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This month's Socorro restaurant review features Stevie's Grill, across I-25 east of California Street and beside El Sombrero. It features the standard New Mexican fare: green and red chili cuisine such as green chili burgers, tamales, enchiladas, tostadas, burritos, and a nice array of breakfast fare. The atmosphere is pleasant, the service friendly, and the prices reasonable.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) wants to increase testing at White Sands Missile Range using chemical and biological "simulants" - agents which simulate the properties of more hazardous agents that might be involved in a WMD (chemical or biological) attack against the US. The DTRA has been on a whirlwind tour in support of its Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) which claims that the testing the agency proposes would have a negligible environmental impact.

A controversy has erupted over an article attributed to Congressman Steve Pearce, of New Mexico's district 2, which ran recently in Socorro's local paper, El Defensor Chieftain. The article also seems to have appeared in Socorro's other local paper, the Mountain Mail. Ironically entitled "Straight Talk", the article was found to be an almost word for word rip-off of a piece published on the web site of the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing "think tank" which espouses many anti-environmental and pro-business positions.

New Mexico's Representative for District 2, Congressman Steve Pearce, recently voted in favor of the controversial House energy bill. Critics of the bill argue that it puts too much emphasis on the production of fossil fuels and not enough emphasis on conservation and renewable energy, while proponents of the bill argue that the US should develop all available resources to offset the high price of gasoline. Correspondent S.L. Harrington caught up with Congressman Pearce recently for a phone interview, where they discussed energy policy.

New Mexico's Representative for District 2, Republican Congressman Steve Pearce, recently initiated a state-wide "listening tour" to gauge interest in his chosen stance in favor of President Bush's controversial initiative to privatize Social Security. Critics of the privatization argue that it is a dangerous proposal which will leave many citizens without a safety net when they retire, while proponents of the privatization idea suggest it is a way to alleviate fiscal problems looming on the horizon for the program. Correspondent S.L.