Rocky Mountain Media Grok

Utahns Keep On Spending, and Rio Rancho as the New Dallas

By Emily Esterson, 12-30-05

Utahns continue to shop til they drop, with retail sales for 2005 totaling $22 billion. That means the state will have a revenue surplus. Forecasters thing that 2006 won't be quite as strong as this year. Net in-migration (the number of people who come to a place versus the number that leave) will drop in 2006, say the soothsayers at the University of Utah Bureau of Business and Economic Research. It would be hard to beat 2005's number--net in-migration increased 120 percent.

Speaking of in-migration, Rio Rancho, New Mexico is about to bump Santa Fe down a notch in the largest cities category. The sprawling suburb on the northest edge of Albuquerque is waiting for the official count before proclaiming itself the third largest city in the state, behind Albuquerque and Las Cruces. That would put Santa Fe down to number four. Earlier this year the city of Albuquerque took offense when an Albuquerque Journal reporter mentioned that Albuquerque may become the Fort Worth to Rio Rancho's Dallas.

If you want to fly to space on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, based out in the New Mexico desert, you're going to have to follow the rules. Following the announcement a couple of weeks ago that Branson and the state of New Mexico were planing on building a spaceport 25 miles south of Truth or Consequences, the government issued 120 pages of rules for space travel

In Billings, some cops may be worried about their sex lives. After confiscating some Levitra from a crime scene, the cops "mishandled" the medication by, um, taking it home. They were given two weeks suspension without pay.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.