Sunshine Week and Women’s History Month

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we’re marking Sunshine Week — the annual celebration of the fight for government transparency — with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor sat down with NMFOG board member Greg Williams to evaluate the state of local government transparency, where the light shines brightly in New Mexico, and what remains in the shadows.  

In honor of Women’s History Month, we searched through the archives for some of the best stories of gender equity and groundbreaking women that we’ve aired in recent years.  

We revisit a conversation from 2023 with Martha Burk — former chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations — about a letter she sent more than two decades ago that rocked the insular, men’s-only membership of the Augusta National Golf Club. 

For nearly a century now, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gendered its awards for performers. A few years back, a group of undergraduate constitutional law students at the University of New Mexico questioned that structure — and their report made it all the way to the Academy’s Board of Governors. Last year, Senior Producer Lou Divizio sat down with two of the 10 student authors and their professor to find out what they recommended — and why. 

On Oct. 5, 2022, NASA’s “SpaceX Crew Five” launched from the Kennedy Space Center with astronaut Nicole Mann not only on board, but commanding the mission. That day, she became the first Native American woman in space. Before she blasted off on her historic mission, Mann caught up with correspondent Antonia Gonzales. 

Back in 1993, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial became the first monument to honor women — installed on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Thirty years later, Faith Perez, host of the NMPBS arts and culture program ¡Colores!, spoke with two local nurses who served in Vietnam about what the memorial — and its acknowledgement of that war’s women veterans — has meant to them through the years. 

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Host: Nash Jones 

Segments: 
Local and State Government Transparency in 2026 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guest: 
Greg Williams, Board Member, NM Foundation for Open Government 

Martha Burk and Augusta National, 20 Years Later 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guest: 
Martha Burk, Author, Host of the Podcast ‘Equal Time with Martha Burk’ 

UNM Law Students Against Gendered Acting Categories at the Oscars 
Correspondent: Lou DiVizio 
Guests: 
Abigail McCoy, UNM Constitutional Law Student, Proposal Contributor  
Devrah Fung, UNM Constitutional Law Student, Proposal Contributor  
Lawrence Jones, UNM Adjunct Professor, Former NJ Superior Court Judge 

First Native American Woman in Space 
Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales (Navajo) 
Guest: 
Nicole Mann (Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes), NASA Astronaut, Crew Commander: SpaceX Crew-5 

30th Anniversary of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial 
Correspondent: Faith Perez 
Guests: 
Jane Carson, Vietnam Veteran   
Dotty Beatty, Vietnam Veteran