Columnists

“I want to stop and smell the roses,” he said. “If you want it, you can have it. Otherwise I’m going to shut it down.” That was newsman Hal Rhodes, founder of New Mexico News Services. He had started NMNS in 1997 to provide opinion columns to New Mexico newspapers. When Hal was ready to […]

If you love historic hotels, and I do, it was a punch in the gut to read that the St. James Hotel in Cimarron has closed. The storied St. James not only has a big place in New Mexico history — punctuated by 26 bullet holes in the barroom ceiling — it’s a major employer […]

Imagine this: You are a legislator in the state House of Representatives and are told that you have $2.5 million to distribute in your House district or $4.2 million in your Senate district. Wow! You would no doubt feel like Santa Claus. This is what happened in the 2024 legislative session and it’s what happens […]

I find myself selecting the “Snooze for 30 days” option on social media more and more for my more strident connections as we get closer to the election and the anger from each side gets a little crazier. Democrats and Republicans alike are obsessed with cat-eating memes. J.D. Vance admits to “creating the story.” No […]

Around Houston Medical Center are six billboards inviting its employees to come to New Mexico, where they will be “Free to Provide.” The message is repeated in full page ads in the Sunday editions of dailies in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. New Mexico’s governor and state Health Department are taking advantage […]

Let’s not talk about race. It might upset the children. That’s the rule in Florida, at least, or so we interpret from the way it’s been reported. It means they don’t want to upset the white children. It’s not clear whether they consider the black children. This was Florida’s response to something called critical race […]

Two recent studies of New Mexico’s senior care facilities ring alarm bells. In June the news organization ProPublica published a report that ranked New Mexico nursing homes fifth in serious deficiencies (Texas was first!); in the last three years, 28 of 68 homes had at least one deficiency causing “immediate jeopardy.” And recently the state […]

Former Gov. Susana Martinez once described her first legislative session, in 2011, as “hand-to-hand combat.”  A former DA, Martinez had no experience with the Legislature, and went in swinging. She used campaign rhetoric, radio ads and robo calls to browbeat them and even sent a staff member to videotape them as they debated. She said […]

Healthcare companies should never have profit as their primary mission, don’t you think? There’s a genuine conflict between the profit motive and what healthcare is supposed to accomplish: providing a service that heals people’s illnesses or helps them stay healthy. For a healthcare institution to be successful, profit has to be tempered with giving priority […]