Public Health New Mexico

There are more cases of vaping-related illnesses appearing all over the country, and New Mexico is no exception. 

The United States Census Bureau has found that the national number of people who are uninsured increased significantly last year. This marks the first such change since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010.

Let's Talk NM 9/5, 8a: Communities across New Mexico are trying a new approach to substance use disorder: having law enforcement work with service providers to get people into treatment instead of sending them to jail. We wrap up our summer series on recovery with a discussion of Law Enforcement-Assisted Diversion and similar programs. We want to hear from you! If you've quit using drugs or alcohol, how did interactions with the criminal justice system help or hurt your recovery process? How do these diversion programs make a difference for people who want to quit using? Do they go far enough in treating addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue? Email questions or comments to LetsTalk@kunm.org, or call in live during the show at (505) 277-5866.

Forty-five people turned in paperwork Tuesday to run for office in a slew of local elections in Bernalillo County. Local government, education, and soil and water conservancy seats will all be on county ballots this November.

Recent mass shootings in El Paso and Ohio have locals looking for solutions to gun violence. Bernalillo County will host a series of community conversations on how to prevent people from shooting people.

Lawmakers and state education officials met with representatives of northern New Mexico school districts for several days last week. The interim meeting of the Legislative Education Study Committee was held in Dulce, near Chama, up by the New Mexico-Colorado state line.

We’re two weeks into the school year and school-based health centers around New Mexico are still waiting on the state to finalize funding contracts.

It’s decision time for people hoping to get elected to leadership at the state’s largest public school district. Next Tuesday is the deadline to file for candidacy in the Albuquerque Public Schools’ board election.

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine has created a new office to address mistreatment of students, residents and fellows.

The City of Albuquerque is looking to get more people experiencing homelessness into temporary housing assistance by early winter. The city plans to spend two million dollars on a new rapid re-housing contract.

As New Mexico students settle back into the classroom, the Public Education Department is getting a new leader. Dr. Ryan Stewart was hired just a few weeks after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fired her first education secretary.  Stewart spent time visiting schools Tuesday, and he sat down with a couple dozen educators to hear their biggest concerns.

The Trump administration has issued a new rule that could deny visas and green cards to some immigrants if they use government assistance programs like Medicaid or food assistance, citing the need for self-sufficiency and the cost.

It just got a little easier for people raising kids to run for public office in Albuquerque. The city announced this week a change to election rules that allows campaign funds to be used to pay for child care.

Studies about kidney disease in the United States have historically left out Native Americans, but a pair of researchers at the University of New Mexico have won a $3.5 million grant that they hope will make way for more equity in health care research. 

People in New Mexico are reeling from a mass shooting just a couple hundred miles away this weekend. The gunman, who killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, is believed to have written a white supremacist manifesto railing against Hispanic people and immigrants; he's in custody and charged with murder. KUNM went out to see how this is affecting Albuquerque residents.