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Childhood Poverty Threatens Adult Success for New Mexico Children

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Where poverty is more concentrated, it becomes harder to climb out - and a report released today says that's the case for 100,000 children in New Mexico. The Annie E. Casey Foundation defines a high-poverty neighborhood as an area in which 30 percent or more of the population is poor.

The good news in the report is that the situation has improved for about 2,000 children in New Mexico. While that sounds promising, Chris Hollis, New Mexico KIDS COUNT director with New Mexico Voices for Children, says 2 percent doesn't represent substantial improvement.

"New Mexico has always been in the bottom five states in terms of children in poverty. It is still second in terms of having the worst statistics of children in areas of concentrated poverty."

The KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot offers a number of approaches to improve the chances of success for families in high-poverty communities. Hollis believes addressing early childhood needs is New Mexico's best bet for breaking the cycle of poverty.

New Mexico suffered a significant setback in addressing some of the effects of growing up in high-poverty communities during the 2012 legislative session, Hollis says.

"The resolution to use money for early childhood education never did make it out of the Legislature."

Children of color are the majority in New Mexico. The Data Snapshot finds minority children to be six to nine times more likely than white children to live in high-poverty communities.

Effects of concentrated poverty which can undermine a child's chances of adult economic success start to appear when neighborhood poverty rates rise above 20 percent. New Mexico has particularly high concentrations of children living in high-poverty communities in Luna and Doña Ana counties, with their Latino populations, and McKinley County with its Native American population

The full report is online at http://AECF.org

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Endangered Wolf Population Continues to Grow in NM, AZ

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
SILVER CITY, N.M. - The number of endangered Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico and Arizona continues to rise. State and federal biologists found at least 58 wolves in their latest count, up from 50 the previous year and 42 in 2009.

Arizona State University biology professor Philip Hedrick calls the increase good news, but says the best news is that the number of breeding pairs has risen from two to six.

"If you think about it, that's only 12 animals that are contributing to the next generation for this year, so that's not a huge number - even though it's a lot better than just two, last year."

The total wolf count needs to be much larger in order to produce a long-term stable and sustainable population - perhaps four times as many wolves, Hedrick explains. That increase would not sit well with ranchers in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, who have long complained that the wolves kill cattle and sheep.

Kim McCreery is a staff scientist for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. She says a few pairs of breeding wolves are not enough for genetic diversity, which means reduced litter size and an increase in pup mortality. McCreery adds that what is needed for a healthier population is more wolves on the ground. She suspects that politics may be getting in the way.

"We need a rule change. We need U.S. Fish and Wildlife to change a rule saying that captive-bred wolves can only be released in the primary recovery zone, which is in Arizona."

While seeking changes in regulations that limit wolf releases in New Mexico, McCreery says scientists are conducting an experimental program: training wolves to reject the taste of livestock.

"The wolves have been conditioned to not want to eat something because they associate it with a chemical that doesn't taste good to them, that kind of makes them feel, for a while, not very good."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has worked with ranchers to keep the wolves away from livestock, noting that only one problem wolf has had to be permanently removed in the past five years.

The Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program began in 1998, with a goal of 100 wolves by 2006.

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

New Mexico a Leader in Nation Calling for Amendment to U.S.Constitution to reverse Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision

from the New Mexico News Connection

Santa Fe, NM – Senate Memorial 4,sponsored by State Senator Steve Fischmann of Las Cruces, was just approved by a vote of 20-9 in the New Mexico StateSenate. Along with its companion bill, Rep. Mimi Stewart’s House Memorial 3 (approved 38-29 on January 31, 2012), the bill’s passage makes New Mexico the second state in the nation to call for the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission (Hawaii was thefirst, in April, 2010).

The Citizens United ruling resulted in an explosion of unlimited, and often undisclosed, Super PAC spending, as we have seen in the current Republican presidential nominating process. The memorial is an important statement by the New Mexico State Legislature because the constitutional amendment process requires ratificationby a minimum of 38 states.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Fischmann, emphasized the legislation’srole in defending our nation’s democracy. "Voters need to know their opinions count as much as anycorporate entity, trade, or labor association. I'm proud that NewMexico's State Senate is willing to stand for this principle,” said Fischmann. Lead advocate Viki Harrison of Common Cause New Mexico praised the legislation’spassage as “a frank statement of the State of New Mexico’s intent to correct the egregiously wrong Citizens United decision that allowed corporations to spend millions on electing politicians who will do their bidding.”

