Free Republic

Proposals set the stage for debate over federal health law’s impact. Major insurers in some states are proposing hefty rate boosts for plans sold under the federal health law, setting the stage for an intense debate this summer over the law’s impact. In New Mexico, market leader Health Care Service Corp. is asking for an average jump of 51.6% in premiums for 2016. The biggest insurer in Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, has requested an average 36.3% increase. In Maryland, market leader CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield wants to raise rates 30.4% across its products. Moda Health, the largest insurer on the...

A plan that will close nearly 2,000 miles of public roads that have previously been open for use by the people of Mesa County is creating a public backlash against the Grand Junction field office of the federal Bureau of Land Management. The BLM’s resource management plans (RMP) regulate the access and types of traffic allowed on roads on public lands. Road maintenance and seasonal closures are also detailed in such plans. But the most recent RMP in Mesa County indicates the BLM’s intent to limit access to public roads which have traditionally been open to motorized, horse, and foot...

Before Jaquise Lewis lost his life defending his friends from an act of racist white mob violence, he was universally loved and admired. Fun to be around, said one relative. Never got into any trouble, his aunt remembered. One after another, they lined up to tell the Albuquerque reporters the story of how Jaquise was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.” snip “Six other people were shot,” said another reporter at KOB. “And understandably people were upset.” The sanctification continued with a report from the scene of the memorial: “Jaquise was well loved,” said the somber reporter Ryan...

Twenty-seven senators want President Obama to block federal agencies and contractors from asking job applicants about prior criminal convictions. The senators, including 26 Democrats and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), want Obama to take executive action to "ban the box," referring to a question on job applications that asks if an applicant has any convictions. "We ask you to require federal contractors and agencies to refrain from asking job applicants about prior convictions until later in the hiring process," they said in a letter to Obama on Monday. "This policy would eliminate unnecessary barriers to employment for all job...

When launched in 2006, a New Mexico commuter rail line that would connect Albuquerque and Santa Fe was hailed by supporters as a progressive step toward taking people out of cars and putting them on the train. But as impressive a feat as it was for a poor state’s huge foray into mass public transit, it comes at a price: The train earned $2.8 million last fiscal year in fares from more than a million riders but cost $28.4 million to operate. And even bigger amounts of red ink are looming over the horizon. Now the question of whether the...

Robert Redford is sounding an environmental alarm, saying the planet is changing and that "our opportunities are shrinking." Redford spoke during a one-on-one session with Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales on Tuesday that packed a performing arts center in Santa Fe, The New Mexican of Santa Fe reported (http://bit.ly/1cmrI4Z ). The 78-year-old actor and director is no stranger to Santa Fe; he owns a home in the city. During the session, the topics included the arts, Sundance Film Festival, activism and his interest and involvement in environmental issues.

Maybe he should have taken traveler’s checks. But it’s too late for that now. All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by Drug Enforcement Administration agents during a stop at the Amtrak train station in Albuquerque. An incident some might argue is still theft, just with the government’s blessing. Rivers, 22, wasn’t detained and has not been charged with any crime since his money was taken last month. That...

A number of reports have surfaced in the last few weeks that corroborate a story Judicial Watch broke in mid-April verifying that ISIS is operating in a Mexican border town just eight miles from El Paso, Texas. This includes the startling development over the weekend that the Islamic terrorist group claimed responsibility for a shooting at a “Muhammad Art Exhibit” near Dallas because it was considered to be anti-Islam. JW’s report was based on intelligence from a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police inspector and was met with denials from both the U.S. and Mexican government...

Garfield County officials said Monday the Bureau of Land Management is considering even-stricter measures to protect greater sage-grouse than previously contemplated, rather than listening to concerns the county and others have raised. As a cooperating agency, the county got an advance look Friday at the revised proposal the agency is now considering. “It is very dramatic in terms of the changes (from a draft BLM proposal) that are being proposed,” Fred Jarman, the county’s community development director, told county commissioners Monday. Jarman and Garfield Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said the proposed measures are the result of directives coming from Washington, D.C....

