For the last two years, New Mexican voters have been bombarded with the sights and sounds of the 2008 election. And the companies responsible for all the election collateral have been enjoying the influx of cash.

But what happens for local businesses now that the campaign cash cow has been milked dry?

These young movers and shakers aren’t necessarily thinking about running for office one day. They mostly are focused on the present—whether it involves making thought-provoking films, working after school as a student lawyer or meeting with other students to promote equality.

Their backgrounds are diverse and their hopes are big.

The 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office hasn’t prosecuted more than half of the felony domestic violence cases it has handled since January 2006. Deborah Potter, a victim's advocate in

The enormous interest generated by the 2008 presidential election, along with past discrepancies at the polls and New Mexico’s status as a battleground state, has voter-rights advocates paying p

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Carol Horwitz has been the domestic violence and sexual assault liaison for the City of Santa Fe since March 2007. She worked for five years as a program manager at Peacekeepers Domestic Violence Program, treating women from Eight Northern Indian Pueblos. Horwitz also has led women’s and LGBT support groups at Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families, Inc. in Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe Police Department has had multiple reports of copper theft so far in 2008, including repeated thefts of copper wiring at St. Catherine Indian School. “We’ve had huge problems there this year,” Deputy Chief Eric Wheeler tells SFR.

Recent changes at Santa Fe’s Youth Development Program have some concerned. As of Oct. 1, the state agency responsible for housing juvenile inmates throughout New Mexico—Children, Youth and Families Department—ended its contract with Santa Fe County, leaving 30 out of 53 total beds empty at the county’s underage lockup.m

On Nov. 4, Santa Fe voters will be asked whether or not to retain judges in the First Judicial District. Judges must receive 57 percent affirmative votes for retention. This week, we submitted three of the judges to our Pop Quiz.

Visit the US Patent Office’sand you will see drawings and explanations of thousands of patented inventions. Nationally, New Mexico ranks near the bottom of the patent hierarchy, both on a per capita basis and in terms of sheer numbers. Santa Fe inventors are not to be deterred, though. Talk to one for long enough and you may well start believing in their gadgets, too. At the very least, you’ll likely come away wondering: Why didn’t I think of that?

It remains to be seen if New Mexico’s past problems with voter irregularities—in Rio Arriba County andelsewhere—have become a joking matter. A massive surge of voter-registration drivesleading up to the Nov. 4 election, combined with a recent court ruling regarding voter-registration groups and the discovery of fraudulent voter-registration cards in Bernalillo County, indicate otherwise.