Special Session Begins, PNM Merger Struck Down & Urban Wildlife

This week on New Mexico in Focus, state lawmakers are back inside the Roundhouse this week, parsing through redistricting recommendations from a new, independent commission. The Line Opinion Panel breaks down what they’ve done so far, and what the final decision may be when the special session closes.

Panelists also react to the breaking news the Public Regulation Commission struck down a proposed merger between Public Service Company of New Mexico and Avangrid, an east coast power utility. Were there too many red flags for commissioners to ignore, and what’s next for PNM and energy customers across the state? The panel does its best to answer those questions, and takes up the discussion on increasing pay for teachers across the state. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham says a 7% increase is deserved, but will it be enough to attract new teachers to fill a growing number of vacancies?

Correspondent Laura Paskus sits down with Author Sam Quinones to analyze the problem of Meth and Fentanyl in New Mexico. Quinones explains how increasingly potent drugs are dragging down communities, and what we can all do to help the most vulnerable individuals, and by extension, our society as a whole. And, Laura steps outside to see some of the critters living around us each day. Bobcats, foxes, coyotes, raccoons and other animals call our cities home just like us, so how can we coexist peacefully? Laura talks with an urban ecologist to find out, and shows us some of the daily animal interactions, rarely caught on camera.

Host: Gene Grant

The Line opinion panel: 
Diane Snyder, former state senator
Eric Griego, former state senator
Tom Garrity, Garrity Group Public Relations

Segments:

Author Sam Quinones on Fentanyl and Meth in the Land of Enchantment

Correspondent: Laura Paskus
Guest: Sam Quinones, Author – “The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of fentanyl and Meth”

Our Land – Living in Harmony With Urban Wildlife

Correspondent: Laura Paskus
Guest: Zoë Rossman, Urban Ecologist and UNM Graduate Student