New Mexico Mercury

Drought: time to pay the piper

The long 21st century drought seems finally to be catching up to the East Mountains. For years we’ve managed to avoid its worst consequences. Life has gone along, year after year, pretty much normally. But now it may be time to pay the piper.

The wells of my local water co-op are running dry. A large, well established and ably managed utility with several hundred members, it has long had four deep wells. One, however, has just run dry and another is imperiled. A letter to co-op members last week pleaded for major voluntary conservation efforts, including a total ban on outdoor watering; if these efforts are insufficient, mandatory conservation is in the offing. This is the direst situation in my 24 years with the co-op...

NM Twittersphere: APD, King & Martinez, WIPP

This week we have lots of coverage of the APD march to end police brutality that happened this past Saturday in Albuquerque. Martinez and King both make gaffes in the early stages of the governor's race. Also, concern, funding and the future of WIPP. In NM Twittersphere we curate the firehose of information coming through on Twitter where you can see media, links to informative articles, and viewpoints that happened through the week... 

APD Update: Protest march, Perry questioned, family interviews

A “march to end police brutality” is taking place today in Albuquerque from 11am – 4pm at Roosevelt Park (Coal Ave SE & Spruce St SE). The march is put on by broad coalition of activists, family members of victims of police violence, and concerned citizens. The event will feature longtime Chicano activist and civil rights attorney Kiko Martinez as well as a number of other speakers.  The event will feature music by Albuquerque’s Mala Maña (Mary Hawkes, the 19 year old killed by APD in April worked as their roadie), Sherri Gonzales Blues Trio, L@SOTR@S, and MC Def...

Weekly Poem: GRAMMAR LESSON EIGHT—Chapter Four: Nouns (Gerunds)

Verbs always push around
the nouns of this life

always doing stuff
we think of usually
as verbs

as actions—the word actions
a noun when verbs be-
come nouns when I sojourn forth
becomes sojourning
the fact that the sojourn journeys
forth into this darkness...

Running from the taxman? To what?

Changing tax rates nearly always has consequences, some of which are intended, some of which are not. If we are to believe anti-tax advocates, taxes inhibit economic development, distort our economy, and cause people to “vote with their feet” by moving to a place with lower rates. Most unbiased analyses show that taxes have a negligible impact on economic development and that other factors—such as an educated workforce, access to markets, and quality-of-life considerations—are more important in business location decisions. Could taxes be the reason that New Mexico has seen population growth stagnate in recent years after decades of growth? The answer is a resounding no, according to a new research report...

Advocating for the most vulnerable in Valencia County

Approximately twenty-four miles south of Albuquerque, Los Lunas, the Valencia County seat, has significantly fewer services and resources for children and caregivers then Albuquerque.  Yet it has individuals, agencies and law enforcement doing what they can to help all children in the community.  With one of the highest rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect in New Mexico, Valencia does not have the level of child specific services necessary to respond adequately. Relying on access to services and resources in Albuquerque is difficult, expensive, and can add to stress for law enforcement and others, as well as trauma for the children they are trying to serve.

The 2012 rate of substantiated child abuse for Valencia County was a distressing 28 children per 1,000 compared to the State's rate of 11.4, Bernalillo’s 8.8 and Sandoval’s 7.5...

Gary King: Too nice to win?

In 2002, Gary King made his first run for governor. In the Democratic Party’s preprimary convention, he garnered a bit over 19 percent of the vote, just shy of the 20 percent he needed for an automatic place on the ballot. His failure was due to a typically scorched-earth campaign by Bill Richardson to garner massive support at the convention and prevent any opponent form getting easy access to the Democratic primary ballot for governor.

Twelve years later, King proved he had learned the lesson of that bitter experience. Again running for governor, he didn’t count on support from this year’s preprimary convention, and he didn’t get it...

Emerging Voices: Michelle Gullett

Editor’s note: “Emerging Voices” is a new, ongoing segment featuring young writers from New Mexico.  Pieces will be presented by various mentors and teachers working with students across the state.  If you work with young writers and would like to highlight a standout talent, please contact us.  Essays, poetry, creative writings, personal experiences, or other projects are welcome.  Thanks to Stevie Olson for presenting this week’s Emerging Voice...

Susanuh’s Reading Scores

When Susanuh first took office, her reading scores absolutely sucked, but the voters liked her, so through this weird social promotion program called the vote, she assumed the mantle of governor.

Over the past four years, I’m weepingly proud to say, Susanuh has renounced social promotion, and she is now ready to read even the hardest words. She could read the names of each one of her potential challengers emblazoned across five grainy black and white pictures of Pirate Bill Richardson that appeared in her primary TV ad.  That was no sweat for Susanuh...

Five Questions with New Mexico Authors - Dede Feldman

This week we asked former state senator and author Dede Feldman some questions about her 16 years in the Senate, the future of New Mexico politics, and about her new book Inside the New Mexico Senate: Boots, Suits, and Citizens from UNM Press, 2014.

NMM: So many people love this book, the Mercury included, we wondered if you had any new insights away from the job into the essential method and madness of the New Mexico Legislature?...