Love is in the Air on Valentine's Day at Albuquerque's Bio Park and Zoo.

Are you still looking for a hot date for Valentine's Day? We decided to take a romantic stroll through the Rio Grande Zoo,
We might even drop by to look at the fishes at the Albuquerque Aquarium, or the garden Rio Grande Botanic Garden . Each are promising great fun, and lot of activities, on Valentine's Day from 10a to 2p.

We got all this info from the folks from the City of Albuquerque's Bio Parks and thought we'd share it with you.

“Animal attraction” is the topic of Discovery Stations around the Zoo. Educators will teach guests about the sometimes scintillating details of courtship and reproduction in the animal world. Guests will also learn how the Zoo acts as a “matchmaker” for endangered species, such as elephants, orangutans and snow leopards, as part of the Species Survival Program. Children can create a Valentine for the animal they love, and all guests will be able to make enrichment items to be given to the Zoo animals. Pink and red paintings created by the Zoo’s own elephants will be on display. Zookeepers will deliver special Valentine’s popsicles (blood-sicles, that is) to the polar bears at 12:30pm, and other animals will be enjoying Valentine’s treats throughout the day. Call (505) 764-6214 for more information about Zoo activities.

At the Aquarium, visit Discovery Stations to find out how male seahorses get pregnant, look for “kissing” in the coral reef exhibit and learn why some fish undergo a sex change. Call (505) 848-7180 for more information about Aquarium activities. Visit the Garden’s conservatories for a romance-themed display of pink and red cyclamens and impatiens. Delicious Valentine’s Day goodies will be available for purchase at Zoo and Aquarium cafes. All Valentine's Day education activities are included with general admission.

The Albuquerque Biological Park is an accessible facility and a division of the City of Albuquerque’s Cultural Services Department. For assistance in visiting, please call 311 (Relay NM or 711), preferably with three days advance notice. Hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm daily. Zoo admission is $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for seniors 65 and older and children 3-12. Same day combo admission to all BioPark facilities is $12 for adults; $5 for seniors and children.

New Mexico BioPark Society membership offers free general admission to all BioPark facilities and discounts to many special events. Find out more about becoming a BioPark Society member.

The Albuquerque Biological Park is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Look for the AZA logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you and a better future for all living things. With its more than 200 accredited members, AZA is a leader in global wildlife conservation and your link to helping animals in their native habitats.

Journalists to Attempt Webcasting Ethics Reform Hearing in Santa Fe

Online journalist extraordinaire Heath Haussamen just gave us some good news.

Haussamen is reporting on his blog that the New Mexico Independent, an online news portal, will attempt to webcast (video & audio) from the Senate Rules Committee's hearing on ethics reform on Friday.

The hearing is scheduled in Santa Fe at 8am.

This is a must watch hearing because critical reforms in campaign finance laws, for one, are needed in the state.

Just look at all the pay-to-play investigations and grand jury investigations underway in the state and federal systems involving leaders who may be taking advantage of big money donations and giving access and contracts to friends, family and companies that support their campaigns.

Haussemen has been reporting on ethics reform for years. This morning, he wrote a summary on many of the pending reform measures here.

The omnibus bill he outlines is downright scary. Read why leaders may be able to kill most ethics bill in one clean sweep. Haussamen makes it easy to find and read the actual bills with multiple links in this morning's story.

Everyone has been hopeful during this year's 60-day session lawmakers would adopt drastic changes and pass new ethics laws.

Tomorrow's your chance to monitor the webcast to see if Senators kill the bills to protect their own interests.

For more information on tomorrow's planned webcast read the New Mexico Independent online here, and plan to tune to the webcast here on Friday morning at 8am.

HISPANOS UNIDOS TO RUN ADS AGAINST SAME DAY VOTING, PROMOTING VOTER ID

Hispanos Unidos will run two cable television ads on Comcast statewide beginning tomorrow.

Here is one of ads the group say highlights voter fraud legislation in New Mexico.



The ads endorse Voter ID, HB 591 (Dianne Hamilton, Grant, Sierra, Hidalgo) and explain the voter fraud associated with Same Day Registration, HB 52, (Jim Trujillo, Santa Fe) HB 395 (Joseph Cervantes, Dona Ana).

