Author
Tell me a story. Say true things.
I’m sitting in my backyard. It’s still winter. The sun doesn’t seem to know. It’s my last day as the editor of Source New Mexico. I don’t seem to know either. Not really. Incoming Editor Shaun Griswold gave me an assignment: write a love letter to my home state, to be published on his first […]
Solomon Pena to be jailed until his next hearing; APD chief issues statement on justice
Solomon Pena made his first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon. Judge Jill Martinez at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court concluded there was probable cause in the case before kicking it to District Court since Pena is facing multiple felony offenses. The District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to keep Pena incarcerated as the case unfolds. […]
Educator ready to serve her first term in the Roundhouse
A political version of musical chairs concluded this week during a meeting of the Bernalillo County Commission, tasked with filling empty legislative seats over the last couple of months. Democratic Rep. Flor Yanira Gurrola Valenzuela was surprised and honored, she said, to be selected Monday by the commission to fill the House seat in the […]
Deadline draws near for comments about how FEMA will distribute billions in NM fire recovery aid
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is deciding how New Mexicans will go about seeking compensation after being hurt or losing property because of the massive wildfire up north last year. Billions of dollars are on the line, destined for families that suffered as a result of the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, which began as two […]
Congress green-lights NM plan to further tap the land grant fund for public education
A few lines in the 4,126-page measure Congress sent to President Biden’s desk for signature Friday will mean hundreds of millions more in funding for New Mexico’s public school students each year. Voters in N.M. overwhelmingly approved pulling an additional 1.25% from the state’s multi-billion dollar Land Grant Permanent Fund for education each year. Because […]
What’s the deal with New Mexico’s PRC?
If you’ve never heard of the state’s Public Regulation Commission, you’ve likely still observed the consequences of its decisions in your daily life. On your electricity bill, for example. Or your gas bill. Your water bill. Commissioners also have a hand in broadband and telecommunications around the state, and field consumer complaints. Transportation, too. Staff […]
Legendary author Rudolfo Anaya on banning books
Ten years ago, Bless Me, Ultima was being pulled from the shelves in Arizona classrooms as Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program was dismantled. I was a reporter at Albuquerque’s now defunct alt-weekly. In our rundown brick office, I pulled out the city’s actual phone book. The big old paper version was already like a thing […]
Year one of Source New Mexico
We have these meetings when our network is welcoming a new editor-in-chief who’s in the early days of pulling together a staff and planning for the launch of a news outlet in their state. The other EICs offer brief advice. Mine is always: Hire people you enjoy talking with, because you’re going to have to […]
Biden extends feds’ full wildfire coverage into November
After a presidential declaration expired earlier this month leaving the state to cover a chunk of the costs from the wildfire in northern New Mexico, the White House announced Wednesday that the feds will pay that bill and all expenses into November. President Biden came to New Mexico this summer and said the federal government […]
Ronchetti camp can’t stop a scrappy, independent press
Source NM’s senior reporter pulled a piece of posterboard out of the trash outside a campaign event Sunday and hastily sharpied a sign that read: Shaun Griswold’s inspired outreach is exactly what I meant when I wrote the word “scrappy” into our slogan. Never mind the barriers. We’ll get you the story — this time […]
Source NM staff and contributors recognized in this year’s NAJA contest
The annual Native American Journalists Association contest features top reporting from across the U.S. and Canada. Most divisions recognize Indigenous journalists, but journalists covering Native American issues who aren’t Indigenous are encouraged to apply in others. Source New Mexico is proud to have placed in both. Our entries represent work from the last four months […]
On the word ‘lie’ and passive voice in covering the SWAT raid
A home burned down. A boy died inside. Regardless of everything I’m about to say a little further down about how those two statements are phrased, those are the most important things to center as we continue pursuing the story about what SWAT did and why last week in Albuquerque. Brett Rosenau was 15. If […]