Test scores aren’t the only indicator of SFPS’ deficiency relative to the rest of the state. Last year, its high school graduation rate—53 percent—was the second-worst out of all 89 New Mexico school districts.

“There’s no gray in this issue,” Cerrillos activist Cindy Roper told attendees at a panel on animal trapping held in Albuquerque last week. “It’s very black and white.” No gray, that is, except the Mexican gray wolf, a federally listed endangered species barely hanging on to its southern New Mexico habitat. The wolf was the beneficiary of a 2010 ban on trapping in its territory enacted by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson—and the victim of that regulation’s recent reversal under a vote by the state Game Commission.

During a recent interview with SFR, Mayor David Coss expressed frustration at the lack of citywide broadband service in Santa Fe.

As lawmakers continue their redistricting work in the special session, both parties are getting fed up.

Nearly two years after Bob Ortiz first raised concerns about how one of the state’s largest departments handles its finances, he’s finally getting a response. In July, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service conducted a financial management review, similar to an audit, of the New Mexico Department of Health. The analysis found accounting errors in the DOH’s Women, Infants and Children program—to the tune of $500,000 in fiscal year 2008.

After all the lip service paid to the importance of renewable energy, and after the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, raised awareness of the danger inherent in nuclear technology, investing in clean energy might seem a logical goal for the DOE.

These days, it’s fashionable to rant about “the media”—a somewhat ironic concept, given that it’s also the age of “citizen journalism” and crowdsourcing. If in fact the media is flawed, then each of us is flawed by association.

The best and brightest get their tweet on.

New Mexico’s next big election isn’t until November 2012, but the primary is less than a year away—and candidates are already out there hustling for money and votes.

Though city elections won’t be held until March, candidates for the four open Santa Fe City Council seats are already signing up for what promises to be a horse race. So far, District 1, where Councilor Patti Bushee faces re-election, has been drawing the most attention.