2023 Elections, NM’s Healthcare Workforce Shortage & Local Journalism in the 1970s

This week on New Mexico in Focus, Executive Producer Jeff Proctor chats with Santa Fe Reporter Editor and Publisher Julie Ann Grimm about the capital city’s 2023 election results, including the overwhelming passage of a 3% excise tax on high-end homes.  

New Mexico is grappling with a shortage of medical professionals, especially nurses. Recent reporting from New Mexico In Depth’s Marjorie Childress highlights the problem, which at one point this summer left the state short 7,000 nurses. Senior Producer Lou DiVizio hosts a table discussion to ask how legislators and hospitals can help address the problem.  

The 1970s were a time of change in New Mexico’s newsrooms. The decade was so full of turmoil and innovation that the Albuquerque Museum is highlighting it in its latest temporary exhibit, “News for the People.” Producer Antonio Sanchez and photojournalist Robert McDermott take you on a trip through the exhibit, speaking with a curator about some of the trailblazers and asking a retired reporter how journalism has changed since she started at the Albuquerque Journal nearly 50 years ago. 

We mark this weekend’s Veteran’s Day with a special segment on the dedication of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. New Mexico PBS Cultural Affairs Producer Faith Perez interviews two nurses who say the memorial brought them the recognition and acceptance they never received after the war. 

Host: Lou DiVizio 

Segments: 

Analyzing Santa Fe’s 2023 Election Results 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guest: Julie Ann Grimm, editor & publisher, Santa Fe Reporter 

NM’s Healthcare Workforce Shortage 
Correspondent: Lou DiVizio 
Guests: Trip Jennings, executive director, New Mexico In Depth 
Holly Muller, chief nursing officer, Presbyterian Healthcare Services 

“News for the People: Local Journalism in the 1970s” 
Producer: Antonio Sanchez 
Photojournalist: Robert McDermott 
Guests: Jonathan Wright, history curatorial assistant, Albuquerque Museum 
Denise Tessier, retired journalist 

30th Anniversary of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial 
Correspondent: Faith Perez 
Guests: Jane Carson, Vietnam Veteran 
Dotty Beatty, Vietnam Veteran