Victor Contreras, Chairman of Hispanos Unidos encourages New Mexicans to contact their legislators about these bills, taking a stand against increasing voter fraud in New Mexico. “We have volunteers who have uncovered profound voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement in Dona Ana County.” Contreras said, “We need to stand up with one voice to demand that our elections include all New Mexicans, and only New Mexicans.”

UPDATED:

Santa Fe-based political journalist Steve Terrell published an article reviewing the ad and profiling the group behind it here.

Terrell talked Rep. Joe Cervantesto who said allegations of fraud by the GOP are merit less.

Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who is sponsoring one of two same-day registration bills in the House, said, "the allegations of voter fraud in Doña Ana County have been made for years and are baseless." He said the charges, made by Republicans in his area, "never brought up evidence of a single fraudulent vote or voter."

Stimulus Shocker

Andy Borowitz sent us this hilarious breaking news.

A-Rod Backs Stimulus, saying the economy needs a "shot in the arm."

[Editors note: We justwonder if the economy will deny it for five years]

Meanwhile, back to this developing story.

President Barack Obama picked up support for his stimulus package from an unexpected source today as Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez said that he was "totally in favor of stimulus."

"Sometimes when you have to get the job done, you need a shot in the arm," said Mr. Rodriguez at a press conference in the parking lot of Yankee Stadium. "

This stimulus sounds like it could be that injection."

The slugger, known to his fans and detractors alike as A-Rod, said that the U.S. economy may not seem very muscular at the moment, but that "juicing the economy" could change that overnight."

Mark my words," he said. "If the economy gets the right injection, its muscles will bulge to monstrous proportions."

Mr. Rodriguez's words were in stark contrast with remarks made last week by another athlete, swimmer Michael Phelps, who said that the economy "just needs to chill.""As far as the economy goes, I'm comfortably numb about it," Mr. Phelps said. "Dude, did I just say that out loud?"At his press conference today, Mr. Rodriguez bristled when asked questions about steroid use, at one point throwing a car at a reporter.

New Mexico House Delegation Urges Restoration of Education Funding in Recovery Plan!

Updated 7:50am

New Mexico is set to received $953 million dollars from the American Reocvery and Reinvestment Act. That's less money than originally planned, and it cuts funding for school construction. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall believe spending the money will create jobs and get people back to work in the state.

Bingaman's proposal to offer companies a 30 percent tax credit for investing in renewable energy facilities is still intact, and Sen. Udall says he's proud he added a measure to give employeers tax incentives for hiring returning veterans or taking vets off the unemployement roles.

Meanwhile, all three of the state's congressional representatives have signed their name on a letter urging congressional leaders to restore funding for school construction.

This is their news release:

Washington, DC – Today, Congressmen Ben Ray Luján, Martin Heinrich and Harry Teague sent a letter to Congressional leadership in advance of the conference on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letter urges House and Senate leadership to include the House-passed education figures in the final conference report. The House version of the bill included significant support to local school districts for school construction, Title 1-A and IDEA – programs that will benefit students and help get our economy back on track. The Senate passed their version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today by a vote of 61 to 37.

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act should create jobs immediately and prepare our children for jobs of the future," said Luján. "Education measures in the House version achieved both of these goals through an investment in school modernization, repair and renovation projects, and funding to protect key education programs. School construction puts people back to work and funding to states to prevent education cuts keeps teachers in the classroom where they are able to prepare young people for the jobs of the future.

As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan moves to conference, I am proud to join with my colleagues to urge leadership to maintain support for education and school construction." “With New Mexico facing a $454 million budget shortfall, the need for a comprehensive recovery package that addresses our education needs is critical. Our local schools and governments should not have to make the choice between service cuts or higher taxes,” said Congressman Harry Teague. “A comprehensive recovery package that includes immediate investments in education will not only help New Mexico save and create critical jobs but strategic investments in education will help New Mexico become stronger, more productive and competitive.”

“In order to turn this economy around as quickly as possible, we need to ensure that we are making a substantial and immediate investment in our education system,” said Rep. Heinrich. “The education funding I voted for in the House-passed version of the recovery package will save existing jobs and create new jobs by hiring new teachers, and investing in school construction and renovation.”

