No More Normal
By #NoMoreNormal
No More Normal Feb 21, 2020
Remembering Hannah Colton | 8.1.21
Former KUNM News Director and reporter, Hannah Colton, died by suicide at age 29 in November 2020. We have dedicated every episode of No More Normal to our dear friend and colleague since then, and now – for the last episode of the series – we memorialize her life, work and legacy.
We in the KUNM newsroom remember Hannah for being a great leader and brave reporter. Her friends and family remember her for her radiance and kindness. And no matter how people knew Hannah, it was her openness and ability to really see and hear people that often stands out in their memories.
On August 1, 2021, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., in a special two-hour final espisode of No More Normal, we hear from Hannah’s colleagues, family and friends about her essential work before and during the pandemic, and about who she was inside and beyond that work.
If you would like to share your own memories, or read those of others, head to MemorialForHannah.com.
GUESTS:
- Hannah’s parents: Kathy and Brad Colton
- Hannah’s KUNM colleagues and friends: Marisa Demarco, Nash Jones, Khalil Ekulona, Ty Bannerman, Kaveh Mowahed, Yasmin Khan, Taylor Velazquez and Megan Kamerick
- Hannah’s close personal friends: Keegan Kloer, Aaron Bumgarner, Marya Errin Jones, Adri De La Cruz, Austin Fisher, Monica Demarco and Marina Daldalian
- Hannah’s sources: Melanie Yazzie, and Dan and Denise Williams
IN-PERSON VIGIL:
Whether you knew Hannah personally or only through the radio, we invite you to join us Sunday evening following the live broadcast of the show to honor her memory at a public, in-person vigil. We’ll gather to mourn, remember and sing songs that Hannah selected for a community event she was planning before she passed.
Vigil Details:
- When: 7 p.m., Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Where: Tiguex Park, 1800 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque
- Who: Open to the public
RESOURCES:
- If you or someone you know is considering suicide or is otherwise experiencing a mental or emotional crisis, call the New Mexico Crisis and Access Line at 1-855-NM-CRISIS or the Agora Crisis Center at 505-277-3013.
- If you are not in crisis, but want to connect with someone about difficult feelings, call the New Mexico Peer-To-Peer Warmline: 1-855-4NM-7100, 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 p.m. daily, or text between 6 - 11 p.m., or the Agora Crisis Center at 505-277-3013.
- If you are a New Mexico journalist or medical worker in need of someone to talk to, call the First Responder Support Line at 1-855-507-5509.
- The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255
- TrevorLifeline for LGBTQ youth: 1-866-488-7386
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Artist Miriam Gwilt, whose artwork represents this episode online.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt who produced some of the show’s themes.
- KUNM reporter, Nash Jones, who co-produced this episode alongside former KUNM reporter and NoMoNo Executive Producer, Marisa Demarco.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Wrapping It Up | 7.25.21
Almost exactly one year ago former executive producer Marisa Demarco and host Khalil Ekulona were developing NoMoNo using what we learned from the previous four months of covering the pandemic with the show Your New Mexico Government. You might remember, YNMG was 5 days a week. First it was an hour, then a half hour then the schedule changed up a couple of times. The pandemic was new to all of us, to every human on the planet. It was the first of many changes to our collective reality and uncertainty was the word of the time. We think the word uncertainty has been said more times on this show than our nickname, NoMoNo. Yet in those uncertain times we knew that things would not be the same. No matter when our lives got back to some semblance of normality.
We also knew that we had to answer the call. To ask questions. Questions to public officials about the direction and effectiveness of their response to covid. Questions to activists and organizations asking who is in need of help and how can that help get to them. With a shared focus on racial justice we aired stories that examine the continuing pandmeic of racism.
Today we take a look at the past 16 months of No More Normal and share moments that stood out as we wrap up this interesting, funky show.
NEXT WEEK: We honor the life and work of Hannah Colton. Tune in to see why she is always in our hearts.
SPECIAL THANKS:
- Thank you to all of our guests who gave their time to share their experience, insights, and expertise with us over the past 16 months. The show is nothing without our guests. We thank you for being generous with your time.
- Thanks to our media partners: New Mexico PBS and The Santa Fe Reporter
- Thanks to the news team at KUNM for help with editing and providing outstanding reporting and content to the show.
- Thanks to our music contributors: Jazztone The Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records.
- Thanks to Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt for producing some of the show's themes.
- Super thanks to you, our listeners, for tuning in each week and sharing your time with us.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM and New Mexico PBS. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Makers of Music | 7.18.21
Music! It drives us to hit the dance floor and creates the landscape of our memorable moments in life. Seeing that music is so influential it is the perfect opportunity to inquire about the people who make the music we listen to. How are musicians faring after taking a year off from performing publicly? What about the venues where we gather to rock with our favorite bands or DJ’s?
