CrucesSunNews

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Algernon D’Ammassa, who generally covers statewide issues for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He recently spoke with Darcy Morrison, an inmate at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants. It’s a life she describes as “a quiet one.”

For much of the day, she works in the prison’s library, where she tutors other inmates. She told Algernon she completed her bachelor’s degree last year, and that she finds joy in teaching other inmates. After the daily 4 p.m. head count, she typically reads or watches “Jeopardy!” In her unit, inmates room together in pods of four. She said her companions are quiet and all get along well.

The New Mexico Corrections Department still lists her under her former married name, Darcy Smith. As a teenager, she was briefly wedded to Eric Smith, whom she described as violent and controlling in a relationship marked by substance abuse as well as physical and psychological violence. What led to Morrison’s arrest — and ultimately being sentenced to life in prison — dates back to a night in November 1992. It’s complicated, and at the end of the night, 17-year-old Adam Price was dead.

This week, we’re talking to Darcy, who was kind enough to join us to discuss her ongoing fight to have her sentence reconsidered. We’re also joined by attorneys Denali Wilson and Lalita Moskowitz from the American Civil Liberties Union — the ACLU — who are representing Darcy going forward.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Stephen Wagner, who is a sports reporter for the Sun-News. We’re talking about Abe Romero, a middle-linebacker for Organ Mountain High School who was tragically injured after sustaining a hit Friday, Aug. 26, during his football team's 28-7 victory over Deming.

Romero sustained a hit in the second quarter that appeared minor; he got up and played a couple more downs before collapsing on the field. He was immediately taken by ambulance to Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming, where a medevac helicopter transferred him to a trauma center in El Paso.

The entire team took a knee on the field as the helicopter passed over the field. Since then, it’s been touch-and-go for Romero. He’s undergone multiple surgeries, and as of Friday, Sept. 2, he was still in the ICU. His prognosis remains unclear.

Stephen was kind enough to join us this week to discuss his coverage of Abe’s story — and how the Las Cruces football community has come together to support Abe’s family.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Leah Romero, who covers trending stories for the Las Cruces Sun-News — and NOTHING is more “trending” this time of year than Hatch Green Chile. We’re also joined by Adrian Hedden of the Carlsbad Current-Argus, who recently wrote about the chile crop — and the commencement of roasting — around the state.

This year, the annual Hatch Chile Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary. Leah has been working to track down residents who were there for the iconic festival’s beginnings. Adrian has been covering the upspring of chile roasters around Southeast New Mexico. Sometimes, the chile being roasted is from Hatch; other times, it’s from the Pecos Valley — which also grows some respectable green chile.

Leah and Adrian were kind enough to join us this week to discuss their coverage of these events.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Justin Garcia, who covers public safety for the Las Cruces Sun-News. Justin recently traveled to Albuquerque in the wake of the killings of several Muslim men — which set the entire community on edge. Muslims in Albuquerque were fearful of an Islamophobic serial killer after four people were murdered over the span of several months.

But the reality of what happened was much more complicated and much harder to comprehend. On Aug. 9, police arrested 51-year-old Muhammed Syed, a Muslim and known community member. Syed was charged in two of the killings, and authorities say they are continuing to gather evidence to charge him in the other two.

Theories abound about the alleged killer’s motivations; none have yet been confirmed. The married father of six has denied involvement in the killings.

Albuquerque police say "an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings" and said the suspect appeared to know several of the victims. Authorities were examining whether he may have been motivated by religious zeal — such as the political and religious divides between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that underlie modern conflict in the Middle East, but those in the community have rejected such divides and refuse to be defined by them.

Now, the community is working to move forward, both with grieving over the deaths and processing how a member of their community could have done this.

Justin was kind enough to join us this week to discuss what he learned during his time in Albuquerque.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Lauren Villagran, who generally covers border issues for the El Paso Times. But she recently crossed a different border — the U.S./Canadian border — to take on an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of El Pasoans and fronterizos. Lauren traveled to Portapique, Nova Scotia, where, one night in April 2020, “in the time it took for the Bay of Fundy’s high tide to drain into the Atlantic and swell back up again to the wooded coast,” as Lauren wrote, “a deranged man gunned down 22 people in their homes and on the street, in Portapique and the idyllic communities that line the west shore.”

