Morning Word: Ozone Pollution Earns Five Counties Failing Grades

Counties Earn Failing Marks for Ozone

A new report by the American Lung Association shows that San Juan, Eddy, Bernalillo, Doña Ana and Valencia counties scored

. Clean air advocates blame the problem on the oil and gas industry and want regulators to do a better job limiting the industry’s pollution to protect residents from serious health impacts. Santa

Fe County earned a B grade.

Proposed Wilderness Areas Spark Controversy

New Mexico Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn doesn’t want to lose royalties from timber and other minerals rights on 1,280 acres of

if the Energy Policy Modernization Act, supported by US Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, is passed. The amended bill would create two wilderness areas in Northern New Mexico.

High-Stakes Legal Arguments

The New Mexico Supreme Court is considering whether

. Right now, they are not.

In the Bag

The New Mexican reports that only a little more than

by the City of Santa Fe since retailers were banned from using plastic bags eight months ago and required to collect a 10-cent fee for each paper bag used.

The goal of the program implemented last year was to reduce the use of plastic bags that inevitably end up littering the landscape and to encourage the use of reusable bags. The revenues are targeted for a public education campaign in conjunction with the new curbside recycling program and to purchase another 10,000 reusable bags. 

Talkin’ Politics

Gary Johnson, Diane Denish and state Sens. Gerald Ortiz y Pino and Sue Wilson Beffort got a chance to talk about

with national radio host Amy Goodman on Wednesday. Matt Reichbach has the recap here. Andy Lyman reports on what Johnson told Goodman about his

and run as a Libertarian.

Bernie Retools; Cruz Picks Fiorina

Meanwhile, after losing five eastern state primaries on Tuesday,

if he can manage to block Donald Trump’s nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland later this summer. Democrat Bernie Sanders, who only won Rhode Island’s primary on Tuesday, has decided to cut hundreds of campaign staffers’ jobs.

 

Fewer PARCC Test Opt-Outs 

“The number of parents who have chosen to opt their students out of standardized testing at Las Cruces Public Schools has fallen

compared with last year,” according to school officials.

Inside UNM Basketball

So it turns out the UNM men’s basketball coach Craig Neal didn’t really want his son Cullen to transfer

. But the younger Neal is headed to Ole Miss in the fall.

Happy Birthday

Here’s a little useless trivia: The New Mexico Lottery turned 20 years old Wednesday. Do you know the highest lottery payout in the state’s history?

Gathering of Nations

We saved the best for last. The 33rd Gathering of Nations starts today in Albuquerque when

into Wise Pie Arena. The chamber of commerce thinks the big event will boost the city’s economy by about $20 million.

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