New Mexico Tech and EMRTC have fought tooth and nail - spending large sums of taxpayer and tuition money - attempting to prevent the public from viewing documents related to the possible establishment of a drop zone near Socorro. Unfortunately for the administrators at New Mexico Tech and EMRTC, their refusal to allow the public to view such documents violates state law, specifically the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

The suit or "writ of mandamus" demanding release of the public records related to the proposed EMRTC drop zone near Socorro will be heard at Socorro's court house on July 29th, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend the hearing, although space is limited.

Dr. James E. Hansen, a physicist by training, directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. On June 23rd, he addressed the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; we present his full testimony here. If Hansen's remarks don't get your attention, nothing will.

The world's largest gold mining company, Freeport-McMoRan, recently donated $1 million to NM Tech's department of minerals engineering. That's the good news. The bad news is the company has a troubled history, and the money may well be tainted.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory renamed the building which houses the operational staff for the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in honor of retiring NM Senator Pete Domenici. The renaming has not been without its share of controversy. Full video report here.

In the democratic primary for district 2, Las Cruces oil man, Harry Teague, is blanketing the airwaves with ads due to his largely self-funded political campaign (he's loaned his campaign over $700,000 of his own money). Bill McCamley, on the other hand, is getting by on the donations of regular folks making small contributions. While oil money can buy lots of things: fancy cars, fancy houses, and fancy clothes, one thing it should NOT be able to buy is a congressional seat.

With gas rapidly approaching $4.00 per gallon, this is a good time to start thinking about solutions to our oil addiction. Unfortunately, many so-called conservatives are now spouting "solutions" that do nothing to actually address the root of the problem, but instead serve only to further enrich the oil companies and keep us dependent on a commodity that funnels money to dictatorial (and unfriendly) regimes while simultaneously polluting the very air that we and our children breathe.

In an incredible turn of events, Socorro News has received evidence that New Mexico Tech and EMRTC may have repeatedly misrepresented the nature and scope of the U.S. Air Force's involvement in the proposed EMRTC drop zone. In a letter sent from the Air Force to Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), the Air Force states, unequivocally, that they were not involved in a cooperative agreement with NM Tech or EMRTC; despite repeated claims to the contrary from high level representatives from NM Tech, such as Dr. Van Romero.

New Mexico Tech Vice President of Research and Economic Development, Dr. Van Romero, recently released a response to a series of questions posed by the local citizens group, The Drop Zone Group. In his response, he released a map indicating, for the first time, the proposed flight paths to and from the drop zone. In a remarkable public admission, Romero publicly admits that the U.S. Air Force was not formally involved in the proposal for a drop zone, something which many in the public had been led to believe was a fact. Finally, Romero asks some questions of, and makes some strong accusations against, the Drop Zone Group.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), within the U.S. Department of Energy, will come through New Mexico next week to hold public hearings on possible new nuclear weapons production in New Mexico, despite the fact that the U.S. signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1970 (re-ratified in 1995), which obligates the U.S. to disarm. The hearing in Socorro will be Monday, March 10th, at Macey Center, from 6 to 10 p.m.