The House passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last week. The House version of the legislation included $329 million to New Mexico for K-12 education and over $39 million to New Mexico for higher education modernization, renovation, and repair. It also included $419 million to New Mexico for the state fiscal stabilization fund, which could prevent cuts in the state education budget. The Senate compromise removed $16 billion school construction, $40 billion for the state fiscal stabilization fund, and all of the funding for higher education modernization, renovation, and repair.

Americans Share Their Economic Crisis Stories at House Parties

Americans have organized Economic Recovery House Meetings in all 50 states -- including 382 in California, 255 in Florida, 115 in Ohio, 199 in New York, 105 in Washington, and 149 in Texas.

That's more than 3,587 meetings in 1,579 cities and 429 congressional districts.

This past weekend, meeting hosts and guests watched a video of Governor Tim Kaine answering your questions about the president's recovery plan. Then they shared their own stories about how the crisis has affected them.

Governor Tim Kaine answers questions sent in by Organizing For America members ahead of February 7th house parties in this video.

RNC CHAIRMAN RESPONDS TO STIMULUS PROPOSAL

RNC Chairman Michael Steele questions if power is going to Democrat's heads in his weekly address. Yet, we wonder if he or the GOP has any new fresh ideas on the table?

NM Domestic Violence Homicide Team Issues Findings

The New Mexico Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team has been working for more than a decade to identify gaps in the response to domestic and sexual violence and create effective solutions for addressing those gaps.

In 2008, the team worked for the first full year under the statutory authority of N.M. Stat. Ann. §31-22-4.1 on homicides occurring in 2005 (closed cases). Findings are documented in the 2008 Annual Report which can be found here.

In the review of 21 cases, 57 percent of the homicides involved the offender stalking the victim prior to the murder. From this finding, the team recommended an improved criminal justice response to stalking and repeated violations of protective orders.

This finding is highlighted by the 2003 study related to stalking in New Mexico, which stated nearly one-in-four women and one-in-14 men are stalked at least once in their lifetime in the State of New Mexico ( 2003 New Mexico Victimization Survey).

Other findings:

Finding: 15 of the 21 (71%) homicides occurred while the victim and offender were separated (broken up, breaking up, getting a divorce, etc.).

Finding: 12 of the 21 (57%) homicides involve the offender committing the crime of stalking prior to the murder.

Finding: 9 of the 21 homicides (43%) involve offenders who have at least one prior driving while intoxicated (DWI) charge.

Finding: Many domestic and sexual violence related homicides involve coworkers or other bystanders who are affected by the domestic and sexual violence and yet are unsure of how to help or respond to the situation.

Finding: Many victims, often women, cannot escape from violent relationships due to their financial dependence on their offenders.

Furthermore, many of the homicides involved co-workers or other bystanders who are affected by the domestic and sexual violence and are unsure of how to help or respond. This reveals a need for workplace policies on domestic and sexual violence and an overall increased public awareness.

More information on the New Mexico Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team is available here.

National GOP Committeman's Personal Insight.

Pat Rogers
I asked NM Republican Pat Rogers, who was in Washington, D.C. for the RNC meeting last week, to shares his viewpoint on the selection of a new RNC Chair and his experience as a National Committeeman from New Mexico.

Here are his thoughts on the new Chairman Michael Steele.

GUEST BLOG:

Michael Steele was elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee on January 30, 2009. The former Lt. Governor of Maryland is presently the head of GOPAC, a conservative political action committee formed originally by Speaker
Newt Gingrich. The RNC Chairman's race was contentious with six well-qualified candidates in an election that took six ballots and many hours.

Michael Steele is a committed conservative with a message and a style that will attract voters to the Republican banner in New Mexico and in all fifty states. He is a frequent guest on FOX, CNN and other outlets. His Republican National Convention speech "Drill, Baby, Drill" introduced him to a new set of supporters. His most recent visit to New Mexico was in mid-January where he hosted a "meet and greet" at Calibers, a local shooting range. The New Mexico crowd was enthusiastic and energized by his take-charge message of freedom and fiscal and personal responsibility.