Those that were able to stay afloat during the pandemic are gearing up to have the events that we’ve all missed so dearly. In episode 36 we talk to some of the people responsible for the music we listen to.
GUESTS:
- Jerome Williams - DJ Jrock
- Vanessa Bowen - Tsidii
- Eddie Saenz - DJ Diamond Tip
- Anjo King
- James Black
- Roscoe Floyd - DJ Flo Fader
- Sydney Counce - Manager, Dust City Opera
- Jesus Gomez - Owner, Canvas Artistry
- Jeff Alberson - Jazztone The Producer
- Cheo Melendez - Cheo
- Dominic Ruiz - Dahm Life
- Alexei Pacholuk - Business School
- Colin Botsford - Sun Dog
- Luz Allison - Sun Dog
- Jeremy Jasper - Owner, Oh Lawd Records
- Lauren Poole - Prism Bitch
- Chris Walsh - Prism Bitch
- Teresa Cruces - Prism Bitch
- Tom Guralnick - Founder, Outpost Performance Space
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing the sonic backdrop to NoMoNo. We are in deep gratitude for your generosity.
- Megan Kamerick for the editing help.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM and New Mexico PBS. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Back in the Stands | 7.11.21
Sports has been a form of entertainment for humans since, well... humans. While not all of us get obsessed with our favorite teams and look to flip over police cars when our squad wins the title, we do find ourselves lost in a world of athletic prowess and skill. Sports serve as a great tool to teach lessons to the youth. They learn about teamwork, dedication, loyalty, setting goals, and hard work. They also learn how to have fun. What is life without a little fun? Even if you are not a heavy sports fan, episode 35 will give you something to cheer about.
GUESTS:
- Santiago Cooper - Shortstop, Sandia Prep Varsity Baseball
- Scott Brandt - Head Coach, Sandia Prep Varsity Baseball
- Willie Owens - Athletic Director, Sandia Prep
- Mario Moccia- Athletic Director, New Mexico State University
- Natalia Chavez - Guard, Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball
- Jaelyn Bates - Guard, Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball
- Kennedy Brown - Guard, Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball
- Lisa Villareal - Head Coach, Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball
- Jason Pohl - Technical Director, Pro View Networks
- Alden Iowane - Scheduler/Programer, Pro View Networks
- Jesse Hendricks - The Prognosticators
- Rod Parker - The Prognosticators
- Benjamin Eaglin - The Prognosticators
CHECK OUT:
- Game winning shot by Natalia Chavez (SportsCenter to 10)
- Sandia Prep's state championship game
NEXT WEEK: It's all about the music. Live music performances are back and people are dancing. What about the musicians and dj’s who had massive changes to their lives? What about the performance venues who almost closed? What about the ones that did? Find out with us on the Next No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Jazztone The Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Grief & Transformation Part 2 | 7.4.21
We are officially a few days into New Mexico’s reopening. Restaurants and venues are now at full capacity. Some people are eschewing their masks and are ready to have some summer fun. But what about people who are not ready to move on? What about the great losses we collectively and individually suffered? How are we supposed to move on, as if nothing happened? This week we continue our conversation on grief and transformation as we discover ways to process the events of the pandemic and its effects on families, friends, communities, and ourselves.
GUESTS:
- Megan Devine - Author of “It’s OK That You’re Not OK”, psychotherapist, grief advocate,
- Dr. Froma Walsh - Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Chicago Center for Family Health
- Jade Richardson Bock - Executive Director, Children's Grief Center
- Noah Cochran - Clinical Social Worker, Covid Grief Network
- Kristin Urquiza - Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director, Chief Activist - Marked By Covid
- Nancy Mance - Trauma Consultant, Grief Counselor - Office Of The Medical Investigator (OMI)
NEXT WEEK: If you want a sign that things are picking back up just look in the stands of televised sporting events. The stands are getting packed! Last year it was the NBA that was the first major American institution to put a halt to its operations as covid set in. Where are we a year later? How did the covid and the growing awareness of social issues affect the world of sports? That's next week on No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Jazztone The Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Grief & Transformation Part 1 | 6.27.21
New Mexico will be fully reopened on July 1, and people are getting back to what some describe as normal activities. But how can we just get back to normal after we all went through—more than a year of heavy, powerful change? What about all the losses people suffered? Loved ones and friends are gone. Homes taken away. Careers and opportunities disappeared. The future you thought you were heading toward vanished. And your old self—who you thought you were—that person might be gone or different, too. How can we move ahead while honoring what has occurred?
In episode 33. we search for clues about how to carry our freshly transformed selves forward into the future. We find some perspective about grief and transformation, in this new form of normal.
