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Here's what the NM Jobs Council has been working on
One of the state's bipartisan efforts to spur job growth is gearing up for a busy fall. The New Mexico Legislative Jobs Council is a mixed group of legislative leaders, key Cabinet members from the governor's office and private sector leaders. Over the last year the council identified several key areas where private and public partnerships could help address the state's continued job woes. That includes things like extending high-speed internet access, which the council says could put as many as?

5 things you need to know today, and one of the nation's top distributors calls NM home
Its operations stretch as far away as Dubai, but Albuquerque remains its home base. Read on for that and five more things to know today. Four out of seven ain't bad That's how many of our Recovery Index criteria, measuring Albuquerque's recovery from the recession, are hitting 90 percent or greater. Overall, the Duke City's 84.5 percent recovered. (How cool is it that we can measure that?) Data Journalist Juliana Vadnais has the scoop on what sectors are recovering fastest. Change on the horizon?

Here?s what it?s like running a spaceport for five years
We talked with Spaceport America's head about her five years there, and what's next for the facility.

5 things you need to know today, and traffic on this NM flight's starting to soar
The flight's occupancy rate hit its peak to date of 91 percent in late July. Read on for that and five more things to know today. Clear Light's growth is clear A longtime favorite is back, and so is the demand for its products. Clear Light is well-known throughout the state for its personal care and home goods products created using locally sourced cedar. Local entrepreneurs Keith Allen West and Adam Ciepiela worked out an agreement to acquire it, and West says a relaunch of the company?s online?

CEO of NM health exchange stepping down
Amy Dowd, CEO of New Mexico's Health Insurance Exchange, also known as beWellnm, is leaving the position in September to work with Molina Healthcare as the associate vice president of marketplace operations. "She will be working with the [NMHIX] board to establish a transition plan," said Tom Garrity, spokesperson for NMHIX. "This is a fluid process." Garrity says Dowd has committed to stay on with the exchange until at least Sept. 16, which is the next NMHIX board meeting. Lisa Rubino, senior?

Panera Bread cutting artificial ingredients from kids menu
Panera Bread Co. announced Thursday that it is removing all artificial flavors, preservatives, sweeteners and colors from artificial sources from its children's menu, starting Sept. 7. Issuing what it called its "Kids Meal Promise," the Sunset Hills-based company said that its menu for kids, including soups, salads, pasta and sandwiches, would be free of all ingredients identified on Panera's previously released "No No List" of additives it's banned from its bakery-cafe items. In May 2015, Panera?

Fastest Growing Companies honorees celebrate and play ball (slideshow)
Thursday's Fastest Growing Companies awards luncheon felt more like a baseball game at Isotopes Park than your standard business luncheon. There were baseballs and boxes of Cracker Jacks at the tables, a seventh-inning stretch and even a chile race with the Business First news team donning the famous costumes seen at Isotopes games. But the real all-stars were the 29 honorees who proved they were the fastest players in the game. More than 250 people helped us celebrate their growth and success.?

CNM offers new coding course on .Net
Starting Sept. 13, Central New Mexico Community College will be offering its first after-work coding course, focusing on ".Net" programming. ".Net" is a web development framework owned by Microsoft, says John Mierzwa, director of STEMulus Initiatives at CNM, and it's a pretty popular software. Mierzwa says the vast majority of government agencies, as well as hospitals and large businesses, rely on .Net framework for both web development and back-end data management. ".Net development skills are?

Here?s how one local utility company is trying to fix your Netflix problems
Demand is high, and there's a job creation angle, too.

5 things you need to know today, and here's how fast our news team is
Faster than a speeding ... taco? You'll have to read it to believe it. Here's that and five more things to know to end your week. The fastest of them all Albuquerque Business First revealed the rankings of New Mexico?s Fastest Growing Companies Thursday. Our No. 1 fastest growing company was Realty One of New Mexico, which grew 1,009 percent from 2013 to 2015, followed by P4Q USA Inc., which grew 495 percent, and The Garrity Group Public Relations, which grew 250 percent. Congratulations to our?