- Speaker of the House Ken Martinez will not run for Minority Leader. Instead,
- Reps. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe and Eliseo Alcon of Milan have thrown their hats in the ring
- . Both spoke of bringing unity to Democrats, something that has been lacking in recent years.
- So why isn't Martinez running for Minority Leader? He spoke to the
- Albuquerque Journal
- .
“Having been speaker, I think it’s not a good idea to be kind of a partisan leader,” Martinez told the Journal. “If I was the (minority) leader, it would seem to be about me wanting to be speaker again.”
- In other words, it looks like he is going to position himself as above the partisan fray—which could be helpful if he is speaker of the house again in 2017.
- The
- Santa Fe New Mexican's Milan Simonich scooped everyone on the story
- .
- State Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, confirmed to NM Telegram in a text message that he is running for minority whip. Mimi Stewart is seeking the Senate seat that will be vacated by Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, when he becomes state auditor. This means for the second time in as many new legislatures, the majority whip spot in the Senate is up for grabs.
- TV stations really, really like election season. A report
- found that nearly $13 million was spend on TV ads in New Mexico alone
- . New Mexico is a relatively cheap state to air ads; there are two main media markets (Albuquerque and El Paso) that cover the bulk of the state.
- A study by New Mexico State University
- found the top behavioral health priorities in Doña Ana County
- .
The top priorities in Doña Ana County identified during the project, which were selected through a survey of local community leaders, were alcohol abuse; child abuse and neglect, adult depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, physical and mental domestic abuse, illegal drug use, and suicidal thoughts. Devall said the results confirmed what many in the behavioral health community know.
- The State Veterans Service director
- will be stepping down, Susana Martinez announced
- . Martinez also announced the replacement for the position.
- The
- Las Cruces Sun-News
- looks at the responses to the city attorney's controversial comments on civil forfeiture
- . The Las Cruces city manager says the city attorney's comments were taken out of context.
"I can understand the concerns that are raised and the reasons therefore," Garza wrote in an email to the Sun-News. "Regrettably, the quotes and videos are only short excerpts from a larger discussion about the right and wrong way to manage such a program. Context is very important."
- A union leader
- says that right-to-work legislation would derail the state's film industry
- because so many movie sets are union-only. Of course, many of the same Republicans who support the right-to-work legislation that targets unions also don't like the incentives that go to film companies to film in the state.
- Common Cause New Mexico
- wants to work with the new Republican majority on legislation to take money out of politics
- . The legislation they think have shots of passing include those that would require greater campaign finance disclosures and expand online voter registration.
- High-profile legislation that is coming this January
- is an overhaul of the state criminal code
- as part of a bipartisan criminal justice reform push.
State Sen. Lisa Torraco said the Criminal Justice Reform Subcommittee is prepared to debate more than 20 pieces bills during the upcoming legislative session that begins Jan. 20.
- An Albuquerque city councilor
- wants there to be an audit of the contractors expenses
- for those who worked on the DOJ/APD consent decree. This comes after KRQE found some eyebrow-raising charges among those expensed to the city, including alcohol, expensive hotel rooms and even a meal in Scottsdale, Arizona.
- Violent crime was up slightly in Albuquerque in 2013
- per the latest FBI data, but because of a new broader definition of rape.
- Innovate ABQ
- will have $210,000 in operating capital to start
- . The money is coming from a $500,000 settlement agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. UNM is running Innovate ABQ at the old First Baptist Church building in east downtown Albuquerque.
- A Las Cruces city councilor and activist
- will face off over the minimum wage increase in the city
- . The city raised the minimum wage—but it ended up being one of the more controversial and convoluted processes. While activists were gathering signatures, the city council raised the minimum wage to a smaller total. The activists had enough signatures, so the city council voted it into law—then immediately talked about changing the ordinance they just voted for to reconcile it with the legislation they previously had passed. The first increase in the community-backed minimum wage ordinance will go into place, but the city council may change it before future increases happen.
- Yeah, it's complicated.
- In Santa Fe, a
- city councilor says the city needs to let businesses know the new minimum wage
- each year when the minimum wage changes with the cost-of-living index.
- A district judge
- who was not retained is up for being put back in the same judgeship voters just removed him from
- .
And Mitchell said precedent may favor his re-appointment. Martinez, he said, has already reappointed three judges to the bench after they had lost retention elections.
Mitchell even holds a position on the judicial nominating committee that will find and recommend candidates to Martinez.- Legislation to bring back the inspector general's office in the city of Albuquerque
- is headed to a veto over concerns it would break the state's IPRA laws
- . The legislation says that investigations would be exempt from open records requests until the final report is approved by a board.
- New Mexico State University
- writes about the college's studies on the lesser prairie chicken
- . The bird has become a political football thanks to being put on the threatened species list; the bird's habitat includes some areas with heavy oil and gas drilling in multiple states.
- A study on marijuana's effects on the brain (it found that heavy marijuana use shrinks gray matter)
- is from the University of New Mexico
- . What is heavy marijuana use according to the study? Three or more times a day for 10 years. That's a lot of marijuana.
- A national group that supports "vaping"—or e-cigarettes—
- said it helped defeat Elizabeth Thomson in a House race this November
- .
- I missed this from last week, but
- the Sierra Club wants hearings on the state Dairy Rule to be held in Santa Fe
- . The previous hearings on the issue have been held in Roswell, a much more conservative area of the state.
- Sen. Tom Udall
- visited Cuba and met with an American held in jail there
- . Udall wasn't the only US Senator on the trip, Jeff Flake of Arizona. Flake is one of the most conservative members of Congress and Udall is one of the most liberal, but both are considered those that will work across the aisle.
- The executive director of the Las Vegas-San Miguel Chamer of Commerce
- is suing the city of Las Vegas saying that she was retaliated against after reporting accusations of sexual harassment by the mayor
- .
- Joline Gutierrez Krueger at the
- Albuquerque Journal
- has an update on the Mary Han case
- . Gutierrez Krueger has probably been the person in the media who has most closely followed the case through its twists and turns.
- Developers say
- that a Rio Rancho business park could bring up to 3,000 new jobs to the area
- . The plan is to lure manufacturing and tech companies to Rio Rancho.
- US Rep. Steve Pearce, fresh off his big election night victory,
- opposes President Barack Obama's push for net neutrality
- .
- The city of Albuquerque
- may be on the hook for $50 million in renovations
- . What kind of renovations? Americans with Disability Act compliance for sidewalks in the city where utility poles, fire hydrants or other objects make it impossible for those in wheelchairs to pass.
- The owner of Nets.com, a website that has been taunting the Brooklyn Nets for years,
- lives in Santa Fe
- . She wants $5 million for the domain name, which the Nets haven't been willing to pay. I will sell NMTelegram.com for about 1/5 of that.
Santa Fe Reporter