This week on New Mexico in Focus, lawmakers return to the Roundhouse in just a matter of days for the 2022 Legislative Session. One of the big topics, along with the budget, will be crime. Our Line opinion panel looks at some of the proposals that legislators will likely consider and whether or not there will be bipartisan support to achieve meaningful change.
The Line panelists also debate a new proposal to ramp up transparency in the legislature when it comes to lawmakers’ financial interests. And, the group also discusses the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in New Mexico and how schools are dealing with a spike in cases as a new semester begins.
Also this week, Environment Reporter Laura Paskus sits down with bioclimatologist Parker Williams to find out what the science says about how wildfire and drought conditions are evolving in the American Southwest and how they drastically differ from droughts and fire seasons of the ancient past.
New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 9 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.
The Line opinion panel
Serge Martinez, UNM Law School
Inez Russell Gomez, editorial page editor, Santa Fe New Mexican
Rebeca Latham, CEO, Girl Scouts of New Mexico
Segment(s)
Growing Drought and Wildfire Dangers in the U.S. Southwest
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Parker Williams, associate professor, Department of Geography, UCLA
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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