Tipping Point New Mexico

On this week's interview Paul interviews former New Mexico Senator, demographer, and election official, Rod Adair. They discuss the role of demography in redistricting, the redistricting process itself, and whether New Mexico's Congressional and legislative districts are "fair." Then Paul and Rod moved on to discussing the 2024 election including the Secretary of State's recent mailing that generated controversy, how to better secure New Mexico elections, and whether the election results themselves will be "fair." With Election Day looming you don't want to miss this important conversation!

Trump is coming to New Mexico. What are the details and what does it mean for the election and New Mexico? Paul voted this week. No lines but it was busy. We're in the 2nd week of early voting. You can vote through Saturday. The ABQ Journal comes out hard for change in NewMexico. This is welcome, but Paul wishes they'd say the same thing about the economy and education. Mandating setbacks for oil and gas development would costNew Mexico big $$$ according to a new report by the Legislative Finance Committee. The National Association of Manufacturers has a new report touting the economic impact of LNG exports and highlighting problems with the Biden/Harris pause. O'Neill's owner says ART and COVID cost him his business. Think New Mexico produces plan to (further) address the State's medical provider shortage. Finally, Paul and Wally offer some predictions for the election including who wins the presidency, US Senate races, and other critical races.

On this week's interview Paul talks to Attorney Germaine Chappelle about the Energy Transition Act and some of its real-world impacts in the Four Corners area (current and prospective). Specifically, Chappelle is working on behalf of the Central Consolidated School District (a heavily Navajo district) to make good on the law's requirements that certain power generation be located within the District's boundaries for purposes of helping the District's property tax revenues which saw a 60% reduction due to the closure of San Juan Generating Station.

Flooding impacts Roswell New Mexico. Early voting is in full swing. Find out where you can vote. Sen. Heinrich expresses opposition to charter schools. Details on AZ's successful ESA program. The Rail Runner is bad for the environment according to the LFC. Albuquerque Journal weighs in on retention ballots for judges. UNM volleyball plays. O'Neill's Nob Hill closes. MLG receives a D from Cato Institute. WSJ article on New Mexico: “New Mexico Can’t Afford California’s Green Deal” Las Cruces Tax Hike on the ballot.

ACE's mission is to advance K-12 educational freedom, with a focus on securing financial support for families so they may access the quality education of their choice. Erik and Paul have a wide ranging conversation on helping families access high quality education including the exciting economic achievement data from ACE's scholarship recipients.

RGF op-ed. The "rich" already pay more than their "fair share" of taxes. Deconstructing the leftist "freedom" agenda. City of ABQ Ballot measures, what's the point? New Mexico EV shares rise slightly to 4.78%. Evolution of economic freedom in New Mexico. Sen. Martin Heinrich accepted campaign donations from both Avangrid and PNM. How this is both relevant and not. Unions encapsulated in longshoremen's strike.

On this week's interview Paul talks to Trent England of SaveourStates.org. Trent and his organization work to preserve the American Electoral College as a means of electing presidents. He is full of information and historical details highlighting why Americans regardless of political party should support retaining the Electoral College. Paul and Trent also discuss the issue of ranked choice voting and why that is problematic.

On this week's conversation Paul and Wally discuss the excitement of Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta and the passing of Scott Appleman and John Arthur Smith. Paul recap the Electoral College events with Trent England and highligths the next RGF event. A new study highlights America's Great Transfermation. New Mexico's crisis of progressive governance. Gender ideology to hit UNM volleyball. As early voting gets started at the Clerk's office on October 8. Here are some of the items on your ballots this fall.

On this week's interview Paul sits down with Peter Rice. Peter is the owner and lead reporter of Downtown Albuquerque News, an online news outlet that covers downtown Albuquerque. Paul and Peter discuss the importance of downtowns in general, what constitutes downtown, some of the issues facing Albuquerque's downtown and urban cores across the country, and whether some recent proposals by Mayor Tim Keller can improve downtown. Check out this timely and important conversation!

NM sitting on $6 billion in unspent capital outlay (with the worst roads in the nation). Maxeon Solar (MLG's favorite for which she plans to give big subsidies) has announced a "reverse stock split." The company is hoping to boost its flagging stock price. RGF successfully pushed back against MLG's "over the top school lunch rules." In more good news a federal judge ruled that UNM can no longer discriminate against conservative speakers. MLG continues pumping oil and gas $$ into subsidies for politically-favored energy companies. Preliminary data highlight "stagnant" education results in New Mexico. NMSU picked its new president and it's not MLG's former PED secretary.

Last week Paul was in Dallas for a conference talking about New Mexico's lack of economic freedom with other leaders on the issue. What are people saying about New Mexico's lack of economic freedom? Paul led Liberty on the Rocks in Santa Fe on Monday and then was in Farmington, NM for a Rotary presentation on New Mexico's economy. Paul's new opinion piece on the Electoral College was run in the Santa Fe New Mexican. RGF's education project OAK New Mexico recently surveyed candidates for the Legislature on various education issues. You can find the questions and survey results here. New Mexico's politicians have a very government-centric view of the economy. MLG and other liberals express misguided "pride"in our high poverty. A new poll finds New Mexicans not happy with the economy. A recent Albuquerque Journal poll found New Mexicans are not pleased with Biden, but the same poll indicates they want Kamala. California adopts a total ban of plastic bags: CA governor signs law banning plastic bags at grocery stores | cbs8.com Carlsbad, NM adopted a plastic bag ban on a "temporary" basis Tuesday night.

