To establish a sustainable settlement on Earth's solar system neighbor, space travelers will have to learn how to grow food on Mars, experts say.

Rescued eagle forsakes New Mexico for Texas
ABQ Journal
James Dean has left New Mexico and, to add insult to injury, appears to have made his home in Texas. The golden eagle, who got his name from Lori Paras at the Santa Fe Raptor Center for his “bad boy” ways, had been found near White Sands Missile ...

Prosecutors on Wednesday tried to convince jurors that Jodi Arias should be eligible for the death penalty, saying Travis Alexander suffered tremendous pain as he fought for his life while Arias stabbed and slashed him nearly 30 times.

Around New Mexico
ABQ Journal
For between $45 (for students) and $105, conference-goers will receive lunch and hear speakers including New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Retta Ward and Dr. Nancy Sokkary, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of ...
Albuquerque police dog sniffs out planeload of potArtesia Daily Press

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Albuquerque Journal (subscription)
New Mexico Games honors swimmer
Albuquerque Journal (subscription)
New Mexico Athletes of the Year Rachel Buser,, right and Paul Fragua light the torch at a ceremony marking the opening of the New Mexico Games on Tuesday May 14, 2013. The event was held at the Balloon Fiesta Museum. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis-Journal) ...

Steuben Co. sex offender nabbed in New Mexico - WANE.com
WANE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WANE) - A fugitive from Steuben County was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in New Mexico Tuesday. Brian G. Campbell, 49, had been on the run from police for nearly two months. Campbell failed to register as a sex offender in ...

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New Mexico has not rebounded economically, cabinet secretary says
Farmington Daily Times
ConocoPhillips announced in March that it would suspend new drilling in the San Juan Basin because of the price of natural gas. While the economy has improved in much of the country, that's not the case in New Mexico, said the state's cabinet secretary ...
NM needs 100000 new jobs to recover from recession, report saysAlbuquerque Business First
NM short 100000 jobs from recession reboundDeming Headlight
Report: Jobs Package Will Do What Cutting Taxes Can'tKUNM

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Albuquerque police dog sniffs out planeload of pot
Artesia Daily Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say a pilot is facing felony charges after a drug-sniffing dog found a load of marijuana stashed on the man's single-engine plane. Police and Homeland Security agents got a tip Monday that there was an ...

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The Official Site of Aztec Athletics
Baseball Hosts No. 16 New Mexico for MW Series
The Official Site of Aztec Athletics
San Diego State concludes its regular season this week as it plays host to No. 16 New Mexico for a three-game series that gets underway on Thursday (May 16) at 6:00 p.m. (PT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs and Lobos will also meet for contests on ...

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Chain review: Little Anita's New Mexican Cafe
Westword (blog)
I had one of my first real New Mexican meals in New Mexico, at the Little Anita's location in Albuquerque...and I hated it. I was astounded that people would dump alternating layers of boiling hot green pepper sauce and equally steaming, nose-running ...

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NM needs 100000 new jobs to recover from recession, report says
Albuquerque Business First
“This report shows that the state's economic development strategies need to be better targeted and any tax incentives must be tied to performance and stringent accountability,” said Veronica Garcia, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children ...
NM short 100000 jobs from recession reboundDeming Headlight
Report: Jobs Package Will Do What Cutting Taxes Can'tKUNM

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MINERAL ROYALTIES CONTROVERSY: New Mexico congressman Ben Ray Lujan has joined the fight against the Obama administration’s decision to cut state mineral and energy royalties.

First, it was the administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

Then, it was Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Udall.

Now, Democratic U.S. House of Representatives member Ben Ray Luján is complaining about the Obama administration’s 5.1 percent reduction for states who get mineral and energy royalties from the federal government.

On Tuesday (May 14), Rep. Luján joined other members of the House by introducing legislation that would prevent the U.S. Department of the Interior from cuts the admnistration says it’s forced to make because of the budget sequester on Capitol Hill.

“The state’s share of these funds is just that – the state’s share – and should not be withheld by the federal government due to sequestration,” Luján said in a statement of the States Mineral Protection Act, which is also sponsored by a number of western representatives that include Republicans, and also calls for eliminating a 2 percent fee that the federal government charges for collection of the royalties.

