Food for thought on lobbying
What does Mack Energy Group have in common with Conservation Voters of New Mexico? Not much in the way of an agenda. But both spent money wining and dining New Mexico legislators this session. Apparently, the way to a legislator’s heart is through his or her stomach. With the energy sector in the top 5 industries in New Mexico, it makes sense for them to promote their interests at the state capitol — this session to the tune of $30,569, according to a preliminary report on lobbyist spending. That compares with $5,029 spent by the environmental advocacy group and a renewable energy company, Affordable Solar Group of Albuquerque. You can check Anthony Jackson’s report on how much lobbyists spent during the 2018 legislative session. The story includes a handy spreadsheet of how much and which entities spent money on lobbying efforts.
High desert blues
“Drought is like malnutrition. One meal is not going to catch you up,” Royce Fontenot, a senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, told the Associated Press’ Susan Montoya Bryan, about recent snowfall. NWS experts are calling this year’s snowpack “pitiful.” Montoya Bryan reported that long-term forecasts call for drought to intensify across New Mexico, and particularly in the northwest. A drought map from United States Drought Monitor shows extreme drought in the Four Corners area and north central New Mexico. The dry conditions are already affecting the state’s cattle industry, with ranchers buying up alfalfa and cutting herd sizes.
School shooting scares
A week after one of deadliest school shootings in the United States, students and parents were met with fear in all three of New Mexico’s metro areas. Just today, police were investigating a social media threat against Santa Fe High School. On Thursday, a Belen High School sophomore was arrested for making a threat against his high school on social media. And Las Cruces High School was placed on lockdown for two days in a row this week over threat rumors, one of which led to the arrest of a student for possession of a butterfly knife and brass knuckles. He had posted a picture of himself holding an assault rifle on social media with the caption “Mexican school shooter 2k18 jk guys.” They were among more than 10 similar threats across New Mexico, including threats in Rio Rancho that prompted hundreds of students not to show up at some high schools.
New Mexico has already felt the shock of the deadly phenomenon coming close to home. In the past few month, a school shooting in Aztec resulted in the death of two students and the teen shooter in December. And a library shooting committed by a teen in Clovis killed two and injured four in August. The lockdowns could be more serious reaction from local authorities because those in Parkland, Florida, reportedly had gotten at least 18 calls about shooter Nikolas Cruz and didn’t act, and because the FBI fumbled warnings about Cruz, as well. There have also been more copycat social media threats across the country, according to a story in the Washington Post. New Mexico has an ingrained hunting culture, so it will be interesting to see how the debate plays out here and how large participation will be a March for Our Lives event scheduled nationwide on March 24.
Hasta pronto
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We hear a lot in New Mexico about how difficult it is for children to grow up in New Mexico, and it’s true. We have a high child poverty rate, a high rate of child abuse and neglect, and of course, terrible education outcomes. But one topic I rarely see come up is the care of mothers. I came across this article in Vox, 
