New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs sits down with an expert from the New Mexico Department of Health to talk about COVID-19, the coronavirus that is sending the country – and the world – into a panic. The federal government has taken the lead on the country’s response, though state and local health officials will shoulder much of the burden. After Super Tuesday, Democrati...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs sits down with the executive director of the New Mexico Ethics Commission, Jeremy Farris. Decades in the making, the commission began its work in January of this year. The interview is part of the Your NM Government project, a partnership with KUNM radio and the Santa Fe Reporter. Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel wrapped up their in...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Gwyneth Doland travels to the Roundhouse to get a feel for how lawmakers think the session went. The focus in the last days of the session is on money, and how much of it is safe to spend. This legislative segment is part of the Your New Mexico Government Project, a collaboration with KUNM Radio and the Santa Fe Reporter.    This month’s in...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, “Our Land” correspondent Laura Paskus follows up on a story she broke last weekend. She talks to leaders at the New Mexico Environment Department about the low levels of PFAS toxic chemicals that have been found in some intake wells in the eastern New Mexico city of Clovis. It’s back to the state’s capital with correspondent Gwyneth Doland and the Your New Mexico...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Gwyneth Doland is back at the Roundhouse to talk to lawmakers about fair representation and the funding woes of the state’s new Ethics Commission. The budget debated in the House this week doesn’t fully fund the new commission, which is in place to monitor legislators. Also, there’s a movement afoot to change the way New Mexico redraws its political...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Antonia Gonzales looks at sports gambling, with a focus on Isleta Resort and Casino. A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door for previously banned commercial sports betting, and a number of New Mexico tribes have opened sports books at their casinos. Ms. Gonzales examines how and why Isleta Pueblo chose to open its sports book, what busine...

This week, New Mexico in Focus takes a close look at topics important to the state now that the 2020 legislative session has begun. Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel watched the governor’s State of the State address in the NMPBS studio as it was broadcast from the Roundhouse by our television crew. The Line panel of former lawmakers took a deep dive into their takeaways from the speech, which...

NMPBS, KUNM and The Santa Fe Reporter are proud to bring you the 2020 State of the State Address, delivered by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. Along with the speech, we also bring you analysis and insight with a panel of former lawmakers. This is part of the #YourNMGov project. (Funding for #YourNMGov provided by the Thornburg Foundation and the New Mexico...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, it’s a preview of the upcoming legislative session. Lawmakers are already at work in the Roundhouse, and the full Legislature returns Tuesday, Jan. 21, to begin the 30-day session. Ahead of the State of the State address, NMiF Senior Producer Matt Grubs sits down with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for a preview of what to expect when the governor delivers her offici...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, it’s a look at how New Mexico’s oil boom in the Permian Basin is altering life for many in the southeast corner of the state. With people flocking to the area for jobs, community needs like roads, schools and housing are struggling to keep pace. The boom is also filling state government coffers as we head into the legislative session later this month. NMIF corresp...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we continue our annual countdown of the top stories of the year, with a special Line opinion panel of all journalists. Our look back at 2019 wraps up with topics such as the passing of the landmark Energy Transition Act and the move toward recreational cannabis legalization. But what tops the list as the most impactful story of the year? Tune in as The Line paneli...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we begin our annual countdown of the top stories of the year, with a special Line opinion panel of all journalists. Our look back at 2019 kicks off with topics ranging from President Trump’s visit to Rio Rancho this fall to groundwater contamination near New Mexico military installations and Governor Michelle Lujan’s first year in office. NMiF also looks back at a...

This week, New Mexico in Focus speaks with Vera and Chanterelle Sung, whose family owns the Abacus Federal Savings Bank in Manhattan. After the financial collapse a decade ago, relatively tiny Abacus was the only bank to face criminal sanctions. The bank self-reported suspected violations to the authorities, then was stunned by the prosecution that followed. Producer Matt Grubs speaks with two of...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs sits down with Steve Terrell, newly retired from the Santa Fe New Mexican after four decades as a newspaper man. They talk about what’s changed over the years since Terrell first started covering the Legislature and New Mexico politics. In this month’s installment of Our Land, correspondent Laura Paskus and the NMiF crew travel to the bo...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs catches up with Congresswoman Deb Haaland. The freshman congresswoman has been outspoken on the need for greater investigation into missing and murdered Native women and speaks frankly about how she feels law enforcement needs to prioritize such cases. She also addresses the need for more robust broadband access throughout New Mexico. Ge...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we celebrate Joy Harjo, a groundbreaking poet and New Mexico treasure. An enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma, Harjo went to school at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and was both a student and faculty member at UNM. Earlier this year, she made history as the first Native American to be named a national poet laureate. She has...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Antonia Gonzales travels to Jemez Pueblo to meet Tina Archuleta, who has made it her mission to decolonize Native diets. Archuleta founded Itality plant-based wellness to restore health and balance to pueblos and reservations that often find themselves in what nutritionists call “food deserts,” or places far from a store that sells fresh groceries. A...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with Albuquerque Journal business reporter Kevin Robinson-Avila to discuss his in-depth series on The Energy Transition Act. The ETA, signed into law this year by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, requires all local utilities to get half of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 – prompting a shakeup among rural electric...

This week, New Mexico in Focus interviews Thomas Saenz, the national president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Saenz has been a key figure in the Martínez/Yazzie v. State of New Mexico lawsuit, the case that is forcing the state to improve the education it provides for certain groups of students. Recently, both groups of plaintiffs asked the court to set more s...

This week on New Mexico in Focus: the struggle to shape and reshape Albuquerque’s neighborhoods. Just over a year ago, the city moved to a new way of planning and zoning, designed to cut down on the regulatory burden for developers, while also establishing quality standards and protections for communities. Correspondent Gwyneth Doland sits down with representatives from the Historic Neighborhoods...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, a closer look at Albuquerque’s plan for a public campaign finance voucher system, termed “Democracy Dollars.” Advocates say it’s a way to counteract the influence of money from a few wealthy donors who finance candidates for city elections. Detractors say it’s a misguided effort that would be applied too broadly and unfairly favor organizing committees who would s...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller for an in-depth discussion on the eleven bonds and the quarter-cent gross receipts tax that will be on this November’s ballot, along with recent financial decisions that might impact how citizens vote. In recognition of New Mexico’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day (replacing Columbus Day), the...

This week on New Mexico in Focus: The state’s first official Indigenous Peoples’ Day is right around the corner on Monday, October 13. Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with three Native artists and activists about how they plan to celebrate, what the day can mean for Indigenous peoples, and how they pass their message and history to non-Natives who are curious about the past. In this month’s...

This week, New Mexico in Focus digs into how Americans perceive the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Correspondent Gwyneth Doland sits down with UNM Political Science Professor Jessica Feezell to talk about the political messaging surrounding impeachment, as well as how to process news from different sources. NMiF checks in on a contest designed to get students interested in STEM (science...

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta takes flight in just over a week. The event is one of the highlights of the year and a huge tourism draw for the state. But this year, the Fiesta will include some new additions like undercover officers and metal detectors. Host Gene Grant went live on Facebook this week with Balloon Fiesta officials to talk about the changes and what spectators need to...