GUESTS:
- Rev. Amani Malika - Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living
- Dee Brown
- Christopher Gonzalez
- Samantha Giovenco
- Shaun Gay
- Troy Williams
- Ren Ortiz
- Nicole Colchete
- Sylvia Krayner
- Robin Douglas
- Raymond Stone
- Samantha Stone
- Diana Schaver
- Donna Benson
- Delores Pierce
- Linda O'Rourke
- Susan Stover
- Jim Albright
NEXT WEEK: We continue our look at grief and transformation asking how do we do this? How do we process our grief while looking at an unclear future? We get some help from authors and experts on the topic of grief, and we continue to hear from people out in the world about what they are thinking as they move forward. That’s next week on No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Artist Courtney Baca whose artwork represents this episode online.
- Jazztone the producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sundog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
SUPER SPECIAL THANKS TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MARISA DEMARCO:
Marisa will be moving on from NoMoNo as she is about to begin an amazing opportunity. New Mexicans are going to be very well taken care of when it comes to local news and the things that matter. Never have we worked with a more brilliant, passionate, and dedicated person. This past year and a half of working closely with Marisa has transformed us into better humans. For our media partners and listeners of this show that we’ve all worked so hard on, thank you, Marisa, for everything.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM and New Mexico PBS. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Free-ish? | 6.20.21
One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, putting an end to slavery in the United States. News traveled slowly in those days—no social media to spread the word. But this executive order took an especially long time to get to all corners of the country: two-and-a-half years, in fact. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, where the last enslaved people were told of their freedoms. From that moment on, African Americans have celebrated June 19 as the end of slavery in their communities, towns and cities. What do they celebrate? Freedom for one. There is also a theme of remembering our ancestors who survived almost unfathomable hardships so that we can be here, today.
How does celebrating emancipation resonate right now with the fight against racist police violence re-ignited? 2021 also marks a century since the Tulsa Massacre. How does that history call to the celebrations of freedom at this moment? On episode 32, we meet some New Mexicans to discover how Juneteenth and its meaning reflects in who they are today—and we talk through what they think about being Black in the Land of Enchantment.
GUESTS:
- Jason Carter - Host, journalist, media personality
- Nichole Rogers - African American Business and Community Liaison - City of Albuquerque
- Melody Wells - Nonprofit fundraiser
- Amir Chapel - Researcher and policy analyst
- Jeron Campbell - Founder and principal, ACES Public Schools
- Siddiq Abdallah - Author and poet
NEXT WEEK: Re-opening is happening, and our lives are getting back to normal. Wait, there is no more normal, right? How can we move on and pick it all back up like nothing happened? More than 600,000 people died in the U.S. And there have been 3.85 million deaths from COVID globally. People lost loved ones and friends. We all lost our old lives. Next time on NoMoNo, we look at the grief we experienced and the transformation that hit us all and ask: How do we do this?
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Our guests for sharing their experience, insights and expertise with us.
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Journalism In The Pandemic | 6.6.21
For more than a year now, this show has been keeping pace with changes large and small, noting them and documenting them. It’s about looking closely and creating a record of this historic year in human history. It’s also been an unusual time for journalists themselves. Today, we’re talking about the behind-the-scenes thinking and decision-making that goes into telling stories.
What was it like to report the news during one of the most consequential periods of modern history? What did it do to us, as individuals, tasked to discover and share the stories of great importance - with you? How did journalists have to pivot and adapt to a media environment flooded in a cyclone of misinformation and disinformation? How are we going to look at our jobs, the industry, the collective consciousness of the country, now that things have fundamentally changed?
GUESTS:
- Megan Kamerick, host and reporter for KUNM and New Mexico PBS
- Julia Goldberg, journalist with the Santa Fe Reporter
- Austin Fisher, freelance reporter, former news editor at the Rio Grande Sun
- Shuan Griswold, reporter for New Mexico In Depth
- Kevin McDonald, executive producer and production manager for New Mexico PBS
- Marisa Demarco, reporter for KUNM and executive producer for NoMoNo
- Khalil Ekulona, NoMoNo host and reporter for KUNM
NEXT WEEK: Employers are hiring. They really are looking. Some offer bonuses and prizes just for applying. Republican governors are cutting off those extra federal benefits in order to push people back to work. People who want to work say they want to get paid more farily for what they do. With an economy driven by spending, the need for cash is at hand. We’re in the money—well, we’re talking about it at least. That’s next week on No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Our guests for sharing their experience, insights, and expertise with us
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Gun Violence Part 2 | 5.23.21
Young people in the last decades have had to study more than academics—they’ve had to learn what to do when a person shows up to your school with a gun and starts shooting. And unfortunately those types of skills could help you anywhere these days—even on Capitol Hill. As the American pandemic of gun violence grows, so do the arguments about what can be done about it. Often those arguments are about the Second Amendment, but do we have the right to bear arms ... right? Or are we arguing about it wrong? NoMoNo hits part two of our look at gun violence.
