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Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon on the sounds of home in the Southwest
Raven Chacon makes noise. It comes from the found items he uses to make music at basement shows for five people, a sound he heard when his failure to make a homemade bass guitar as a teenager put his ears onto the vibration of experimental sound. He finds sound in deep quiet, discovered by […]
PED calls for input on a plan to improve equal access to public education
State officials want people to give their opinions on the action plan to reform New Mexico’s education system. The plan comes in response to the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit that unveiled a history of failures by the state in providing adequate education for a majority of public school students. The case resulted in the court ordering New […]
Interior Department report details the brutality of federal Indian boarding schools
The atrocities committed at boarding schools designed and run by the federal government to eradicate Indigenous people were outlined by the U.S. Interior Department for the first time in a report published Wednesday. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland held back tears as she described the scope of the investigation that identifies 408 federal Indian boarding schools […]
How to vote in the NM primary in a county affected by wildfire
Early voting for New Mexico’s primary elections started Tuesday, May 10, with a message of urgency for the thousands displaced by forest fires burning in their communities: Vote now. The Secretary of State’s Office is urging anyone who left their home due to fires and who wants to vote in the primary election to vote in person at […]
New Mexico MMIWR Task Force points lawmakers to concrete tasks
Phyllis Waukazoo is intently optimistic with the response plan New Mexico leaders presented Thursday to address the systemic failures plaguing the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. “I’m an actual mother of a survivor, and we kind of fled to this state for safety. So I wanted to be familiar with what’s going on,” […]
Justice for Relatives
Geraldine Toya has two reasons to be hopeful. First, she’s in the process of requesting that the Albuquerque Police Department reopen the case involving her daughter Shawna’s death. “I feel relief that something is getting done, you know; we’re wanting to still look for justice, answers,” she said. Second, Toya (Jemez) was in attendance on […]
People flee their homes as massive fire approaches in northern New Mexico
The people that stayed in Mora County for more than a week after being told to evacuate said they would leave when they could see flames from their backyard. Sunday night, the fire arrived. “It happened so fast. All of a sudden, I run out and I see the flames have already come over and […]
Inside the evacuation zone, people protect animals, homes and each other
MORA COUNTY, N.M. — It was like running from a ball of fire when Dennis Garcia finally got into his car and drove away from his property surrounded by flames on Friday. He returned the next day, he said, pleading with police to allow him past their road closure so he could check on his […]
Residents staying in Mora are running out of food, official says
ESPAÑOLA VALLEY — Mother Nature showed some sympathy to the people of Northern New Mexico by dropping a smattering of snow over massive wildfires, sparing villages and giving fire crews some leverage in slowing the massive Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak fire. But it didn’t make too much of a dent in extinguishing the flames up north, […]
People remained in Mora despite warnings that fire could destroy their town, rep. says
ESPAÑOLA VALLEY — As the massive fires in Northern New Mexico burned through more acres and emitted huge plumes of smoke into the sky this weekend, some people refused to leave their land and their farms, pinning their hopes on coming stormclouds and a promise of some precipitation. Late Sunday, Northern New Mexicans forced to […]
BLM opens lands back up to oil and gas leases
With a small post on the Bureau of Land Management website, the open sign to lease new mineral exploration on federal lands is back up. Notices for sale of oil and gas leases on public lands were posted this week following a judge’s order in 2021 that the Interior Department must begin auctions for land […]
Rail Runner, ABQ buses and the Sunport do away with mask mandates for travelers
A decision by a federal judge in Florida on Monday regarding mask requirements under COVID-19 protections is now impacting travel in New Mexico. Commuters on the Rail Runner this evening can choose not to wear the mask they had to put on during their morning ride, as train officials announced midday that mask enforcement is […]