Opinion

Gessing: Is New Mexico Suffering From The Curley Effect?

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BY PAUL GESSING
President
New Mexico Rio Grande Foundation

I recently came across a concept called The Curley effect. It has nothing to do with Larry and Moe. After some research I learned that The Curley effect, coined by economists Edward L. Glaeser and Andrei Shleifer, is a real concept in political economy. It describes how politicians use wasteful redistributive policies and divisive rhetoric to drive opposing voters out of a city (or in our case a state), thus securing their electoral base.

Named after former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, it explains how leaders can maintain power Read More

Dannemann: Republicans For Fair elections?

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By MERILEE DANNEMANN
Triple Spaced Again
© 2026 by Merilee Dannemann

President Trump is talking publicly about his plans to undermine the 2026 midterm election. I’m relieved. Why relieved? Because now that he is talking about it openly, we are also starting to hear about what’s being done, mostly by the states, to counteract those plans.

Trump demonstrated on Jan. 6, 2021, that he does not accept the results of any election he does not win. We know what he did then. Now he has nobody in his inner circle to restrain him and new loyalists who don’t care about the Constitution and apparently will do whatever Read More

Review: LALO’s Sister Act Is Simply Divine!

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Deloris Van Cartier, second from right, (Donavan Price) sings with her sisters in LALO’s Sister Act, which opened this weekend at Duane Smith Auditorium. There will be a 2 p.m. matinee today, which will also be livestreamed at https://cur8.com/41015/project/138146. Photo by Thomas Graves

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Los Alamos Light Opera’s production of Sister Act seems sort of miraculous. Its plot is honestly ridiculous; it requires the viewer to take a suspension of disbelief. The cast of characters is goofy and kooky, and to top it all off, everyone Read More

Op-Ed: Pass The Rest Of The Health Care Worker Compacts This Year

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By FRED NATHAN
Executive Director
Think New Mexico

It was a big bipartisan win for New Mexicans when the legislature and governor enacted Senate Bill 1 to bring New Mexico into the interstate licensure compact for doctors. According to the New Mexico Medical Board, joining this compact will result in an increase of 10-15% in the number of doctors applying to practice in New Mexico annually.

Unfortunately, eight other compacts needed to address shortages of psychologists, counselors, EMTs, physician’s assistants, speech therapists and audiologists, physical therapists, occupational Read More

The FOIA: Off To A Slow Start, Picked Up Speed, Now Hitting A Brick Wall

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By THOMAS M. SUSMAN
American Bar Association
Feb. 16, 2026

It was June 1968 when I arrived in Washington, D.C., after a year in New Orleans clerking for Fifth Circuit Judge John Minor Wisdom. A new law requiring more government transparency was just going into effect.

I had accepted a job as a Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Frank Wozencraft in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). While I worked on efforts to advance the confirmation of Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice on the Supreme Court, I was also assigned to work with OLC attorney Warren Belmar, Read More

Sen. Jaramillo: Española’s Culture Deserves Recognition

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By Sen. Leo Jaramillo
New Mexico Dist. 5
Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Sandoval & Santa Fe

As a proud native son of the Española Valley and a member of the New Mexico State Senate, I was deeply disappointed to see the veto of $500,000 that would have funded Phase 2 of the feasibility study for a Lowrider Museum in Española. This follows last year’s veto of legislation recognizing our community as the “Lowrider Capital of the World”.

That license plate bill received bipartisan support, and when I rose to defend it on the Senate floor, my colleagues responded with a standing ovation. Lawmakers from across Read More

Los Alamos Indivisible To Join No Kings Day Of Peaceful Action At Ashley Pond Park March 28

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Los Alamos Indivisible News:

Los Alamos Invisible will join millions of Americans nationwide for the third No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on Saturday, March 28 — a day of nonviolent protest and community solidarity.

NO KINGS is a peaceful national day of action and mass mobilization organized in response to concerns about authoritarian overreach, government corruption, and policies impacting immigrant families, voting rights, healthcare, environmental protections, education, public safety, and the rising cost of living.

As Donald Trump escalates efforts that many view as expanding Read More

Zamora: Disaster Relief Was Meant For Fire Victims, Not FEMA Insiders

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By Rep. MARTIN ZAMORA
District 63
Candidate for Congressional District 03

When Congress created the Hermits Peak–Calf Canyon Fire compensation fund, the mission was simple: help New Mexico families rebuild after one of the worst disasters in state history. Homes were destroyed, land was lost, and entire livelihoods vanished overnight. The fund was meant to be a promise that victims would not be abandoned by their government.

Today, that promise is in jeopardy, and the people responsible for oversight have failed the folks they were charged with helping.

Investigative reporting has revealed Read More

Op-Ed: Española Is At A Crossroads … Do We Continue Down The Path Of Decline … Or Try Something New?

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By Samuel LeDoux
Española City Councilor

Española is at a crossroads: do we continue down the path of decline where instability, controversy, and incompetence dominate city hall, or do we try something new?

Over the last four years, John Ramon Vigil has made the City of Española his own personal telenovela, with constant headlines about his personal problems, staff turnover, and rising crime and homelessness rates. During his term as Mayor, the city has stumbled into millions of dollars in debt, and we haven’t been able to often pass more than 4-5 ordinances a year.

I’m supporting Read More

Rickman: Promises, Credibility & North Mesa Open Space

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By JIM RICKMAN
Los Alamos

I’ve read with interest all the hype and hullabaloo regarding the conversion of North Mesa open space into a bike park and other things. I’d like to offer one more perspective on the issue.

Back in May 2000, the National Park Service negligently ignited an uncontrolled inferno that incinerated the homes of some 400 Los Alamos families and forever altered the physical landscape of our community. Perhaps unbelievable to present-day citizens, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was highly functioning and nonpartisan, and politicians of both major parties Read More