Senate Democrats in 1989 rejected Carla Muth as Carruthers’ nominee for health and environment secretary. Carruthers simply arranged for Muth to run the department day-to-day as deputy secretary.

Johnson nominated Robin Dozier Otten as Human Services Department secretary in 2000 but later withdrew her name when it became clear the Senate would not confirm her. But Otten then ran the department as deputy secretary and later, after a reappointment by Johnson, as secretary designate.

“Last evening, after everyone was gone to the basketball game, Hillary Noskin came and wanted a copy of (Corwin’s) letter,” Senator Lopez said. “Then Jessica Hernandez joined her and they confronted me for about 15 minutes. I knew that I was being recorded. They kept saying, ‘Are you refusing? Are you refusing?’ The information that (Corwin) is to be presenting has been public for a year on Corwin’s website (www.independentsourcepac.com). I don’t stand up to bullying very well. I didn’t with the last administration under Governor Richardson and I certainly won’t with this one. To insinuate that I was holding back information, I really don’t appreciate that.

“I get the ploy. I understand what you were trying to do,” Senator Lopez said, directing her comments at Noskin, who was sitting toward the front of the chamber on Saturday, directly in front of the Rules Committee members.

Now, several months later and with deadlines looming, the window for creating a state-based exchange in New Mexico is starting to close.

In May, the federal government will review how much progress states like New Mexico have made in setting up state-based exchanges. Washington could force a state that hasn’t progressed far enough into a partnership with the federal government or require a federal takeover of its exchange, according to Cheryl Smith, a director of Leavitt Partners, a Utah-based consulting firm the Martinez administration brought in last year to advise it on how to set up an exchange. Smith was speaking to members of an advisory task force last week.

New Cumulus Media Albuquerque Vice President Jim Christoferson confirmed the news Friday, and said that Villanucci was not fired. Feb. 28 was the last day of Villanucci’s contract with Cumulus.

Pat Frisch, the program director for Cumulus’ AM stations in Albuquerque, will take over while the company looks for a replacement, Christoferson said.

he House Appropriations and Finance Committee meeting was set to start at 1:30 p.m. Thursday — or 30 minutes after the House floor session. It was approaching 3 p.m. and the House was nowhere near the end of an agenda that included lengthy floor debates, vote tallies and even a reconsideration of an earlier vote.

“I've talked to one staffer who said in 16 years they’ve never started on time,” Howe said. “I was here at 1:15 just in case this day was going to be different.”

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez took the opportunity to poke the governor over the new coffeemaker. At the start of the Senate floor session, he presented Lt. John Sanchez with a new Mr. Coffee.

“Ours cost less than $2,700,” Sanchez later told reporters. “It was $24.”

Lawmakers from the Rockies to the Appalachians periodically question why adventurers who incur costs should not have to pay the price-literally. That debate has heated up this year as legislators in at least two states have sought, so far unsuccessfully, to enact laws to allow fees for rescues. That few states currently allow such billing is chiefly due to objects by national search and rescue groups, who say the prospect of payment could prompt people to delay seeking needed aid, possibly making a dangerous situation worse.

That is precisely why New Mexico is a "no-charge state," according to New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue Resource Officer Bob Rodgers. "In this state, we don't charge for search and rescue, and we don't plan to," Rodgers said definitively.

Steve Watts, vice president of the Los Alamos Food Co-op board of directors, said he’s currently trying to start a brewery and taproom right here in Los Alamos. Set up along the lines of the food co-op, he’s currently looking for investors as well as people who are looking to become members of the new venture.

“The co-op model gives people the idea that they can really own it as well as have a say in the business,” said Watts, adding that the co-op model has helped them raise funds for the project, since people can readily buy a share in the business.

Because it appears it’s going to take cash from public coffers to reel in a substantial arsenal, it’s probably worthwhile to ask whether gun buybacks work.

The short answer is no, and the more complicated answer is just as complicated as the rest of the gun debate.