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'Kids Count' Report Reflects Another Poor Ranking
For the third consecutive year, New Mexico ranks 49th overall for child well-being, according to the 2016 Kids Count Data Book, released Tuesday by the Annie E Casey Foundation. And,
.
Seventy-seven percent of New Mexico’s fourth-graders are not proficient in reading — the worst in the nation. At Las Cruces Public Schools, that figure is the same. And 79 percent of the state’s eighth-graders are not proficient at math; at LCPS, it’s even worse, at 86.5 percent.
However, New Mexico has made a little progress in some of the report’s 16 indicators — particularly in health, where the state rose four positions to 44th place. Amber Wallin, the New Mexico Kids Count director, attributes these improvements to the expansion of Medicaid.
Gun Reforms Voted Down
The US Senate
offered in the wake of the Orlando massacre, including proposals to keep guns out of the hands of people on terror watch lists.
Two Republican proposals would have increased funding for the national background check system and created a judicial review process to keep a person on a terror watch list from buying a gun; two Democratic measures would have expanded background checks to private gun sales and allowed the Justice Department to ban gun sales to suspected terrorists.
Subcommittee Proposes Roundhouse Security Measures
In the wake of gun violence around the country, Steve Terrell reports that
in Santa Fe.
Election Recounts Ahead
Uriel Garcia reports, “The state Canvassing Board is scheduled to order publicly funded recounts of two legislative primary elections in southern New Mexico that were decided by narrow margins.”
Uriel Garcia reports, “The state Canvassing Board is scheduled to order publicly funded recounts of two legislative primary elections in southern New Mexico that were decided by narrow margins.”
One of the recounts is in the Democratic primary in House District 38, where Mary Hotvedt of Pino Altos apparently won the race by 29 votes over Karen Whitlock of Mimbres. Hotvedt received 1,761 votes to 1,732 for Whitlock. The winner will face Republican Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences in November. The other recount is in an even tighter primary on the Republican side. In House District 32, Vicki Chavez was the apparent winner over Scott Chandler by 16 votes, 892 to 876.Trump Fires Manager; Clinton Considers Running Mate Options
As Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump restructures his campaign and looks for more general election money, Hillary Clinton, who has locked up the Democratic Party nomination, is ramping up her search for a running mate, according to the Associate Press.
Joey Peters reports, “New Mexico’s two biggest energy-producing regions are two of the most-polluted in the nation when it comes to methane emissions.”
Those on the shortlist include Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of progressives who has emerged as a blistering critic of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump; Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a well-liked lawmaker from an important general election battleground state; and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro of Texas, a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Medpot Program Registration Delays Continue
“Patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program are facing extended delays in renewing their cards because the New Mexico Department of Health is having trouble keeping up with surging demand from new applicants,” reports Phaedra Haywood at The New Mexican.
“Rates of marijuana use among Colorado's teenagers are essentially unchanged in the years since the state's voters legalized marijuana in 2012,” new survey data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment shows. “Patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program are facing extended delays in renewing their cards because the New Mexico Department of Health is having trouble keeping up with surging demand from new applicants,” reports Phaedra Haywood at The New Mexican.
“It’s backing patients up against a wall and hard spot,” said Nicole Morales, chief executive officer for the patient advocacy group Empowering Medical Patients and Compassionate Treatment (EMPACT). “They don’t want to go to the black market. They don’t want to be criminals. They don’t want to purchase stuff that was sent across the border in a tire. They want medical-grade, tested cannabis.”Study Shows Legal Cannabis Did Not Increase Teen Use in Colorado
In 2015, 21 percent of Colorado youths had used marijuana in the past 30 days. That rate is slightly lower than the national average and down slightly from the 25 percent who used marijuana in 2009, before legalization. The survey was based on a random sample of 17,000 middle and high school students in Colorado.Methane Pollution Impacts New Mexico
"The survey shows marijuana use has not increased since legalization, with four of five high school students continuing to say they don’t use marijuana, even occasionally," the Colorado health department said in a news release.
Joey Peters reports, “New Mexico’s two biggest energy-producing regions are two of the most-polluted in the nation when it comes to methane emissions.”
Both the San Juan Basin and the Permian Basin rank as the third and fourth most methane polluted regions in the country, according to the Washington D.C.-based progressive think tank Center for American Progress’ “The Who’s Who of Methane Pollution” report.
Santa Fe Reporter