SNIP ...the women stole a purse from a dance studio on Wednesday and then within 30 minutes made a false New Mexico driver's license. Surveillance video showed the women using the stolen credit card to make purchases at drug store and a grocery store. Police said the operation is new to them and that it's surprising the women were able to produce a fake driver's license so quickly. SNIP

Last year, as part of his Imperial decree of amnesty for illegal immigrants, resident Barack Obama created the White House Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to vastly increase the numbers and rates at which immigrants were naturalized and granted citizenship. This Task Force works hand-in-hand with the George Soros-funded, open borders-promoting Migration Policy Institute, as well as the openly racist group La Raza, a Mexican nationalist organization that has called for the mass murder of white Americans and a return of the western states to Mexico. The Task Force is headed up by one Cecilia Munoz, Obama’s...

The flow of illegal immigrants has dropped to its lowest level in years judging by the number being apprehended along the border, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday as he sought to be more transparent about his department’s performance. Mr. Johnson said the drop is coming despite an improving economy, which generally draws more illegal migrants. Instead, the secretary said, a boost in manpower and technology along the southwestern border, coupled with public messages in Latin America discouraging would-be migrants from making the journey have helped turn the tide. Through the first six months of fiscal year 2015, which...

Wal-Mart closures have citizens concerned. Jade Helm 15 is set to kick off in seven states this summer, sending Special Operations forces from all four main branches of the military onto civilian soil to conduct hostile take-over training – and civil-rights advocates are sounding the alarms. ... The looming Jade Helm exercise, set for July 15 through Sept. 15, labels Texas and Utah as hostile areas. Global Research also reported the military says New Mexico “isn’t much friendlier.” Other states participating: California, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. Some of the social media commentary so far: “The Pentagon’s ‘Operations Jade Helm 15′:...

While the administration struggles to move forward with its plan to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, the list of foreigners trying to get into the United States legally has surged to 4.4 million, over 100,000 more than last year, according to the State Department. Those on the list either have a family member who is a U.S. citizen or green card holder, sponsoring their entry, or an employer wants them. The list grew by 100,085 over last year. And more than a quarter of them, 1,323,978, are Mexican. ... unlike illegals slipping over the border, many of those on the...

“Everything’s stolen out of this home right by us. Mold all over the wall in the kitchen. There’s absolutely nothing in the house,” said neighbor Bill Carpenter. “But no one’s doing anything.” It’s not the only home that’s had problems. Around the corner at 10323 Dunbar NW, there’s a vacant home that once had a collection of beehives in the backyard. It’s been in the foreclosure process for a few years, but is not yet bank-owned, according to court records. Around the corner from that home is 10335 Durham Street NW, a home that’s been tied up in the foreclosure...

Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico was endorsed as “Mama Grizzly” by Sarah Palin in 2010. Is she Conservative enough to be on the GOP Ticket in 2016? Here are her views on issues important to Conservatives: Immigration: Stop the magnet for human trafficking, fraud and crime. (Jan 2013). Secure border; deny licenses & tuition to illegals. (Nov 2010) Gun Control: At age 18, carried gun as security guard for dad's company. (Aug 2012) Opposes restrictions on the right to bear arms. (Aug 2010) Abortion: Per The Christian Coalition Voter Guide, Martinez opposes abortion. Opposes a woman’s unrestricted right to...

ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector. The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable...

ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector. The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same...

Gay rights groups are promoting a day of silence on campuses around the country on April 17. Across the country, they would like those who merely passively do not endorse their lifestyle to remain silent a good deal longer than 24 hours. “Thousands of students across the country will participate in GLSEN’s Day of Silence, an annual international event that brings attention to the anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment that is common in schools,” the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network announced on Thursday, April 9, 2015. “Students typically take a vow of silence as a symbolic representation of the...

DENVER – Scientists are working to pinpoint the source of a giant mass of methane hanging over the southwestern U.S., which a study found to be the country's largest concentration of the greenhouse gas. The report that revealed the methane hot spot over the Four Corners region — where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet — was released last year.