In episode 30, we talk with a researcher who asks if mass shootings and other public forms of gun violence are contagious, a gun owner who explains why he’s a liberal and supports gun owners' rights, a couple of professors—one about the Second Amendment and another about guns as a public health issue. And we take a trip out to the shooting range with Henry Hutchinson to talk about safety and his perspective as a gun owner.
GUESTS:
- Henry Hutchinson - Gun Owner
- JD Butter - Gun Owner
- Peter Kierst - Constitutional Law Professor, University of New Mexico
- David Hemenway - Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard University
- Sherry Towers - Statistician and Data Scientist
RESOURCES:
- AGORA CRISIS CENTER - 505-277-3013 - ONLINE CHAT ROOM
- NM CRISIS HOTLINE - 1-855-N-M-CRISIS
- NM WARMLINE - 1-855-4NM-7100
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Henry Hutchinson for taking us out to practice shooting
- Kaveh Mowahed for the editing help
- Taylor Velazquez for her contributions
- Our guests for offering their experiences, insight and expertise
- Thanks to Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music to the show, Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show's themes
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Gun Violence Part 1 | 5.16.21
As of Friday, May 14, there have been nearly 16,000 deaths due to guns so far this year in the United States, according to data from Gun Violence Archive. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic, protests about racial equity, and the general election dominated our attention, but that doesn’t mean that other serious matters like gun violence disappeared. Data from the archive shows that nearly 20,000 Americans died by guns last year—the highest total number of deaths in at least the last two decades. The problem didn’t go away. Our attention did. In episode 29 we take a look at the problem of gun violence in America, where we stand and what can be done about it.
GUESTS:
- Jillian Peterson—co-founder and president, The Violence Project (Off-Ramp Project)
- Miranda Viscoli—co-president, New Mexicans To Prevent Gun Violence
- Tim Quinn—spokesperson, Gun Control Australia
RESOURCES:
- AGORA CRISIS CENTER - 505-277-3013 - ONLINE CHAT ROOM
- NM CRISIS HOTLINE - 1-855-N-M-CRISIS
- NM WARMLINE - 1-855-4NM-7100
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Our guests for sharing their experience and expertise with us
- Kaveh Mowahed for pitching in with editing help
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyeyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show's themes.
Taylor is one of the very best and brightest we've seen come through the newsroom, and she's really chill about it, too. No ego. Just elbow grease. She worked so hard on No More Normal and in the newsroom during the pandemic. We are really going to miss her. This week, she took her last finals, graduated from UNM and co-hosted the show with Khalil.
Good luck to you, Taylor, in all of life's pursuits. You truly ROCK!!!!!
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Walking Back Extremism | 5.9.21
Humans are peculiar. We are capable thoughts, feelings, and expressions ranging from unconditional love to insidious hate. It begs the question: where do we learn those concepts? And then: How do we unlearn them? Here is a good one: How does someone who has been a member of a group that professes hatred of other humans leave that community and ideology behind? What are the steps? What’s the process like? Who are the people that can help them?
There is no excuse for hate and oppression. That much is very clear. However, when one recognizes the poison of their thoughts and actions, how can they walk away from beliefs that feel key to their identities? How can they move forward fully accountable for their actions? Is there potential for redemption? In episode 28, we talk with a clinical psychologist about implicit bias, counselors on how to bring back family and friends who may have gone too far down the QAnon rabbit hole. And we hear from a former white supremacist who is helping others leave those groups and shed the thoughts of hate.
GUESTS:
- Tony McAleer, author of The Cure For Hate - A Former White Supremacists Journey From Violent Extremisim to Radical Compassion
- Diane Benscoter, founder, Own Your Brain
- Dr. John Dovidio, professor emeritus, Yale Universtiy
- Rachel Bernstein, therapist, host of IndoctoriNation Podcast
- Joseph Kelly, cult mediation specialist, Cult Mediation
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Our guests for sharing their experience and expertise with us
- Taylor Velazquez for pitching in with editing help
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyeyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show's themes.
Episode photo courtesy of Tony McAleer
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Legal Cannabis Takes Root | 4.18.21
After many attempts over what seems like forever, New Mexico has finally passed a law making recreational cannabis use legal for adults. But the rollout is not as simple as lighting a match as special considerations for how this new law will impact New Mexicans must be addressed. It raises a lot of questions: What happens to people with prior cannabis convictions? Who will have access to the emerging industry? How will equity be enacted? And how will this affect you if you don’t have citizenship status?
In Episode 27, we ask the people of Albuquerque how they feel about weed being legal. We learn about how the new law affects immigrant communities. We hear about the long fight for the Drug Policy Alliance, how one veteran is determined to use grass to help other vets, and we talk to two people whose lives were interrupted because of that so-called “war on drugs.”
