Another Year in Focus

Because the University of New Mexico holds part of our license, NMPBS turns into a ghost town the last couple weeks of each year. That means gentle breezes and tumbleweeds for New Mexico in Focus, too. 

And so, this week’s will be our last “new” episode of 2025. It’ll be the last edition of this newsletter, too. 

We lead off the show with an important discussion about river restoration and stewardship, led by correspondent Elizabeth Miller. Elizabeth and I have worked together on and off for several years at different news organizations, and I’m delighted she agreed in 2025 to try her hand at television.  

She was a natural fit. 

From pieces out in the field about New Mexico Search and Rescue to replanting efforts in the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar to the drying Rio Grande, Elizabeth’s work has helped us stay focused on environmental issues affecting the state after the departure of Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus in January.  

This week, Elizabeth is in the studio with a pair of experts to talk about the importance of the New Mexico Environment Department’s request for a massive funding increase to care for our rivers. 

NMiF Senior Producer Lou DiVizio has a pair of interviews for this episode, too: one with Albuquerque Journal sportswriter Sean Reider about the hefty new contract extension for UNM football coach Jason Eck, and another with a group of UNM student filmmakers, who explored the unexpected world of vegan cuisine within Mexican and Mexican American communities. (You can watch their lovely five-minute film on YouTube.) 

And Host Nash Jones sits down with a group of familiar faces — to us, anyway — to learn about their first-of-its-kind effort to reveal where New Mexico news organizations are, where they’re not, and what audiences want from them.  

And there you have it — after a long 2025, Team NMiF is taking a break. But that doesn’t mean we’re going off the air. 

Next week, we’ll show you some of our favorite stories from this year told outside the studio. You’ll see a couple pieces from Elizabeth, one from Nash and three from NMiF Reporter Cailley Chella, who joined our team in the summer and has already made a huge impact for viewers.  

And on Jan. 2, we’ll run back through some of the biggest stories we covered in 2025: the end of the decade-long, court-mandated reform at the Albuquerque Police Department; a glimpse at President Trump’s impact on New Mexico, including funding cuts to public radio and television stations; and high-profile mayoral elections in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 

We’ll be back up and running with new journalism on Jan. 9, as we look ahead to the upcoming 30-day legislative session and beyond in 2026. 

Until then, happy holidays and thanks for watching. 

– Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer