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The New Mexico Voting Rights Act is coming back, lawmakers and advocates say
June 26, 2018 is a day Adam Griego will never forget as long as he lives: the beginning of his voyage into incarceration, first in Texas, then Oklahoma, and eventually the federal prison in Florence, Colorado. Once someone is caught in the criminal legal system, Griego said, it keeps an incredibly tight grip on them […]
N.M. Legislature approves study of district offices, staff for every lawmaker
Both chambers of the New Mexico Legislature in the first week of this year’s session approved an initial move to provide all 112 lawmakers with field offices and full-time staff. The Senate on Thursday afternoon approved House Bill 1 in a 33-5 vote. The House approved it on Wednesday. Called the feed bill, it sets […]
State employees rally in favor of telework as legislative session begins in New Mexico
Allie Alaimo is a chemist who has for three years helped review and issue oil and gas permits for the state of New Mexico as an advanced environmental scientist with the Air Quality Bureau. She brought her 2-year-old daughter Ivy to a rally in support of telework on Tuesday morning outside the Roundhouse, holding signs […]
Clean air in schools could become New Mexico law
Even though New Mexico requires public schools to upgrade their heating and air conditioning systems to clean indoor air well enough to remove coronavirus and other harms, people can’t just look up whether their local school district actually meets those standards. A legislative proposal — with backing from unions representing New Mexico teachers and sheet […]
Union: NM calling state employees back to in-person work without much of a plan
Nicholas Carnes is a compliance officer for the Oil Conservation Division at the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. At the beginning of the pandemic, New Mexico’s public health order in March 2020 required state employees to telework. Carnes, a CWA member from Española, felt like it was a step forward for the […]
Health and safety measures to expect at the Roundhouse in 2023
During the 2023 legislative session, it’s looking like there will be no requirement for vaccination against COVID-19 to enter the Roundhouse, nor any requirement to wear masks. Rules specific to the two legislative chambers around COVID safety from previous sessions will not carry over into this year’s 60-day session beginning Jan. 17, according to the […]
New Mexico Supreme Court hears arguments on whether it can weigh redistricting lawsuit
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday afternoon about whether the state’s courts have the power to weigh in when someone challenges the constitutionality of political maps drawn by the Legislature. The case centers on whether the justices have the authority to entertain claims by the New Mexico Republican Party […]
Doctor: New Mexico leaves incarcerated people’s health problems untreated
People complain all the time to Dr. Janet Arrowsmith about the health care they can or can’t receive in the free world. But she says people incarcerated in New Mexico’s prisons and jails are going through something exponentially worse. Arrowsmith, a public health physician and retired internal medicine clinician, has not directly examined patients in […]
Family of teen killed in SWAT raid to sue city for wrongful death
Police threw a tear gas grenade into a home in the International District in July, burning the house down with a teenager inside, according to fire officials. His family intends to sue the city of Albuquerque for wrongful death, according to their attorney, but the city’s failure to provide records may create a barrier. An […]
Gov. Lujan Grisham to ask Legislature to create new health agency
As she was sworn in to a second term, New Mexico’s head of state announced she wants to create a new state health agency with the goal of getting more people insured. Details are still sparse about the function of the New Mexico Health Care Authority, an initiative announced by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in […]
‘We’ve always been surplus’: Individual tragedy and collective trauma from COVID
The last meeting of the Ojo Caliente area chapter of the penitential confraternity known as La Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno was Friday March 13, 2020, three weeks into Lent. It was also the same day the United States first declared the public health emergency for COVID-19. Luis Peña showed up to his […]
Driven from home by U.S. sanctions, Venezuelans hope to find work
A 20-year-old bank worker left her home country of Venezuela in September with her partner and her uncle, each of them hoping to find work to provide for the family they left behind. She gave up on her dreams of studying law because her job didn’t pay enough for anything more than feeding herself, and […]