Flu is hitting New Mexico hard this year and the Department of Health is urging residents to get a seasonal flu shot to help curb the spread and — more importantly — to stay safe. This time last year the flu represented about 7% of all emergency room visits. Now it's more than 10%.

Abandoned, derelict and long forgotten-lots across the state are in the sights of proposed legislation offering major tax breaks for redeveloping the eyesores.The bill would let developers tap $4 million in tax incentives for up to 40% of the property’s value if they can prove it’s been abandoned for five years.

In its annual Honesty and Ethics poll, Gallup has named nursing as the nation’s most trusted profession. In light of New Mexico’s persistent medical professional shortages, nurses say this should be a call to action to support the nursing workforce with more investments to keep patients safe and healthy.

In late December, President Donald Trump’s administration announced how much all 50 states would get under its new Rural Health Transformation Program, assigning them to use the money to fix systemic problems that leave rural Americans without access to good health care. Now, the clock is ticking.

Fewer people are dying of overdose in New Mexico. Monday the state’s Health Care Authority announced a decline in overdose deaths for the second consecutive year.

The state of New Mexico has expanded its grant program aimed at getting more primary care physicians working across the state. In the past, this effort focused on funding new or expanded residency programs. The grants will now also go to support existing programs in need of funding.

The New Mexico Department of Health announced Wednesday it will continue to recommend its full suite of childhood vaccinations despite a recent shakeup of federal vaccine guidelines. The announcement comes on the heels of an unprecedented change at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slashing childhood recommendations from 17 to 11 total vaccines.

Although New Mexico’s measles outbreak is officially over, people could have been exposed to the virus by an out-of-state traveller who stayed at an Albuquerque hotel in late December. On Tuesday the Department of Health announced the exposure incident at the Quality Inn near Juan Tabo Boulevard and I-40.

The debate over medical interstate compacts will return to the Roundhouse in this session. Supporters say the compacts would allow medical workers from other states to practice in New Mexico, addressing the worker shortages.

Downtown Albuquerque’s newest addition was unveiled last Monday — a public toilet. The Portland Loo sits directly on the Civic Plaza’s south end, and is wrapped in Route 66 regalia.