The opioid epidemic is a national crisis, and in Northern New Mexico it’s a problem that’s been around for decades. For the latest in our Voices Behind the Vote series, KUNM visited the home of an addiction counselor in Rio Arriba County to hear about her thoughts on substance abuse and the presidential race.

Voters in Bernalillo County are gearing up to elect a new commissioner in next week’s general election. Republican Patricia Paiz is squaring off against Democrat Steven Michael Quezada to take over as commissioner for District 2 —an area that includes the South Valley and West Mesa. The race could shape the county’s policies on industrial pollution and community health.

Neither major party presidential candidate has made public education a central theme of their campaign in this year’s election. Still, some voters in New Mexico see education as one of the most important issues in our country. One of those voters is John Sena, a teacher at Española Valley High School.

Food co-ops today are facing big challenges that can sometimes pit management against member-owners. Here in New Mexico, a group called Take Back the Co-op is organizing members of the state’s largest food cooperative to voice their concerns about recent changes at the business. Co-op leadership held meetings last week to talk to members about the changes.

A group called Take Back the Co-op wants to make big changes at La Montañita Co-op. The group says New Mexico’s largest food cooperative has become too corporate and isn’t listening to member-owners, and are collecting signatures for a petition.

The defense has started putting on its case on Thursday, Sept. 29, in the trial of two Albuquerque police officers facing murder charges for shooting and killing James Boyd. There were protests in Albuquerque after the shooting, and many people objected to police treatment of the homeless man, who had a mental illness.

District Court Judge Alisa Hadfield declined Wednesday to drop the second-degree murder charges against two former Albuquerque police officers who shot and killed homeless camper James Boyd in 2014. But she did drop voluntary manslaughter charges, leaving jurors with fewer options for their verdict.

In the trial of the two Albuquerque police officers who shot and killed James Boyd, question surfaced about why tactical officers went to the scene when they weren’t officially activated that Sunday in 2014.

Most of the testimony on Tuesday, Sept. 27, during the trial of the former Albuquerque police officers who shot James Boyd came from an APD officer who was trained to talk to people with mental illnesses. Officer Mikal Monette spent a lot of time talking to Boyd, who had a mental illness, before things went south on that day in 2014. Monette had a reputation for being the go-to officer for crisis intervention, he said, and he’d de-escalated hundreds of situations. He told the court he’d never

In the days after James Boyd was killed by police in Albuquerque, questions arose about whether officers specially trained to talk to people who are mentally ill had been sent to the scene. And it turned out, that an officer known for deescalating situations like the one was sent to the foothills that day in 2014.