New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we report from the special legislative session at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, where lawmakers quickly passed a series of funding and other bills meant to shore up health care, public media and COVID vaccine access in the wake of massive cuts and confusion from the Trump administration.   Host: Nash Jones    Segments:    State House Speaker Sums Up Special Session...

This episode of the podcast, we conclude our interviews with Albuquerque mayoral candidates when political newcomer Mayling Armijo speaks with NMiF Show Host Nash Jones. Nash explores some of the big issues facing the city: homelessness, housing, crime and economic opportunity.  Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Mayling Armijo, Albuquerque Mayoral Candidate 

At the end of National Suicide Prevention Month, NMiF Show Host Nash Jones sit down with a Health Department official and two staffers from the New Mexico Crisis & Access Line to talk about an uptick last year in suicides across the state — and lift up suggestions for community care. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guests: Clarie Miller, NM Health Department, Suicide Preve...

We near the end of our interviews with candidates for Albuquerque Mayor with current city councilor Louie Sanchez. NMiF Show Host Nash Jonesexplores some of the big issues facing the city with Sanchez: homelessness, housing, crime and economic opportunity. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Louie Sanchez, Albuquerque City Councilor, Mayoral Candidate 

Reporter Cailley Chella takes us to Santa Fe, where she spoke with three of the city's eight candidates vying for the mayor’s office in the City Different. Letitia Montoya, Jeanne O'Dean and Oscar Rodriguez tell Chella their thoughts on Santa Fe's affordability crisis and the city's recent partnership with Urban Alchemy to work with the rising unhoused population.  Podcast Host: Lo...

We continue our look-ahead to Albuquerque's mayoral election. In an effort to fairly give all seven candidates airtime over the next few weeks, our team set a threshold for who would qualify for a one-on-one interview based on fundraising and petition signatures. Those interviews are forthcoming. Correspondent Cailley Chella sits down with candidates Daniel Chavez and Eddie Varela to get their...

We return to Albuquerque's upcoming mayoral election with an interview of one of Mayor Tim Keller's progressive challengers, former New Mexico U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez. Host Nash Jones asks whether his time as a chief federal law enforcement officer would inform his priorities as mayor. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Alexander Uballez, Candidate for Albu...

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we zero-in on Albuquerque's upcoming mayoral election a one-on-one interview with incumbent Tim Keller. NMiF Show Host Nash Jones asks Keller why voters should elect him for an unprecedented third consecutive term. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Tim Keller, Albuquerque Mayor

It's local election season. In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, mayoral and city council candidates have an opportunity to fund their campaigns with taxpayer money if they qualify for public financing. In Albuquerque, just one candidate for mayor reached the threshold for public dollars: incumbent Mayor Tim Keller. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio met with one of the people who originally crafted Albuquer...

State Environment Secretary James Kenney made a rare appearance at last month's meeting of the Water Quality Control Commission. Kenney advocated for the board to adopt a proposal that would expand the state's use of “produced water” — oil and gas wastewater that's loaded with questionable chemicals. Previous pushes to pass a similar proposal have died in the Legislature, as well as wi...

National headlines on the redrawing of congressional maps have hit our state. NMiF Host Nash Jones spoke with Democratic state Sen. Harold Pope, one of two lawmakers who stepped down from the New Mexico Redistricting Task Force. Pope tells Nash why Republican gerrymandering in other states led him to quit the nonpartisan group that's focused on crafting fair districts. Later, Nash hears from t...

Senior Producer Lou DiVizio sits down for two-part a discussion on Medicaid with Legislative Finance Committee Director Charles Sallee and Democratic former state senator Dede Feldman. Lou asks how Trump's Medicaid cuts will impact New Mexico's rural health care system. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guests: Charles Sallee, Director, Legislative Finance Committee Dede Feldman, Democratic Former...

Democratic U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez is back in New Mexico this month as Congress is on recess throughout the month of August. While here, the congresswoman is updating her constituents on all that's gone down this year in Washington, D.C. NMiF show host Nash Jones speaks with Leger Fernandez about the Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement and about Trump’s mult...

Investigative journalist and author Mariah Blake has spent years reporting on the ways PFAS, commonly referred to as forever chemicals, have posed a threat to our environment. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio recently sat down with Blake to talk about her new book: "They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals." Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: Mariah Blake, Author, Investiga...

Late last month, President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency proposed rescinding the “endangerment finding" — an Obama-era addition to the Federal Clean Air Act of 1963 that recognized the dangers of climate change. Host Nash Jones sits down Camilla Feibelman, director of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, and Ben Shelton, deputy secretary of the state's Energy, Minera...

In collaboration with nonprofit news organization Capital and Main, oil and gas reporter Jerry Redfern stopped by our studio to interview Kyle Tisdel, senior attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. The two examine Trump's tax and spending bill — and how it fits with Trump's executive orders to roll back federal regulations on the oil and gas industry. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio...

State Sen. Jim Townsend, a Republican from Artesia, sits down for a conversation with Senior Producer Lou DiVizioabout Trump's massive tax and spending bill and how it will impact New Mexicans. Although he praises the bill, Townsend tells Lou that he wants state leaders to help fill funding gaps left in the wake of Trump’s cuts. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: NM Sen. Jim Townsend, R-Artesia 

Tina Cordova, the president and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders, has advocated for decades for those who were exposed to radiation during and after the Trinity Test —  the first-ever detonation of a nuclear bomb. Host Nash Jones speaks with Cordova about her life's work: pushing for reparations for New Mexico victims, and what the newly revived Radiation Exposure Compensation Act...

Earlier this month, Congress approved President Trump's request to strip away the next two years of funds previously allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As a result, our local public television station and about 1,500 others — along with the national PBS and NPR networks — will no longer receive federal funding starting in October. This week, we invited two local opinion colu...

Higher Education Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez and two program directors at the department, sit down with NMiF Hose Nash Jones to discuss how several new loan forgiveness programs are meant to help more New Mexicans pursue high-paying, high-skill jobs. The three also discuss new scholarship programs aimed at making higher education more affordable for graduate students and people who never finishe...

For years, reporters Ed Williams of Searchlight New Mexico and Taylor Velazquez of KUNM News have documented the shortcomings and failures of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. In their conversation with host Nash Jones, the pair discuss the new changes made at the department that aim to address its many issues surrounding child placement and housing. Later, Nash asks how the...

Ctrl+P Publishing owner Pat Davis has been on each of our 'State of the Local Media’ specials for the last three years. Since the former Democratic Albuquerque City Councilor last stopped by our studio, his quickly growing local media company has hit a snag. Nash sits down with Davis to discuss the challenges and changes at his local outlets over the last year. NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Pa...

We continue our look at the state of local public media as Host Nash Jones sits down with the new general manager of KUNM, Jeff Pope. Nash returns to their former workplace to meet the new boss and hear Pope’s first impressions and vision for the future. We dive into how KUNM can meet the moment while potentially weathering significant funding cuts. NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Jeff Pope, Gen...

Late last year, Jay Newton-Small stepped in to lead the Albuquerque Journal following the ouster of former editor Patrick Etheridge. Newton-Small has been a journalist for more than two decades, writing for Time Magazine and Bloomberg News. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio asks Newton-Small about her vision for the state's largest newspaper in the years ahead. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: Jay N...

This week, show host Nash Jones sit down with Leon Howard, the new executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico to discuss his priorities as he takes the helm of the local chapter of the national civil rights organization. Plus, Howard weighs in on a few specific cases they’re working on. Multimedia journalist Cailley Chella is the newest reporter to join New Mexico in Focus. Nash interviews Caill...