2014 Election Maps

2014 New Mexico Governor - by County



House Districts by Political Party

Audio: USAC puts Unsers into Hall of Fame.

Photo Credit: Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal

Hot air balloons, green chile and the Unser racing family have made Albuquerque famous. They've put the city on the map.

Yesterday, Bobby and Al Unser Sr. finally made it into the United States Auto Association Hall of Fame. The induction held right inside their racing museum.

The ceremony brought back great memories for me.  In 1981, I was just a young radio reporter when Bobby Unser won his third Indy 500. It was one of the most controversial finishes in Indy 500 history. On lap 149, during a caution period, Bobby and Mario Andretti made their pit stop and headed back to the race. Bobby passed eight cars during the caution, while Mario passed two cars. Unser won the race, but was stripped of the title the following morning in favor of second place finisher Andretti after he challenged the results. After months of appeals, Unser was finally awarded the win in October 1981.

I was the first reporter in the country to learn that Unser would be reinstated. Scrambling to get the scoop, I quickly called 411 operators and asked for Unser's Chama ranch phone number. Suprisingly, the number was listed.

I set up a recorder and dialed the number. Unser was out on the mountain snowmobiling, but his then-wife Marcia talked to me on the record about how excited she was and shared the family's reaction to USAC's final decision.

We broke the story on KZIA 1580 AM - a little family radio station owned by the Deme family in Albuquerque. I then called the network and sold them the audio.  It was my first national story and earned me a top Associated News award for Outstanding Spot News.

I've saved the original network report and Marcia's sound bites (in radio they're called actualities).

Take a listen to history. Just click the arrow in the audio bar below.


Later, Unser told me he estimated loosing the title earlier in the year and the delayed appeal result had cost him close to $1 million in endorsement deals. He retired from racing at the end of 1981. He later joined ABC as a race analyst.

Packing Heat: The numbers behind conceal carry weapon permits in New Mexico.

After hearing about a spike in Conceal Carry Weapon permit applications following the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings in December, I decided to check on the number of active permits issued around the state and built this interactive shape map. Just click on each county to see the number of permits and the number of permits per 100 people.

Interestingly, for my reporting on this story for the Santa Fe Reporter we found the counties with the highest percentage of Hispanic populations had the fewest numbers of permits per 100.

Word Cloud: Gov. Martinez's 2013 State of the State

Gov. Susana Martinez delivered her third State of the State Speech on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013.

Registration

SPJ Member $10.00 USD Non Member $15.00 USD

Romney accepts GOP nomination for president

Creating word clouds gives a whole new meaning to "wordsmith."

President Obama's DNC2012 Speech

My artistic interpretation of President Barack Obama's speech to Democratic National Convention delegates last week in Charolette, North Carolina. Word Cloud prepared using Tagul.com.

Michelle Obama remembers military families at DNC

Data visualization is quickly becoming a required skill for new media journalists. Here's my word cloud using text from the first lady's DNC2012 speech in Charlotte.

Clinton rallies Democrats in North Carolina

Another word cloud featuring text from former President Bill Clinton's DNC2012 speech in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Gov. Martinez delivers artful RNC speech in Tampa

I used Tagul's word cloud generator, a picture of Governor Martinez, and text from her Republican National Convention speech in Tampa, to create this poster. Word size is determined by how often its used in a speech or written document.

Geotagged: New Mexico Photos