This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs sits down for an in-depth conversation with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham about her ambitions goal of raising New Mexico’s public education system to be the best in the country. Less than a month after firing her education secretary, the governor picked Ryan Stewart to lead the Public Education Department.

NMiF goes to Albuquerque’s International District to see how neighbors working with the Nature Conservancy and Rocky Mountain Youth Corps have transformed a vacant dirt lot into a pop-up public park. Among the goals for the project are to build community and help add greenery to one of the hottest parts of New Mexico’s biggest city.

Gene Grant and The Line opinion panelists debate the qualifications of Ryan Stewart as secretary-designate of New Mexico’s Public Education Department. Gov. Lujan Grisham introduced Stewart on the first day of the new school year for much of the state. The Line also looks at the possibility of reshaping New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission, currently an elected body that regulates utilities, telecommunications, and motor carrier industries. In The Line’s final topic, the panel will discuss the state’s denial of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests for New Mexico workforce records.

Host:    Gene Grant   

Correspondent: Matt Grubs 

Studio Guest: Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, (D) New Mexico

Line Panelists:   
Merritt Allen, Vox Optima
Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group PR
Laura Sanchez-Rivét, Affirm
Harry Van Buren, UNM Anderson School of Management

This week, New Mexico in Focus features an interview with Janet Napolitano, President Barack Obama’s first Homeland Security Secretary. Napolitano argues that, since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States needs to focus its attention and resources on actual threats to the country, instead of what she terms “security theater.” She talked with NMIF Correspondent Megan Kamerick about what those threats are, and what they are not.

In this month’s installment of Our Land, correspondent Laura Paskus travels to a remote part of the Gila National Forest for an in-depth report on the battle over the Gila River. Once again, a proposal for a diversion on the southwestern New Mexico waterway has people who live along the river – and those who have other interests – trying to either save the river or reroute its waters to serve agricultural and business purposes.

Gene Grant and The Line opinion panelists look at the sickening wave of mass shootings in El Paso, Dayton and elsewhere. They debate whether calling out domestic terrorism will force a change in the conversation. The Line also looks at transparency in matters concerning the Department of Public Safety under the state’s former and current administrations. The Line’s final topic concerns the disproportionately high rate of opioids dispensed by one drugstore in Española.

Host:    Gene Grant   

Correspondents:
Megan Kamerick
Laura Paskus

Studio Guest:
Janet Napolitano, former Homeland Security Secretary, author of ”How Safe Are We?”

Field Guests:
Todd Schulke, co-founder, Center for Biological Diversity
Norman Gaume, retired director, New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission
Pete Domenici, Jr., attorney, New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity

Line Panelists:
Lonna Atkeson, UNM Political Science professor
Eric Griego, former NM state senator
Sophie Martin, attorney
Kristelle Siarza, CEO, Siarza Social Digital