New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

Lou DiVizio opens the show with some headlines from around New Mexico, including an update on the arrest of a 23-year-old man in the shooting of a Native American man during a peaceful demonstration in Española.

This week on New Mexico in Focus, Attorney General Raúl Torrez explains two recent decisions involving education in our state. In partnership with New Mexico In Depth, Executive Director Trip Jennings asks Torrez about his intention to take over litigation in the Yazzie-Martinez case. Then, Jennings discusses a recent announcement from the attorney general that his office will investigate reported disproportionately harsh discipline at Gallup-McKinley County Schools. New Mexico In Depth’s Bryant Furlow broke the story last year, prompting Torrez to take a closer look.  

Executive Producer Jeff Proctor moderates a special panel that reacts to both of those topics and digs deeper into some of the lingering questions around each. Jeff asks if the attorney general has the broad authority he’s asserting to take over the Yazzie-Martinez case and if there could be a political incentive for him to get involved. Then, Jeff and the panel explore New Mexico In Depth’s reporting on the disciplinary issues at Gallup-McKinley and how Torrez’s investigation could play out.  

Correspondent: Trip Jennings, executive director, New Mexico In Depth

Guest: Raúl Torrez, (D) Attorney General, New Mexico 

Panel Host: Jeff Proctor

Guests: 

Trip Jennings, executive director, New Mexico In Depth 

Regis Pecos, co-founder, Santa Fe Indian School Leadership Institute 

Danielle Gonzales, senior fellow, One Generation Fund, APS board member 

For More Information:

NM Attorney General seeks control over state response to Yazzie-Martinez – New Mexico In Depth 

Does Not Equal: New Mexico faces a steep climb to make education more equitable – Santa Fe Reporter 

Attorney General to Investigate School Discipline at Gallup McKinley Schools – New Mexico In Depth 

Lou DiVizio gives a rundown of some headlines from around the state to start the week, including an update on the arrest of three suspects in the shooting outside Isotopes park that killed an 11-year-old boy and paralyzed a 23-year-old woman.

Then, Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus hosts a roundtable conversation with U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Regional Forester Michiko Martin, Santa Fe National Forest Supervisor Shaun Sanchez, and Santa Fe National Forest Fuels Program Manager Dennis Carril. They talk about the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon and Cerro Pelado fires, prescribed burn protocols, and the future of fire and forest management in a warming world. 

Panel Host: Laura Paskus

Guests: 

Michiko Martin, U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Regional Forester  
Shaun Sanchez, Santa Fe National Forest Supervisor  
Dennis Carril, Santa Fe National Forest Fuels Program Manager 

For More Information:

U.S. Forest Service’s National Prescribed Fire Resource Mobilization Strategy 

U.S. Forest Service investigation of the Cerro Pelado Fire 

Lou DiVizio opens the show this week with some headlines from around the state, including information on a new lawsuit filed in the death of a Farmington man who was shot and killed by police responding to the wrong address.

Then, Jeff Proctor and a special panel addresses Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive order attempting to ban guns in public in Bernalillo County for 30 days. Last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Urias struck down part of the order, issuing a temporary restraining order, specifically blocking the ban on carrying firearms.

Host: Lou DiVizio

Panel Host: Jeff Proctor

Guests:

Tom Grover, attorney, former Albuquerque Police sergeant  

Marisa Demarco, national editor, States Newsroom 

Frank Davis, attorney 

Free Flow New Mexico - Seeking to End Period Poverty

NMiF Senior Producer Lou DiVizio opens the show with headlines from around the state, including an update on the search for whoever shot and killed an 11-year-old in a road rage incident outside Isotopes Park. Plus, more information on the Governor's State of Emergency over gun violence.

Then, we remember Gov. Bill Richardson, who died in his sleep in September 1 at the age of 75. NMiF correspondent Russell Contreras hosts a special panel discussion about Richardson’s impact here in New Mexico, and more broadly on the national and international stages.  

Finally, Lou speaks with Mike Loftin, CEO of Homewise Inc., who breaks down a proposal on the ballot for Santa Fe voters this fall that would tax homes over $1M, sending the revenue generated to the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Lou also asks Loftin how the proposal could help balance the city’s housing market.  

Panel Host: Russell Contreras

Guests:

Diane Denish, former Lt. Governor, Richardson Administration 

Martha Burk, author, host of the podcast ‘Equal Time with Martha Burk’   

Steve Terrell, retired reporter, Santa Fe New Mexican 

For More Information:

Will high-end excise tax solve Santa Fe's housing woes? – Santa Fe New Mexican 

U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez speaks with correspondent Russell Contreras in his first interview on NMPBS. Russell asks about Uballez’s background, his approach to the position, youth gun violence, the effectiveness of the Department of Justice's police reform efforts in Albuquerque and several initiatives his office is pursuing to expand services on the Navajo Nation. 