The House bill is a companion to a Senate version that Udall and two Wyoming Republican senators have introduced.

The Obama administration — working through the Department of the Interior — has imposed the cuts to states that derive royalties from mineral and energy development that occur on federally-leased state lands.

“The sequester is a failed experiment – one that I have been opposed to every step of the way – that is harming New Mexico and should be repealed in full,” Luján said.  “But absent a comprehensive solution, Congress should stand up to protect funds that belong to the states and play a vital role in our communities.”

In 2012, New Mexico received about $488 million in mineral and energy extraction royalties from the Mineral Leasing Act and the 5 percent cut translates into a $26 million hit for the state, second only to Wyoming, which is losing $53 million.

The cuts were announced in late March, which prompted howls from a number of governors in western states, including Gov. Martinez who told New Mexico Watchdog on April 5 that her administration is looking into filing a lawsuit to fight the reductions.

State Watchdogs: New Mexico's Martinez clamps down on unaudited bureaucrats
Washington Examiner
Santa Fe, N.M. - Government entities be warned: Fail to submit an audit to New Mexico and say goodbye to some of that state money you want. Earlier this month, Gov. Susana Martinez issued an executive order barring any governmental entity that isn't up ...
GOP going after Balderas, KellerNew Mexico Telegram

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New Mexico gets shoutout in Turner story
Albuquerque Business First (blog)
New Mexico receives a couple of passing mentions in a report about businessman Ted Turner's decision to join with a coal company in developing solar energy projects. The report by Bloomberg News outlines how Turner and Southern Co. have made four ...

Cimarex to Focus on New Mexico
Zacks.com
XEC - Snapshot Report ) signed an operating agreement with FieldPoint Petroleum Corporation ( FPP ) to drill a horizontal well that will target the Bone Spring formation on its East Lusk Federal Section 15 property located in Lea County, New Mexico.

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New Mexico drives off with a 'C-' in report on electric cars
Albuquerque Business First (blog)
New Mexico is the only state in the Southwest to offer a 5 percent tax credit to the manufacturing sector for qualifying expenditures on the production of EVs and components. The state also requires that 75 percent of new vehicles purchased by the ...

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If you have been out of the country or living under a rock the last few days, you may not have heard that the Internal Revenue Service has admitted to harassing and generally making life difficult (by blatantly breaking the law) for conservative groups including the Albuquerque Tea Party. It seems hard to believe that directives were coming from anywhere but the highest echelons of the Administration, but proving that will be another matter.

If you think that’s bad (and it is), wait until the IRS gets its grimy paws on American health care. As CNBC noted prior to the IRS scandal:

Get ready for the Internal Revenue Service to play a dominant role in health care. When Obamacare takes full effect next year, the agency will enforce most of the laws involved in the reform—even deciding who gets included in the health-care mandate.

“The impact of the IRS on health-care reform is huge,” said Paul Hamburger, a partner and employee benefits lawyer at Proskauer.

“Other agencies like Social Security will be checking for mistakes, but the IRS is the key enforcer,” Hamburger said. “It’s also going to help manage who might get health care.”

If that doesn’t send chills up your spine, I don’t know what will.

Check out the following chart illustrating the IRS’s dramatically-expanded role in US health care:

City Express on the way next year.

KOB.com
Mystery NM Tech fire injures 3 - KRQE-TV.com
KRQE
New Mexico Tech spokesperson Thomas Guengerich says a small team was setting up a controlled explosion when the dangerous material caught fire. The blaze spread to two nearby trucks, destroying both and created a smoldering crater in the ground.
Three burned at New Mexico Tech explosives facilityAlbuquerque Journal (subscription)
Three Burned When Fire Breaks Out At New Mexico Explosives Testing SiteKMVT
Fire at a New Mexico Tech facility injures 3ABQ Journal
KOAT Albuquerque -KOB.com
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Coyotes exit regional tourney after 4-1 loss to New Mexico
Weatherford Democrat
The Weatherford College baseball team out-stroked the New Mexico Thunderbirds, nine hits to five, but could not translate safe passage on base to round trips, as the Coyotes fell to the West Conference team at Quik Trip Park in Grand Prairie on Monday ...