Waste of Money
KRQE investigative reporter Larry Barker has an interesting report on how officials
in capital outlay money. An abandoned museum site is something Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith is calling “a real abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Follow the Money
Meanwhile, KOAT has been
that two elected officials spent on economic development trips to Europe that total more than $20,000.
Downwinders Invite Obama to Tularosa
Now that President Obama has decided to visit Hiroshima, Tularosa
want him to come and visit their town. Russell Contreras reports the so-called Downwinders are upset that “they were not included in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program, which provides a $50,000 payout as compensation for health problems.”
Bold Statements
Chris Nedbalek, who is running for a spot on the bench in Lincoln County, surprised some folks at a candidate forum earlier this week, when he admitted
when he goes hiking in case he is attacked by a pack of aggresive dogs that roam the woods. Nedbalek is trying to unseat incumbent 12th Judicial District Judge Dan Bryant in the June 6 primary.
Campaign Finance Reports Visualized
Data journalist Sandra Fish charted the latest 2016 campaign finance reporting. Her report, at
, shows Republican Secretary of State Nora Espinoza was the top fundraiser between April 5 and May 2. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Espinosa’s Democratic opponent this fall, was the top spender during the same time period. Meanwhile, Advance New Mexico Now was the top political action committee fundraiser. See all the charts here.
Insurance Rates Expected to Rise
Dennis Domrzalski reports, “After sitting out a year on New Mexico’s health insurance exchange because it couldn’t get a 52 percent rate hike,
.”
Either way, New Mexico Insurance Superintendent John Franchini says he wouldn’t be surprised if everyone’s rates go up another 20 percent next year.
Public Regulation Commissioners voted 3-2 to offer
, its chief of staff job nine months after Ken Ortiz rejected an offer to head the agency.
This is cool for people who love to star gaze and think about the universe. NASA has announced the discovery of
, more than doubling the number of known exoplanets found with the Kepler Space Telescope.
"This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth," said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington.
The unmanned Kepler space observatory, which launched in 2009, has been scanning 150,000 stars for signs of orbiting bodies, particularly those that might be able to support life.
Back here on earth, it was a pretty good ski season in New Mexico. More than 938,000 people hit the slopes. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that this season's totals marked
of 783,000 visits and a 3 percent increase from the 2014-15 season.
Santa Fe Reporter