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Las Vegas needs to modernize technology to keep water safe post 2022 wildfire
For decades, increased levels of pollutants could be present in the water supply used by thousands in Las Vegas, New Mexico. This is the message state lawmakers heard on Tuesday from local experts and officials still trying to navigate recovery from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. They’re figuring out how to keep ensuring that drinking […]
Federal disaster recovery aid for acequias in southern NM depends on officials paying upfront
Historic acequias in southern New Mexico are still recovering from the fires and floods disrupting life since the Black Fire in 2022. A new source of federal help could be available for acequia stewards in southern New Mexico. That money is dependent on local counties and districts finding some dollars on their own to cover […]
Santo Domingo Pueblo 3D prints materials for its first large-scale solar farm
SANTO DOMINGO PUEBLO — From having very little internet access at all to setting up a Pueblo-wide service network over the past few years, Santo Domingo leaders are working to expand broadband services in a self-sufficient way. They’re now in the process of creating the Pueblo’s first large-scale solar farm, a project that’ll help get […]
NM broadband officials figure out how to use $675M for broadband expansion, despite federal errors
With a $675 million federal grant secured for broadband expansion in New Mexico, state officials now have to figure out a plan to distribute that money. It’ll be months before anyone can access the grant money that the federal government announced in June. The goal is to set up reliable, high-speed internet around the state, […]
Asylum seeker doesn’t think federal immigration system will change, despite national policy shift
Dirty bathrooms. Guards who treat migrants roughly. Unsafe living conditions. This is what asylum seeker Juan Ángel Hernández Castillo said he lived through at Torrance County Detention Center in Estancia, New Mexico. And despite a recent national Immigrations and Customs Enforcement policy change spurred by another asylum seeker detained in New Mexico, Hernández Castillo isn’t […]
Family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people question FBI’s ability to address crisis
Before Daisy Mae Heath went missing in 1987, she told her sister Patricia Whitefoot to be aware of racism and cultural oppression against Native American people. That’s what Whitefoot (Yakama) keeps in mind still to this day when the Federal Bureau of Investigation looks into cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people. She’s never forgotten […]
Federal commission asks Indigenous communities to share stories on missing and murdered relatives
Daisy Mae Heath went missing just before Halloween in 1987. After 20 years, her sister Patricia Whitefoot was sent partial remains after federal law enforcement ruled the death a homicide. If alive, Daisy would be a Yakama Nation elder in her sixties. This is one story of many in the crisis of missing and murdered […]
Four months after emergency law passed, more than $46M in state disaster loans approved for northern NM recovery efforts
Nearly half the $100 million pot of state loans to help with Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire disaster relief has finally arrived for public officials in Mora and San Miguel Counties. Not even a third of the eligible entities listed on the application have applied for help in the three months since the application has been […]
Discrimination against asylum seeker with disability in NM leads to national policy change
Edgar Garrido Diaz came to the U.S. seeking safety from his home country. In August 2022, Garrido Diaz suffered a knee and ankle injury during recreation time while detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Cibola County detention center in northwestern New Mexico. A few weeks after that, federal immigration officials tried […]
New Mexicans can listen to updates from state agencies during legislative meetings this week
New Mexico legislators will get work going this week to hear about what’s going on around the state. This comes before the official 30-day legislative session starts up in January 2024. These interim meetings will be held across New Mexico and are a space for lawmakers to get updates from state agencies, hear from experts […]
NM uses Gold King Mine spill settlement dollars to monitor watershed after federal dollars dried up
In 2015, the Animas River turned yellow copper when toxic waste water was released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a company contracted by the federal government. Water health is still a concern today. That’s why New Mexico officials, along with other states and tribal nations, continue to track water quality, even after some […]
$3.95B not enough to meet all New Mexico disaster victims’ needs, NM delegation says
New Mexico’s federal delegation is pushing to urgently get more disaster relief money to all fire victims in the state. The members say there could be as much as $1.54 billion in unmet needs, even after Congress last year approved billions of dollars for disaster victims. U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich, joined […]