State Rep. Terry McMillan, a freshman Republican from Doña Ana County, describes the future of health care in New Mexico in consumerist terms: “like a mall for health insurance plans.”

For years after finishing my stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, I listed “killing chickens” in the skills/interests section of my résumé—not because of my enduring hatred for the rooster that awakened me every morning at 2 but, rather, because the Peace Corps experience is singularly unshakable.

In the midst of a recession, cartography is a bright spot. Mapmaking and “photo-grammetry”—using aerial photographs to survey and measure landmarks—is projected to grow at nearly three times the rate of total US employment.

When SFR asked New Mexico Gas Company to provide information on where its gas actually went on Feb. 3, NMGC spokeswoman Monica Hussey declined, citing “customer privacy rules.” Hussey also says she can’t explain why there were such large spikes in scheduled natural gas delivery to PNM during the crisis.

Federally-funded and state-supported drug task forces are running rampant in New Mexico. SFR reveals the results of two months of investigation into why armed, masked men in fatigues are landing in helicopters and routinely invading a normally peaceful town.

Two years ago, Bob Ortiz was a deputy director in the New Mexico Department of Health’s Grants Management Bureau. He had experience managing millions of dollars and was hired to help fix a $1.7 million accounting glitch for DOH. Today, Ortiz is paid $96,400 a year to do—well, not much.

On Feb. 3, a throng of New Mexico lawmakers gathered in the center of the state capitol to oppose an executive order signed by Gov. Susana Martinez four days earlier.

The winning candidates in the recent SFPS board elections shared a clear campaign message: change.  But it’s easier to make political promises than it is to actually achieve them.  Hence the need for SFR’s handy checklist, in which we offer the incoming school board concrete, achievable jumping-off points.

The case for expanding “Katie’s Law,” the New Mexico law that requires DNA collection for certain felony arrests, is powerful. In 2003, Jayann Sepich’s 22-year-old daughter, Katie, died after a brutal rape and murder.

One year ago, US Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, promised sweeping reform to the US Senate. In a recent interview with SFR, Udall laid out his agenda, which emphasized reforming the filibuster, eliminating secret holds and revamping what Udall describes as “a broken institution."