Host: Lou DiVizio

Correspondent: Russell Contreras 

Guest: Alexander Uballez, U.S. Attorney, District of New Mexico 

For More Information:

US Attorney - District of New Mexico

This year, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 40-year license for a private company, Holtec International, to build a facility between Hobbs and Carlsbad that would store nuclear waste from power plants the company is decommissioning in states from New Jersey to California. New Mexico already stores transuranic waste from nuclear weapons production in the salt caverns at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or WIPP.  This project would be different, and would eventually hold up to 10,000 canisters, with each canister holding 8,680 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants. The New Mexico State Legislature passed Senate Bill 53 this year, which would prohibit state agencies from issuing permits, contracts or leases for the facility—unless the state approves the facility or the federal government moves forward with a permanent storage spot for the nation's commercial nuclear waste.  

On this special episode of Our Land, we hear from John Heaton, a former New Mexico state representative who works with Holtec; Sen. Jeff Steinborn, the sponsor of Senate Bill 53; and Dr. Myrriah Gómez, a professor at the University of New Mexico and the author of "Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos.” 

Host: Lou DiVizio

Correspondent: Laura Paskus 

Guests: 

John Heaton, chair, Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance 

Dr. Myrriah Gómez, author of "Nuclear Nuevo México." 

Jeff Steinborn, (D) NM District 36 – Doña Ana County 

For More Information:

Nuclear waste storage permit slated for September public meeting – Source NM 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Approves Nuclear Waste License in NM – Our Land 

Concern Over Nuclear Disposal Plan – Our Land  

NMiF Senior Producer opens the show with some headlines from around the state to start your week, including a new report showing the pilot in a deadly 2021 hot air balloon crash had drugs in his system.

Then, Executive Producer Jeff Proctor talks with Trip Jennings, executive director of New Mexico In Depth, and Emma Green, program coordinator with the state’s Public Education Department, about a pilot program aimed at reducing student expulsions. Jeff asks how the plan takes a new approach to school discipline and is rooted in a philosophy called "restorative justice." 

Host: Lou DiVizio

Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor

Guests:

Trip Jennings, executive director, New Mexico In Depth 

Emma Green, program coordinator, New Mexico Public Education Department 

Growing number of NM schools pursue restorative justice to keep kids in schools – New Mexico In Depth 

Native students are expelled in New Mexico far more than any other group. This school district is ground zero for the disparity. — New Mexico in Depth 

Prevention, Response and Resiliency Program — NMPED 

This week's podcast is a bit of a sad one as we say goodbye to longtime host of New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant.

Lou DiVizio opens the show talking about Gene's impact on the station and the community over his 18 years on the program. Gene’s thoughtful and balanced approach to issues of the day made NMiF go-to watching for a generation of viewers. About 27 minutes into the show, Gene speaks with KUNM Radio's Nash Jones about the impact he's made.

But before that, Lou runs through headlines from around the state, including information on a new federal lawsuit blaming the state's Children Youth and Families Department for a 7-year-old girl's death.

Then, New Mexico in Focus Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with a Navajo anti-nuclear activist about the deadly, toxic legacy of nuclear testing in our state, and the pain and damage she feels was left out of the new film, 'Oppenheimer.'

Host: Lou DiVizio

Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales

Guest: Leona Morgan, anti-nuclear activist

Correspondent: Nash Jones, KUNM Radio

Guest: Gene Grant, former host of New Mexico in Focus

For More Information:

CYFD Blamed in Child's 2020 Death - The Albuquerque Journal

https://www.nuclearenergytv.com/Events/EESI-2019/VideoId/325/UseHtml5/True

After the relatively wet years of the 1980s and ‘90s, New Mexico’s reservoirs started dropping in the 2000s. In cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, two water districts — one in New Mexico and another in Texas — agreed in 2008 on new ways to share water stored in Elephant Butte Reservoir. But New Mexico’s then-attorney general, Gary King, sued the federal government, saying too much of New Mexico’s water was going to Texas. Texas disagreed and then sued New Mexico and Colorado, alleging that by allowing  farmers to pump groundwater connected to the river, New Mexico wasn’t sending its fair share downstream. That landed all three states in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the federal government also weighed in on the issue.  Now, the three states say they’ve come up with a plan to move forward, and although the federal government hasn’t agreed to the plan, federal Judge Michael Melloy, the case’s special master, has recommended the Supreme Court approve a settlement. To help us understand what’s going on, we invited water attorney Adrian Oglesby onto the show. He’s the director of the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at the University of New Mexico’s School of Law.   

Guest: Adrian Oglesby, director, Utton Transboundary Resources Center, UNM School of Law 

Judge OKs states’ plan to end Rio Grande dispute – Source NM 

Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado – SCOTUSblog  

Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado – New Mexico Attorney General website 

UNM Hospital is one week into a new partnership with the Metropolitan Detention Center. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor sits down with retired attorney Peter Cubra to talk about why this is a welcome change from private companies that have repeatedly failed to care for people who are locked up. 

Correspondent: Jeff Proctor

 
Guest: Peter Cubra, retired attorney, founder of Advocacy, Inc.  

For More Information:

UNM Hospital takes over as medical provider for the Metropolitan Detention Center –KRQE