New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

The ripples of the investigation into now former New Mexico Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton continue to expand. This week, The Line opinion panelists discuss her quick decision to resign her seat in the House of Representatives. Stapleton still denies her involvement in an alleged scheme to funnel nearly $1 million from Albuquerque Public Schools to accounts and businesses she controlled. In addition to vacating a legislative seat, her resignation has also resulted in a hole in leadership in the House. APS has suspended nearly a dozen employees as the investigation continues.

After a long year of learning from home, students across New Mexico are heading back to the classroom in droves. Due to a rise in cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, school supplies will once again include masks. At the same time, colleges like UNM and NMSU have instituted vaccine mandates for people on campus. The panelists discuss the new restrictions as well as the polarized reaction to those safety procedures.

The Line opinion panel also discusses the controversy over Rachel Gudgel, who heads The Legislative Education Study Committee. Her comments about Native students have spurred calls for her ouster and an emotional plea for action from Wilhelmina Yazzie, one of the women who filed (and won) a groundbreaking suit over education equity in New Mexico.

Host:

Line Guests: 

Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group                                                                                                                                                                                                           Laura Sanchez, attorney  

For More Information:

Sheryl Williams Stapleton resigns – NM Political Report

Two APS officials, 8 teachers placed on leave – Albuquerque Journal

Mask guidance divides parents heading into new school year – Santa Fe New Mexican

This time on New Mexico in Focus, extended coverage of the federal government’s effort to document the truth about Native boarding schools. Interior secretary and former New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland announced the investigation this summer, on the heels of gruesome discoveries of mass graves at Canadian boarding school sites. Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with two Native leaders about the need for the painful look back as well as the path forward toward healing.

Thirteen of the University of New Mexico Medical School’s 15 recent family and community medicine residents will stay in the state, boosting long-slumping numbers of rural primary care doctors as they fan out to work in communities from Shiprock to Lovington. Producer Matt Grubs speaks with a graduate of the program and two doctors who are trying to ensure continued success.

Plus, we offer a primer on the state's redistricting efforts which are already underway. This year's process will look much different than 10 years ago, as lawmakers last year approved the creation of a new Redistricting Committee to make the process less partisan and reduce the risks of gerrymandering. Public hearings are going on currently, and participants can even suggest their own maps and models to the committee. Find out more information and watch livestreams of the public hearings here. 

Guests:

Joe Garcia, Head Councilman, Ohkay Owingeh

Angel Charley, Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women

Deb Haaland, U.S. Interior Dept. Secretary

Dr. Arthur Kaufman, UNM Vice Chancellor for Community Health

Dr. Molly McClain, UNM Family & Community Medicine Residency Director

Dr. Darshan Patel, UNM Family & Community Residency Graduate, Nor-Lea Hospital

Hon. Edward L. Chavez, Redistricting Committee Chair

Lilly Irvin-Vitela, Community Liaison

The Line opinion panel offers reaction to the kickback scandal now enveloping state lawmaker Sheryl Williams Stapleton. Stapleton is the House Majority Floor Leader and has served in the Roundhouse for years. The current scandal, now under investigation by the Attorney General Hector Balderas involves her job with Albuquerque Public Schools. If the accusations are true, it could have wide-ranging impacts in state government. 

The Line panel also talks about the return of masks – even for vaccinated people – in some indoor environments, as well as how schools will handle the CDC’s new recommendation. New Mexico’s Public Education Department has mandated masks in elementary schools. School districts, however, can make their own – and stricter – rules, as has the Albuquerque Public Schools board, which voted 5-1 this week to require masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.

The group also weighs in on a proposed $50 million bond measure to fund a stadium primarily for the New Mexico United soccer team. Mayor Tim Keller is all-in on the idea, but is public financing the right way to go about paying for it? Is it a sweetheart deal for team owners? And can such a project revitalize downtown Albuquerque?

Host:

Line Guests:

Dede Feldman, former state senator                                                                                                                                                                  Dan Foley, former state representative

For More Information:

COVID-19 Response Toolkit for New Mexico’s Public Schools – NM Public Education Dept.

APS board votes 5-1 to require masks indoors regardless of vaccination status – KOB

City releases feasibility study on sites for New Mexico United stadium – KOB

Mayor makes his case for a new soccer stadium – Albuquerque Journal

12 APS employees on leave amid Rep. Williams Stapleton investigation - KRQE

Correspondent Gwyneth Doland sits down with UNM professor and author Eli Revelle Yano Wilson about his newest book “Front of the House, Back of the House.” The book examines how the restaurant industry often reinforces discrimination and societal class systems.

New Mexico isn’t the only state trying to compel the U.S. military to clean up the waters it has polluted with toxic chemicals known as PFAS. Nationwide, the military has contaminated almost 700 communities with the toxic chemicals found in certain types of firefighting foams. As part of our series, Groundwater War, correspondent Laura Paskus talks with reporters Garret Ellison and Michael Sol Warren, to hear what’s happening in the communities they cover in Michigan and New Jersey.

Guests:                                                                                                                                                                                                              Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, UNM Dept. of Sociology, author of “Front of the House, Back of the House: Race and Inequality in the Lives of Restaurant Workers”

The Line opinion roundtable offers reactions and insight on the New Mexico Supreme Court’s recent decision that gas stations have a duty to refuse to sell fuel to drunk drivers. Under the ruling, businesses could be held liable if a drunk driver then injures someone. The NM Supreme Court made the decision in the wake of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed by an intoxicated driver who had run out of gas, walked to a station for a small amount, then returned to fill up before causing the deadly accident.

