Border
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: High school football players suspended for a year
Three of six high school football in Las Vegas were suspended for a year for hazing and a physical assault on other students, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Mesa del Sol president is playing hardball with Albuquerque Public Schools, the Albuquerque Journal reports today. President Mike Daly told the district's school board that if the district can't guarantee the development's funding for school buildings, then he couldn't guarantee that Mesa del Sol would be a part of APS.
The number of Dona Ana County residents who carry concealed weapons has doubled in less than a year, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports. Department of Public Safety figures show that, as of Friday, 951 people in Dona Ana County have a license to carry a firearm compared to the 455 residents who had a license in late September of last year.
The Las Cruces City Council will consider a five-year contract with a company that installs red light cameras, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports.
McCain in a bind
On the eve of the Republican National Convention, leading Hispanic national organizations sent a bluntly worded letter to Sen. John McCain about his party’s platform positions on immigration. The groups urged McCain to ”...lead your party’s platform away from the deportation and detention path” which repudiates McCain’s past positions on immigration.
McCain's tightrope act
John McCain’s town-hall meeting today in Las Cruces was obviously aimed at attracting Hispanic, Democratic and independent voters. And in trying to attract all three he walked a tightrope as the Republican presidential candidate asserted independence from his party and its special interests while at the same time he sought to reassure Republicans by pledging to pick a vice-presidential nominee who shares his values. You can listen to the 25-minute interview conducted on McCain’s campaign bus by clicking here.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Democrats rally behind a Green and it's not the presidential race
Democrats disgruntled with their own party's candidate in the Public Regulation Commission race are forming a political action committee to help Green Party candidate Rick Lass, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Apparently a few Democrats aren't smitten with Jerome Block Jr., who is the Democratic nominee.
Journal investigative reporter Thom Cole takes on a Los Lunas Municipal Court Judge who denied him access to a public court file last week in a doozy of an open letter that's one part chastisement and one part defense of the state's Public Records Act.. Click here to read Cole's open letter. Give 'em what for, Thom!
New Mexico State University police issued a warning to returning students to not travel to Juarez due to the spike in drug-related violence in the Mexican city, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports.
When red lights are just a 'suggestion'
Today's Top Stories: Juarez death toll nears 800
'Building Green Economies' a border issue
For the first time in its history, the 26th Border Governor's Conference has been combined with a Green Technology Expo that opens today at the "Building Green Economies" conference being hosted by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ten border governors, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, were among those scheduled to attend the invitation-only conference. The Green Tech Expo today and Friday is open to the public at no charge.
An official conference press release said Schwarzenegger's decision to hold the conference at Universal Studios, to incorporate the Green Tech Expo and to give the conference its overall environmental theme "is resonant of his desire to raise awareness among the general public that cross-border issues are about much more than illegal immigration."
Progressive national security?
If you'd like to get a feel for what foreign policy might look like under a Democratic administration, especially as it relates to national security, you might want to attend one of two National Security Network Town Halls happening this week.
The National Security Network was formed in 2006 by Rand Beers, who famously quit the Bush administration in protest just days before the invasion of Iraq, and then proceeded to sign up with the campaign of John Kerry. Since then he's been an informal adviser to both Clinton and Obama. The NSN website provides a brief overview of positions held by Beers during his tenure in government:
Post-9/11 intelligence goes local
Day in, day out a handful of analysts sit in a nondescript building at the National Guard Center off Highway 14 south of Santa Fe taking in raw data from an alphabet soup of federal, state and local agencies. New Mexico's program -- also known by the more friendly moniker "fusion center" -- is one of several dozen facilities to have opened, often quietly, across the country in the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
NM chile growers feel burned
Dems Devote $20 Million to Hispanic Voter Outreach
The Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign announced Tuesday that they will spend $20 million to on outreach to Hispanic voters. During a conference call with reporters, Obama for America National Hispanic Leadership Council Chairman Frank Sanchez and DNCVice-Chair Linda Chavez Thompson described a huge grassroots effort that will mirror Howard Dean's 50-state strategy, but focus resources on what they called "critical" states such as New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Florida.
