Okay, it’s not exactly a news flash: New Mexico is hot and dry. But since 2012 was about the hottest and driest year in recorded history, that is news.
When 81% of the state is said to be in severe drought, when both cities and farms are fearing a water shortage (and even in some cases squabbling over the allocation of water) – all that is news.
Enough so that 44% of you said that the on-going drought was the state’s most important news story in 2012.
#2 – the announcement by the US Department of Justice that they are formally investigating the Albuquerque Police Department’s use of deadly force (25 shootings since 2010, 17 fatalities)
#3 – statistics show that for the first time the discrepancy between rich and poor in NM is the largest such gap in the country
#4 – emailgate – in which Martinez administration used email in a, ahem, unorthodox way to get around public scrutiny
#5 – trailing the pack: Obama winning the state and seemingly solidifying NM as reliably blue
Thank you for voting!