Part one of our “Brain Drain” series, the debate over the future of two New Mexico National Monuments, and the past and future of the Colorado River.

This week on New Mexico in Focus, Correspondent Gwyneth Doland looks at how to attract more businesses and create more high-paying jobs here, and keep the state’s most talented people from leaving.  In this first interview in the “Brain Drain” series, Ms. Doland is joined by three people who have worked with the New Mexico Legislative Jobs Council in seeking to address those issues. 

Correspondent Megan Kamerick looks at the debate over the future of two New Mexico National Monuments. President Trump has issued an executive order calling on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review more than two dozen National Monuments created since 1996, including the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Monument near Las Cruces, and the Rio Grande Del Norte monument near Taos.

Correspondent Laura Paskus talks with environmental reporter and writer John Fleck, author of “Water is for Fighting Over and Other Myths about Water in the West,” about the past and future of the Colorado River.

Producer Sarah Gustavus talks to volunteers with Humans of New Mexico, which aims to bring people together through storytelling. The project’s website states that it highlights diverse New Mexicans in order “to capture the complex issues that affect our communities and offer a platform to voice everyday practices of resistance to societal pressures.”

NMiF host Gene Grant and the Line panelists will return next week.

Host:
Gene Grant

Correspondents:
Gwyneth Doland
Sarah Gustavus
Megan Kamerick
Laura Paskus

Studio Guests:
Mark Lautman, principal, Community Economics Lab
Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque
Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes, R-Albuquerque
Michael Casaus, state director in New Mexico for The Wilderness Society
Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association
John Fleck, author of Water is for Fighting Over and Other Myths about Water in the West
Sradha Patel, Humans of New Mexico
Georgia Weiss-Elliott, Humans of New Mexico 

Line Panelists:          
No line this week

*****

New Mexico in Focus is involved, informed, in-depth media airing weekly on New Mexico PBS. The program debuts Friday nights at 7 p.m. on NMPBS 5.1 and appears online at www.newmexicoinfocus.org. The show rebroadcasts on NMPBS 5.1 Sundays at 7 a.m. and on NMPBS 9.1 on Saturdays at 5 p.m and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Sign up for the New Mexico in Focus weekly newsletter: goo.gl/pF7Lkm