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This time on The Children's Hour we visit with the inspiring and talented children's musician, author, motivational speaker and change-maker SaulPaul, a musician with a message. The Kids Crew learn about his triumph over adversity, and challenge him to compose a freestyle rap while on the air with us!

On this episode we talk with Professor Emerita Gloria Valencia-Weber. She recently received the Pierce-Hickerson Award from the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association. The award honors law professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement or preservation of Native American rights.

Recently, Albuquerque’s City Council voted down an ordinance that would have established a basic, online landlord registry meant to track data on rental units across the city. On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll explore the complex relationship between landlords and tenants plus ongoing efforts to regulate the industry.

Your city council likely has more impact on your life than any other government entity, however, survey data shows 3/4s of Americans do not attend public meetings and fewer than 1 in 5 have reached out to local governments in the last year. On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico we’ll discuss city councils and we’ll check in on how the recent elections have impacted city councils ideologically, demographically, and functionally.

Native American women in New Mexico have the highest rate of homicide among all racial and ethnic groups, and Albuquerque and Gallup are among the top ten cities in the United States for missing and murdered cases. The federal Not Invisible Act Commission recently visited Albuquerque to hear from stakeholders. On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll discuss what still needs to be addressed.

In New Mexico educational outcomes are low overall, and they’re even lower for special education. In May the Governor announced a new special education office to help improve those outcomes. On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll discuss closing the achievement gap for special needs students.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, more people are coming to New Mexico for abortions and lawmakers passed a bill to ensure access. But counties and local governments have passed ordinances to restrict abortion and at least one is suing to overturn that state law. On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico we get an update on all this.

When we think of city growth we might think of a growing population, new housing developments, how sustainable it might be, or even things like increased traffic. On the next Let's Talk New Mexico we'll discuss how our cities are responding and what kind of change can we expect in the coming years.

Ten years ago then-Governor Susana Martinez froze the Medicaid funding of 15 behavioral health agencies in New Mexico after the state Human Services Department said an audit found “credible allegations of fraud.” While all the accused providers were later cleared by the attorney general, the incident severely disrupted the state’s behavioral health care system. On the next Let's Talk New Mexico we'll ask, "where are we now with our behavioral health care system?"

The 2023 legislative session is in the rearview mirror, but soon interim committee hearings will start up around the state in preparation for the 2024 session which begins next January. In this week’s show, we will talk about transparency, including several bills aimed at increasing transparency in government that recently succeeded or failed. We will also talk about the budget process and how it works, and how transparent it is – or is not. As the state continues to see record revenues, knowing how our money is spent is everybody’s business.