As Lauren notes, there were echoes of El Paso's Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting tragedy nine months earlier: the same number of initial victims, a shooter with easy access in the U.S. to "assault-style" firearms, a hashtag ending in "strong." But Canada’s response was much different from those in Texas and across the United States.

Lauren was kind enough to join us this week to discuss her trip, and her reporting.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Cassie McClure, who has written the column “My So-Called Millennial Life” for the Las Cruces Sun-News for many years. Since then, it has been picked up and nationally syndicated by Creators — a media and syndication company that has represented more than 250 of the most talented writers and artists in the world. Its talent has won several Pulitzer Prizes, Reuben awards and Peabody awards.

In recent years, Cassie has also been a prolific freelance writer. She has worked for a number of publications around the city, and has also done freelance writing for some of the biggest employers in Doña Ana County. We wanted to talk to her about what is often called the “gig economy.” Cassie has also worked in a more “traditional” public relations job, so she has a unique perspective to share.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about alcohol — specifically, New Mexico’s crisis of alcohol-related deaths. In a massive eight-part series, New Mexico In Depth recently took a look at many of the reasons drinking kills New Mexicans at a far higher rate than anywhere else in the nation. And it’s getting worse, not better. In the thoroughly-reported series, reporter Ted Alcorn discovered a long history of failures by state leaders to address the escalating problem.

We’re joined by New Mexico In Depth Managing Editor Marjorie Childress and by Ted, who talks about his reporting on this series.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about Latinos in the outdoors. This series, written by Mónica Ortiz Uribe at the El Paso Times, profiles several champions of the cause — and also features some ways southern New Mexico and El Paso residents can get out and enjoy our public spaces.

We’ll talk about how this series of stories came about, and then dive deeper into the individual stories of those profiled — like Nicole Roque, Eddie Misquez, Jerome Ford and Gabe Vasquez.

We’ll also talk about easily-accessible places that you can explore — pretty much “on the cheap” — if you’re in El Paso or southern New Mexico.

We’re joined by Mónica Ortiz Uribe, who talks about her reporting on this series.

This week, we’re talking about nuclear waste. In recent weeks, there has been a lot of news on this front, most of which is coming out of southeast New Mexico. The region has a long history with nuclear waste — dating back to the mid-1970s, when the area was first selected to be the site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. There were bumps in the road along the way — lots of them, in fact. And it wasn’t until 1999 that WIPP received its first actual shipment of nuclear waste.

Now, new talks are underway about a second storage facility in the area — the consolidated interim storage facility. The proposed storage facility in New Mexico would ultimately have a capacity to hold up to 100,000 metric tons of spent nuclear at the surface in southeast New Mexico. One New Jersey-based company intends to transport its waste about 1,400 miles to the facility.

Additionally, New Mexico State University recently received millions of dollars in federal Department of Energy grants to explore the possibility of recycling nuclear waste.

We talk to reporter Adrian Hedden, the energy reporter from the Carlsbad Current-Argus — who frequently writes about nuclear waste — about big changes afoot for southeast New Mexico, which appears poised to become the nuclear storage capital of the world.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about a new law impacting all New Mexico workers. As of July 1, private employers in New Mexico must allow their employees to earn paid sick leave if they don't already do so.

Workers covered by the Healthy Workplaces Act of 2021 may use the time off to recover from an illness or injury, assist an ailing family member or address covered legal or domestic situations. They will be able to accrue 64 hours annually in most cases — and will also be able to accumulate unused time year to year, although the employer does not have to allow them to take more than 64 hours off.

It’s a little complicated, but it’s also a game-changer for many New Mexico workers. We’ll dive into what it means, why it matters, and the difference it may make for people working around the state.

We’ll talk to Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Algernon D’Ammassa — who recently wrote about this for the newspaper — and to Stephanie Welch, the Workers' Rights Director for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. We’ll also be joined by Melissa Martinez from OLÉ — Organizers in the Land of Enchantment.