Gov & Politics
White House points to defense spending in states in new plea for Ukraine aid
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is warning Congress that without more funding for Ukraine, the United States will no longer be able to provide that country with military assistance — and emphasizing the multiple states from Arkansas to Michigan to Pennsylvania where businesses already have benefited from earlier aid. Cutting off U.S. funding would not […]
Congress is haggling over border security: Where does it stand?
WASHINGTON — As Congress negotiates the White House’s $106 billion supplemental aid request for Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security, fights over immigration policy have tied up the request. The White House sent its proposal that includes nearly $14 billion in supplemental border security funding to Congress in late October, but it will likely look […]
‘Forever Chemicals’ in Thousands of Private Wells Near Military Sites, Study Finds
Water tests show nearly 3,000 private wells located near 63 active and former U.S. military bases are contaminated with “forever chemicals” at levels higher than what federal regulators consider safe for drinking. According to the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that analyzed Department of Defense testing data, 2,805 wells spread across 29 states […]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists wolverines as ‘threatened’ under Endangered Species Act
After more than two decades of petitions by wildlife conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed wolverines as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The decision marks a win for conservation groups, who have petitioned for a federal listing since 1995 and have gone through six rounds of successful litigation […]
Federal judge issues preliminary injunction blocking effective date of Montana’s TikTok ban
Saying Montana’s law banning TikTok in the state oversteps the state’s powers and infringes on people’s constitutional rights, a federal judge in Missoula on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction temporarily prohibiting the state from enforcing the law set to take effect Jan. 1. U.S. District of Montana Judge Donald Molloy found the law banning TikTok […]
More information about federal Indian boarding schools out in January
More information about the atrocities committed at boarding schools run by the federal government that were designed to eradicate Indigenous people is expected in the new year. In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Interior released a report based on the federal government’s first-ever investigation of the boarding school system in the country. It identified […]
New Mexico isn’t doing enough to end missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis, lawmakers say
Lawmakers and advocates this week said an advisory council on missing and murdered Indigenous people Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration announced Tuesday isn’t a good replacement for a task force disbanded earlier this year, and questioned why state officials aren’t asking for more money to confront the crisis. Asked by lawmakers Tuesday about what the […]
New Mexicans call on the state to dump millions invested in weapons manufacturer
Protestors say the Boeing Company is a key contributor to Israel’s War on Gaza. They want state lawmakers to divest more than $6.8 million of state taxpayer dollars that goes to a job training program monitored by the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Public records show Boeing has for at least four years used public […]
As U.S. Forest Service prescribes more fire, rangers work to convince skeptical New Mexicans
On a chilly November morning, about two dozen people in flame-resistant clothes gather at the US Forest Service’s El Rito ranger station about 90 minutes north of Santa Fe. Stamping their feet and nursing steaming coffees, the team gets a briefing on today’s plan to conduct a prescribed burn on the mountainous terrain of the […]
Democrats split on placing conditions on military aid to Israel
WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are divided on whether to set guardrails on additional military aid to Israel as that country responds to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks with airstrikes and a ground war in Gaza. It’s not yet clear what those conditions would be or how they would affect congressional support for aid […]
Ahead of climate conference, U.S. House panel tussles over curbs on emissions
Republicans on a U.S. House panel argued Wednesday against aggressive moves to meet carbon reduction goals, saying U.S. fossil fuel companies are working to make their products cleaner. Democrats on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals countered that to achieve further reductions, federal policies should be continued […]
A former Las Vegas lawman fought to rebuild after NM fire. He died before he could come home.
Donato Sena and his wife Maria Luisa spent a recent Monday afternoon loading furniture into the new mobile home placed on their land in Rociada, one of the areas hit hardest by New Mexico’s massive wildfire last spring. The task was tiring for the couple, both in their 70s, and came after months of struggle […]