GUESTS:
- Kim Chavez Cook, appellate defender, Law Office of the Public Defender
- Emily Kaltenbach, New Mexico Drug Policy Alliance
- Armando and Aarika, Bold Futures New Mexico
- Arifa Raza, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
- Diana Torres, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
- Dick Wilkinson, army veteran and founder of the New Mexico Veterans Cannabis Alliance
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Our guests for sharing their experience and expertise with us
- Zelie Pollon, Megan Kamerick, and Taylor Velazquez for pitching in with editing help.
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyeyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show's themes.
Episode Art Courtesy:
JURASSIC BLUEBERRIES VIA CC
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM and New Mexico PBS. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
Revolutions Per Minute | 4.11.21
The illness of racism was here long before Covid-19, but the pandemic brought it out into a brighter focus. It is too blinding not to see it. It is too loud to be silent in its presence. So we are going to make some noise of our own—the kind of noise you can dance to. On Episode 26, we highlight the dialogues we’ve had over the past year with anti-racist educators and leaders. As the country loops back through a national call to self-destruct on Sunday, April 11, NoMoNo spins remixes of conversations and wall-to-wall beats.
Because of the rules around copyright, we can't post the audio as it aired with some of our favorite songs and vocalists speaking to the nuances of these issues. If you want to, find the megahits edition on our two-week archive for Sunday, April 11, at 11 a.m.
GUESTS:
Tim Wise, Scott Davis, Archbishop John Wester, Monique Salhab, Nina Robinson, Melanie Yazzie, Ademola Ekulona, Hunter Marshall, Jeremy Jasper, Ben Makuch, Barbara Jordan, Djasi Falcon, Senator Martin Heinrich, Ebony Isis Booth, Dr. Anthony Fleg, John Biewen, Awad Bilal and Jane Elliott.
NEXT WEEK: The state has done it, recreational marijuana has passed the state Legislature and is soon to be put into the books by the governor. What does that really mean for New Mexico? Find out next week on No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- All of the musicians who recorded those jams we aired that stand the test of time in creating an atmosphere of love
- Everyone who is working toward a time on earth where human beings are good to each other, fair, healthy and just.
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, SunDog and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
*****
No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
A Year In Pandemic Part 2 | 4.4.21
2020 was a long year. We don't have to tell you. It was a constant barrage of reality-shaping events, and it hasn’t stopped. What is different for us now that we are on the verge of—maybe, knock on wood—coming out of the pandemic? How are the leaders we elected approaching their duties now? How are activists applying what they’ve learned to push their causes forward? How are the people who experienced hardship pre-pandemic adapting to a possible post-pandemic life? No More Normal reflects on last year while keeping our focus on the future.
GUESTS:
- Archbishop John Wester
- Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez
- Steven Allen, director of the New Mexico Prison & Jail Project
- Nadia Fazel, public health lead adviser for Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless
- Brooke Tafoya, director of operations for New Day Youth and Family Services
- Karina Pizaro, essential childcare worker
- Melanie Yazzie and Cleo Otero from The Red Nation
- Maggie Toulouse Oliver, secretary of state
- Matt Bieber, spokesperson for the N.M. Department of Health
- Henry Valdez, spokesperson for the N.M. Department of Finance and Administration
NEXT WEEK: The state has done it, recreational marijuana has passed the state Legislature and is soon to be put into the books by the governor. What does that really mean for New Mexico? Find out next week on No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Vanessa Bowen for the artwork. And NoMoNo trivia: Bowne also designed the show's logos.
- Zelie Pollon, Yasmin Khan, and Taylor Velazuquez for their contributions. And virtual high-fives to Zelie, Taylor and Megan Kamerick for the editing help.
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, SunDog and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.22.21
The 2021 Legislative Session is now over... or is it? Lawmakers ended a whirlwind couple of months by passing 158 bills, but as always the time ran out on dozens of other measures. In today's update we run down the big bills that made it across the finish line, and the ones that will have to wait for another year. One of those bills was the adult-use cannabis legalization measure, which just ran out of time and oxygen in the last hours of the session. But, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham thinks the proposal is close enough, she has already announced a special session to finish the work on what was House Bill 12. She says the framework is there and New Mexicans shouldn't have to wait another year to see this happen. That Special Session will happen around March 31st and will cost taxpayers roughly $50,000 a day. We'll be back to break it all down once the final details have been released. We will also have much more on the cannabis legalization debate, this week on our podcast collaboration with New Mexico Political Report, "Growing Forward."
