This week on New Mexico in Focus, as COVID-19 cases continue to soar in New Mexico, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced plans to make vaccine boosters available to all adults. The Line opinion panel weighs in on whether the aggressive approach will help turn the tide. The panelists also explore a slew of recent high-profile departures in Governor Lujan Grisham’s administration, including State Engineer John D’Antonio. What will his departure mean for our ongoing water woes, and are these departures a sign of any underlying issues?

The state Department of Education is looking to update social studies curricula statewide, which has sparked a lot of public input and outcry. Host Gene Grant talks to a representative from the PED to find out what’s behind the changes, and why critics claim they’re a thinly-veiled approach to sneak Critical Race Theory tenets into New Mexico schools.

NMIF also hears from a sample of people who took part in a recent public comment hearing on those changes and The Line opinion panel also offer their thoughts on the intersection of politics and education.

This month, “Our Land” includes a discussion about our rivers and how we manage them, from a feminine perspective. Sitting down with correspondent Laura Paskus, Julia Bernal of the Pueblo Action Alliance also talks about what ‘Land Back’ and ‘Water Back’ mean, not just to indigenous communities, but to everyone.

New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.

Segment(s)

Education Department Updates Social Studies Curricula Correspondent
Gene Grant
Guest
Jacqueline Costales, curriculum and instruction division director, New Mexico Department of Education

Our Land: Rivers Through the Lens of Pueblo Feminism
Correspondent

Laura Paskus
Guest
Julia Bernal (Sandia Pueblo, Yuchi-Creek Nation), executive director, Pueblo Action Alliance

The Line opinion panel
Dede Feldman, former state senator
Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group PR
Dave Mulryan, founder, Everybody Votes

Host
Gene Grant

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." 

The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Matt Grubs, with Kathy Wimmer, associate producer. The NM PBS Public Affairs executive producer is Kevin McDonald. 

The McCune Charitable Foundation provides NMiF funding, along with viewers like you.

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