Today we all remember the legacy of civil rights leader Dorothy Height, who passed away at age 98.  Height was the leading female voice in the 1960′s civil rights movement, and served as the head of the National Council of Negro Women for more than 40 years. She was a fixture at all of the major civil rights marches and rallies, as evidence in the picture above.  You can see Height looking on as Martin Luther King, Jr. gives what I believe to be his “I Have a Dream Speech”. 

The budget woes continue to hit home on the most local levels here in New Mexico: Municipalities and school districts.  Today we find out APS may not do away with “double dippers” after all.  These are people who have worked for the district long enough to collect a pension and a salary.  According to Supt. Brooks, it turns out getting rid of those employees might leave APS vulnerable to an age discrimination lawsuit.  Plus, it turns out eliminating those jobs wouldn’t save the district as much as they thought anyway.  I guess it’s back to the drawing board for plugging the district’s $43 million budget hole.

The Rio Rancho School District is considering an unusual plan to boost revenues.  The board is considering allowing advertising on the buses. Supporters of the idea think the ads could make up the district’s half a million dollar shortfall.  It was just about a year ago the district took over control of it’s transportation responsibilities from an outside contractor.  

The City of Rio Rancho is also struggling with finances, and looking for ways to stop the bleeding.  Some of the latest proposals include closing some of the city’s outdoor pools this summer, installing red light cameras, and even cancelling next year’s Pork & Brew event. The city’s current budget hole is reportedly about $3.6 million.

Other stories we’re keeping an eye on for the show:

• Senator Tom Udall has been fighting for a while now to get the Senate to consider changing the filibuster rules to keep the body from getting so bogged down in partisan debates.  His thoughts and opinions were highlighted in an article this week in Congressional Quaterly.
• The Attorney General’s office and Governor’s office are in a continued war of words over the release of information about those 59 exempt employees the Governor says he got rid of last year.  Many news agencies have filed open records requests to find out who those employees were, or at least what positions were eliminated, but the Governor refuses to turn over the information.  AG Gary King wrote the Governor’s office a letter indicating the Gov. may be violating the public records act by staying mum.  Richardson apparently took umbrage at that opinion and is standing firm in his decision to keep those records in the dark.
• And in news of the strange, national defense officials came out with a new threat to national security today.  It’s school lunches!  Military officials say our kids are becoming so obese and overweight, they can’t serve in the armed forces.  Interesting approach to say the least.

What do you think?  What would you like to see us tackle on this week’s show?  Let us know, and tune in to find out which topics make the cut!

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