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NM public bank oversight panel sets agenda for the rest of 2023
A legislative panel overseeing New Mexico’s public bank set its agenda for the rest of the year. The 32-member New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA) Oversight Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve its 2023 Work Plan, which will guide the topics it discusses leading up to the next legislative session in January 2024. NMFA is […]
Failed NM House candidate facing federal election interference charges after shootings
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday unsealed an indictment accusing a candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives of orchestrating violent interference in the 2022 midterm election. A week earlier, a federal grand jury charged Solomon Peña, 40, with crimes related to a spree of shootings targeting four elected officials in the Albuquerque area […]
Here’s what your New Mexico lawmakers are doing for the rest of the year
Although New Mexico’s legislative session does not begin until January 2024, lawmakers and legislative staff will be working throughout the summer at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and in places across the state to study and set agendas for the state moving forward. Below are some of the goals outlined in the Legislative Finance Committee’s […]
Rising rents, stagnant wages driving increase in homelessness, analysts say
There are almost 4,000 homeless people in New Mexico, an uptick from last year, after nearly a decade of declines in the homeless population in the state, according to a 32-page report by the Legislative Finance Committee. Rising housing prices coupled with a lack of affordable housing has increased the number of New Mexicans who […]
Medical care at largest jail in N.M. to go public
New Mexico’s flagship hospital is expected this summer to begin sending its staff to treat people incarcerated while awaiting trial in the state’s largest jail. An advisory panel for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County on Wednesday night endorsed a proposal to no longer rely on private companies to provide health care, and instead […]
Pojoaque school board prepares for local election
The Board of Education for the Pojoaque Valley School District on May 10 made preparations for the local election happening this fall. Board members approved a resolution notifying the Santa Fe County Clerk there will be three positions on the board which will come up for election this year. New Mexico’s local election will be […]
Asylum officers rushing migrants through screenings, advocates say
With the end of the federal migration policy known as Title 42 on Thursday night, advocates along the U.S.-Mexico border expect it to become even harder for migrants to seek protection from persecution, violence and torture in their home countries. What will take its place, advocates say, will still be like an asylum ban — […]
Transparency group urges CYFD panel to open all of its meetings
After news broke that an advisory panel created by New Mexico’s child welfare agency plans to hold some of its meetings behind closed doors, the most prominent government transparency organization in the state is pushing for more openness. In its first public meeting, the Children Youth and Families Department Policy Advisory Council indicated it will […]
How New Mexico’s early childhood agency fared in the most recent legislative session
New Mexico’s pre-kindergarten education and child care agency greatly benefited from the most recent legislative session, receiving hundreds of millions more in funding from state lawmakers than it initially requested. In the 2022 midterm elections before the recent 60-day legislative session, New Mexicans overwhelmingly voted to amend the state constitution to require the state to […]
Queer nonbinary New Mexican reflects on expanded NM human rights law
Content warning: This story includes discussion of suicidal ideation. As Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants from the town of Gómez Farías in Chihuahua, Mexico, Arturo Castillo’s parents struggled to get their house in the South Valley near Coors and Blake. When Castillo’s family first immigrated, they lived in a small room with their father and mother who […]
CYFD advisory panel will hold closed door meetings as part of agency audit
New Mexico’s state child welfare agency, which consistently faces questions about transparency, has created an advisory panel that will hold some of its meetings behind closed doors as part of a systematic review of the organization and the services it provides to foster children. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham created the Children Youth and Families Department […]
NM congressional lawmakers revive effort to protect Chaco from drilling, mining
New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Wednesday again introduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, with support from Pueblo governments and environmental organizations. Fossil fuel drilling threatens air and wildlife in national parks, advocacy group finds The legislation would prevent future leasing and development of oil, gas and minerals on more than 316,000 acres of […]