By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Many years ago, New Mexico state Sen. Bill Tallman was forced to resign as city manager of Hamilton, Ohio.
Tallman said he was a casualty of unfair politics. The mayor of Hamilton had a different version of why Tallman was ousted.
“He was a lightweight person in a heavyweight’s job,” the mayor told Ohio reporters.
Tallman, D-Albuquerque, continued in a long career as a city manager. Now, at age 82, he’s protective of his old profession to the detriment of New Mexico residents.
Tallman is the sponsor of Senate Bill 63, a measure that would weaken New Mexico’s Read More
Legislative Roundup: 51 Days Remaining In 2023 Session
Christy Sellers, Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, UNM head football coach Danny Gonzales and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales pose for a photo after a news conference to promote a bill Brandt is championing that would prohibit discrimination against transplant recipients based solely on their physical or mental disabilities. Daniel J. Chacón/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Active shooter training: The full Senate and legislative staffers attended a closed-door active shooter training Thursday.
“Training taking place — no entry,” stated signs on the doors to the Senate Read More
State Legacy Fund Would Help Draw Federal Dollars To Conservation Programs In New Mexico
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth
By SCOTT WYLAND
The Santa Fe New Mexican
At least a billion dollars in federal conservation money is available to aid New Mexico in everything from restoring watersheds and protecting imperiled species to helping ecosystems better withstand climate change.
The state is missing out on most of it because it lacks matching funds.
Some state leaders, environmental groups and businesses hope the Legislature will approve a $75 million fund to draw federal money to a medley of state conservation programs among a half-dozen agencies.
A bipartisan bill to establish Read More
GSA Secretary John Garcia To Depart Administration
GSA Secretary John Garcia
STATE News:
SANTA FE — The Office of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham Wednesday announced that General Services Department (GSA) Secretary John Garcia will depart state government after a long career in public service at both the local and state levels. His last day will be Feb. 3, 2023.
“John has been a wonderful addition to the state leadership team, leading the General Services Department – the backbone of state government,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. “I am very grateful to him for his many years of service to the state, both in my administration and previous ones, and I wish Read More
Council Action Taken Jan. 24, 2023
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
The Community Development Advisory Board (CDAB) sunsetted, but it may rise up again – in a different form.
Los Alamos County Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to direct the County Manager to develop and return Feb. 7 to council with a draft charter for a task force focusing on Chapter 18 of the Los Alamos County Code, which addresses nuisances. Council Chair Denise Derkacs cast the opposing vote.
Additionally, council agreed to discuss later other proposed boards recommended by the Los Alamos Resiliency Energy and Sustainability Read More
Governor-Backed Fund Would Address Shortage Of Health Care Providers In New Mexico’s Rural Areas
Sen. Liz Stefanics
By DANIEL J. CHACON
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Immediately after Dr. Wangler opened a nonprofit health center serving Gallup and McKinley County last year, patients started to pour through her doors.
“We certainly could tell that we had identified a critical need,” said Wangler, founder and executive director of Gallup Community Health.
Since then, the health center has expanded from mostly only Wangler seeing patients to 11 providers working in the burgeoning facility in some capacity or another.
“We believe in paying our staff fairly and making sure that they’re able to Read More
Democrats Introduce Bill Providing $1 Billion For Governor-Backed Tax Rebates
Sen. Benny Shendo Jr.
By ROBERT NOTT
The Santa Fe New Mexican
New Mexico taxpayers who received rebates in 2022 are likely to see another round of payments.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said late last year she wanted to use part of the projected $3 billion in new state revenues to provide $750 to individual taxpayers and $1,500 for couples who file jointly.
She announced Wednesday the introduction of Senate Bill 10, sponsored by four Democratic lawmakers, which would fulfill her wish.
The bill would appropriate $1 billion to provide payments to about 875,000 taxpayers who are at least 18 years Read More
Governor Speaks On Public Safety At Roundhouse
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks today during a public safety news conference at the state Capitol. Javier Gallegos/The New MexicanBy ROBERT NOTT
Santa Fe New Mexican
Legislative leaders, law enforcement and advocates who want to put a stop to gun violence circled around Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with a vow to work together to eradicate something that New Mexicans want eradicated: crime.
Noting the country seem to be enveloped in a wave of crime and in the wake of recent mass shootings, Lujan Grisham said at a news conference Wednesday she is “hurt personally, intellectually and emotionally
Luján, Cortez Masto Continue Fight To Hold Corporations Accountable And Lower Gas Costs
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wednesday, U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) are continuing their fight to hold oil and gas companies accountable by reintroducing legislation to increase transparency and help bring down high prices at the gas pump in New Mexico and across the country.
The Fair and Transparent Gas Prices Act would give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the tools it needs to investigate unfair practices, provide market transparency, and prevent price gouging by oil and gas companies.
“New Mexicans shouldn’t have to break the bank Read More
Legislative Roundup: 52 Days Remaining In 2023 Session
Legislative RoundupThe Santa Fe New Mexican
Legislature wants a say: The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted today to support House Bill 80, sponsored by three Republicans, including Rep. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell.
The bill would limit a governor’s call for a state of emergency to 90 days — unless the governor convened a special session of the Legislature, which would then have the power to restrict, suspend or end the state of emergency.
Many members of the House and Senate, as well as members of the public, complained when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued and extended Read More
New Mexico Tech Highlights Research At Roundhouse
Dr. Nelia Dunbar, state geologist and director of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, left, and Todd Leahy, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, right, pose with Dennis McQuillan of Santa Fe, Earth Science Achievement Award recipient. McQuillan received the award during a ceremony Jan. 23, 2023, at the New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe. Courtesy/NMT
Students and staff from the Chemical Engineering Department staff a table at New Mexico Tech’s Day at the Legislature Jan. 23, 2023. From left, Samantha Lindholm, Read More
Bill Would Appropriate $100 Million To Help Those Hit Hard By Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire
Sen. Pete Campos
By ROBERT NOTT
Santa Fe New Mexican
A bill that would provide no-interest loans to counties, cities and municipalities struggling to pay for damage incurred during the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire is scheduled to receive its first hearing Tuesday.
Senate Bill 6 would provide $100 million in loans — money one of its sponsors says is desperately needed while expected federal funds makes their way to the fire zone.
Funneling state money to counties and small towns is particularly pressing amid the prospect of renewed flooding when winter snowfall melts this spring, said bill Read More
