This week on New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant and the Line Opinion Panel react to the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office’s announcement of charges in the ‘Rust’ shooting tragedy. Actor Alec Baldwin and the film’s armorer both face involuntary manslaughter charges. 

The panel also discusses a debate that’s been reignited in the state legislature over our state’s pretrial detention process. Specifically, legislators are expected to take up a tool used to analyze the likelihood of a defendant showing up to court and/or committing a new crime if released. 

Finally, the panelists return to the issue of modernizing our state legislature. A recent poll showed a majority of New Mexicans support changes like paying lawmakers, hiring more legislative staff and lengthening sessions, but should term limits be under consideration as well? 

New Mexico in Focus Political Correspondent Gwyneth Doland is back at the Roundhouse this week as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham laid out her public safety priorities during a press conference. Doland gets reactions to the Governor’s comments from lawmakers and asks if those goals could be reached in the 2023 session.  

Brady McGee, Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Our Land producer Laura Paskus discuss f2754, the Mexican wolf who traveled from the Rocky Prairie Pack in southeastern Arizona to northern New Mexico and was recently captured on private land near Angel Fire. 

New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app. 

NMiF Segments

Public Safety Priorities in the Legislature 
Correspondent

Gwyneth Doland 

Guests 
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, (D) New Mexico 
Harold Medina, Albuquerque Police Chief 
State Rep. Javier Martinez, (D) NM District 11, Bernalillo County, Speaker of the House 
State Rep. T. Ryan Lane, (R) NM District 3, San Juan County 
State Rep. Andrea Romero, (D) NM District 46, Santa Fe 

GOP Senate Leadership Questions Public Safety Legislation 
Correspondent
Gwyneth Doland 

Guest 
State Sen. Gregory A. Baca, (R) NM District 29, Bernalillo & Valencia Counties, Senate Minority Leader 

Wild Wolf Captured Near Angel Fire 
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

Guest 
Brady McGee, Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Host
Gene Grant 

The Line Opinion Panel
T.J. Trout, radio host, KKOB 
Andy Lyman, reporter, Santa Fe Reporter 
Rebecca Latham, former NM Cabinet Secretary  

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people that are shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues, and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment." 

New Mexico in Focus Senior Producer for Public Affairs is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. Co-producer of New Mexico in Focus is Kathy Wimmer. Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.

Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.

Funding for Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present & Future, is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV.