State

Udall Secures Support for Critical PILT Funding

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U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall won a commitment from a powerful Senate committee chairwoman Thursday to work with him to find reliable funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, a critical source of revenue for local governments throughout New Mexico and the rural West. 
 
Udall secured her support after making his case for the program in a speech on the Senate floor. PILT funding expired at the end of last year, and Udall and others are fighting to find full funding. Udall argued in his speech that unless Congress renews PILT funding, local
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N.M. Delegation Announces Federal Drought Assistance

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CONGRESSIONAL News:

WASHINGTON – Wednesday, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that 27 counties in New Mexico will qualify for emergency loan assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) due to losses caused by the ongoing drought. A full list of counties is included below.

The designation makes producers, farmers and ranchers in these counties eligible for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. Funds are available for up to a maximum of $500,000 and Read More

Luján Votes for Government Funding Package that Rolls Back Sequester Cuts

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U.S. CONGRESSIONAL News:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District voted Wednesday for the omnibus appropriations bill that funds the government for fiscal year 2014. As a result of the budget deal that was passed in December (see here), the appropriations bill rolls back the sequester cuts that have negatively impacted New Mexico.

“For too long Congress has had to legislate from one crisis to the next as House Republicans shutdown the government and used the appropriations process to make extreme demands,” Luján said.  “With Read More

Student Shoots Two Classmates at Roswell School

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Staff Report

A 12-year-old boy shot a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy at about 7:30 a.m. today at Berrendo Middle School in Roswell. The injured students were airlifted to a Lubbock, Texas hospital.

News reports indicate that the girl has been upgraded to serious condition but the boy, who was shot in the face, remains critical.

At a press conference this afternoon, New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kasseta said the seventh grader opened fire with a shotgun on a group of students in the gymnasium before school started. A staff member also suffered minor injuries when he stopped the Read More

Design the Mudd Volleyball Pig

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CTHF News:

ALBUQUERQUE—One of Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation’s (CTHF’s) largest fundraisers, Mudd Volleyball, is celebrating its 20th year in 2014. In honor of the event, CTHF is hosting a “Design the Pig” contest to redesign its mascot, the Mudd Volleyball pig.

Entries will be accepted though Friday, Jan. 31. The winning entry will be chosen and announced Feb. 10.

“The Mudd Volleyball pig mascot has taken on many forms in the past 20 years, but has continued to represent the same goal each year – to raise essential funding for Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation, which directly benefits Read More

Upcoming Santa Fe National Forest Prescribed Burns

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Prescribed burn illustration. Courtesy photo

SFNF News:

SANTA FE—Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest plan to conduct several prescribed fires across the forest over the next few weeks to reduce hazardous fuels, provide community protection, and restore forest health.

The start dates and duration of the burns are subject to change depending on favorable conditions. Through hand ignition firefighters will burn slash piles and conduct broadcast burns (burning surface fuels in a mosaic pattern.) Smoke may be visible intermittently through the coming weeks.

Gallinas Watershed Read More

New Mexico Receives $1.6 Million for Road Repairs

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CONGRESSIONAL News:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham have announced that the New Mexico Department of Transportation will receive a $1.6 million grant for repair and reconstruction of roads around the state damaged in last year’s floods.

The grant funds will be used to restore major highways and roads on federal lands that were damaged by the severe flooding in September. The record-breaking rain and storms caused damage in about two-thirds of the state.

 In October, at the urging Read More

LANL Foundation CEO to Lead Statewide Organization

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Susan Herrera

LANLF News:

Susan Herrera, CEO of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, has been elected chair of the Board of the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers.

The Association serves foundations and private philanthropists throughout New Mexico. It hosted a conference “Finding Common Ground: Joining Together to Improve New Mexico” late last year at Tamaya Resort for grantmakers and nonprofits. The conference was partially funded by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

Herrera has served as CEO of the LANL Foundation since 2008 and, in this capacity, manages a current Read More

Udall Pushes to Undo Cut to Military Retirees’ COLA

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U.S. SENATE News:

  • Amendment filed to unemployment insurance legislation would protect benefits, close corporate tax loophole

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall is supporting an amendment to emergency unemployment legislation to protect military retirees from changes to cost of living adjustments (COLA) that were included in a bipartisan budget agreement.

 

The amendment mirrors legislation Udall helped introduce in December, the Military Retirement Restoration Act, which would reverse the 1 percent reduction in the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for working-age Read More

NMDOH Reports First Flu Death of Season

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NMDOH News:

SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reported Thursday that it has confirmed the state’s first flu death for the 2013-2014 season.

The death reported was a 76-year-old Santa Fe County woman.

“Please remember that the best way to protect yourself and the elderly from the flu is to get vaccinated,” said Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Retta Ward, MPH. “As flu activity increases in New Mexico, it’s important for anyone who has not yet been vaccinated against the flu to contact their healthcare provider or pharmacist about getting a flu shot.”

The predominant Read More