Morning Word
Today is the first day of August. It is a month usually notable for nothing notable happening (one reason why there are so many stories about shark attacks in the month). ---
NPR's Guy Raz explained in 2009
:
Of course, that story went on to say how many important things have happened in August.
I looked at the New Mexico Independent (RIP) archives from August 2008 and found the major news stories to be a special session and the Democratic National Convention. A side helping of political attacks kept the month peppered with coverage, but this year that seems to be the main event for news junkies.
On the national side of things, Romney will likely pick his running mate and then the Republican National Convention. But the start of the month will be dominated by the Olympics and kids going back to school.
Brace for what could be a slow news month.
On to the Word:
- Gov. Susana Martinez has been
- subpoenaed by prominent Democratic lawyer Sam Bregman in a wrongful termination suit
- . Now the question turns to if Martinez will invoke executive privilege to avoid the subpoena. Martinez's chief of staff Keith Gardner and deputy chief of staff Ryan Cangiolosi were also subpoenaed.
- Remember yesterday when I said I hoped for a John Fleck piece on the lawsuit that could potentially give the federal government control over New Mexico's water rights? Well,
- here it is
- .
- The federal government’s argument, detailed in hundreds of pages of legal briefs filed with the state court in Las Cruces, hinges on arcane legal issues reaching back to before New Mexico’s statehood.
But it boils down to this: The Bureau of Reclamation’s ability to supply water to farmers through the Rio Grande and the irrigation ditches that surround it depends on the agency’s ability to have some control over the groundwater beneath the fields, ditches and river, federal lawyers argue. - As always, read the whole Fleck piece.
- Social service advocates rallied in Santa Fe and urged Gov. Susana Martinez to stop "waffling" on
- whether or not to accept a Medicaid expansion
- .
- An Albuquerque-based group representing working families, Organizers in the Land of Enchantment, or OLE, delivered a plate of waffles to the Governor’s Office, saying they want Martinez to “stop waffling” and back the Medicaid expansion. [...] “This is a shameless stunt by a far left-wing group that cares more about playing politics than protecting health care,” [Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell] said.
- Speaking of Martinez, Thom Cole writes about the governor's
- fundraising around the country
- and how it will likely pay dividends for the governor in future political runs.
- As the Word predicted yesterday, the DSCC
- launched their new ad attacking Heather Wilson Tuesday
- .
- The
- tab for the Chamber of Commerce ads attacking Martin Heinrich
- is $250,000, part of a $5.9 million ad blitz. New Mexico is a relatively cheap state to advertise in.
- Efforts to
- beat back rumors about the early days of the Little Bear fire
- continue.
- Variety writes about the
- New Mexico film industry and how it was hurt by the film incentive cap
- -- and that pain is coming many months after the fact because of the long lead up to filming movies.
- Public News Service has the
- latest on the battle over pollution controls at the San Juan Generating station
- .
- Remember when Tesla was coming to Albuquerque? The developer involved does and is
- suing the electric car manufacturer
- .
- All you need to get a
- football stadium named after you is a $1.5 million donation
- . You have that sitting around, right?
- Rio Rancho's Governing Body
- eliminated their pay raises
- .
- Mitt Romney wants to
- end the wind energy tax credit
- . Eastern New Mexico has some wind farms, though not nearly as much as a few hours away in Texas.
- The Democratic Party added a
- marriage equality plank to its platform
- . Heinrich backs this, while his opponent Wilson opposes same-sex marriage.
- Oh, and Esquire says Heinrich is among the "
- best-dressed politicians
- ," clinching the sartorial snob voting bloc.
- The Albuquerque Isotopes could have a rival down I-25, as El Paso was
- approved for a Pacific Coast League team
- . Those day games in El Paso should be fun. The team would likely be an affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
