Auto industry clashes with state, EV advocates as boards consider regulation changes
939 Views   A dayslong hearing aimed at creating regulations to guide the transition away from fossil fuels to electric vehicles wraps up this week. For three days, stakeholders with the automotive industry and the state have been making their case to the state Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board as to why […]
As transgender ‘refugees’ flock to New Mexico, waitlists grow
848 Views   This summer, Sophia Machado packed her bags and left her home in Oregon to move to Albuquerque, where her sister lived and where, Machado had heard, residents were friendlier to their transgender neighbors and gender-affirming health care was easier to get.
NM Indian Affairs secretary wants to create bureau for missing and murdered Indigenous people
1,009 Views   The Indian Affairs Department wants about $350,000 to continue to address a crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people in New Mexico, Secretary-Designate James Mountain told the Legislative Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Future of youth detention diversion efforts still murky, almost two months after NM governor strikes them down in executive order
955 Views   A month and a half after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a public health executive order regarding gun violence and illegal drug use, the outcome for young people who are arrested remains unclear.
GOP plaintiffs file new evidence in NM redistricting case ahead of this week’s ruling
824 Views   Attorneys for the state Republican Party and other plaintiffs have filed new evidence in the New Mexico redistricting case ahead of a ruling later this week. The plaintiffs argue the Democratic-controlled Legislature intentionally diluted GOP votes in the 2nd Congressional District, which used to lean Republican. They say newly-surfaced text messages and emails […]
After a century, oil and gas problems persist on Navajo lands
1,085 Views   It’s a Saturday morning in late June and Garry Jay, a member of the Navajo Nation, pilots a white crew-cab Chevy pickup on a lumpy dirt road across the grasslands north of his house in Shiprock, New Mexico, heading for the round, wood-framed hogan his grandfather built by hand in the 1970s.
NM Environment Department will follow governor’s new mandate despite staffing challenges
1,042 Views   The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) will be holding a rapid hiring event next Saturday September 23, 2023 hoping to fill over 40 positions. This comes after the department has rallied for months for more money to hire staff and now has a new mandate to test wastewater at schools.
NM lawmakers want nicotine prevention funds restored after shortfall halted efforts statewide
1,020 Views   Earlier this summer, the state’s nicotine prevention and cessation efforts were halted when money the state gets from a settlement with tobacco companies fell millions short of what the Department of Health had projected. Lawmakers overseeing the funds questioned the department about the issue and got a fiscal update Wednesday and said they […]
Isleta Casino sees health and business benefits after going non-smoking
920 Views   When Isleta Resort and Casino reopened after the COVID shutdown, it implemented a mask requirement that meant no longer allowing customers to smoke inside. Casino officials told an interim legislative committee Wednesday that they’ve decided to maintain the ban indefinitely and, despite fears to the contrary, the policy actually boosted its bottom line.
Non-partisan groups offer mixed evidence to judge deciding fairness of NM congressional map
1,415 Views   New Mexico is the latest state to look to the courts to make a call on whether legislative maps were drawn fairly. A deadline is approaching for a district court here to decide whether the state’s new congressional map egregiously favors Democrats, as the state Republican Party argues. A group of non-partisan advocates […]
