This week on New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant and the Line Opinion Panel take up the issue of housing, around the state and in the city of Albuquerque. 

The panel discusses a recent vote from the Albuquerque City Council against the creation of new protections for renters, and other statewide renter-protections that have failed in the legislature. 

Then, the panelists talk through a series of child welfare bills moving through the Roundhouse. Grant asks if they’ll be effective in solving some of the systemic issues that have plagued New Mexico’s Children Youth and Families Department. 

Finally, Grant and the panel examine a series of new initiatives targeting retail crime and if cracking down on those thefts could help start a domino effect when it comes to law enforcement overall.  

New Mexico Political Correspondent Gwyneth Doland returns to the Roundhouse to shine a light on a massive, 70-page tax package. She speaks with a leading lawmaker and a tax expert to understand how the changes will impact businesses, individuals and environmental initiatives around the state.  

In New Mexico, wildlife belongs to the people but are managed by the state. Our Land Producer Laura Paskus catches up with New Mexico Wildlife Federation Executive Director Jesse Deubel who discusses hunting authorizations, wildlife management models, food security, the New Mexico Game Commission’s “dysfunction,” and more.   

New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, March 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app. 

Host
Gene Grant 

The Line Opinion Panel
Cathryn McGill, founder, director, NM Black Leadership Council 
Serge Martinez, professor, UNM School of Law 
H. Diane Snyder, former New Mexico State Senator 

NMiF Segments
Inside the Roundhouse: Understanding the Omnibus Tax Bill 
Correspondent
Gwyneth Doland 

Guests 
State Rep. Derrick Lente, (D) NM District 65 – Sandia Pueblo 
Camilla Feibelman, director, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter 
Richard Anklam, executive director, New Mexico Tax Research Institute

Is NM’s Hunting System Fair?   
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

Guest
Jesse Deubel, executive director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation

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.