Sen. Tom Udall, Economic Development in Rural Northern NM, The Line

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