Santa Fe residents have rejected a city proposal that would have added a $.02 per ounce tax to all sugar-sweetened beverages in the city, ending a heated battle between opposing organizations that spent at least $163 per voter trying to win people to their side. [More]
new mexico
New Mexico Sues 15 Carmakers, Takata For Concealing Deadly Airbag Defects; Seeks $10K/Day
By 1.25.17
Just when you thought Takata’s massive shrapnel-shooting airbag debacle was beginning to wind down after the company settled federal criminal charges for $1 billion, New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against the company and 15 car companies for allegedly covering up the deadly defect. [More]
Fake Waitress Steals Diner’s Credit Card, Goes On Spending Spree Next Door At Target
By 5.6.15
How many times have you put your credit card out to pay for a restaurant meal and had an employee other than your server pick it up? It’s not uncommon, especially in busier eateries, so some diners wouldn’t think twice when it happens. At least until the card hasn’t been returned because the helpful “waitress” who took it is actually at the Target across the parking lot making purchases with it? [More]
Does Using Someone Else’s Costco Card To Steal From Store Count As Burglary?
By 10.31.14
When you leave a store without having paid for something, you’ve likely committed the crime of theft, but if you use someone else’s card to get into a warehouse club like Costco or Sam’s Club and then walk out of the store without paying for items in your bag, have you also committed the crime of burglary? A New Mexico appeals court says no, but it depends on where you live. [More]
Authorities Look Into Cruelty Allegations At Dairy Farm Supplying Major Pizza Chains
By 9.17.14
A New Mexico dairy farm, a cheese supplier and the national pizza chains that receive said cheese are under fire after an activist working with an animal welfare group went undercover at the farm to record workers allegedly punching and kicking cows, and assaulting them with whips, chains, and cables.. [More]
If You’re Unhappy About Comcast Charge, Don’t Pull Gun On Service Tech
By 7.31.14
While we disagree with some who think that Comcast is an admirable company, we certainly don’t advocate using a gun to resolve your disputes with the cable company. Apparently our talk-it-out ways are not shared by a New Mexico woman who is accused of pulling a gun on a Comcast tech following a dispute over unexpected charges for a service call. [More]
That Overdue ‘Twilight’ Book & DVD Could Get You Arrested
By 6.28.12
For more than four years we’ve been telling you about libraries turning to the police to crack down on overdue items, and yet some book-borrowing people out there have not gotten the message. Thus, a woman in New Mexico recently spent a night in jail because she spent two years not returning a copy of sparkly vampire novel Twilight and the DVD of one of the films in the series. [More]
If You're Going To Dine-And-Dash, Don't Do It In A Restaurant Full Of Cops
By 3.2.12
We certainly don’t condone the act of dining-then-dashing. It’s illegal and, more importantly, just plain rude to the people that prepared and served your meal. It’s especially rude when the servers are law enforcement officers working a fundraising event for the Special Olympics. [More]
SouperSalad Store Shuts Down After Blade Found In Salad
By 7.20.11
Waiter, there’s a blade in my salad. Albuquerque health inspectors slapped a red dot of shame on a SouperSalad restaurant after they followed up complaints from a diner who said he found blades in his greens. [More]
DNA Links Grocery Clerk In Tainted Yogurt Case
By 2.10.11
Not only was there semen in the yogurt, but DNA testing has linked it with the same pushy grocery clerk who gave the free sample to the shopper who complained about it. [More]
Yep, There Was Semen In The Yogurt
By 2.7.11
The woman who reported to police last week that the free yogurt sample she received tasted like it had semen in it? Turns out she was right. Police have confirmed that the sample of Greek yogurt was tainted with semen. Results from DNA sample taken from the employee who handed out the sample are still pending. There’s something fishy about the free sample story though, according to the police report it doesn’t sound like there was an official sampling going on that day. UPDATE: The Smoking Gun has copies of the search warrant affidavit, police report, and a hand-written witness statement. [More]
Man Scores 100% Discount On Electronics By Making Fake Receipts At Home
By 1.25.11
Here’s a story that should let you check off both the “receipt-checking” and “I make my own at home” boxes on your Consumerist bingo card. A man in New Mexico was recently arrested for allegedly forging receipts to steal goods from Sam’s Club and other stores in his area. [More]
Virgin Galactic Confirms $200,000 Price For 5 Minutes Of Weightlessness
By 10.25.10
In what could either end up as either a key moment in the history of space travel or a snapshot of one really, really rich man’s intergalactic folly, bearded billionaire Richard Branson was on hand in New Mexico for a ceremony to celebrate work being done on the first Virgin Galactic spaceport. [More]
Should Walmart Pursue Shoplifting Charges Over $2 Bracelets?
By 9.17.10
Two teens in New Mexico are now reporting to juvenile probation after they were snagged allegedly attempting to swipe $2 worth of bracelets from a local Walmart. Does this mean that the retail giant has changed its policy of not pursuing charges against minors for thefts under $25? [More]
Man Files $530K Lawsuit Against Neighbor For Using WiFi, iPhone, Dimmer Switches
By 3.29.10
Beware your home electronics — your phones, wireless routers, even your dimmer switches — because they might be making your neighbor ill. Or at least that’s what one man in New Mexico is saying in a lawsuit against a technology-loving former friend. [More]
Man Spends $700 On Cell Phone Minutes To Get $700 Unemployment Check
By 2.28.10
Filing for unemployment benefits can be an exhausting bureaucratic mess, but it shouldn’t cost you hundreds of dollars. In theory. According to TV station KOB, though, a New Mexico man spent so many hours on hold with the unemployment office that he ran up a $700 cell phone bill. [More]
Walmart Thinks Woman Is Laundry Soap Thief, Refuses Return
By 10.13.09
When a soon-to-be mother realized she had bought the wrong laundry detergent at a New Mexico Walmart, she tried to return it. That didn’t work out so well, ending up with the store manager insinuating she was a con-artist who replaced the detergent with water.
Liveblog Transcript From Obama's Credit Card Reform Town Hall
By 5.14.09
Our fearless co-leader Ben just sent us this link from the Consumerist Washington delegation. The New Mexico Independent sent a reporter to liveblog today’s credit card reform town hall meeting at a high school in Rio Rancho, NM. The transcript includes comments and questions from readers, and also comments from national and regional consumer advocates.
