Let's Talk New Mexico Megan Kamerick, Nash Jones, Ty Bannerman, Kaveh Mowahed

In 2018, a judge ruled in the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit that New Mexico was failing to provide an equitable education to students who are low-income, Native American, have disabilities or are English language learners. This means that the state is in direct violation of the education clause in the New Mexico State Constitution.

Medical aid in dying has been legal in New Mexico since 2021. Since then, experts estimate more than 200 terminally ill New Mexicans have ended their lives. First, they waited the mandatory 48 hours before filling a prescription, then they drank a prescribed medication, and soon after drifted off to sleep before their bodies shut down. The law hasn’t been without controversy and certainly wasn’t adopted without debate that is still ongoing in the Roundhouse and the court house. Some doctors’ groups and politicians are arguing for offering ethical exemptions for practitioners with moral objections.

People have called the Rio Grande a main artery, delivering life-giving water to and through our arid state. But year-after-year we see the river continuing to dry – and the ecosystems, communities, and industries that depend upon it are drying up too. On the next “Let’s Talk New Mexico” we’ll discuss the poor health of the Rio Grande and what’s at stake as it shrinks.

On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’re going to dive head-first into why wolves almost disappeared from our ecosystems, and explore the lingering conflicts between the agriculture industries and environmentalists that pose the question: should wolves be brought back to our wilderness?

About 71% of New Mexican students qualify for free or reduced-price meals yet some of our children are still going hungry. The Healthy Universal School Meals Act introduced by Democratic Senators Michael Padilla and Leo Jaramillo would give all public and charter school students free access to breakfast and lunch regardless of family income. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is a supporter of this bill and made it one of her priorities in her State of the State address.

Let’s Talk New Mexico 2/9 8am: Albuquerque has continued to set new homicide records, while legislative reports also show other violent and property crimes around the state are well above the national average. On the next episode of “Let’s Talk New Mexico” we’ll discuss public safety and what law enforcement and city and state government can do right now to curtail crime.