Advertise on podcast: New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

Publisher Lindsey Wood is in the business of neighborhood news. She owns and operates the Nob Hill News, the North Valley News and the International District News. Wood tells Host Nosh Jones why her hyperlocal news model could be replicated nationwide. Southern New Mexico reporter Damien Willis is a one-man news organization. As the founder, editor and lone staff writer at the Organ Mountain News, Willis talks to Nash about the Doña Ana County news site, and the work he's done to both listen to and inform his readers.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guests: Lindsay Wood, Publisher, Nob Hill News  Damien Willis, Founder and Editor, Organ Mountain News

This week, we celebrate Independence Day with our annual "State of Local Media" special. But before we do so, we provide an update on a bombshell news story that broke late last month, detailing whistleblower allegations that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into Albuquerque in pursuit of bigger cases. This week, top city, county and state officials, including Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, called for accountability. We begin our media special with a two-part conversation with Bill Church about the two publications he oversees: the Santa Fe New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico. First, Executive Producer Jeff Proctor asks Church how the New Mexican is expanding, at a time when newspapers are supposed to be dying. Then, Church is joined at the table with Searchlight editor Ed Williams as the two talk to Jeff about the future of the newly acquired investigative news site. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor Guests: Bill Church, Executive Editor, Santa Fe New Mexican Ed Williams, Investigations Editor, Searchlight New Mexico

In March, UNM named Ryan Berryman to be its next athletics director. Berryman has been connected to Lobo sports since he was a teenager and, at 32, is one of the youngest ADs in Division I sports. The Albuquerque Journal's Geoff Grammer joins Senior Producer Lou DiVizio to discuss the new department head and consider what Berryman's tenure could mean for the Lobos on the football field, the basketball court — and beyond.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: Geoff Grammer, Sportswriter, Albuquerque Journal

Executive Producer Jeff Proctor sits down with constitutional and international law expert Joshua Kastenberg to delve into the war in Iran — how it began and how it’s going. Proctor asks the law professor and former Judge Advocate General how war crimes are defined — and by whom — and to consider whether he has seen any evidence of Trump or the U.S. military committing them in Iran. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor Guest: Joshua Kastenberg, Professor, UNM School of Law

Mayor Tim Keller is reshaping public safety leadership in his administration. He has resurrected the role of public safety director, naming Raul Bujanda to the job. He speaks with NMiF Show Host Nash Jones about how his experience as an FBI agent will inform his work. Then, Bujanda breaks down why it's important for Albuquerque's police, fire and community safety departments to better coordinate their work.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Raul Bujanda, Albuquerque Public Safety Director

For years, the New Mexico affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union has kept a close eye on the Albuquerque Police Department. Now 11 months out from federal oversight of the department ending, policy advocate Daniel Williams sat down with Executive Producer Jeff Proctor to discuss how new leadership could help uphold recent reforms.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer Jeff Proctor Guest: Daniel Williams, ACLU of NM Policy Advocate

This week on the podcast, over three episodes, we take a deep dive into new public safety leadership at the City of Albuquerque. We begin with Police Chief Cecily Barker who talks about her 20-year career with the Albuquerque Police Department and how she differs from the previous chief, Harold Medina.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Cecily Barker, Albuquerque Police Chief

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-NM, dropped by the studio last week before returning to Washington D.C. NMiF Host Nash Jones spoke with the congresswoman about the war in Iran and the position she and her Democratic colleagues are in as the minority party in a Congress that never formally authorized military action in the first place. Leger Fernandez also spoke about the Trump administration's plans to roll back protections for public lands in her district.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Teresa Leger Fernandez, U.S. Representative (D-NM)

The Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, and its parent company filed an application last year with state regulators to be acquired by Blackstone Infrastructure, the nation's largest private equity firm. Ten months later, that sale is still pending. Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer Justin Horwath has covered the acquisition process. Horwath talks to Executive Producer Jeff Proctor about the potential purchase and what an approved acquisition would mean for New Mexicans who receive their electrical power from PNM. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor Guest: Justin Horwath, Staff Writer, Albuquerque Journal

Reporter Patrick Lohmann's byline is all over the home page of Source New Mexico, a nonprofit digital outlet that covers state news. NMiF Show Host Nash Jones asks Lohmann to run through three ongoing stories he's covered: immigrant detention, uranium mining and the State Fairgrounds.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio NMiF Show Host: Nash Jones Guest: Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico

Santa Fe New Mexican city reporter Carina Julig wrote a deep-dive series about Urban Alchemy's first year running the capital city's homeless shelter. Six months in, Urban Alchemy has spent nearly all of the $1.5 million allocated in its one-year emergency contract. Senior Producer Lou Divizio sat down with Julig to discuss the nonprofit’s financial dealings. Later, Lou asks Julig how the nonprofit's community services stack up to its additional $7.9 million outreach contract.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: Carina Julig, city reporter, Santa Fe New Mexican

KUNM's Jeanette DeDios sits down with three state senators who kickstarted an investigation into the state's long history of forced sterilization of Indigenous women and other women of color. Later, Jeanette asks the table how difficult it is for Native women to find a doctor in their community who specializes in reproductive health care.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Correspondent: Jeanette DeDios  Guests: NM Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque NM Sen. Shannon Pinto, D-Tohatchi NM Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque

This fall, New Mexico voters will decide whether to finally pay state lawmakers a salary, joining the rest of the nation. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio sat down with Mason Graham, a policy advisor with Common Cause New Mexico, to talk about the choice for voters — and other Common Cause priorities, including protecting voting rights amid federal pressure to restrict access. Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Guest: Mason Graham, Policy Advisor, Common Cause New Mexico

Today on the podcast, we revisit a conversation from 2023 with Martha Burk — former chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations — about a letter she sent more than two decades ago that rocked the insular, men's-only membership of the Augusta National Golf Club.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor Guest: Martha Burk, Author, Host of the Podcast ‘Equal Time with Martha Burk’

Today on the podcast, we’re marking Sunshine Week — last week's annual celebration of the fight for government transparency — with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor sat down with NMFOG board member Greg Williams to evaluate the state of local government transparency, where the light shines brightly in New Mexico, and what remains in the shadows.  Podcast Host: Lou DiVizio Executive Producer: Jeff Proctor Guest: Greg Williams, Board Member, NM Foundation for Open Government