President Barack Obama says Republican lawmakers who object to his executive actions on immigration have recourse: they can pass an immigration reform bill. In the meantime, his actions will spare nearly five-million people, mostly parents and young people, from deportation and refocus enforcement efforts on "felons, not families." Current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calls the move a victory for families. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell calls it overreach and an action that the president "will come to regret." Regarding the controversy over the President’s Executive authority, New Mexico Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich says he has heard from both sides and is confident that once Republicans see the details, support for the President’s actions will follow: *****112114-Heinrich-3 :30***** Senator Martin Heinrich. Other Democratic members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation also support the President’s actions.
Governor Susana Martinez is the new vice-chair of the Republican Governor’s Association. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Martinez was elected by her peers Thursday. Martinez, who won re-election to a second term as governor earlier this month, has insisted she is not interested in national political office. However, her election as R-G-A vice chair could ramp up speculation about her plans.
With southern New Mexico’s Spaceport America empty and space flights by Virgin-Galactic suspended indefinitely, state lawmakers are seeking details on how the facility plans to recover. Members of the Legislative Finance Committee grilled spaceport executive director Christine Anderson on Thursday after she handed them a presentation filled mostly with photographs. Representative Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup, the committee's vice-chairwoman, questioned the business plan and said the point of the meeting was to cover how the state should move forward. Lundstrom and others called it a serious situation. Speculation about the spaceport's future has been swirling in the wake of Virgin Galactic's spaceship breaking up over the California desert during an October 31st test flight. One pilot was killed and another was seriously injured.
The auction of a Georgia O’Keeffe painting Thursday fetched a record for a work by a female artist. Sotheby's New York says the 1932 painting, "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1," sold for more than 44-million dollars during the auction house's sale of American art. The painting was sold by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe to benefit its acquisitions fund. The buyer bid by telephone and Sotheby's isn't disclosing the buyer's identity. The previous world auction record for any work by a female artist was almost 12-million. That was the price for Joan Mitchell's "Untitled" at Christie's New York in May. The previous auction record for an O'Keeffe work was more than six-million, set at Christie's New York in 2001.
Also from the art world: Two dozen original editorial cartoons created by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and World War II veteran Bill Mauldin are set to hit the auction block for the first time this week. A native of New Mexico, Mauldin became known during World War II for his Willie and Joe characters. The work will be offered as part of a major comic art auction in Beverly Hills, California.
An 11-year-old Mexican boy who had been suffering from a massive tumor and came to New Mexico for treatment has had the growth removed. Christine Alcoser of the First Baptist Church of Rio Rancho said the boy underwent surgery this week at the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital to remove the tumor from his neck, shoulder and torso area. Alcocer says the surgery lasted a more than 12 hours and involved 25 medical professionals. In July 2012, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations assisted in picking up the boy and his parents from a neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez — one of the deadliest cities in the world due to drug cartels. Federal agents helped the family seek care for the boy after First Baptist Church members saw him during a missionary visit.
A New Mexico woman's missing kitten has been located in Maine, although exactly how the feline made the 23-hundred-mile trip remains a mystery. The female kitten, named Spice, was turned into the Animal Refuge League in Westbrook earlier this month by a man who found her inside a duffel bag outside a Portland thrift store. Spice's owner was tracked though an implanted microchip to Albuquerque. Jennifer Brown of the Animal Refuge League tells the Portland Press Herald she talked to the owner, who said Spice bolted on Halloween when she opened her door for trick-or-treaters. The owner, who didn't want to be identified, said she's never been to Maine and doesn't know anyone from Maine. Spice, meanwhile, remains in Westbrook because the owner can't afford to fly her home.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny today through tomorrow with highs in the mid-t0-upper 40s. Tonight: Expect partly cloudy skies with the overnight low, 29.