New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

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 three remaining members of that task force, who respond to those resignations and discuss the work ahead.

NM State Senator on Leaving Fair Election Maps Task Force

Correspondent: Nash Jones

Guest: NM State Sen. Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque

Fair Election Maps Task Force Responds to Resignations, Looks Ahead

Correspondent: Nash Jones

Guests:

NM State Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences

NM State Sen. Natalie Figueroa, D-Albuquerque

Roderick Kennedy, Retired Judge and Chair, New Mexico Redistricting Task Force 

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 NM State Senator 

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 multi-billion-dollar cuts to Medicaid.

Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio

Show Host: Nash Jones

Guest: U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M.    

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, Investigative Journalist 

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, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, to discuss what the EPA's proposal could mean for greenhouse gas regulations in our state. Later, the two discuss the EPA's decision to extend deadlines for states and the oil and gas industry to comply with methane standards set last year by the Biden administration, and how millions of tons of pollutants that would have been capped now won't be.

Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio

Show Host: Nash Jones

Guests:

Ben Shelton, Deputy Secretary, NM Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department

Camilla Feibelman, Director, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter   

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

Correspondent: Jerry Redfern

Guest: Kyle Tisdel, Attorney and Climate and Energy Program Director, Western Environmental Law Center 

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 includes.

Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio

NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones

Guest: Tina Cordova, Co-founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium 

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 columnists to continue a debate that has been heard in Washington D.C. for years: Should taxpayer dollars fund public broadcasting? Since our funding is caught up in this debate, we put up several firewalls to avoid a conflict of interest. Trip Jennings, executive editor of New Mexico in Depth, hosts this two-part conversation with Santa Fe New Mexican opinion page editor Inez Russell Gomez and Albuquerque Journal editorial contributor Jeff Tucker.

Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio

Correspondent: Trip Jennings

Producer: Gwyneth Doland

Guests:

Inez Russell Gomez, Opinion Editor, Santa Fe New Mexican

Jeff Tucker, Opinion Contributor, Albuquerque Journal 

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 finished high school.

Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio

Show Host: Nash Jones

Guests:

Stephanie Rodriguez, Secretary, New Mexico Higher Education Department

Heather Romero, Director of Financial Aid, New Mexico Higher Education Department

Amber Gallup, Director of Adult Education, New Mexico Higher Education Department