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No bills for southern New Mexico Black Fire victims yet
Hundreds of people and families in northern New Mexico are trying to recover after the state’s largest wildfire wrecked their homes and livelihoods, and much of the region. Lawmakers are coming together to try and allocate $100 million in loans from the General Fund to help them out, in addition to the billions of federal […]
Lawmaker who works in health care pushes for New Mexico to codify nurse-to-patient ratios
While New Mexico continues to struggle with a nursing shortage, a lawmaker with experience in the health care field wants to pass a bill that would limit how many patients a nurse has to oversee. Rep. Eleanor Chavez (D-Albuquerque) is the executive director of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, District 1199. […]
Governments within NM would no longer enter detention contracts with ICE under proposed legislation
About a decade ago, Itzayana Banda’s father called to tell her how horribly officials at the Otero County Processing Center were treating him and how he couldn’t stand it anymore. Eight months later, she said in an interview, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deported him. It was another 10 years before Banda got to see […]
APD investigates possible connection between shootings at Democratic politicians’ homes, offices
Update: Monday Jan. 9, 2023, at 3 p.m. Rep. Javier Martinez, the next speaker of the N.M. House, said bullets were also fired at his home. Read more here. Three homes and two offices were shot at in Albuquerque. All five are locations where prominent New Mexico Democrats work and live. It started Dec. 4 […]
Do you have a right to a clean environment? 2023 legislation would call on NM voters to decide.
One of the first pieces of legislation prefiled in 2023 aims to give New Mexico voters an opportunity to add a clean and healthy environment to the state’s Bill of Rights. Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) is sponsoring a resolution that could secure the legal right to clean air, soil and water for New Mexicans […]
‘What are we going to do?’: Ranchers look for help after massive 2022 wildfire in southern NM
Ranchers in the Gila National Forest thought the Black Fire would cause the worst of their damage. Then flooding tore apart the land, leaving a burn scar that has the possibility of kindling disasters and danger for years to come. The personal damage is becoming more evident as some families with generations of experience ranching […]
New Mexico to get final settlement dollars for Gold King Mine spill
It’s been more than seven years since the Animas and San Juan Rivers turned various shades of yellow from toxic waste runoff in the Gold King Mine that was released by federal contractors into the streams. In that time, New Mexico has won in court about $48 million in damages from companies and the federal […]
Southern NM counties unclear on how to access millions of state dollars to fix disaster damage
The state set aside about $3 million months ago for small, rural counties damaged by the Black Fire, New Mexico’s second-largest wildfire in history. But after miscommunication and confusion, not one county has gotten a single dollar. After the Black Fire and flooding that followed, counties repaired infrastructure that had to be fixed immediately, like […]
Acequia steward strains to get help to recover historic southern NM irrigation systems
Empty, muddy banks in southern New Mexico show where the Mimbres River should be flowing. But flooding off the Black Fire burn scar was so intense in August that the water carved a new path, its new stream now littered with burnt, broken trees and destroyed irrigation debris. Many farmers and ranchers in southern New […]
NM officials to seek millions for a 50-year water plan that hasn’t yet been revealed
While human-caused climate change continues to strain New Mexico’s water resources, state officials say they want lawmakers to dedicate $8.25 million for a 50-year water plan that’s still being drafted. The Interstate Stream Commission, a division of the Office of the State Engineer, has been putting together a plan since 2020 that offers solutions to […]
Health care worker shortage delaying care for people using Medicaid
Almost half of all New Mexico residents depend on Medicaid for their health needs. But a yearslong health care worker shortage means those patients aren’t getting timely care — especially in rural areas. New Mexico’s health care workers are aging out of the workforce, and the shrinking number of providers is making care harder to […]
New Mexicans voted for more public education money. But Congress has to allow it first.
New Mexico voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment in November that would allocate more funding for public schools. But that money is waiting for federal lawmakers to pass a bill that will guarantee voters’ demands for greater school funding are met, prompting state lawmakers to wonder if they’ll have this money to budget during the […]