By Avelino Maestas on Aug 9, 2007 in 2008 Election, West | Comments Off
From the Washington Post: South Carolina’s Republican Party will move its 2008 presidential primary forward to Jan. 19, sources said yesterday, a decision almost certain to spark a cascade of calendar changes that could push the start of voting to New Year’s Day or even to before Christmas. The move, set to be announced today, [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Jun 29, 2007 in Immigration, News, Photography, West | Comments Off
Actually, I never crossed the border. I came close a few times, but, well, I had other things to do. The story isn’t quite live on the Daily Press site yet (UPDATE: it is now) but here’s a PDF (Border Issues Part 1). Oh, and Gold Star for Laura!
By Avelino Maestas on Jun 28, 2007 in Environment, Gila River, Water, West | 1 Comment
I haven’t had time to even start poring over this document, but the New Mexico Environment Department in conjunction with Northern Arizona University recently released this report. Why? This Watershed Improvement Plan and Strategy (WIPS) is an inventory and data resource in support of a science-based approach to watershed resource planning. Watershed remediation work to [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Jun 22, 2007 in Fire, Photography, Science and Health Blogs, West | Comments Off
Well, as I alluded yesterday, I had an article about the upcoming fire season in the Daily Press last night ((Of course, being the banner story and all, it’s not included on our Web site)). The article (June Fire Update — PDF) talked about the fuel and weather conditions in the Southwest, and about some [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Jun 21, 2007 in Climate, Fire, Reporter's Notebook, West | Comments Off
I’ll have more on this in today’s edition of the Daily Press, but wanted to include two maps I found while doing research for a story yesterday (click for larger versions): Both maps come to us from the Southwest Coordination Center. You can find updated (looks like daily) versions of these maps at the Center’s [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Jun 14, 2007 in Bill Richardson, Climate, Peak Water, Photography, West | Comments Off
I bring this up in the concept of peak water, in that communities across the West are dealing with drought, in addition to the question of water supplies. The effects are actually being felt throughout the southern half of the U.S. Take, for example, this article in USA Today: Severe dryness across California and Arizona [...]
By Avelino Maestas on May 29, 2007 in Economy, Environment, Food, West, Wildlife | 1 Comment
Actually, plenty of people are. NewMexiKen was wondering back in April (along with the New York Times) and here in Silver City bees have been an issue for the past several weeks. Today in Salon, four experts tackle the declining-bee-population problem: The buzz about the alarming disappearance of bees has been all about people food. [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Apr 11, 2007 in Water, West | Comments Off
Via Headwaters News comes this report on the first day of the State of the Rockies Conference, currently underway in Colorado Springs: But Day 1 really began to cook at the first panel on water sustainability. Attendees packed the room and, following panelists’ presentations, the audience threw tough questions at the speakers. The first speaker [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Apr 5, 2007 in Climate, Peak Water, West | Comments Off
Water has been a pretty big story the last few days. For starters, there’s this article up in Julia‘s rag: “We need to get on a sustainable footing as a society and not expect more out of the river than it’s able to deliver,” Harris, a raft guide in Pilar who also runs the nonprofit [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Mar 30, 2007 in Water, West | Comments Off
John Fleck tipped me off to the latest drought monitor. Here’s New Mexico: More at John’s place.
By Avelino Maestas on Mar 20, 2007 in Congress, Fire, Steve Pearce, West | Comments Off
The Washington Post (hat tip to Tapped) today reports on Democratic efforts to sweeten the deal on a measure that would bring American troops home from Iraq next year: House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers’ pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq [...]
By Avelino Maestas on Mar 19, 2007 in Bill Richardson, Photography, Science, Water, West | Comments Off
Well, for some reason our Web site doesn’t have the Friday edition online yet, but I did want to get you a copy of my story on Richardson’s veto of $945,000 for studies of the Gila and San Francisco rivers. Here’s a PDF of the story. Richardson’s explanation of the veto (the “appropriation language was [...]