Veterans of the redistricting process say it’s consistently fraught with political infighting—not just between the two parties, but also among members of the same party. And a heated 2010 election season—which vaulted Republicans into power—is widely considered a litmus test for both public sentiment and partisan assertiveness.

At noon on Tuesday, Jan. 18, the New Mexico state Legislature convenes for this year’s 60-day session. Foremost on many lawmakers’ minds is the state budget shortfall—estimated by the Legislative Finance Committee at $215 million and by the governor’s office at $450 million—but 60-day sessions usually afford some time for other pursuits, too.

According to SFR’s analysis of 4,792 pages of documents, there’s much more to a school budget than meets the eye. In the 2010 fiscal year, Santa Fe Public Schools spent approximately the same amount on pizza as it did on some elementary school teachers’ salaries.

In 2010, Santa Fe City Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger spent $4,878.14 of the city’s money for travel—in spite of what fellow Councilor Patti Bushee describes as a “strong commitment” among city officials to refrain from incurring extra travel costs.

Rick Lass, director of the electoral-reform group Voting Matters, is tired of talking about ranked-choice voting. The system allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, which advocates say ensures candidates are elected by majority vote, and increases voter participation.

New Mexico’s freshman Democrat in the US Senate, Tom Udall, is trying to invoke the “constitutional option”—an arcane point of constitutional law that allows each house of Congress to make up its own rules on the first day of each session. Udall’s goal? To end the use of the filibuster to block legislation.

Each year, China sends more visitors to the US, and the proportion of overseas travelers who come here for business grows. (Currently, it’s approximately 30 percent.) So why is New Mexico’s ability to sell itself—and its products—to China faltering?

This issue—SFR’s last of 2010—is all about looking back at the year’s big news. But while the news is our business, it’s not always yours—so SFR asked a variety of Santa

We wrap up 2010 with a look back at the top stories that shaped the roller coaster of the last 12 months. True, not all of these stories woke us at 3 am with our teeth chattering. But the pervasive sense of seditious intent from the powers that be did fuel our thinking as we wrapped up the year. So we present not just the top 10 stories, but our own take on the conspiracies behind them.

On Dec. 10, Bernie Sanders, the 69-year-old independent US senator from Vermont, railed against the bipartisan compromise on George W Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits—for more than eight hours.