Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
tuesday October 21, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 45
Grant gives colleges tools to help workers By Sayyed Shah Eleven community colleges in New Mexico — including UNM’s four branch campuses — will split $15 million in federal funding to develop innovative training programs in partnership with local businesses to direct New Mexican adults into the workforce. This funding allows colleges across New Mexico to provide students and workers with quality job training to help fill the needs of New Mexico’s expanding health care and technology workforce,
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said. “The funding, provided under Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) competitive grant program, will allow these community colleges to expand and improve their ability to deliver education and career training programs that will help job seekers get the skills,” Heinrich’s website states. The colleges will receive the funding as part of a consortium led by Santa Fe Community College to establish career pathways for
New Mexico citizens. The lead institute, Santa Fe Community College, will receive $5,682,378. Consortium members as sub-recipients include University of New Mexico branch campuses: Taos, $688,983.00; Valencia, $788,029; Los Alamos, $579,961; and Gallup, $866,967. The funds are specifically targeted to help New Mexican adults advance into high-wage careers in Healthcare and Health Information Technology. “Our community colleges provide quality training and education
to more than 80,000 New Mexicans each year, and this funding will help them better prepare veterans and those whose jobs were affected by foreign trade to develop the skills for high-wage jobs in health care,” U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said. Udall said the investment in the community college system will ensure that New Mexican workers have the training they need to succeed in these in-demand career opportunities. The consortium was formed in 2011 to apply for the TAACCCT funding. This successful award
was Round 4 and the last of the TAACCCT funding. The four UNM branch campuses will benefit from this funding as members of the consortium. “We are excited and hope this funding would improve our existing programs and help us start some new programs as well,” said Rita Gallegos Logan, community education services manager for the UNM-Valencia campus. UNM-Valencia has a robust Allied Health pathway which
see
Valencia page 2
Locals mark Wilderness Act anniversary By Moriah Carty
Aaron Anglin / Daily Lobo / @AaronJAnglin
Leyton Cougar and Storm, an arctic wolf from the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, interact with visitors of the Wilderness50 “Get Wild Festival” held Saturday at the Civic Plaza in downtown Albuquerque. The festival was put on in conjunction with the National Wilderness Conference and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
This year marks the 50th anniversary for the Wilderness Act signed in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and some enthusiasts took time to educate people about the Great Outdoors. The Get Wild Festival, celebrated Saturday at the Civic Center, drew attention to the act that helped protect 9.1 million acres of wilderness lands. Several exhibitors at the festival focused on educating visitors about the Wilderness Act and how they can make an impact for the better on their environment. Sarah Lujan, president for the student-run organization Lobo Strategies for Ecological Education, Diversity and Sustainability (SEEDS for short) focused on the use of field guides at the event. It is important for people hiking to identify what they are looking at, she said. Field guides are vital to hiking because they inform the hiker on what to expect and the wildlife that lives there. The Wilderness Act is the best way to preserve the land and the wildlife because they restrict human activities on the land, she said. “Even your presence, walking around, can change how the animals act around you and how they interact with their environment,” Lujan said. Lobo SEEDS is working to get involved in local schools and offer short, educational presentations on how to approach nature.
see
Wilderness page 2
Attorney says tax evasions cost IRS billions By Tomas Lujan
The Internal Revenue Service may be forfeiting billions of dollars in taxes from some of the nation’s largest companies. The trouble is, it’s illegal. On Sunday, an attorney in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and IRS Whistleblower Office in Washington released a letter noting questionable practices within the IRS. According to the letter, attorney Jane Kim’s deepest concerns are that IRS executives are giving away billions to large corporate taxpayers through lax enforcement of laws that are imposed on citizens, small
businesses and wage-earning individuals with “draconian strictness.” Further, the method of implementation of the illegal tax schemes is downright insulting to the checks and balances instituted to prevent such activity, she said. “The IRS appears to have intentionally undermined the authority of the IRS Whistleblower Office so that no action is taken in cases involving billions in corporate taxes due,” Kim wrote in the letter sent to media outlets. One of the primary examples Kim presents is the case of Caterpillar U.S., an American company that produces industrial equip-
ment, which went under investigation by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and others earlier this year. According to an official statement by Levin during the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on “Caterpillar’s Offshore Tax Strategy, April 1, 2014,” Caterpillar U.S. in 1999 drafted a tax strategy with the seemingly deliberate and sole intent of evading the payment of U.S. taxes. “From 2000 to 2012, the Swiss tax strategy shifted eight billion in profits from Caterpillar U.S. to its affiliate in Switzerland,” Levin said in the statement. “This cut Caterpillar’s U.S. tax bill by $2.4 billion
during that period.” Levin said that despite the fact that most of Caterpillar’s production, assets, employees and parts are based in the United States, the majority of its international parts profits go to Switzerland. “Caterpillar is an American success story that produces iconic industrial machines,” Levin said. “But it is also a member of the corporate profit-shifting club that has transferred billions of dollars offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes.” Kim said while formal investigations like those conducted by Levin’s staff highlight work that the IRS WO failed to pursue, they could
only draft a report and hope that the IRS would act on it. “As of yet it remains unclear whether any tax has been collected,” Kim wrote. The IRS estimates that the United States loses as much as $450 billion in tax evasion per year, according to a report published on the IRS website, “IRS Releases New Tax Gap Estimates; Compliance Rates Remain Statistically Unchanged From Previous Study.” What the study doesn’t show is that a large portion of the tax gap, especially with regard to the evidence Kim’s presents, appears to
see
IRS page 3