KUNM News Update
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has approved giving emergency funding to help Farmington residents still reeling from a mass shooting that killed three people.
Local News
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As Bernalillo County works to expand its behavioral health services, it’s looking into how to better tap Medicaid as a funding source. The county manager said her team isn’t there yet, but is committed to making it happen.
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A hundred years ago this month, the forester Aldo Leopold proposed to the Forest Service that the federal government create the first ever wilderness area in the Gila National Forest, in New Mexico
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A little over three months ago, a working group began meeting weekly to hash out where New Mexico’s largest county is faltering in its support of residents’ behavioral health and how it could improve. The Bernalillo County Behavioral Health Initiative Working Group recommended Wednesday that the county start by building an actual system of care.
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Some Northern New Mexico ranchers are feeling left out of the loop on federal legislation proposed by U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich that could cut down on grazing allotments on federal land in New Mexico. The Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association is holding a meeting Saturday in Taos to discuss the bill and other pertinent issues to the agricultural community.
Let's Talk New Mexico
On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico we’ll talk about residential solar power. We’ll go over government incentives to make solar power more affordable, whether solar installations are now affordable enough to make sense economically, and we’ll discuss the environmental impact solar power and the equipment to produce it can have. We’ll also talk about those folks knocking on doors trying to get homeowners to sign up.
Mountain West News Bureau Water Series
For decades, many tribal communities have lacked clean, affordable drinking water. And that impacts everything from childhood health to economic development. This series from the Mountain West News Bureau explores those issues – and potential solutions – along the Rio Grande and beyond. It's supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.
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The country’s largest LGBTQ plus civil rights organization has declared a state of emergency – a first in its 40-year history. The Human Rights Campaign said it’s a response to a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the country. In comparison, New Mexico gets high marks for its protections.
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The state Cannabis Control Division confirmed Wednesday that it started working on the campaign last year, but the contract for the work was finalized only recently. The "Yes & Know" campaign is built around the phrase "Yes — cannabis is legal. Know — the rules."
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The New Mexico Environment Department’s database for alleged violations logged about 200 entries related to clean water last month. About 40% of the notices went to one organization, and a small water association was referred to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over continued violations.
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The 2023 Institute of American Indian Education (IAIE) is hosting a summit to give an update ahead of the five year anniversary of the Yazzie-Martinez v. State of New Mexico ruling.
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State officials confirmed Wednesday about 308,000 licenses that are currently suspended will be affected, and MVD staff are being trained on the new requirements.
Mountain West News Bureau
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In less than four months, temporary pay raises given to federal wildland firefighters are set to end just as the season typically starts winding down. This week a group of Western senators, including one Republican, sent a letter to leaders of the Homeland Security Committee urging “swift consideration of legislation that authorizes a long-term solution to increase wildland firefighter recruitment and retention.” Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat, said that “failure is not an option” when it comes to addressing the pay issue.
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One element of the BLM’s proposed Public Lands Rule would allow for so-called conservation leasing, which would enable public and private entities to carry out restoration work or compensatory mitigation to offset the impacts of projects. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, says that such leases could speed the development of clean energy on public lands, an important prospect given the Biden administration’s ambitious goal of permitting 25 gigawatts of such projects by 2025.
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