News

Workers install a solar panel on the roof of a building.

Community solar moves forward; developers chosen to set up renewable energy facilities

BY: - May 23, 2023

After weeks of delay, New Mexico’s push to get solar energy to communities like apartment renters and low-income households is progressing again. InClime, a renewable energy-affiliated company, chose 45 solar facility projects out of over 400 proposals, giving companies the green light to start the process to set up farms they’ll soon operate for New […]

GOP’s desired work requirements for federal aid would kick roughly 21M from anti-poverty programs

BY: - May 23, 2023

Congressional Republicans’ efforts to slash federal spending by tying work requirements to Medicaid and SNAP would have far-reaching consequences for people with mental health issues, chronic health problems, and some people with disabilities if enacted, policy experts on anti-poverty programs say. They say the work requirements as laid out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, […]

Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet

BY: and - May 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy left their closely watched meeting Monday without an agreement on government spending or the debt limit, prolonging a stalemate that could soon disrupt Americans’ everyday lives as well as the global economy.  Both struck a positive tone Monday, though neither divulged details about what remains unresolved […]

A shut-down Walmart with boarded up doors.

Albuquerque may not be able to afford Walmart property in International District

BY: - May 22, 2023

Albuquerque city government officials have for months shown interest in buying a shutdown Walmart in the International District, with plans to purchase it using money secured from the state Legislature. The city says now those funds may not be enough. Albuquerque got just under $2 million in the 2023 legislative session to devote to projects […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listen on Feb. 7, 2023, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Biden says he’s offered $1 trillion in spending cuts but GOP won’t budge on debt limit

BY: - May 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday his administration has offered $1 trillion in spending cuts as part of the ongoing talks with Republicans around a budget agreement, but he said no deal has yet been reached.  Biden, speaking from Japan during a press conference following the G7 summit, said his administration wants House Speaker […]

Appeals court judges embrace anti-abortion speculation

BY: and - May 22, 2023

America’s major medical institutions and drug policy scholars have roundly denounced as “pseudoscience” many of the claims brought by anti-abortion groups in a high-profile federal lawsuit asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one half of a two-drug regimen that has become the most common form of pregnancy termination […]

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 25: Heat waves emanate from the exhaust pipe of a city transit bus as it passes an American flag hung on the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice by workers renovating the historic structure on April 25, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The nation's second largest city, Los Angeles, has again been ranked the worst in the nation for ozone pollution and fourth for particulates by the American Lung Association in it's annual air quality report card. Ozone is a component of smog that forms when sunlight reacts with hydrocarbon and nitrous oxide emissions. Particulates pollution includes substances like dust and soot. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

With summer coming fast, regulator issues electric reliability warning

BY: - May 22, 2023

As much as two thirds of North America could face shortages of electricity this summer in the event of severe and protracted heat, according to the regulator in charge of setting and enforcing standards for the electric grid.  “Increased, rapid deployment of wind, solar and batteries have made a positive impact,” said Mark Olson, manager […]

Medical care at largest jail in N.M. to go public

BY: - May 19, 2023

New Mexico’s flagship hospital is expected this summer to begin sending its staff to treat people incarcerated while awaiting trial in the state’s largest jail. An advisory panel for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County on Wednesday night endorsed a proposal to no longer rely on private companies to provide health care, and instead […]

More setbacks in New Mexico’s effort to launch solar energy program

BY: - May 19, 2023

New Mexico’s community solar program is stalled again as more allegations arise against the process to pick developers to bring solar energy to the state. People seeking to set up solar farms for the program are held up by mistakes from a third party company hired to review applications, and it’s unclear when all of […]

Overhaul federal permitting as part of the debt limit deal? Not as easy as it sounds.

BY: - May 19, 2023

Congressional leaders negotiating a deal to avoid a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt are talking about including an overhaul of how the federal government reviews projects for their environmental impact. There is bipartisan support for changes to the lengthy environmental approval process among climate-minded Democrats eager to speed construction of renewable energy projects, as […]

Canoes arrive at Shipyard Cove on San Juan Island, Washington, on May 22, 2022 during the Gathering of the Eagles Canoe Encampment.

Traditional canoes return to the waters of the Pacific Northwest

BY: - May 19, 2023

ANACORTES, Washington — Coast Salish and First Nation canoes have been ceremonially reawakened in the Pacific Northwest in preparation for a return to the ancestral marine highways and celebratory cultural gatherings. And for Indigenous peoples of the region, there is much to celebrate. The Intertribal Canoe Journey — the annual Pacific Northwest gathering of canoe cultures — […]

New Mexico Program to Reduce Maternity Care Deserts in Rural Areas Fights for Survival

BY: - May 19, 2023

CLAYTON, N.M. — Thirteen weeks into her pregnancy, 29-year-old Cloie Davila was so “pukey” and nauseated that she began lovingly calling her baby “spicy.” Davila was sick enough that staffers at the local hospital gave her 2 liters of IV fluids and prescribed a daily regimen of vitamins and medication. This will be Davila’s third […]