By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – The troubled $48 million computer program handling New Mexico’s unemployment taxes and claims has dramatically improved, the secretary of the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions said Wednesday.
But at least one state senator is skeptical.
DWS Secretary Celina Bussey said average telephone wait times on Mondays — typically [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – Flooding in the state last month was a once-in-a-century event, the New Mexico Secretary-designate of the Department of Transportation said.
But some lawmakers are questioning nearly $20 million to repair roads damaged by the downpours.
In particular, a two-mile stretch in Catron County estimated to cost taxpayers $13 [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – New Mexico Human Services Department Secretary Sidonie Squier had a busy day Friday.
First, she issued a public apology for an email she wrote about child hunger in the state. Then, she told New Mexico Watchdog she’s confident the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office will find evidence [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE — Too many of New Mexico’s child care centers are rife with sloppy and lax record-keeping, potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars. On at least three occasions, registered sex offenders were living at the same address as child care locations, a state government report found.
In a 75-page [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – For years, New Mexico has suffered from a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in the rural communities of the state.
Now, with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, plus the decision by Gov. Susana Martinez to approve Medicaid expansion and creation of state health care exchanges, [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – New Mexico’s economy has been struggling for years, and the Land of (Dis)Enchantment’s woes are put into sharp relief by an interactive graphic called the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States, which ranks the economic health of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
The chart begins [...]

SANTA FE – Wendell Wilkie once said education is the mother of leadership.
Taking that to heart, New Mexico has committed a couple million dollars to a program focusing on turning around low-performing schools by nurturing leadership skills for principals and superintendents.
“There’s no way around it. I don’t care what kind of organization you’re talking about, [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
CHAMA – An estimated $36 million in potential fraud is a lot of money but members from both parties in the Legislative Finance Committee don’t like what they say is a lack of transparency from the Human Services Department.
As a result, on Wednesday the committee in a 15-1 vote supported an objection [...]

While members of the Legislative Finance Committee discussed public education Thursday morning (July 18), more than a dozen demonstrators interrupted the hearing and approached state Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, criticizing him for not holding a hearing during the past legislative session on a bill that would have dipped into the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund to [...]

New Mexico has to do a better job of educating its children. Few New Mexicans would argue that point. How to get there, however, is a matter for debate.
Thursday, one of the most influential committees in the Roundhouse heard from a national expert, who emphasized the importance of keeping good principals in schools and effective [...]