This week on New Mexico in Focus, senior producer Matt Grubs has a serious conversation with Sen. Tom Udall about the very real possibility the United States may go to war with Iran. Sen. Udall has been outspoken in opposing what he calls a rush to war. He’s tried—and is trying—to force the White House to go through Congress for approval of any military action.

NMiF visits a grass-finished beef ranch in Tierra Amarilla that’s the latest venture of four generations of the Casados family. C4 Enterprises plans to build its own butchering and meat processing operation with help from the state and local economic development groups. It’s a project that’s a far cry from the flash of Facebook and Netflix, but one that may hold the key to revitalizing rural New Mexico.

Gene Grant and the Line opinion panel debate whether NBCUniversal’s planned multimillion- dollar film and TV project in Albuquerque is nothing but good economic news for the city and the state. The Line panel discusses possible reasons New Mexico has come in last out of 50 states for child well-being rankings in three of the past seven years. The Line also looks at the now-passed deadline for clergy abuse and other claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in its bankruptcy case – and what that means for abuse survivors and the future of the Catholic Church in New Mexico.

Host: Gene Grant   

Correspondents: Matt Grubs

Guests: Sen. Tom Udall, (D) New Mexico

Field Guests:
Alicia Keyes, NM Economic Development secretary
Tommy Casados, rancher, C4 Farms

Line Panelists:
Janice Arnold-Jones, former NM state representative
Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group PR 
Giovanna Rossi, Collective Action Strategies and “The Well Woman Show” (KUNM)
Harry Van Buren, UNM Anderson School of Management

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Gwyneth Doland travels to Valencia County, where a year ahead of the census count, local planners are reaching out to community leaders in hard-to-count neighborhoods. Millions of dollars in federal funding are at stake if key communities aren’t measured properly, and fears about immigration status will have an impact.

On this month’s installment of Our Land, environmental correspondent Laura Paskus visits the Rio Grande in Albuquerque and a habitat restoration site near Socorro to look at new ways of managing New Mexico’s largest river that will restore some of the benefits of historic floods. 

NMiF photojournalist Robert McDermott presents a preview of Festival Flamenco Albuquerque, now in its 32nd year of presenting local and international artists of this fiery dance form.

Gene Grant and the Line opinion panel discuss the expanded list of qualifying conditions–including opioid use disorder–for the state’s medical cannabis program. The Line panel also discusses a lawsuit filed this week by the State of New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque against the Trump Administration, seeking reinstatement of its “safe release” policy for asylum seekers and reimbursement of expenses incurred since the policy’s cancellation. They also debate the Albuquerque Public Schools response to elevated lead levels found in many elementary schools’ sinks and faucets.

Host:    Gene Grant   

Correspondents:  
Gwyneth Doland
Robert McDermott 
Laura Paskus   

Guests:  
Ann Demint, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation engineer
Chris Torres, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation acting field division manager
Denise Vigil, Valencia County sheriff
Laura Robles, Mana Mini Mart owner
Eva Encinias, National Institute of Flamenco founder 

Line Panelists:
Martha Burk, political psychologist and women’s issues expert
Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group PR 
Andy Lyman, reporter, New Mexico Political Report
Edmund E. Perea, attorney