Independents rising
Apparently Doña Ana County is a fairly independently minded place -- at least when it comes to politics. Currently 18 percent of the county’s registered voters have declined to state a party affiliation, and that number is growing: Some 33 percent of people who registered to vote from January to June in the county are “independents.” Doña Ana County’s percentage of registered independents is greater than the state average of 15 percent, and only Los Alamos County has as high a percentage. In addition Doña Ana County’s independent voter population is growing faster than that of any other county in the state.
Mexico Notebook: Going places
While the American airline industry is cutting dozens of routes from its schedules, it appears the Mexican industry is doing just fine.
The Mexican airline Aeromexico announced this month it is buying more planes and adding destinations.
An article in El Sol de Zacatecas says Aeromexico is buying 12 new Embraer 190 jets, configured the same as its current Aeromexico Connect line, each with 11 first-class seats and 88 in tourist class.
Mexico Notebook: Here, they make house calls
Three days away from finishing language school in southern Mexico, our daughter came down with severe stomach pain, just as she had been marveling about how lucky she had been to avoid illness for six weeks immersed in her host culture. Unsure of what to do, I called the doctor she had seen three days earlier and explained the situation. I was sure I understood his reply, even though my Spanish is not the best. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was asking for directions to our hotel.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Ruidoso gets nine inches of rain thanks to Dolly
The remnants of Hurricane Dolly have caused the Rio Ruidoso to overflow its banks, creating the worst flooding the town of Ruidoso has seen in 50 years. Fire Chief Tom Gavin says the public needs to stay away from the river, or they may find their lives in jeopardy. The Ruidoso News has video footage and pictures, plus reports that two people are missing.
A new international railroad crossing on the border with Mexico is being pursued by New Mexico officials, reports the Albuquerque Journal. This would create a bypass around the town of Juarez, allowing that city to remove the railroad tracks from their downtown area.
The Navajo Nation Council has banned smoking in shared public places, including outdoor events like rodeos and fairs. The measure was approved Friday at the end of its summer session, and President Joe Shirley Jr. now has 10 days to decide whether to sign or veto the decision.
Seeking asylum at the border
Police officers, journalists and businessmen are among those who have shown up at the U.S.-Mexico border recently, claiming they fear for their life. An onslaught of drug-related violence has sent a record number of Mexican citizens north of the border seeking political asylum. Between October and July there have been 63 cases, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, nearly double the number from all of last year.
Mexico notebook: Desperate children
XALAPA, Mexico -- One of the more disturbing stories to come out of Mexico in recent days is a report that the number of children attempting to travel by themselves to the United States has risen in the last three years.
The International Migration Organization [OIM] reports that children as young as 12, hoping to join family already in the States or feeling unwanted or abused in their current family situation, is at 500 a year from the southern Mexico state of Veracruz alone.
These children, aged 12 to 18, hail from cities large and small, including the port of Veracruz, the capital city of Xalapa, and Cordoba, Orizaba, Santiago Tuxtla, Acayucan and Rio Blanco, reports the daily newspaper A-Z Xalapa.
Obama campaign unveils Spanish-language radio ad
The hidden costs of a 'maquiladora'
Last week ground was broken on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez in what is set to be Mexico's largest 'maquiladora'. The Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn started construction in Jeronimo, Chihuaha on a facility that will eventually span 500 acres with more than 1.2 million square feet of structures and employ 30,000 people. Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturers of computer components and electronics worldwide.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Bernalillo County Clerk sexual harassment suit settled
A lawsuit that exposed sexually charged working conditions in the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office has been settled for $80,000, The Albuquerque Journal writes today.
Work on a 40-foot-tall sculpture memorializing Mexican immigrants who risk their lives crossing the border illegally may be halted near Downtown Santa Fe after officials said it may pose a safety issue to passersby, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican.
Carlsbad residents aren't exactly rushing to get the new U.S. passport card that substitutes for a passport when crossing the border into Mexico, Canada and several other Western Hemisphere countries, The Carlsbad Current-Argus writes today.