This week on New Mexico in Focus, The Line Opinion Panel rejoins the show. After the release of the film Oppenheimer, Gene Grant asks the panel about the legacies of nuclear testing in New Mexico and whether the film should have included an examination of the devastating impacts of the scientists’ work here.

Then, Grant and the group discuss the recent acquittal of former University of New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs. A jury found Krebs not guilty of two felony counts of embezzlement after prosecutors said he used public money to pay for a luxurious golf trip for donors. The panel will explore how the verdict could impact the handling of future public corruption cases.

Grant and The Line will conclude with a conversation about the ongoing film actors’ and writers’ strike. Film productions in New Mexico have been forced to shut down, as they have in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Grant asks if this labor dispute could set a precedent for creative industries moving forward.  

Tina Cordova is the founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and has been working for years to earn recognition and compensation from the federal government for the deadly pollution that followed the Trinity test. New Mexico in Focus correspondent Russell Contreras interviews Cordova this week about being overlooked yet again in the new film, Oppenheimer

Kirk Ellis has decades of experience in the film industry, working as a writer and producer and now, running his own production company. Gene Grant caught up with him to get his impressions on the film actors’ and writers’ strike. Ellis explains where labor and management stand and what it could take to reach an agreement.  

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, July 28 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 30 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.     

NMiF Segments
New Mexico Downwinders Push for National Recognition 
Correspondent

Russell Contreras 

Guest
Tina Cordova, founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium 

Inside Perspective: Actors & Writers Strike 
Correspondent 
Gene Grant 

Guest
Kirk Ellis, film writer & producer, president of Shadow Catcher Productions 

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."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus 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.