This week on New Mexico in Focus, we look back at some of our stories and interviews from the last year. U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez speaks with correspondent Russell Contreras in his first interview on NMPBS. Russell asks about Uballez’s background, his approach to the position, youth gun violence, the effectiveness of the Department of Justice's police reform efforts in Albuquerque and several initiatives his office is pursuing to expand services on the Navajo Nation.
Senior Producer Lou DiVizio speaks with two attorneys who are suing the city of Albuquerque on behalf of several unhoused clients. The lawsuit accuses the city of violating the Fourth and Eighth Amendments and due process protections for unhoused people by shuffling them from place to place and destroying their property. A state District Court judge issued an injunction in the case, barring the city from removing people from public property or taking their belongings. The city has filed a request for a stay on the injunction with the state Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case this week.
Michelle Otero was the city of Albuquerque’s poet laureate from 2018 through 2020. This year, FlowerSong Press published her prose book, “Vessels: A Memoir of Borders.” In conversation with Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus, Otero talks about the process of writing as an act of healing.
Correspondent Antonia Gonzales visits the director of Free Flow New Mexico, and three other people who have been vital in getting a new “period pod” up and running at the public library branch on Santa Fe’s Southside. It’s one of three 24-hour kiosks in the city providing access to free menstrual products.
Lastly, we show our appreciation for one of New Mexico’s greatest natural gems. Laura takes you deep inside the Rio Grande bosque in Albuquerque, as we revisit this Emmy-nominated Our Land piece. In the fall and winter, it’s an ideal location to spot not just sandhill cranes and migratory birds, but porcupines, beavers and coyotes.
NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 17 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.
NMiF Segments
One-on-One with U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez
Correspondent
Russell Contreras
Guest
Alexander Uballez, U.S. Attorney, District of New Mexico
Attorneys Say Albuquerque Violates Unhoused Clients’ Constitutional Rights
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio
Guests
Adam Flores, civil rights lawyer
Martha Mulvany, civil rights lawyer
Writing as Healing
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Michelle Otero, author, “Vessels: A Memoir of Borders”
New ‘Period Pods’ Aim to Limit Period Poverty in Santa Fe
Correspondent
Antonia Gonzales
Guests
Laurie Merrill, executive director and founder, Free Flow New Mexico
Margaret Neill, library division director, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Israel Haros, Chicano poet, artist, muralist
Selena Fernandez, artist
Celebrating Albuquerque’s Bosque
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
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.
