TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Drilling OK
One of the Albuquerque Journal's top stories today is about members of New Mexico's congressional delegation— including the Democratic chairman of the Senate energy committee— saying they would not oppose President Bush's call to open at least some coastal areas to domestic oil drilling. But delegation Democrats also said Bush's appeal Wednesday smacked of politics, and argued that lifting drilling bans would not affect gasoline prices anytime soon.
KRQE-TV, Channel 13 is watching a fire burning in the Rio Grande bosque, perilously close to the Albuquerque zoo near the intersection of Eighth and Marquez streets in the South Valley. The fire broke out on the east side of the river shortly before 1 a.m. and is estimated at four acres. The fire is a short distance southwest of the Rio Grande Zoo, but so far there is no indication that the zoo is threatened.Police report 8th Street is closed.
Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican reports about a D.C.-based institute dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue," which has paid more than $100,000 in travel expenses by U.S. Rep. Tom Udall and his wife over the years.
In trips paid for by The Aspen Institute, Udall has gone to conferences on "the global environment" in Lausanne, Switzerland, Barcelona, Spain, and Rome; a confab in Florence, Italy, on "the convergence of U.S. national security and the global environment"; conferences on "political Islam" in Helsinki, Finland, and Istanbul, Turkey; meetings between Chinese and American scholars in various cities in China; an education-reform conference in Cancún, Mexico; and two conferences on Latin American policy in the beach resort city of Punta Mita, Mexico, according to Terrell.
In southern New Mexico, it is back to work for Mesilla County Marshal Angelo Vega, after a three-month paid administrative leave, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.Vega's job status has been in limbo since March 11, when Mayor Michael Cadena announced that he wanted to replace the marshal as part of a reorganization of town government following the elections of Carlos Arzabal Jr. and Sam Bernal to the town's board of trustees. On March 14, Vega was officially placed on paid administrative leave after Cadena and trustees met in a closed session.
Earlier that day, through attorneys Vega had hired, Cadena received a letter notifying him that a lawsuit would be filed in U.S. District Court if the board of trustees went forward with Cadena's recommendation to replace Vega.
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