Michael grew up in Washington DC and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center (naturally all sophisticated readers will immediately recognize GULC as the premier law school in the nation) and he spent several years studying at a monastery. Michael Steele is seriously pro-freedom, pro-life and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. He and his wife raised a family in Maryland where he was very active in grassroots/local politics before his Lt. Governor term and his (unsuccessful ) 2006 US Senate race in Maryland.

Michael Steele asked me to represent him at the six vote counts and that was quite an honor. Nothing in my New Mexico experience, however, prepared me for an election process in which the Secretary of State, ACORN, the Attorney General or Democrats did not try to change the rules for partisan advantage, file lawsuits , stuff the registration lists or locate ballot boxes and votes after the election.

While Michael Steele's election was something to celebrate, two other votes were not as successful. New Mexico's National Committeewoman, Rosie Tripp lost a very close
race for the RNC Secretary position. Rosie's campaign skills and the energy she brought to any event was something to see. As the Chairman of the Socorro County Commission, and with her years of RNC and New Mexico public service,
she was able to put up a great battle for the office.

The other vote I lost (approximately 167-1 or so) was my attempt to oppose secret ballots. I am not convinced of the need for secret ballots in the RNC elections, but a slightly larger number of RNC members do not (presently) share my concerns. As we moved through the fourth and fifth ballots, I was sensing some support for my position.

The New Mexico activists overwhelmingly supported Michael Steele. He will move the nation, New Mexico and the Republican party forward. We are lucky to have him at the helm. The Republican National Committee and the New Mexico Republican Party are prepared to offer effective leadership in the difficult times we are facing.

Photo Credit: MG Bralley

Your Chance to Vote for the Best Super Bowl Ad!

Radio Row, in Tampa, Florida, has been busy all week. Sports talk show hosts are talking non-stop about Super Bowl 43. While the big game often doesn't live up to its top billing with blow outs the norm, the advertisements are always entertaining and often more memorable.

Some fans tune in just to watch the television advertisements and half time shows. Classics ads, like the Mean Joe Green Coca Cola ad and the 1984 Macintosh ads live on in our collective memories often more than many of the games themselves.

Local advertising guru Steve McKee has been measuring viewers response to the now $3,000,000 dollar :30 second spots for the last decade.

This Sunday, be sure to tune into his Ad Bowl 9 website here to vote for your favorite.

And if you’re interested in those wild Las Vegas proposition bets visit Pregame.com. Over $10 Billion is expected to be bet on the Super Bowl worldwide, with a significant percentage of that on proposition bets (known as "props"). RJ Bell of Pregame.com in Las Vegas has compiled the most interesting props available.

You can wager on how long it will take for Jennifer Hudson to sing the National Anthem. The over/under opened at 1 minute & 55 seconds. Then, YouTube research discovered multiple videos of Hudson singing the National Anthem - with the average time being just over 2 minutes. In another example of the power of the Internet, the over/under has since been raised to 2 minutes.

Bruce Springsteen is the halftime performer, and there's props on based upon which songs he will play. For example, to open the show, Born in the USA is the even money favorite, with Glory Days the second favorite, and Born to Run the third.

You can bet on how many different food types John Madden will mention during the telecast. The over/under opened at 1.5. The public backed the "over" so strongly that the odds are now projecting a 70% chance that at least 2 different food types will be mentioned by Madden.

Props are available on the type of celebration the player will perform after the game's first touchdown. For example, you can bet on a spike of the football, or a backflip, or a bicep flex; most wild of all: you can get 20-1 odds on the celebrating player actually "mooning" the fans.

There's cross-sport props such as how many points the Steelers will score versus how many points Lebron James will score that day versus the Pistons. Based upon the game odds, the Steelers are projected to score 27, just about what you'd expect from Lebron versus Detroit.

You can actually bet on what color Gatorade will be poured on the winning coach. Compelling handicapping data exists on this prop: after both the Steelers and Cardinals' wins last week, the color of the Gatorade poured was yellow. Attractive 3-1 odds are available on the Gatorade being yellow.

My friend RJ Bell of Pregame.com said: "Nearly every conceivable stat and game result has a prop bet associated with it."

For all of RJ Bell's unique Super Bowl reporting, visit here.