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.19.21
A lot of fireworks throughout the night and into the wee hours of the morning. All of that means we are in for a wild ride in the last day and a half of the 2021 legislative session. Some of the big highlights and takeaways of the last 24 hours: the Land Grant Permanent Fund Amendment (HJR 1) made it through the Senate and appears to be headed to a ballot near you, after years of effort. Also, the Healthy Workplaces Act (HB 20), which was changed back early this morning to only affect private sector employers, who would have to give their employees paid sick leave. That was where the fireworks really started as you can discover more in Dan Boyd's article, out this morning in the Albuquerque Journal.
As for today, all eyes will be on the Senate once again, for the debate and potential vote on cannabis legalization in New Mexico. The Senate is set to reconvene again at about noon today.
The legislative session ends tomorrow at 12pm noon, so the clock begins to officially speed up from here on in.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.18.21
A late night/early morning helps push cannabis legalization legislation one step closer to the finish line. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 to advance House Bill 12 to the full Senate just after 1:30am this morning. That was after hours of amendments and debate, which will no doubt foreshadow an epic showdown when and if the bill comes up for a vote of the full chamber. Read more about it all, and another bill that would limit reciprocity practices within the medical cannabis program in this morning's New Mexico Political Report. Andy Lyman is always right on top of these issues, and he just also happens to be co-host of our collaborative podcast project "Growing Forward."
We also have updates for you this morning on predatory lending reform, the Civil Rights Bill and also the status of priority #1, the state budget (House Bill 2).
And, we encourage you to read more about some of the internal dynamics of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman Joe Cervantes, from reporter Robert Nott at the Santa Fe New Mexican. The committee has taken a fair amount of criticism for the pace at which it is hearing bills, but in the debate early this morning, there was bipartisan support amongst the committee members on how they go about their work.
2 and a half days and counting...
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.17.21
A lot of the activity here in the last days of the session, not surprisingly, is focused on money matters. The first order of business each year is of course the budget (HB 2), and that seems to be nearing the finish line with just three and a half days left to go. Also, lawmakers in the House yesterday unanimously approved a Capital Outlay package (HB 285). Now it's up to the Senate to pick up the baton.
A measure to tap more money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund is also moving forward to the full Senate, after a historic vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. A staple of recent legislative sessions, the measure has never made it this far before. All that stands between it and the Governor's desk is a full Senate vote. If all of that happens, it would still end up n the November 2022 ballot for voters to ultimately decide.
Also in today's YNMG update:
- Progress on HB 20 which would require private employees earn paid sick leave. It passed out of Senate Judiciary yesterday with changes and is now also headed to the full Senate for consideration.
- HB 4, the Civil Rights Bill, is also nearing the finish line. It passed the full Senate yesterday on a 26-15 vote. The House still needs to approve changes, otherwise a conference committee will face that task. HB 4 would remove the qualified immunity defense in lawsuits where people claim police or other public agencies violated their civil rights. It would cap damages at $2 million dollars per incident.
- Cannabis Legalization - Both HB 12 and SB 288 are expected to be heard today in Senate Judiciary, but nothing is ever for sure at this time of the session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.16.21
Things are definitely moving fast and furious in the Roundhouse, as you would expect with only 4 and half days left in this year's session.
One of the fastest moving bills is House Bill 47, which is the Medical Aid in Dying Measure that recently passed through the full House. It followed suit yesterday in the Senate after more than two and a half hours of emotional debate and discussion. Three democrats joined the republicans in opposing the bill, which now heads back to the House for concurrence on the changes made in the Senate. From there, it is headed to the Governor's desk, where she is expected to sign it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is once again the center of a lot of attention in the legislative session. That's because chairman of the committee Joe Cervantes asked for the chance to consider the paid sick leave measure (House Bill 20). Originally scheduled for discussion yesterday on the Senate Floor, it has now been assigned to Senate Judiciary, with a hearing tentatively scheduled for Thursday morning. That doesn't leave a lot of time for the measure to make it across the finish line.
Senate Judiciary is also still where the two cannabis legalization bills are stalled (HB 12 and SB 288). The committee meets today, but neither bills are on the agenda. That leaves the outcome of legalization this year in murky waters. You can get much more on the cannabis news by subscribing to our "Growing Forward" podcast, a collaboration with New Mexico Political Report. And, be sure to read Andy Lyman's latest offering today about another cannabis-related measure that would tighten up the state's reciprocity practices for medical cannabis licenses.
And lastly, it appears we all should get used to changing our clocks twice a year, as the measure (SB 102) to follow daylight savings all year in New Mexico was tabled in committee yesterday. It's not a death sentence, but the proposal is definitely on life support as the hours tick down.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.15.21
A busy weekend in the Roundhouse, capped off by yes votes for Medical Aid in Dying and Mandatory Paid Sick Leave measures. But, the big news of the weekend was the lack of action on cannabis legalization, as both of the remaining bills did not come up for discussion in the Senate Judiciary Committee. One of those bills was actually pulled from consideration just minutes before the meeting. And, of course, all of the proposed measures are up against the clock, with time set to run out on this year's session at noon on Saturday. We'll be back with more updates tomorrow, and as always, let us know what issues you are tracking in this busy 60-day session.
