One advantage of running a small business with family or friends is that the principals know and are committed to one another and the success of their enterprise. But intimate partnerships also have potential relationship-based perils, some of which could cause work-force demoralization, legal problems and even failure.

The trick to making a small venture succeed is to acknowledge these risks from the start and institute processes to contain or minimize them.

Conflicts are inevitable, so prepare for them: Disputes arise in all businesses, but they’re harder to conceal in a small operation that doesn’t have a formal complaints-resolution process or human resources personnel...

High rates of child poverty continue to hamper further progress

SANTA FE — Several indicators of child well-being are showing improvement in New Mexico, but a persistently high rate of children living in poverty continues to cast a pall over the state. That is the overall conclusion in the 2017 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book, released Jan. 16 by New Mexico Voices for Children at 10 am at the Roundhouse to coincide with the start of the legislative session.

The theme of this year’s report is “At a Crossroads: Choosing the Path to Child Well-being in New Mexico” to reflect unprecedented changes at the federal level as well as the fact that this year New Mexico voters will elect...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Jan. 17, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, spoke on the Senate floor to express concern with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act and urged his Senate colleagues to oppose the statute’s reauthorization until necessary privacy reforms are included.

Senator Heinrich is a cosponsor of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Reforming and Improving the Government’s High-Tech Surveillance (USA RIGHTS) Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), that reforms Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to end warrantless backdoor...

New Mexico’s vibrant energy sector, which helped lead the state’s economic recovery, is facing a new threat.

Despite being a critical source of jobs and providing millions of dollars of revenue for the state’s schools, the energy industry is being challenged, not only through regulation, but through little-known lawsuits funded by deep-pocketed special interest groups aimed at ending the industry altogether.

One group in particular is seeking to initiate a federal case and proceedings in all 50 states, filing lawsuits in eight of them, including Oregon, Colorado and right here in New Mexico.

Behind the activist activity is a group called Our Children’s Trust. They are...