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Proposed SNAP changes, Martha Burk on new wage equity ordinance, ABQ violence

This week on New Mexico In Focus, Producer Sarah Gustavus sits down with two community organizations to talk about concerns over the proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Martinez administration plans to reinstitute additional work requirements for some New Mexicans who qualify for SNAP benefits. Administration officials say the changes would reinstate requirements that were waived during the recession that started in 2008. Opponents say the work requirements would create an unfair hardship for some people who rely on SNAP to meet their foods needs.

Correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with Martha Burk, political psychologist and author of “Your Voice, Your Vote: The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Power, Politics, and the Change We Need,” to talk about a new wage equity ordinance for the city of Albuquerque. Companies seeking city contracts will now receive incentives in the process if they can prove men and women are paid equally for work in comparable positions.

Host Gene Grant and this week’s Line opinion panelists debate reports of violence around the city of Albuquerque in recent weeks. They react to a report from the Center for Public Integrity on federal dollars used by officials at Sandia National Laboratories to lobby against the lab’s competition for a new federal contract. The Line panelists also discuss a series in the Santa Fe New Mexican about the health concerns of people who lived near the Trinity Test site, where the first atomic bomb was tested in New Mexico 70 years ago.

GUESTS:
Martha Burk, author and political psychologist
George Luján, Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)
Allen Sanchez, New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops

LINE PANELISTS:
Mark Boitano, former New Mexico state senator
Sophie Martin, attorney and editor of dukecityfix.com
Rob Nikolewski, Watchdog.org
Laura Sanchez-Rivét, attorney Sanchez Legal Solutions

CORRESPONDENTS:
Sarah Gustavus
Megan Kamerick

HOST:
Gene Grant

The Producer of NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS is Sarah Gustavus. Associate Producer is Kathy Wimmer. Funding for this program was provided in part by the McCune Foundation Communications Fund, Santa Fe Community Foundation.

Episode 903 airs July 17, 2015