Imagine a school where students and faculty are excited to show up; where everywhere you look, creativity flows; where students compose songs on the guitar between classes; and where teachers find ways to teach history through music and English through art.

13.5 is the percentage of Democratic US Rep. Harry Teague’s earmarks that went to his campaign contributors, the highest percentage among New Mexico’s congressional delegation.

In 2005, William Smith bought his Santa Fe home for approximately $305,000. He found a national lender willing to contribute $288,000 as an adjustable-rate mortgage. Fast-forward five years, “and of course our house is worth much less than that, and we’re way underwater,” he tells SFR.

Community College is on a campaign to secure a cool $35 million in bond funding. In a state beleaguered by budget problems. In a recession.

Last week, SFR reported on the city’s Water Conservation Rebate Program, which was asking for another $703,000 to continue operating through the end of the year.

A story in last week’s paper about the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s renewable energy programs contained two errors.

At the corner of Hopewell and Espinacitas streets, behind a chain-link fence, sits an unassuming little house with construction materials strewn about the dirt yard. But what the building lacks in polish, it makes up in heart.

Think of the city’s water conservation rebate program as an innocuous bribe: You replace the urinal in your office with a water-free version, and the city dumps $630 into your bank account.

In a windowless meeting room at Santa Fe Community College, Charlotte Pollard, whom PNM hired to facilitate the second of 11 public meetings to discuss the company’s future energy sources, attempted to quell the crowd.

On Wednesday afternoon last week, the sun was shining, but County Assessor Domingo Martinez and Chief Appraiser Daniel King were holed up in the basement.