This week on New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant and the Line Opinion Panel explore the influence of lobbying in the state legislature. Grant asks if special interests have too much influence in the Roundhouse and if two failed disclosure bills would have increased transparency.

The Panel discusses the relationship between our state government and the oil and gas industry as the EPA fines two producers for continued violations of the clean air act. 

Finally, a citizens’ commission votes on a proposal to increase pay for Albuquerque’s city councilors and mayor. Gene and the Panel debate the merits of increasing salaries for elected officials at various levels of government.  

Christopher Ramírez and Althea Atherton with Together for Brothers talk with Laura Paskus about the City of Albuquerque’s Zero Fares Pilot Program and why transit equity doesn’t just benefit those who need to take advantage of free fares on the city’s buses.   

This spring, the Sandia Mountains have received more precipitation than recent years, but they are still warming and drying over time. The forests are also overly dense, thanks in part to more than a century of fire suppression. As Our Land’s Laura Paskus reports, conditions are prime for what could someday be a catastrophic fire. 

New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, March 31 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 2 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.

NMiF Segments

Transit Equity in Albuquerque 
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

Guests 

  • Christopher Ramírez, Executive Director, Together for Brothers  
  • Althea Atherton, Bus Rider Organizer, Together for Brothers 

The Future of the Forests 
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

Guests 

  • Shawn Martin, Forest Silviculturist, Cibola National Forest  
  • Aaron Johnson, Forestry Program Manager, Cibola National Forest

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.