Predicting consumer behavior can be an obsession for businesses, no matter what their size. Big corporations dedicate entire departments to divining what people will want next so they can be first to offer it, and they invest massive amounts of money into predictive analytics—the mining of massive sets of data for patterns and trends in hopes of giving businesses a competitive edge by helping them predict the future.

Smaller businesses typically don’t have the means or need to invest in the sophisticated types of data crunching that their larger cousins do, but smaller-scale data analysis tools can help them track past and real-time trends and behaviors so they can make fact-based...

Gov. Susana Martinez left office with low approval ratings, according to Morning Consult.

Meanwhile, both of New Mexico’s U.S. Senators’ approval ratings remained over 40 percent, with a high amount of voters with no opinion.

The pollster found Martinez’s approval rating among all registered voters in her final three months in office was just 35 percent, while 49 percent disapproved of the Republican’s job performance. That was the ninth-highest disapproval rating among all 50 governors in the same time period.

In her final year in office, Martinez’s approval rating remained in the mid-30 percent range.

SENATORS

Martin Heinrich easily won re-election to the U.S. Senate in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.,  introduced the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act that would protect federal workers and their families from foreclosures, evictions, and loan defaults during a government shutdown. The partial government shutdown, now in its third week, hurts more than 800,000 federal workers in all 50 states, including nearly 6,000 in New Mexico.

“Federal employees and their families across New Mexico are being hit especially hard by President Trump’s reckless and unnecessary shutdown,” said Senator Heinrich. “This bill would help alleviate financial stress and protect federal workers in New Mexico impacted by the shutdown. I will...

Bison Star Naturals is one of six enterprises that shared $60,000 of investment in 2018 as part of the Native American Venture Acceleration Fund program administered by the Regional Development Corporation.

NAVAF aims to create jobs by boosting revenue and advancing the business goals of Native American-owned Northern New Mexico companies.

Jacquelene and Angelo McHorse, owners of Bison Star Naturals, sought the funds to launch a line of liquid jojoba and yucca root soap to augment the bar soaps and lotions the business is known for.

“We also are expanding our line to include our unscented lotion,” Jacquelene said. “The funding allows us to release a new product line and expand...