Gov & Politics
What was it all for?
I can still taste the sand, feel the heat on my skin. We were told to smell our water before we drank it, just in case something had been added to it. I remember the faces, including my own, when one of our brothers or sisters in arms lost their lives. I remember the look […]
Report: Indigenous women in the U.S. earn 60 cents on the dollar
Historic inequality for Native American women is still present in economic earnings, according to a report released this week by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Native American women are not receiving their worth from employers for their work. It’s historically bad. “During the last decade, the gender earnings gap for Native women and white […]
Behavioral health provider: ‘I just hope that we’ve learned from history’
Providers are asking New Mexico lawmakers to rebuild the state’s behavioral health care system, which is still plagued by problems after former Gov. Susana Martinez caused many providers to shut down about eight years ago. Lawrence Medina, executive director of the Rio Grande Alcoholism Treatment Program in Taos, N.M., suggested lawmakers provide funding needed to […]
Refugees in Albuquerque holding out hope for their Afghan family members
Although resettlement and other migration-related coordination is typically under international and federal jurisdiction, Afghan people living in Albuquerque continue to work with state officials to help their relatives. Still, today, there’s no clear path forward. As time ticked down last week in Afghanistan after two decades of war, Mohammad Ismail — the refugee coordinator with […]
Emergency rent relief application difficult and misleading, organizers say
Mayela Bernal was already struggling to pay rent when she caught COVID-19 in May, which left her hospitalized for a week. Bernal is a hair stylist who immigrated from Mexico. With the loss of income, her younger child had to take out a loan to pay rent for their apartment in Santa Fe. A friend […]
Drawing N.M. district lines in the shadow of 9/11
As the state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission prepares to issue its draft district maps on Sept. 16, I can’t help but think back to the tumultuous redistricting process in 2001 when I was a state senator. The census figures came in on time that year, but that was the only thing that was easy. The population […]
House reconciliation package would provide path to citizenship
A provision tucked in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package would direct Congress to chart a path for citizenship for millions of undocumented people. If passed, the House provision would provide a pathway to citizenship for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often referred to as Dreamers; farmworker workers; those who hold a Temporary […]
States that borrowed from feds to cover unemployment comp checks are about to owe interest
WASHINGTON — Ten states that struggled to pay the mounting costs of rising unemployment compensation claims during the COVID-19 pandemic will face yet another challenge starting Monday: interest accruing on federal loans they relied on to cover payments to the unemployed. Collectively, those states — which include Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — owe the federal […]
Democrats call for support services for survivors of Native American boarding schools
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers are pushing federal agencies to provide support for survivors of and communities affected by American Indian boarding school policies, the decades-long practice of forcibly sending Native American children to faraway boarding schools that rejected their tribal cultures. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) have requested the government set […]
After the pandemic, 83% of corporate taxes remain unpaid in N.M.
Companies operating in New Mexico who are behind on their taxes and were given extra time to catch up ended up paying only 17 percent of what they owe the state, a legislative panel learned on Thursday, Sept. 2. House Bill 6 was passed in the first special session in 2020 as part of a […]
N.M. businesses missed out on tax break but can still amend their returns
Officials in charge of New Mexico’s tax policy said on Thursday, Sept. 2, that they expected more businesses to claim a tax break that was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephanie Schardin Clarke and Mark Chaiken of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department updated lawmakers on new parts of the tax law […]
New Mexico schools could benefit from flush budget if delta variant controlled
The state’s public school system could see a windfall of money as economists expect the local economy to partially recover from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. New Mexico’s main pot of money, called the general fund, will total $8.8 billion in the upcoming year. State lawmakers will have $1.39 billion in “new money,” or […]