This week, New Mexico in Focus revisits some past stories. At the turn of the 20th century, Rebecca Clarren’s ancestors fled antisemitism in Russia to start new lives in America, where they became homesteaders on lands the U.S. government stole from the Lakota people. In her new book, “The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance,” Clarren offers an intimate look at how her family benefited from that stolen land and explores acts of reconciliation and repatriation that are embedded in family and culture.
The 1970s were a time of change in New Mexico's newsrooms. The decade was so full of turmoil and innovation that the Albuquerque Museum is highlighting it in its latest temporary exhibit, "News for the People." Producer Antonio Sanchez and photojournalist Robert McDermott take you on a trip through the exhibit, speaking with a curator about some of the trailblazers and asking a retired reporter how journalism has changed since she started at the Albuquerque Journal nearly 50 years ago.
NMIF discusses Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's decision to quietly shut down the state's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force. In October, reporter Bella Davis (Yurok) broke that story at New Mexico In Depth. New Mexico In Focus revisits a segment from November where she sits down in our studio with Darlene Gomez, a member of the disbanded task force, and Vangie Randall-Shorty (Diné), a mother whose son was murdered. Three years after his death, she's still waiting for answers from investigators.
Finally, Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus explores the legalities of water rights along New Mexico’s many rivers, including the Rio Grande. She speaks with Paul Tashjian, director of freshwater conservation for Audubon Southwest about the current system used to assign water rights, and the reality that the river itself has no rights to the water that maintains its ecosystem.
NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 7 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.
NMiF Segments
The Cost of Free Land
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Rebecca Clarren, author, “The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance”
“News for the People: Local Journalism in the 1970s”
Producer
Antonio Sanchez
Photojournalist
Robert McDermott
Guests
Jonathan Wright, history curatorial assistant, Albuquerque Museum
Denise Tessier, retired journalist
State Quietly Disbands MMIWR Task Force
Correspondent
Bella Davis (Yurok)
Guests
Vangie Randall-Shorty (Diné), mother of Zachariah Juwaun Shorty
Darlene Gomez, attorney, former member of the New Mexico MMIWR Task Force
Without Rights, NM’s Rivers Can Come Up Empty
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Paul Tashjian, Audubon Southwest, Director of Freshwater Conservation
New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people 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.
NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. “Our Land” Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Antonio Sanchez, and co-producer 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.