Poverty
Lilly Ledbetter stands up for fair pay
For all the talk about shattering glass ceilings, Lilly Ledbetter's straightforward personal story of pay discrimination was likely a shock to the young women inspired by all the success stories evident on Tuesday, the so-called Women's Equality Day segment of the Democratic National Convention.
The straight-talking self-described grandmother from Alabama described how the nation's highest court "sided with big business" in reversing the discrimination judgement she had won against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Inc., where she had worked more than 20 years and was paid less than her lowest-paid male peer.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: More NM kids live in poverty
Nearly one in four of New Mexico children -- or 24 percent -- live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released figures yesterday, reports the Albuquerque Journal. That number is up from previous estimates of a nearly 20 percent poverty level for New Mexicans under 18, according to the paper.
The man whom many still call a 2000 presidential race spoiler -- Ralph Nader -- stopped in the state's capital city to give a speech at the College of Santa Fe, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican. And true to style Nader took swipes at both political parties.
An Espanola police school resource officer is no longer at the department after being accused of exchanging sexual messages with a 15 year old boy and of having a nude photo of the student in his cell phone, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
Bernalillo County is reviving its long dormant ethics board, reports the Albuquerque Journal. The five-member board is mandated by county ordinance but hasn't met for almost a decade.
Food bank to receive 15 tons of meat
Tyson Foods, which calls itself the world's largest producer of pork, chicken and beef products, is scheduled to donate 15 tons of food to the Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque today.
In a partnership among Tyson Foods, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and America's Second Harvest, of which Roadrunner is a network member, Tyson will donate more than 15 tons of "much-needed protein" to the food bank as part of its 1-million-pound, three-year commitment to fight hunger together, Roadrunner said in a news release.
Keeping tabs on TB
International travel and bio-terrorism have upped the ante in the need for quick turnaround times in disease forensics. But quick turnarounds require that scientists and clinicians have access to a pathogen-centric database. Three scientists explain to NMI how such a national database for one of today's greatest health threats -- tuberculosis -- could be up and running in six months at the University of New Mexico.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Memories of the Santa Fe Indian school
The tearing down of 18 historic buildings in Santa Fe by the All Indian Pueblo Council may be somewhat shocking for many non-Indians, but to at least one board member of the Council seeing the walls come down was a spiritual cleansing. The Santa Fe New Mexican shed a little bit of light over the weekend on the reasons behind the demolition of the Santa Fe Indian School, although the Board members themselves aren't saying much.
The Albuquerque Public Schools building program is giving a serious boost to the ailing construction industry, reports the Albuquerque Journal.
A real estate company has been sued for fair housing discrimination against women with children. According to the Las Cruces Sun-News report, Monarch Real Estate Corp. refused to rent spots in its mobile home park to women with children due to what it called prior complaints about children from residents.
Sanchez 'considering' 2010 run for guv
On the eve of a special session of the New Mexico Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez says he’s “considering” a run for governor in 2010. “At this point, I’ve been approached and asked to consider it and I’m considering it,” the four-term state senator from Belen told the Independent. Sanchez’s possible entry into the Democratic primary for governor nearly two years away adds a second heavyweight contender to the contest to succeed Gov. Bill Richardson.
An inconvenient crisis
Quite a buzz is being generated about a new movie Reuters says "may be to the U.S. economy what 'An Inconvenient Truth' was to the environment."
"I.O.U.S.A.: Live with Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson & Dave Walker" can accurately be described as a "movie event" because it's only airing one night across the nation and at only one theater in New Mexico: Aug. 21 at the Cottonwood 16 in Albuquerque.
Staving off summer hunger
The carefree days of summer instead are times of struggle for families who rely on school lunches and breakfasts to provide their children with a nutritious meal.
But the Roadrunner Food Bank reports that several organizations came together to help ensure those children had an additional food source during these summer months.
Philanthropic foundations gave $260,000 to the Summer Food Program, which leverages an additional $264,000 in federal funds, reports Roadrunner Director Melody Wattenbarger.
Donors included the Albuquerque Community Foundation, the Anderson Foundation, the McCune Foundation, PNM Resources Foundation and several private donors. The Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives out of Gov. Bill Richardson's office coordinated 37 Summer Food Program sites through New Mexico, while the Albuquerque Community Foundation served as the fiscal agents of the funds, according to Roadrunner.
Domestic violence laws get tougher, with hopes that abuse drops
New Mexico's domestic violence laws just got a little stronger, with several new laws going into effect July 1st that address prevention, protection of victims, and in one case the provision of increased penalties for offenders.
The package would allow public domestic violence treatment funds to pay for the treatment of batterers statewide, as an enhancement of prevention efforts.
GOP: Don't register with ACORN
The state Republican Party is cautioning against registering to vote with workers employed by ACORN.
“Voters who would like to register to vote would be better served by contacting their county or state Republican or Democratic parties or their county clerk,” Adam Feldman, the state GOP executive director, said in a news release.
The GOP joins the Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections in expressing concern about the nonprofit group, which has had two problems in the county in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the county warned that it had received complaints about misleading voter-registration activities by ACORN employees, a charge ACORN denied. And about a week ago, 90 completed voter-registration applications were stolen from ACORN’s Las Cruces office.
Prison reform outlined
The state should consider charter schools in its prisons, expand on its current limited use of a Navajo Nation practice of restorative justice and divert as many non-violent drug offenders to treatment as possible rather than lock them up. More drug and mental health courts, as well as halfway houses, should also be opened and more educational opportunities given to inmates, including domestic violence prevention programs. Those were among the recommendations from a task force task force report submitted Tuesday to Gov. Bill Richardson. The report was the product of a task force Richardson empaneled earlier this year to devise ways to curb future prison overcrowding and to lower the rate of offenders who return to prison after being released.
Cradles of hope, with love to Africa
Get off the dime
An editorial in Saturday's New York Times offers a concise explanation of the stranglehold seven senators now have on a bill that, if allowed to go to a vote, would reauthorize funding to fight three of the world's deadliest diseases of poverty -- AIDS, malaria and TB.
The bill, which has already passed the House by a 3-to-1 margin, is expected to similarly sail through the Senate and is supported by President Bush. But the seven are holding it a procedural hostage, saying they won't allow it to go to the floor unless it's rewritten to specify that a certain percentage go to treatment of AIDS vs. how much will go toward prevention.
This has become a classic syndrome in health care funding: the competition between prevention, care and treatment and finding a cure. New Mexico tries to deal with the competition for scarce funding with the Behavioral Health Collaborative.
Pain at the pump redux
Political leaders have taken the low-ride over the past week, ramping up a partisan fight over whether or not drilling for oil will solve our energy crisis while regular people are just worried about how to afford the gasoline they need to get around.
And our governor hasn't been shy about wading right into the thick of it in his capacity as an Obama surrogate. On CBS' Face the Nation Sunday he charged that John McCain was following the policies of George Bush--"drill, drill, drill"--a refrain he used multiple times while championing renewable energy development and conservation strategies. Of course, McCain's positions are a little more nuanced than Richardson would have one believe, but McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina did a pretty good job of getting those across.
Obama's first TV ad touts love of country and targets red states
Here's the gist of Barack Obama's first general election ad, a minute-long encomium to humble roots and land-of-opportunity patriotism that's set to run in 18 states: "I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you’d like to be treated. It’s what guided me as I worked my way up — taking jobs and loans to make it through college."
Those 18 states: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
As Joe Sudbay writes at Americablog, all but four of those states (New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) went for Bush in 2004.
Barack Obama: "Country I Love" (1:00)
No rest for weary state lawmakers. Psych!
State lawmakers, get ready for a nice little break from the summer. To prepare, close your eyes and just imagine a bustling state Capitol in August or September.
Yep, that's right. Start packing your bags, New Mexico legislators. Make your hotel reservations, o weary public servants. Gov. Bill Richardson announced to a roomful of skeptical reporters Thursday that he still wants a special session on health care and he's penciled in something for August or September.
"I keep my word," Richardson said, reminding the Doubtful Thomases that he had promised a special session earlier this year and he's going to have it.
Food on the go
A semi-trailer truck labeled "Mobile Food Pantry" rolled out of the Roadrunner Food Bank Wednesday to deliver fresh produce and staples to its first delivery stop: the off-the-grid community of Pajarito Mesa on the city's far West Side -- "opening a world of possibility in reaching hungry people," in the words of the food bank's director.
USA Today: Navajo nurses deserve praise for raising alarm on salmonella
A USA Today story today gives props to public health nurse Kimberlae Houk and her colleagues in the Navajo Nation for raising the alarm early about the ongoing salmonella outbreak in tomatoes. The article describes the magnitude of the impact, which is nationwide, gives a timeline, and credits Houk and the Shiprock Indian Health Services Unit for quick action:
...it could have been a lot worse if a red flag hadn't been raised early in the outbreak last month by a public health nurse with good instincts in one of the nation's poorest, most remote regions.
South Valley test
The South Valley is known for its rough edges. Rustic building facades and wooden corrals meld with unpaved roads and century-old homes. But the same South Valley may soon be known as home to one of the nation's most innovative approaches to primary health care.
The importance of being Dad
In the week running up to Father's Day, the Navajo Nation Program for Self Reliance [NNPSR] has launched its first media campaign to promote and encourage responsible fatherhood, according to an article in The Gallup Independent.
Of the more than 3,000 households served by the program, nearly 90 percent are headed by single mothers, the newspaper's Diné Bureau reports.