News
A Screenshot of Sen. Martin Heinrich speaking about AI during a Washington Post Live event September 12, 2023.

‘What’s the threshold at which you begin to regulate something?’: AI Insight Forums begin

By |

Congress set up a series of talks to discuss artificial intelligence, something that state and federal legislative branches have had an increasing interest in discussing. The first AI Insight Forum begins Wednesday in the U.S. Senate. These forums are closed door which means neither the public nor the media can attend. A readout of the forum will be made available after the event is concluded. U.S.  Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, discussed AI Tuesday on the Washington Post Live’s Across the Aisle with Leigh Ann Caldwell.

Asian American Association of New Mexico

Signs of rise in racism against Asians and Asian-Americans

By |

People in the Asian community in Albuquerque say they have seen a rise in discrimination since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to Torri A. Jacobus, managing assistant city attorney for the City of Albuquerque Legal Department Office of Civil Rights, there has not been an increase in reported discrimination against Asians or Asian Americans since the public health emergency response to COVID-19 began. But Kay Bounkeua, executive director of New Mexico Asian Family Center, said that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Jacobus said through a written statement that the department is aware of a couple of incidents, one that happened to a student at the University of New Mexico and one that happened to an Albuquerque small business owner. Members of the Asian and Asian-American community met with Albuquerque’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, other officials and law enforcement to discuss what happened earlier this week. 

The student was the subject of a racist prank, according to KOB-TV.

Elections

Analysts see NM as likely to flip in next gubernatorial race

By |

Two election analysts say that New Mexico’s gubernatorial election is among the most-likely in the nation to switch parties. Politico and The Washington Post each recently highlighted the top ten gubernatorial races to watch. New Mexico ranked second for Politico and first for the Post. Incumbent governor Susana Martinez, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot run for a third consecutive term. She leaves office with low popularity and her party faces a headwind in the first general elections after the election of Donald Trump.

Tom Udall

Udall calls for ‘swift’ investigation after reports Trump revealed classified info

By |

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall criticized President Donald Trump Tuesday after the Washington Post revealed that the president disclosed classified information to Russian officials during a meeting in the Oval Office last week. On the Senate floor, Udall said the latest news calls for a “swift” and independent investigation. “The White House and President Trump face another crisis,” Udall said. Udall went on to criticize Trump’s firing of former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey. “The only rational explanation is that he has something to hide,” Udall said.

NM Legislature

National attention for Martinez’s veto of entire higher ed budget

By |

Gov. Susana Martinez’s veto of the entire higher education budget is getting national attention. First, the Washington Post covered the veto earlier this week. Now, the Chronicle of Higher Education weighed in with a story. Martinez has said the veto was necessary to balance the budget, even as she says the budget—including higher education funding—will be addressed in an upcoming special session. The Washington Post analysis said the veto meant “nothing good” for students, adding the impasse could lead to “significant tuition increases at public universities.”

The newspaper cited a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that found, when adjusted for inflation, higher education funding in New Mexico dropped by 32.2 percent since the Great Recession, the third-largest such drop in the nation.

Bill Richardson

Quoting Trump’s favorite book (his own), Richardson slams Trump’s deal-making

By |

Former New Mexico Gov. and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson slammed Trump’s deal-making as president in an opinion piece in the Washington Post Friday. Richardson said that Trump’s negotiating since being sworn in even violates principles laid out in Trump’s favorite book—The Art of the Deal, written by Trump (and ghostwriter Tony Schwartz). Negotiators should also keep as many options open as possible. “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach,” negotiator Trump writes in “The Art of the Deal.” “I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.” President Trump, however, seems intent on closing doors before he has an alternative lined up. He wasted no time signing an executive order that marked the United States’ withdrawal from the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership.

2016 Election

WaPo/SurveyMonkey Poll: Clinton leads in NM

By |

A new poll shows Hillary Clinton with more than 50 percent support in New Mexico in a two-way race but, perhaps more interesting, Gary Johnson with nearly equal the support of Donald Trump in a four-way race. The results of the Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll found Clinton, the Democratic nominee, leads Trump, the Republican nominee, 51 percent to 37 percent in a two-way race. But when you add Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Clinton falls to 37 percent, Trump falls to 29 percent, but Johnson picks up 25 percent support and Stein picks up 5 percent. The poll itself, however, has a non-traditional methodology which could cast doubts on the results. Following the poll, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight noted that Johnson’s odds of winning New Mexico went up to two percent in their polls-only forecast (Johnson is at just 0.7 percent in the polls-plus forecast, which includes information on the economy as well as historical voting trends from the state).

Congress & Federal Issues

Gary Johnson radio ads hit seven states

By |

Gary Johnson is putting some money behind ads to boost his campaign in a handful states, including his home state of New Mexico. The Libertarian Party presidential nominee, a former two-term governor of New Mexico, is airing radio ads in seven states, according to Politico. The Washington D.C.-based news organization cited “a media buying source” who said Johnson is spending over $800,000 in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin. When Johnson ran as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2012, he performed best in New Mexico, taking nearly 4 percent of the overall vote. Nationwide, Johnson received just under 1 percent of the vote.

Abortion Access

Game Changer: The best analysis of the Supreme Court’s abortion decision

By |

This week’s Supreme Court decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was an unexpectedly sweeping victory for reproductive rights advocates 2014 a “game changer,” said Nancy Northrop of the Center for Reproductive Rights that “leaves the right to an abortion on much stronger footing than it stood on before this decision was handed down,” long-time court-watcher Ian Millhiser wrote. Abortion foes had hoped the court would use the Texas abortion case as an opportunity to gut not just Roe v. Wade, but also 1992’s seminal Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which held that abortion laws creating an “undue burden” on women were unconstitutional. Instead, the court clarified and strengthened Casey while striking down two of Texas law H.B. 2’s key provisions 2014 strict building rules for abortion clinics and a requirement that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals. This could invalidate anti-abortion laws in another 25 states. The ruling is expected to have a monumental ripple effect, invalidating strict clinic laws in about half the states.

2016 elections

Trump fires shots at Gov. Martinez; ‘Maybe I’ll run for governor of NM!’

By |

At his raucous rally in Albuquerque, presumptive GOP Republican nominee criticized many people, among them Gov. Susana Martinez. Martinez, also the chair of the Republican Governors Association, which raises money and campaigns for GOP candidates across the country, has so far not endorsed Trump for president. She has also criticized Trump’s rhetoric on immigrants. So Trump fired back. First, he pulled out some unflattering Albuquerque and New Mexico statistics.