Author

Austin Fisher is a journalist based in Santa Fe. He has worked for newspapers in New Mexico and his home state of Kansas, including the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Garden City Telegram, the Rio Grande SUN and the Santa Fe Reporter. Since starting a full-time career in reporting in 2015, he’s aimed to use journalism to lift up voices that typically go unheard in public debates around economic inequality, policing and environmental racism.
Families sue the state and health care companies over lack of care for medically fragile children
By: Austin Fisher - May 11, 2022
Caleb Vaughan is a 3-year-old from Sandia Park, N.M. On paper, he is disabled and medically vulnerable. He has Down Syndrome, a serious seizure disorder, developmental delays and depends on a gastronomy tube to live. But off his medical diagnosis sheet, Caleb’s parents describe a delightful young man who will suffer seizures for a moment […]
Demonstrators demand immediate review of COVID vaccine for youngest children in the U.S.
By: Austin Fisher - May 10, 2022
About 20 organizers, parents and their children rallied outside the headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday to demand COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5-years-old without delay. A brass band joined the protest and even played “Baby Shark Dance” for the young demonstrators, said Amanda Makulec, an organizer with Protect Their Future, […]
Vigil for the missing and stolen reclaims Santa Fe Plaza
By: Austin Fisher - May 6, 2022
Hundreds of people packed the Santa Fe Plaza on Thursday night to recite names of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives from New Mexico and Arizona, and to reclaim the sacred nature of what has become a popular tourist destination. Three Sisters Collective Co-Founder Christina Castro led the crowd in reciting the names while facing in […]
Small particles from wildfire smoke can lodge deep within your lungs, aerosol scientist explains
By: Austin Fisher - May 5, 2022
Hermits Peak is one of Alex Huffman’s favorite hikes in the world. He grew up and spends time in the mountains outside of Las Vegas in northern New Mexico. His family has had a cabin in nearby Gallinas Canyon since before he was born. “Some of my earliest memories are there,” he said. “That’s where […]
NM reacts to leaked opinion showing SCOTUS is poised to end federal abortion rights protections
By: Marisa Demarco and Austin Fisher - May 4, 2022
Hundreds gathered in Albuquerque in front of Downtown courthouses to demonstrate in support of abortion rights on Tuesday night after it was leaked that a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices are ready to strike down the constitutional right to abortion in the coming weeks. Elected officials weighed in, too, with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham […]
We have the tools to pull COVID out of the air in NM schools, but are we using them?
By: Austin Fisher - May 3, 2022
Using existing technology like filtration and ventilation, it is possible to reduce the amount of coronavirus aerosols in the air in our schools, workplaces and indoor public spaces. New Mexico requires local schools to install the best possible filters to accomplish that, and the federal government has allocated millions of dollars in pandemic relief to […]
More people evacuated from near two largest wildfires burning in NM
By: Austin Fisher - May 2, 2022
More people fled from wildfires in northern New Mexico on Sunday, and authorities believe the dangerous conditions will continue through Monday and for another week. The merged Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fire grew from about 70,000 acres to nearly 104,000 over the weekend, according to the latest information available on Monday morning. And on […]
COVID-19 in the air remains elusive disability rights issue, experts say
By: Austin Fisher - May 2, 2022
The coronavirus that hangs in the air inside New Mexico’s schools isn’t tracked at any level by state officials, and hasn’t gotten the same attention in New Mexico courts as school mask mandates. But interviews with health and legal experts show that it could still be a disability rights issue because without clean air in […]
PED says school districts promised to follow COVID rules. So where’s the proof?
By: Austin Fisher - April 28, 2022
The New Mexico Public Education Department said superintendents and school boards agreed in writing in 2021 to follow COVID-safe practices, including requirements by PED to install the best possible filters in school buildings to remove COVID-19 from indoor air. But two weeks after Source New Mexico asked to see these written promises from the schools, […]
Albuquerque school stays ahead of the curve on COVID protections
By: Austin Fisher - April 28, 2022
At the end of the school day on Wednesday at the private Escuela del Sol Montessori School, a student sits reading in a large classroom, right next to a portable air filtration system. Two large fans twirl overhead, and two sets of double doors are open, allowing fresh air to circulate through the space. The […]
Proposed drilling ban around Chaco Canyon gets support from All Pueblo Council of Governors
By: Austin Fisher - April 27, 2022
About three months ago, staff from the Santa Clara Pueblo Tribal Historic Preservation Office were doing a field research survey at Dalton Pass, a cultural site in McKinley County west of Crownpoint. The staff gazed in disbelief upon a ceremonial kiva pit with a barbecue grill in the middle, along with treadmarks going right over […]
Want to keep school children safe from COVID? Begin with indoor air, expert says
By: Austin Fisher - April 26, 2022
As New Mexico students went back to in-person classes in 2021, Nissa Patterson could see mothers struggling with how to keep their children safe there. Patterson has been working in public health for the past 20 years and has a master’s degree in children and family public health. Through New Mexico State University, she works […]