Possibly my favorite thing about writing this column is interacting with readers. That goes for the critical comments as well as the positive. I try to reply as my day job and bourbon consumption allow. (Here’s a tip: if you want to criticize me, please make it conversational. Screeds that just focus on calling me […]
Columnists
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Remembering Linda Davis, Best Cowboy on the Place
If ranchers had royalty, Linda Davis would have worn a crown. She grew up on legendary ranches in northeastern New Mexico, began riding a horse as a toddler, and operated the historic CS Ranch with husband Les. He said she was the best cowboy on the place. Linda died at home on her beloved land […]
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Nine Stealth City Elections
Nine municipal governments around New Mexico held local elections a couple of weeks ago. If you didn’t know anything about this, you’re in good company. For these municipalities, according to the Secretary of State, there were a total of 122,035 eligible voters. Of those, 9,785 voted. That is 8.02%. In the off-year consolidated local elections […]
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Trail Mix: Winter Escape to the Jemez
Winter is always a treat in New Mexico, especially with a highly prolific El Nino season. Powder was in abundance and the smell of pinon burning punctuated the night. But, the sweetness of spring is always on the horizon. With longer and warmer days it’s difficult not to daydream of escaping into the mountains for […]
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The Opinions of Political Candidates
Possibly my favorite thing about writing this column is interacting with readers. That goes for the critical comments as well as the positive. I try to reply as my day job and bourbon consumption allow. (Here’s a tip: if you want to criticize me, please make it conversational. Screeds that just focus on calling me […]
Posted inColumnists, New Mexico Statewide News, Opinion
It’s time for FEMA to let New Mexicans to take over fire recovery process
Commentary by Pat Davis, City Desk Pat Davis is a former Albuquerque City Councilor. He is the publisher of City Desk ABQ and owner/publisher of a group of newspapers in Central New Mexico. A few weeks from now, the penitentes will begin planning their pilgrimages to Chimayó, and family elders will start wiping off the […]
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Feds, State Fund Wildland Fire Management, Firefighters and Smokey Bear
Drought maps colored in cheerful red, orange and gold are anything but cheerful in their meaning. They confirm what ranchers already know, that it’s painfully dry here. Devastating wildfires in West Texas add an exclamation point. If there’s any good news it’s that Congress and the Legislature are more attuned to the reality of fire. […]
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Cheers For Title IX and Women’s Sports
For me, one of the most exciting sports events in New Mexico is about to get underway – the high school basketball tournament! Prep basketball has long been a community event across New Mexico, from Dulce to Eunice to Belen to Taos to neighborhoods in Albuquerque. I grew up in Hobbs, where boy’s basketball was […]
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Lawmakers help small hospitals but medical malpractice lurks
New Mexico’s strained rural hospitals finally got some love this year. Two bills sitting onthe governor’s desk could go far in relieving financial pressure on the state’s smallest hospitals. But medical malpractice insurance, the subject of two compromises in recent years, isstill a threat. In New Mexico, where 26 of 33 counties meet the definitions […]
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A better way to govern
One of the most important bills this legislative session has tiptoed through the House with scant publicity and no controversy. House Bill 232, to create the Infrastructure Planning and Development Division within the Department of Finance and Administration, sounds a dry and bureaucratic, but it could transform the state’s dysfunctional capital outlay system. Communities need […]