Politics

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall Questions Energy Secretary On Safety And Future Of Plutonium Mission At LANL

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questions Energy Secretary Rick Perry during a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee about steps LANL and the NNSA have taken to ensure safety and the future of the plutonium mission. Screenshot/LADP 
 
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questions Energy Secretary Rick Perry during a hearing Wednesday about steps LANL and the NNSA have taken to ensure safety and the future of the plutonium mission. Screenshot/LADP 
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
 
WASHINGTON,
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Neeper: What Drives A Culture Insane?

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By DON NEEPER
Portola Valley, Calif.
Former Los Alamos resident
 
In the Los Alamos Daily Post of June 20, V. B. Price asks whether a national culture can go insane. Price sees recent mass shootings as evidence of a developing mad culture within a fear-laden population that could tip into a disguised civil war or dictatorship. I suggest that Nazi Germany of 1939 and ISIS of 2017 provide examples of insane cultures that answer Price’s question. However, I also suggest that the crucial question is not whether a culture can go insane, but rather what drives it crazy.

Price cites studies

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State Auditor Tim Keller Issues Executive Order To Support New Mexico Businesses

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Auditor Keller, left, with OSA staff Bernadet Martinez, Records Custodian and Antonio Medina, director of Budget and Finance. Courtesy photo
 
STATE News:
 
SANTA FE ― State Auditor Tim Keller issued Executive Order 2017-001 Tuesday to support New Mexico businesses.
 
The order applies to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) and takes effect immediately. The order lists specific ways the office will help to level the playing field for local business in the procurement process. While state law provides certain local preferences for large government
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U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich Calls On New Mexicans To Share Health Care Stories

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U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is calling for New Mexicans and people across the country to share a video or photo using the hashtag #AmericaSpeaksOut to highlight what they stand to lose under President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ health care bill.
 
“President Trump and Republicans in the House rushed through a disastrous plan that would leave New Mexicans paying more for less health coverage and would throw our health care system into chaos,” Heinrich said.
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Congressional Delegation Urges Zinke To Protect New Mexico’s National Monuments

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CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham have urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to protect New Mexico’s national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act.
 
The New Mexico lawmakers wrote to Zinke to express their strong support for the Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks national monuments, which the lawmakers said protect treasured resources and places, enjoy overwhelming public support,
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Heinrich Provides Online Resources To Help New Mexicans Prepare For Wildfire Season

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U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― With wildfire season underway, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is helping New Mexicans prepare and stay safe with the Wildfire Preparedness & Prevention Resource Center that provides information on how to protect communities from the devastating effects of wildfires.
 
The online resource center includes active wildfire information, prevention and safety tips, resources for businesses, and more.
 
Heinrich also released a 30-second public service
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V.B. Price: Can A National Culture Go Insane?

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Image by Christopher Dombres

 
By V.B. PRICE
Albuquerque
vbprice.com

In the wake of last Wednesday’s shooting in Virginia at a Republican workout for the bipartisan Congressional Baseball Charity game, the murder of four UPS workers in San Francisco on the same day, and now a mass killing of five people in Northern New Mexico around Tres Piedras and Abiquiu, many of us are left with the deeply disturbing feeling that we’re experiencing once again another tremor in the spasmodic unraveling of America’s cultural sanity.

According to massshootingtracker.com, over 196 mass shootings have Read More

Klotz Responds To Center For Public Integrity’s Series On Safety Culture At NNSA Sites

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NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Safety is paramount at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). We have uncompromising standards for our plants and laboratories to perform work in a safe and secure manner that protects our employees, our facilities, and the public.

An article published Sunday by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), the first in a planned series on safety at NNSA sites, attacks the safety culture at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) without offering all of the facts and the full context. 

In 2013, LANL, in Read More

Udall Introduces Bill To Prevent Skyrocketing Costs of Prescription Drugs; Hold Companies Accountable For Price Gouging

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Tom Udall joined Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in introducing legislation to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for large price increases in prescription drugs. 
 
The Stop Price Gouging Act would penalize drug companies that engage in price gouging without cause, leading to price spikes for patients who rely on medication to treat diseases ranging from cancer to opioid addiction.
 
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Heinrich: Congress Must Take Energy Innovation Seriously

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U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joint Economic Committee Democrats today released a report on the barriers to clean energy innovation that are preventing the U.S. economy from fully capitalizing on clean energy’s economic potential.
 
Instead of prioritizing energy innovation to position the United States as the global leader, Congressional Republicans often cite federal funding in climate change as government waste, and President Trump’s budget proposes deep cuts to energy innovation programs at the Department of Energy.
 
The report, “Overcoming
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