Today's News

The White Rock State Road 4 alignment project may soon be underway. Last night the county’s Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Evaluation and Oversight Committee reviewed and discussed contractors’ bids and made recommendations to move the project forward.

The goal in reconfiguring the stretch of road is to promote slower and safer travel through the community and to facilitate the county’s economic revitalization goals for the area.

The new design calls for one lane travel in each direction, with bus pullouts and left turn lanes. This design should slow traffic, which the community is requesting, while expediting traffic flow.

Last fall, both gubernatorial candidates promised state employees “no furloughs and no layoffs.”
We could be pretty sure there would be no furloughs. The furloughs in 2010 were wildly unpopular and, more importantly, they were a budget-cutting tool of Gov. Bill Richardson. Both candidates were running away from him.
At the conclusion of the 2011 legislature, Gov. Susana Martinez and legislative leaders proclaimed the budget that was adopted would require no furloughs and no layoffs.
But layoffs already have begun. They sometimes are called reductions in force, or RIFs, but the results are the same.
On June 10, 44 state employees were told to clean out their desks. They will be paid through the end of the month.

SUNLAND PARK (AP) — New Mexico regulators have given their approval for El Paso Electric to build an 81-megawatt natural gas-fueled power plant near Sunland Park.
The $85 million project will serve about 50,000 customers in the Las Cruces area. Construction will  take about two years.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to approve an order for the utility to build the plant.
PRC Chairman Patrick Lyons voted in favor of the project. He said the plant will bring needed electricity to one of the state’s fastest growing areas.
The commission was the last of three entities whose approval was required to move the project forward.

Business owners who obtain outside equity – whether from family, friends or institutional investors – quickly learn money has strings attached.
Most outside equity providers want to get repaid over a reasonable period of time and at a very good rate of return. In exchange for capital, they obtain a piece of the company, thereby becoming business partners.
For a growing business, the advantages of this kind of capital are numerous. Equity significantly improves a company’s balance sheet and provides resources for hiring marketing staff, developing new products, purchasing equipment and other needs.