A Year In Pandemic
Twelve months ago, team NoMoNo was busy having conversations about how we were going to make a show that covered the response to a global pandemic. What did we want to talk about? What was not being talked about? What was the vital info? What were the nuances? What life-and-death decisions were being made by public officials. Who needed help—and where is the help? We’ve worked hard over the last year to provide those answers.
The thing about the pandemic is that we’re all going through it. Every single one of us. In the past year, we, as a collective have suffered the losses of loved ones and friends. Many have lost jobs and the means to survive. People have lost hope, as the fatigue of living one year in a global pandemic sets in. As we thought about looking back on a year, we threw around a lot of ideas for guests—politicians, leaders, organizers. And we arrived at: How about just … people? People who lived through it, day-to-day? That's what Episode 24 is all about.
GUESTS:
- Eva Avenue
- Catherine Hudson
- Shaun Gay
- Lynn Embick
- David Hayden
- Alicia Webb
- Calliope Webb
- Glenn Loppnow
- Benjamin Eaglin
- Stewart Dorris
- Claire Porter
- Orlando Watts
- Courtney FitzGerald
- Jeff Proctor
Your NM Gov: In this week's episode, we've got Jeff Proctor from the Santa Fe Reporter telling us about all the police-reform action at the Legislature, including the Civil Rights bill. And with the legislative session heading into the final lap, it is important that you know what is going on at the Roundhouse. Your New Mexico Government is where you can find daily updates on all the news coming out of Santa Fe. Look for "No More Normal" on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get those daily updates.
NEXT WEEK: On the next No More Normal, we continue our look back at the past year, and we give a wrap up of the legislative session in Santa Fe.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- bug carlson for allowing us to use "Transpecies Viral Landscape I" as artwork for the online version of the show.
- Jazztone the producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sundog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.
- Taylor Velasquez helps with social media, story generation and editing
- Thanks to Nash Jones and Ty Bannerman for their contributions.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.12.21
We're now just a little over a week away from the end of the 2021 legislative session. And outside of some changes to the state's liquor laws, and pandemic relief for New Mexico businesses, not a lot has crossed the finish line. But, no doubt we are in for a flourish of activity in the last 7 and a half days in the Roundhouse. In today's episode we update several bills we've been tracking pretty closely, and discuss some measures we haven't touched on yet at all. Here's the rundown:
HB 211 - Redistricting Reform. This bill has largely been left behind, as Senate Bill 15 plows ahead through the legislature this year. But HB 211 was actually the direct outcome of a Redistricting Task Force created last year to make this once a decade process more fair, transparent and non-partisan. Sponsor Rebecca Dow yesterday tried to push for a vote on HB 211 on the House Floor, after it has languished in the committee process, but that tactic failed. Both HB 211 and SB 5 are scheduled to be heard today in House Judiciary.
HJR 1 - This is the measure that would allow the state to pull money from the permanent land grant fund to pay for early childhood education programs. It was discussed in Senate Judiciary yesterday, but no vote was taken. Still, this marks a milestone, as the measure has never actually been heard in a Senate committee in the past, even though it has passed out of the House several times.
SB 11 – This would create a clean fuel standard for New Mexico. The measure, sponsored by Senator Mimi Stewart (D) passed out of the full Senate 25-14
SB 80 - This is a bill, often called The CROWN Act, which offers protections for cultural hairstyles and headdresses. The City of Albuquerque recently adopted this measure, and SB 60 would offer the same protections to New Mexico students. It passed out of the full Senate last night on a unanimous vote. (Note: in the podcast, we mistakenly identified this as SB 60. We apologize for the confusion)
The Senate is back today at 11, and the House meets at 2:30pm.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.11.21
If you are interested in the most inner workings of state government, today's Your NM Government update is just for you! The work Wednesday in the Roundhouse was somewhat overshadowed by technical problems with the virtual proceedings. But a lot of the business that was considered had to do with how the sausage is made, so to speak. Here's a quick rundown of what we talked about in today's update:
Senate Bill 74 - This is a measure designed to curb the Governor's powers during a public emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. This is something Republican lawmakers have been critical of nearly throughout the past year, but it has languished in the Senate for nearly three weeks. Bottom line, there was a push to take a vote in the full Senate, but it failed 14-24. It does not seem likely to get that vote, either, before the session ends, as Governor Lujan Grisham has indicated she would likely veto it if approved by lawmakers.
