Responding to Omicron Spread, Lawmaker Transparency and New Mexico’s Changing Drought

This week on New Mexico in Focus, lawmakers return to the Roundhouse in just a matter of days for the 2022 Legislative Session. One of the big topics, along with the budget, will be crime. Our Line opinion panel looks at some of the proposals that legislators will likely consider and whether or not there will be bipartisan support to achieve meaningful change. The Line panelists also debate a new proposal to ramp up transparency in the legislature when it comes to lawmakers’ financial interests. And, the group also discusses the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in New Mexico and how schools are dealing with a spike in cases as a new semester begins.

Also this week, Environment Reporter Laura Paskus sits down with bioclimatologist Park Williams to find out what the science says about how wildfire and drought conditions are evolving in the American Southwest and how they drastically differ from droughts and fire seasons of the ancient past.

Host: Gene Grant

The Line opinion panel: 
Serge Martinez, UNM Law School
Inez Russell Gomez, editorial page editor, Santa Fe New Mexican
Rebeca Latham, CEO, Girl Scouts of New Mexico

Segment:

Growing Drought and Wildfire Dangers in the U.S. Southwest

Correspondent: Laura Paskus

Guest: Park Williams, associate professor, Department of Geography, UCLA