The impactof HM3/SM4 was also touted by national partners who joined in advocating for the legislation. "Today's vote by the New Mexico State Senate marks a greatvictory for American democracy," said Maram Abdelhamid, national field director for Free Speech For People, a national campaign pressing for a 28th Amendment to the US Constitution to overturn the Citizens United ruling. "The State of New Mexico is helping to lead the way for the nation in this movement to ensure that people, not corporations, govern in America. We look forward to working with other state legislatures which will follow New Mexico's example and defend our democracy."

For further information contact Viki Harrison at VHarrison@commoncause.org.

“Green School” Movement Gets a Foothold in New Mexico

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
TAOS, N.M. - Taos High School enlisted in the Green Ribbon Schools program for the 2011-2012 school year. The U.S. Department of Education introduced the program with the idea of producing more engaged, better educated students. 

Gillian Cardillo teaches the high school's environmental leadership class. She says she's seeing improved public speaking skills, and maybe a little math progress, as the students work out a real-life problem.

"There's a leak in our school. They had to go out and measure how much it's leaking, and then they had to figure how much it was for a day, and a week, and a month and a year."

Cardillo sees more of a team attitude among the members of the class now than at the start of the semester. This is the first year of the environmental leadership class at Taos High.

Cardillo's class works on recycling and composting for the school. She says something interesting is beginning to happen: The students are taking their work home and into their community. An anti-plastic-water-bottle campaign they developed has expanded into a critical look at the corporate climate, she says.

"There have been a lot of anti-corporate sentiments, and these are from kids who are incredibly materialistic. We're seeing a turnaround, especially with Occupy Wall Street, where they're like, 'Wow, corporations really are doing the wrong thing and we need to stand up to them.'"

Fifteen other New Mexico schools are involved in a different green program, Eco-Schools USA. It originated in Denmark and was launched two years ago in the U.S. by the National Wildlife Federation. The Federation's science education specialist, Jennifer Hammonds, says some "green schools" are discovering benefits beyond the education.

"Energy projects, consumption projects and waste projects students participate in can provide tremendous savings for school districts."

More information is available online. The green ribbon school programs is at www.greenribbonschools.org. The National Wildlife Federation school recognition program is at http://bit.ly/4S6aTT. The study on math scores is at http://bit.ly/wmb52E. 
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Water Demands Outstrip Supply in Colorado River Basin

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A coalition of businesses along the Colorado River took its concerns about water supply-and-demand issues to Washington this week. Members of the group "Protect the Flows" shared potential solutions with the Interior Department and members of Congress.
Recreation and tourism are the lifeblood of the West, says Steve Harris, who runs Far Flung Adventures in El Prado. He supports the establishment of water banks, a system where business users can make water "deposits" and "withdrawals." 
"In a time where this disparity between supply and demand is starting to grow, this is a new way of sharing limited water resources."
Harris says the group's proposals are practical ideas for preserving the river. The Colorado provides drinking water for 36 million Americans, irrigates nearly 4 million acres of land and supports nearly 800,000 jobs in seven states including 47,000 in New Mexico.
Protect the Flows also suggests giving rebates for using swimming pool covers. Harris says the water savings is significant. 
"A recreational swimming pool in a backyard in this arid Colorado River Basin evaporates 14,000 gallons a year."
Addressing water waste and landscape design are other ways to conserve Colorado River water, Harris says. For instance, Albuquerque has restricted hours for watering lawns and issues citations for violating them. He says xeriscaping - landscaping to minimize the need for watering - is common now in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 
"It's now the law in those cities that all new construction will have these water-saving features. Landscape irrigation is about half of a family's water consumption."
One phase of a study on Colorado River use closes this week. The Bureau of Reclamation has been gathering proposals from numerous groups working to resolve the growing imbalance between the river's water demand and supply.
More information is on the Interior Department's Lower Colorado River website, http://www.usbr.gov/ ,  Protect the Flows is at http://protectflows.com/ 

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org