Featured Stories
New Mexico to receive $211.5 million in federal rural health care funds
The money is earmarked to expand access to care, strengthen training programs for providers and build a statewide health data system.
Data: Little progress so far in expanding New Mexico child care capacity
TUCUMCARI — Michelle Chavez doesn’t have room for any more kids. Chavez runs Turquoise Child Development Center, one of Tucumcari’s two child care centers. The other is a Head Start program, a federally funded facility that primarily serves young children whose families live in poverty. For years, Chavez has worked to bring child care to as…
From DACA recipient to New Mexico Senate, Cindy Nava charted her own path
Wandering the halls of the Roundhouse in her late teens and 20s, Cindy Nava often felt the people she could “connect with most” were the workers on the periphery, cleaning the offices and bathrooms. “I was self-conscious about what I was wearing, what I was doing there,” she said of her early years at the…
‘I’ve lived it’: Valeria Alarcón pushes for state funding for rural, tribal health councils
“As a woman of color, cancer survivor in this field of work, it feels like all of my life experiences are … to inform the work that I do — because I’ve lived it,” Alarcón said.
55,000 New Mexico SNAP recipients face work requirements starting Jan. 1
The changes are the result of a federal reconciliation bill signed into law earlier this year by President Donald Trump.
Insider: Looking back — and forward
At the end of each year, I make a point of stepping back and taking stock of what we’ve accomplished, what we learned, and what we should prepare for in the coming year. This year was an especially tumultuous one, both for the country and for our newsroom. Political and economic instability, social upheaval and…
‘Heartbeat’ of the community: New Mexico rural libraries seek $29.5 million boost from Legislature
The New Mexico Rural Library Initiative is hoping to secure $29.5 million in the coming legislative session for rural libraries.
Devastating loss led state suicide prevention coordinator to her role
The moment she met Brett Miller, Clarie Miller knew he would change her life. Then Clarie Brown, she returned to Albuquerque — where she grew up — from Maine in 1998, planning to visit family and get a glimpse of the mountains. While in town, Clarie was set up on a blind date with someone else…
Woman preserved and celebrated Comanche language
Forty years ago, after Karen Buller gave birth to her daughter, the head nurse at the Santa Fe Indian Hospital stopped by Buller’s room when her shift ended. “She came in to see me and see my baby,” recalled Buller, who is now the board chair at the Santa Fe Indigenous Center. “And she said,…
A tale of several governors: Women at work in New Mexico’s top office
When Soledad Chávez de Chacón became the first woman to govern New Mexico — albeit briefly — in 1924, she was aware of the gravity of the role. Just a few years after earning the right to vote and the right to hold public office, Chávez de Chacón was serving as secretary of state when chance…
Immigrant families in Texas have gone into hiding after latest Trump administration policy
Sara had been preparing for a radio interview earlier this month to promote her plans to open an at-home child care center in Central Texas when she learned that a new federal immigration order rendered her ineligible for legal status. Sara, an undocumented Venezuelan who applied for asylum earlier this year, canceled the interview and…
Health
UNM Health Sciences seeks $600 million cash infusion for medical school building
What does a new medical school cost these days? About $600 million, if plans to reconstruct the University of New Mexico School of Medicine are any indication. Dr. Mike Richards, executive vice president of UNM Health Sciences Center and CEO of UNM Health System, presented before the powerful Legislative Finance Committee on Wednesday requesting state money…
New Mexico seeks $1 billion in federal rural health care dollars
The New Mexico Health Care Authority has requested $1 billion in federal funding to bolster rural health care, with the goals of expanding access to specialty care and chronic condition management, strengthening training programs for providers and building a statewide health care data system. The state submitted a 128-page application dated Nov. 4 to secure…
Hepatitis C tends to run rampant in prison. A group of New Mexico inmates help keep it at bay.
Dr. Karla Thornton noticed a troubling pattern. Starting in 2004, Thornton, an infectious disease expert at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, was tasked with helping train medical providers working in the state’s prisons to treat hepatitis C, a blood-borne liver disease that can cause serious damage if left untreated. But new infections…
child & Family Welfare
Early Childhood Department pitches $1.2B budget as it grows child care access
Amid an expansion of New Mexico’s child care assistance program to universal access, the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department pitched a $1.2 billion budget for the coming fiscal year to the Legislative Finance Committee on Tuesday. The proposed spending plan, which includes an additional $160.6 million to expand a state-subsidized child care program…
CYFD asks for $422.3M in coming fiscal year to fill jobs, meet other requirements
Amid mounting pressures from a landmark child welfare case and lawmakers’ concerns, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department pitched a $422.3 million spending plan for the coming fiscal year to the powerful Legislative Finance Committee on Tuesday. The ask, which the agency said was an overall 4.7% increase over the current fiscal year’s…
CYFD again relying more on placing children out of state, to advocates’ chagrin
More than 100 children in New Mexico’s foster system are in homes and treatment facilities in other states, according to numbers provided by the state Children, Youth and Families Department this week. The numbers mark the latest uptick in a practice the agency was directed to curb years ago through the landmark Kevin S. child…
Government
New Mexico’s only female lieutenant governor reflects on long career
During her time as the state’s first female lieutenant governor, Denish focused on tackling early childhood issues and payday loans.
100-plus years of New Mexico women in politics
1912: New Mexico becomes the 47th state admitted to the Union. 1917: Suffragist Nina Otero-Warren is appointed superintendent of Santa Fe County schools. She would win a race to retain the position in 1918. 1919: Congress passes the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It guarantees “the right of citizens of the…
After three decades in the Roundhouse, Senate powerhouse Mimi Stewart unwavering
What keeps her running for reelection is what prompted the retired teacher to run for office in the first place: education and the environment.
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