Daniel Montaño
Public Health ReporterDaniel Montaño is a reporter with KUNM's Public Health, Poverty and Equity project. He is also an occasional host of Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Let's Talk New Mexico since 2021, is a born and bred Burqueño who first started with KUNM about two decades ago, as a production assistant while he was in high school. During the intervening years, he studied journalism at UNM, lived abroad, fell in and out of love, conquered here and there, failed here and there, and developed a taste for advocating for human rights.
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A bill passed in the recent legislative session to make it easier for optometrists to perform complicated eye surgeries. But a professional association of ophthalmologists wants the governor to veto the legislation because they say it puts patients at risk. -
The Senate has passed New Mexico's budget for next year at a record $10.8 billion with an amendment adding even more investments, meaning the bill will have to head back to the House for another full floor vote before the Governor gets a chance to sign it into law. -
A new emergency bill has brought forward by House Democrats to replace the defeated senate bill that would have provided oversight of hospital mergers, acquisitions and private equity takeovers. Emergency Bills, also known as "Zombie Bills" are blank slate legislation that was introduced before the cut-off date that was left mostly blank in order to give bills that fail to pass, or are tabled, a second chance. -
Senate Bill 219, legalizing medical psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, passed its last committee vote Monday, but still needs to pass a full house vote before it would head to the governor to be signed into law — but it only has five days left to get that done. -
A bill aimed at safeguarding health care by providing oversight of private equity takeovers and mergers in health care was defeated in the roundhouse this weekend as industry leaders offered overwhelming opposition, despite studies that say when profit is the focus in health care, patient outcomes can suffer. -
The Legislative Finance Committee said earlier this week that new federal policies — like tariffs and federal funding cuts — would have an outsized effect on New Mexicans, and could increase the cost of groceries in a state that already has a higher than average amount of food insecurity. -
A bill aimed at exempting hair braiders and locticians (people who specialize in dreadlocks) from requiring a cosmetology license will be heading to the house floor for a full vote after passing its second committee this weekend. Its supporters say it’s both an economically and culturally significant bill. -
The country is dealing with one of the largest measles outbreaks since the respiratory virus was declared eliminated in 2000, leading to a child’s death this week in Texas — the first life lost to the disease in 10 years. In response, the New Mexico Department of Health launched a measles resource guide, including frequently asked questions, best practices and a case tracker. -
Psychedelics are gaining momentum as medicines to treat a variety of conditions such as addiction and PTSD, and New Mexico might become the third state to legalize medical psilocybin — the main ingredient in magic mushrooms. -
Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján were joined by Representative Teresa Leger Fernández in addressing the State Legislator on Monday, discussing problems the land of enchantment and tha nation are facing, and encouraging finding solutions through working across the aisle and focusing on the everyday New Mexican.