Paul and Mackenzie discuss the position that the UNM Lobo athletics find themselves as five teams leave the Mountain West for the Pac-12 conference. They also discuss the issues facing all UNM sports but particularly the UNM football program. The conversation then turns to the status of the New Mexico housing market and the factors and issues affecting supply and demand.

We the Living will be shown in Albuquerque on September 24, 2024 at 6:30 pm at Guild Cinema. In this podcast, learn about the fascinating story about his movie which has been found and recovered and the part the movie played in Italy in World War II. Also listen for how to get 50% off tickets.

Trump was targeted in a second assassination attempt over the weekend. Paul and Wally discuss the details as they understand them. Brian Sanderoff polling data released shows Harris/Heinrich leading in New Mexico. MLG names close ally Marianna Padilla PED secretary., Paul and Doug Peterson discuss Mayor Keller's plans for downtown in ABQ Journal. The housing market is "broken" thanks to government policy. Now the government is supposedly trying to "fix" the problem. Will it work? When economics and sports meet. The Lobos' Mountain West Conference lost four members. Will UNM athletics land on its feet? How does New Mexico's economic situation affect the situation? Sen. Martin Heinrich recently floated the idea of a "Inflation Reduction Act 2.0" in the ABQ Journal. Former NMSU president Garrey Carruthers decries MLG's meddling in NMSU presidential search.

On this week's interview Paul talks to David Osborne of the Pennsylvania-based Commonwealth Foundation. Osborne is Senior Fellow of Labor Policy and helped author the recent report "The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading the 50-states public sector labor laws." Unsurprisingly New Mexico does not fare very well in the report with a "D-" ranking overall. Paul and David discuss the report, their views on public sector unions, and some history relating to public employee unions and recent policy developments. Check out this important conversation!

On this week's conversation Paul and Wally discuss a bizarre article in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal by MLG's Secretary of Higher Education about NMSU president search. Rob Black to become MLG's economic development secretary. Is this a good sign on the Gov.'s economic policies? MLG and Democrats celebrate ground breaking of taxpayer funded abortion clinic in Las Cruces. Maxeon stock prices hits 9 cents per share (and moves even lower) Judge Cindy Leos' awful track record. A chart we found online indicates that New Mexico is actually THE poorest state in the US. Swedish automaker Volvo becomes the latest car company to abandon its pledge to be EV only by 2030. As mentioned Paul was in Ruidoso last week. Here's what he heard and saw.

Rather than an interview this week Paul and Wally take a detailed look at the stances of presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Using 10 metrics relating to economics, education, and the rule of law, Paul and Wally give letter grades to Harris and Trump. How do the candidates stack up on issues of concern to the Rio Grande Foundation?

MLG's latest education secretary departs. Paul and Wally discuss the depressing reality of education policy under MLG. I attended the APS state of the district address. Here's what I saw. Kamala Harris no longer claims to support EV mandates. Is she just lying about her policies at this point? RGF tracked down the cost of Dona Ana County's new EV charging stations. RGF is hosting two upcoming events (one in Albuquerque and one in Clovis) on the electoral college/voting. It was a deadly August in Albuquerque. Paul saw the Reagan movie over the weekend and really enjoyed it. We were told that this would be a record-setting hurricane season. Where are all the hurricanes? Also, this was supposed to be a bad monsoon season in New Mexico. So far that has not been the case. Paul is heading to Ruidoso for a talk tonight. This will be his first time in Ruidoso since the fires this summer.

On this week's interview Paul interviews Dr. Patrick A. McLaughlin of the free market Mercatus Center. They discuss his new "Snapshots of State Regulation 2024" report which attempts to analyze the regulatory burdens in each state. New Mexico ranks 19th overall. We discuss the methodology of the report and why certain states have allowed regulations to build up. We also discuss how states can act to reduce overall regulatory burdens and their economic harms.

I was in Phoenix last week and got to meet with former Gov. Doug Ducey and others. Michelle Lujan Grisham's speaking on behalf of Kamala Harris Democrat convention should disqualify Harris. Meanwhile, NM's oil and gas gravy train keeps rolling along. New Mexico shouldn't be sitting on billions of dollars (contrary to an opinion piece by two legislators). Mayor Keller defends his disastrous management of ABQ's crime problems in op-ed. Merchants in Old Town beg for one patrol a night. New Mexico's education system: a "free" product unwanted by many. Smoke stacks come down at San Juan Generating Station. In "other" news Excel Energy asked customers to conserve energy: Left wing Sarah Silva chosen in Las Cruces area District 53.