Page 41 - Quick Reads News Today

January 24, 2021 State health officials reported 1,494 new cases of COVID-19 and 68 related deaths over the weekend. The state Department of Health identified 859 new cases of the disease and 38 deaths Saturday and 635 new cases and 30 deaths on Sunday.  Bernalillo County had the most new cases reported over the weekend with 330 cases between Saturday and Sunday. Bernalillo County, which is the state’s most populous county, was also the only county to report more than 100 cases on both Satur...

Lobbyists will be a topic of discussion during this year’s legislative session but won’t be physically present to make their case when lawmakers once again consider measures requiring greater disclosure about their advocacy efforts. They include requiring lobbyists or their employers to list the bills they lobbied on and the position they took, as well […]

The positive reaction to service workers wearing masks varied by region, with those in the West on the high end and people in the Midwest at the low end.

The New Mexico state Senate will likely start the official push for full cannabis legalization as late as next week, according to the top member of Democratic leadership.  Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said the Senate will not meet for its second floor session until Feb. 1, but that he expects “a huge […]

Speaker of the House Brian Egolf will introduce a bill that would amend the New Mexico Civil Rights Act. The bill would have two components. One is to allow citizens the ability to sue for compensatory damages and attorney fees against the state when their rights have been violated. Currently, while a citizen can sue […]

The state Department of Health explained the cancellation of COVID-19 events for educators and school staff by saying the state was not in the part of Phase 1B where essential frontline workers could be vaccinated. A vaccination clinic for Rio Rancho Public Schools and others’ staff was scheduled for Friday, but those who had vaccinations […]

Note: Beginning this week, NM Political Report will report on the new number of cases each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The state updates COVID-19 numbers every day at .  The state Department of Health reported 884 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 34 additional deaths related to the disease. It was the third straight day that the state reported fewer than 1,000 cases after reporting just 628 cases on Tuesday. But the sixty cases between Tuesday and Wednesday brought the total number ...

Permian Basin Oil Field in Eddy County President Joe Biden wasted no time in starting to tackle some of the country’s most pressing climate change issues after being inaugurated on Jan. 20. One of Biden’s first acts as president was to rejoin the U.S. to the Paris Agreement, a 2015 non-binding pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions necessary to keep the planet’s warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.  Nearly every country in the world has made the pledge to act on climate change, but Fo...

Silhouette of a refugees family with children The Joe Biden administration is expected to propose legislation that could forge a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants, including undocumented residents in New Mexico. President Biden released a fact sheet on his first day of office detailing an immigration bill that the nonprofit organization New Mexico Dream Team calls “one of the boldest and most progressive immigration bills in our history.” Felipe Rodriguez, co-director of New...

Cannon AFB courtesy photo: VIRIN: 101010-F-YG475-003.JPG PFAS chemicals were used in firefighting foam in military bases across the country, including at Cannon and Holloman Air Force Bases, until 2016. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) selected a contractor to begin clean up efforts for PFAS contamination identified at two Air Force bases in the state. The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) use of a firefighting foam that contained PFAS compounds during training exercises caused ...