State Headlines

NMPA Convention

Save the Date!  Oct 25 - 27. Tamaya Resort and Spa.   

Foundation golf tournament at Twin Warriors on Thursday afternoon.  

Advertising sessions Friday afternoon.  

General sessions all day Saturday.  

Awards Banquet Saturday night.    

Vendors, silent auction, raffle prizes and more.    

Two great promotions:  Register three employees to the workshops and the fourth is free!   Bring more employees to the workshops than you did last year and be entered to win an iPad!  

Better Newspaper Contest   

This year entries for the Better Newspaper Contest be will be entered and judged by digital submission.   The deadline for entries is Friday August 10.  The contest period will remain the same: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012.  This year the BNC will be judged by the Kentucky Press Association and we will return the favor by judging their contest in the fall.    

Entries will be entered at http://betternewspapercontest.com/   

Judge: Remove names of classified employees from state website  

Judge Valerie Huling of the 2nd Judicial District has directed Gov. Susana Martinez to remove the names of classified employees from the state's Sunshine Portal after a state employees' union accused the governor of not following state law when she ordered them posted last winter.

Members of the union in June filed a court petition asking that the classified employees' names be taken off the public information website. They say a state law that outlines what information shall be on the portal doesn't allow the names of the classified employees to be listed.  Read more 

Albuquerque attorney Pat Rogers has resigned his seat on the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government's board of directors, saying the decision will alleviate further distraction for the open government group.

Rogers announced his decision to resign in a letter sent today to FOG Executive Committee President Terri Cole and other board members.

In the letter, he cited recent scrutiny over emails he sent to high-ranking members of Gov. Susana Martinez's administration, which included messages he sent while representing the Downs of Albuquerque in their bid for a new lease at the state fairgrounds. Read more 

Whether they intend to or not, government representatives who use personal emails for official business are restricting access to public documents.

Within the last month, newspapers throughout New Mexico have found that public business is being conducted through Gmail, Hotmail and other private email hosts at nearly every level of government. All elected officials in Angel Fire have used personal emails for public business, and municipal councilors in Eagle Nest, Cimarron and Red River don't even have official addresses.  Read more 

City Attorney: Fluoride Vote Doesn't Pass Test  

The Santa Fe City Council's recent decision to stop adding fluoride to the local water supply wasn't given proper notice under state law, City Attorney Geno Zamora said Friday. That means, for the July 11 decision to take effect, the governing body will likely have to hold another vote on the matter.  Read more 

NM court limits executive privilege in IPRA case

SANTA FE, N.M.-The New Mexico Supreme Court has significantly limited the ability of government officials to use executive privilege when denying access to records under the Inspection of Public Records Act.

The court's ruling comes in a case that stemmed from a request by the Republican Party for public records from former Gov. Bill Richardson's administration. Read more 

The state Supreme Court says lawyers and their clients can explain to reporters about class action lawsuits they've filed without worrying about being sued for defamation.

And lawyers who talk to prospective clients about such litigation with press in the room - at a community meeting, for example - also are protected from defamation claims, as long as certain conditions are met, the state's highest court says.

The court last week tossed out a lawsuit brought by Helena Chemical Co. against a Texas lawyer, Linda Thomas, and a southern New Mexico resident, Pamela Uribe, for defamation. Read more 

A request made by the New Mexico Republican Party under the state Inspection of Public Records Act drew fire Friday from Democratic Attorney General Gary King.

The party sent the request to King's office two weeks ago seeking any emails and attachments concerning public business that were sent by King from his personal email addresses. Read more 

The New Mexico Department of Information Technology and the New Mexico Public Education Department have added information on local school districts and state-funded charter schools to the so-called "Sunshine Portal."

The legislation to add local education providers to the portal was passed in 2011. Read more 

LOS ALAMOS - The Los Alamos Public School District Board of Education may have violated the state's Open Meetings Act when it voted for employee pay raises.

The Los Alamos Monitor reports that the vote during a special meeting in May is under fire because of a lack

of public notice.  Read more  

With today's (July 12) issue of The Taos News, the paper has added a section centered on popular culture and entertainment, from USA Weekend magazine.

USA Weekend, "the magazine that makes a difference," reaches 48 million readers every weekend, through 700 newspapers, according to the magazine's website.

After a week of taking heat following the disclosure that Gov. Susana Martinez and top officials in her administration used personal emails to conduct state business, on Monday she ordered all state employees in agencies under her authority to use official state email for state business.  Read more 

Now Taos News readers don't have to wait until Thursdays to get the latest news, as the newspaper has launched an e-reader application for iPad and Android OS devices.

The app, available for free until July 31, goes online Wednesday evenings, giving readers the latest local news and views.Kindle and Kindle Fire versions of the app will be available later in the year.

GALLUP, N.M.-The lawsuit against the Gallup Independent by a former mayor has ended in a mistrial.

After two days of deliberations, jurors told a judge Tuesday they couldn't reach a verdict in the libel case.

Former Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza sued Publisher Bob Zollinger and the Gallup Independent for critical editorials in 2009 and 2010 that claimed Mendoza was involved in a gang rape in 1948. Mendoza was never convicted of rape.

But the newspaper's lawyers said Mendoza's name appears in news accounts for 1948 and 1949 and in numerous court documents and he never asked for any corrections. They also said Mendoza never wrote a letter to the editor and he refused interviews.

Political advertising guidelines

Public Notice promotion 

Thanks to Maria Lopez Garcia and the Rio Grande SUN we have new promotional ads letting the public know they now have several options to find notices: in print, the NMPA website, sunshineportlanm.com and now newmexico.gov.   The state websites do not upload our content, they only provide a link to the existing website.  Please run the ads as space permits.  Not only does it let the public know where to find these notices, it will also be instrumental in the upcoming legislative session to make legislators aware of how the newspaper industry has made these notices accessible and a clear message to any outside interests that have thoughts of creating new public notice websites that newspapers already have that covered.   No other medium can deliver public notices to the public in print and online like newspapers can.     Find the ads online at NMPA Public Notice Ads.  

Webinar Training

There are a series of upcoming webinar training sessions offered through Inland Press.   NMPA members are afforded special member prices through co-sponsorship of these convient training sessions.  Please take a look at the upcoming topics on the left hand side of this newsletter.   Clicking on the title will bring you to the registration page and provide additional information.  

Around the Industry

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Poynter Institute, the American Press Institute and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are teaming up to provide a major public service at a critical time by launching a new program featuring ongoing training in the state-of-the-art digital tools that newspapers need to multiply their productivity and impact.

Workshops and webinars aimed at the digital transformation of newspapers will be funded from a $1.5 million endowment at the newly created Poynter Foundation, which will carry out a strategic plan for significantly increasing and diversifying philanthropic support for Poynter. Read more 

Responses to inquiry reveal growing opposition to Valassis NSA

More than 30 newspaper companies, representing thousands of daily and weekly newspapers, provided detailed responses to the Postal Regulatory Commission's notice of inquiry on the proposed special postage-rate deal (or negotiated service agreement) for Valassis Direct Mail.

Newspapers' responses yielded local market data that supported NAA's comments on the notice. NAA's comments also included results of an NAA-member survey on the proposed agreement's potential impact on revenues of both newspapers and the U.S. Postal Service. In addition, the National Newspaper Association filed survey results expressing views from small-market newspapers, which addressed one of the commission's questions regarding the NSA's impact on small businesses. Read more 

Send updates of new hires, promotions, retirements, memorials, etc to  director@nmpress.org.  We will print the news in this section each month.