Local News
Homelessness in New Mexico is on the rise and attorney and former state lawmaker Daymon Ely has a plan to address it in Albuquerque. His 60-page report laying out short and long-term goals has sparked plenty of debate in advocacy circles. KUNM’s Megan Kamerick talked with Ely on New Mexico in Focus, along with Jenny Metzler of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless and John Bulten of East Central Ministries.
KUNM News Update
Albuquerque City Councilors held their first meeting this week to discuss and hear from constituents about the mayor’s $1.4 billion proposed budget for the next fiscal year. They'll hold another next Thursday following a regular meeting Monday.
Let's Talk New Mexico
The state Public Education Department recently mandated public schools to operate for 180 days – that’s a 5 day school week. Districts across the state are pushing back with a lawsuit citing lacking funding and transportation, especially in rural areas. Is the mandate overreaching, or, does it fulfill the state’s obligation to students?
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Pro-Palestinian protestors on college campuses have taken up “Disclose and divest” as a rallying cry.The ask is for universities to stop sending money to entities that stand to profit from the war in Gaza, and to make more information about their finances public so it’s clear what those investments are.KUNM’s Megan Myscofski spoke with Ernesto Longa, a University of New Mexico law librarian who is helping to organize faculty and students calling for divestment. He says that there’s precedent at UNM for this.
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Faculty and staff and the University of New Mexico sent University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes a letter Thursday rebuking the school administration’s response to student protests.The letter has over 200 signatures, with about 40 withheld names. It calls for the university administration to support free speech and urges the university to include encampments in its definition.
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A group of tribes that use Colorado River water sent a list of principles to the federal government amid contentious talks about how to share the shrinking supply.
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Whiskey Tender, by Deborah Jackson Taffa (Quechan and Laguna Puebo) tells her own story of growing up first on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation and then in Farmington. The story of seeking to understand her own identity brings her, and her readers, to the wider tale of generations of trauma and erasure of Indigenous people at the hands of United States' policy.
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An expert on artificial intelligence told a legislative panel that state lawmakers were right to protect themselves from AI’s potential harmful effects on their election campaigns, but now they need to offer the same protections to everyone else.
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