The Line panel also explores the ethics complaint filed against Attorney General Hector Balderas over his handling of a proposed merger for the Public Service Company of New Mexico. Avangrid, the company looking to acquire PNM, hired Marcus Rael, Jr., who is a close friend and frequent contract attorney for Balderas. The Line also looks at the balance of such deals, which are supposed to weigh the costs and benefits to shareholders against those of ratepayers. And, the group discusses the challenges around public financing of political campaigns, as demonstrated in the current Albuquerque mayor’s race, where challenger Manny Gonzales has been denied public money due to forged signatures and other documents. Should the presence of some non-matching signatures disqualify potentially thousands of other valid ones?

Line Guests:

Inez Russell Gomez, editorial page editor, Santa Fe New Mexican                                                                                                                     Serge Martinez, UNM Law School  

Gene Grant explores UNM’s return to campus without a vaccination requirement. The administration hopes for 100 percent vaccination, but for now won’t force the issue. UNM Communications and Marketing chief Cinnamon Blair talks about “Bringing Back the Pack.” Political Science Professor Gabe Sanchez also joins the conversation to offer insight on why certain groups aren’t likely to seek the coronavirus vaccine on their own.

Senior producer Matt Grubs speaks with Navajo journalist Sunnie Clahchischiligi, whose recent reporting for Searchlight New Mexico’s Heading Home series explores the sometimes jaw-dropping challenges that faced Native students as they tried to navigate distance learning in a part of the state without widespread, reliable broadband service.

Guests:

Cinnamon Blair, University Communications & Marketing

For More Information:

Bringing Back the Pack – University of New Mexico

Hitting Home – Searchlight New Mexico

How Navajo students overcame the pandemic school year – Searchlight New Mexico

New Mexico is aflutter with news of the first fully crewed Virgin Galactic flight from Spaceport America. Sir Richard Branson’s high-profile jaunt into weightlessness on July 11 drew massive attention to the purpose-built New Mexico facility. Will it soon also bring money? The Line opinion panel looks at successes and challenges as the state seeks to leverage the Virgin Galactic spotlight.

Although the Republican gubernatorial primary is a long way off - and the challenge to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham even further away – the pool of GOP hopefuls is growing. The Line opinion panel explores Rebecca Dow’s entry into the Republican race for governor. Dow has been seen by some political minds as a frontrunner. The group debates what that means this early in the race.

The Line opinion panel looks at the impact of tough-on-crime policy decisions for the state court system. Public defenders from southern New Mexico’s 12thJudicial District say they can’t prepare an effective defense for each of the nearly 300 felony cases scheduled for trial over an upcoming four-week period. Do policymakers need to rethink what it means to be “tough on crime”?

Host:

Line Guests:

Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group PR

Santa Fe's Rachel Kleinfeld is a Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the founder of The Truman Security Project. She's also a member on the National Task Force on Election Crises. We talked to Kleinfeld last October about her research and work on reducing the possibility of violence surrounding our elections. She also spent a few extra minutes with correspondent Russell Contreras to discuss why nonviolent expression is the most effective type of protest in charged times like these, given the Black Lives Matter movement and upcoming midterm elections in 2022.

Vanessa Fonseca-Chávez is a New Mexico native and an assistant professor at Arizona State University. She is also co-editor of the book “Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Homeland.” As a Chicana who is critical of monuments to Spanish conquistadors, she has also worked on a decolonial bibliography of controversial conqueror Don Juan de Oñate. She discusses that research and how her upbringing in rural New Mexico helped spur her interest in the topic.

Roberto Rosales is a photographer with the Albuquerque Journal and whether he’s shooting college sports, crime scenes, or dropping reservoir levels, his style is unique and recognizable. For decades, he’s also covered the border, shining a light on the personal stories of people who are crossing into the United States seeking safety and economic opportunity. Correspondent Laura Paskus spoke with Rosales about his work and how and why he captures those images that can help us all better understand the region and its people.

Albuquerque Journal photojournalist and photo editor Dean Hanson recently called it a career after 35 years at the paper. Senior producer Matt Grubs talked with Hanson, as the self-described “camera guy” looks back at his experience and shares some of his favorite images. The pair also discuss the challenges COVID-19 created for photojournalism.

This month on Our Land, Correspondent Laura Paskus visits the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. There she discovered a unique approach to forest management. That model is based on community and is designed and created around historical government models like the acequia system. The Cerro Negro Forest Council celebrates tradition and culture in a way that has paid big dividends for the forest and those who live right close next to it.

William Donahue of St. John’s College in Santa Fe sits down with NMiF senior producer Matt Grubs to talk about receiving the LeRoy Doggett Prize for his work in historical astronomy. The American Astronomical Society recently named Donahue as its winner for his contributions to the field. Donahue talks about why it’s important to study the science of the past, as well as his translations of works by Johannes Kepler and his discovery that some of Kepler’s so-called observations were actually mathematical sleight of hand, working backward from his theory of planetary movement.

The Line opinion panel examines the rise in home school enrollment following a forced year of pandemic learning from home. With New Mexico’s funding model based on enrollment, the trend has implications for public school districts across the state, as well as for the state’s response to the Yazzie-Martinez decision, which said New Mexico hadn’t been providing an equitable education to all students.

The Line opinion panel also weighs in on the implications of encrypted and destroyed official records at the Children, Youth and Families Department. Searchlight New Mexico reports that fired CYFD whistleblowers Cliff and Debra Gilmore recently filed suit against the state after the pair said they were dismissed for raising concerns about the agency’s practice of using the Signal app to hide communications from the public eye. The group also discusses the governor’s response, or lack of one, to the reporting of Searchlight New Mexico.