House Bill 4 – This is the New Mexico Civil Rights Act that came out of this summer's Black Lives Matter protests. Part of the call for police reform included getting rid of the legal protection of qualified immunity for officers and other government employees. It did make it out of Senate Judiciary yesterday with changes, but will there be enough time to get this over the finish line?
House Bill 2 - This is the top priority of any legislative session, the budget. It has already been approved by the House, but the Senate Finance Committee is apparently interested in some tweaks, especially to add more money to the Opportunity Scholarship program and Lottery Scholarship program. Lots of support, but the committee still has to officially vote on these changes, before it would head to the full Senate for a vote.
House Joint Resolution 12 - This one is a nearly annual affair, and would change our status as the only remaining citizen legislature. If approved, it would allow voters to decide if lawmakers should start drawing a salary, instead of the daily per diem they now receive for travel and expenses. This measure passed the full House on a 44-24 vote, but now heads to the Senate where it has floundered in recent years.
Keep an eye today on the Senate Finance Committee, which is scheduled to meet about 30 minutes after the full Senate Floor Session. They may get to HJR1, the measure to tap the Permanent Land Grant Fund to pay for early childhood education programs, but only the clock knows for sure!
The Senate is back today at 11, and the House meets at 2:30pm.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.10.21
And then there were 2 --- cannabis legalization bills. At least that's the way things seem to be shaping up in this 2021 Legislative Session.
Yesterday, the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee moved ahead both HB 12 and SB 288, although with changes to both measures. Those changes actually bring the two bills closer in line, with the big difference being oversight of a new legal cannabis market. HB 12 leaves that to Licensing and Regulation, while SB 288 would create a new supervisory panel. The other difference is, HB 12 has a shorter path to potential passage, since it has already worked its way through the House of Representatives. You can read more about all of this from Andy Lyman at New Mexico Political Report, and be sure to keep up to date with our "Growing Forward" podcast, all about the cannabis industry in New Mexico. It's a collaborative project between NMPBS and New Mexico Political Report.
Some of the other highlights from yesterday's legislative action:
HB 255 – This passed the full Senate on a 29-11 vote, but not without a total of 8 amendments. This measure includes sweeping reforms to the state's liquor laws and would allow for home delivery of some alcohol and a new ban on the sale of mini liquor bottles as gas stations. In addition, Sunday liquor sales could now start before 11am. The House quickly concurred with the changes, and so HB 255 is on to the Governor's desk for her signature.
SB 32 - This is known as Roxy's law, named after a Blue Heeler killed by a wildlife trap back in 2018. SB 32 bans the use of wildlife traps, snares and poisons on New Mexico's public lands. It also passed the full Senate and is headed to the House for consideration. You can learn more about this issue from a recent Facebook Live conversation hosted by New Mexico in Focus host Gene Grant.
As for today, here are some of the big issues that could come up in various committee hearings that we discussed in this episode:
House Health and Human Services Committee – 8:30am
HB 177: Homemade Food Act
House Judiciary – 11:30am
SB 286: Special Congressional Election Changes
Senate Education – 8:30am
HB 163: Requiring high school students to take a financial literacy class
Senate Finance – Roughly a half hour after the Floor session ends
HJR 1 - Tapping the Permanent Land Grant Fund to pay for early childhood education programs
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.9.21
The big news in the Roundhouse yesterday had nothing to do with specific legislation, but an announcement from the Department of Education that schools should reopen for in-person learning by April 5th. This comes on the heels of another announcement by the Department of Health that all educators and school support staff should be able to get at least the first round of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March. Students and parents would still be able to choose to finish out the year virtually, but bottom line, any student that wants to head back to the classroom will soon be able to.
Other items we discuss in today's Your NM Gov Update:
House Bill 20 - Paid Sick Leave for all New Mexico Workers. This has now passed out of the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee, but only after its official start date was changed to July of 2022. This bill now heads to one las committee assignment in Taxation, Business and Transportation.
Senate Joint Resolution 22 - This measure would allow for the possibility of ranked choice voting in state elections. It stalled, though, in Senate Rules, although supporters say they are optimistic it might be revived before the session ends. Given how much work there is left to do in not a lot of time, that may be just wishful thinking, though.
Senate Bill 94 – This bill would allow student athletes at New Mexico colleges and universities to earn money or other compensation from the use of their name, image or likeness. It is now headed to the full House for a vote. If approved, it will be on to the Governor's desk for her signature.
All eyes today will be on the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation committee, as members hear about the latest attempts to legalize recreational-use cannabis. There are at least three competing proposals out there, although the House has already approved HB 12 nearly two weeks ago. This discussion was originally scheduled for Saturday, but Committee Chairman Benny Shendo pushed it back to today so the authors of the remaining bills could try to come to consensus on one measure moving forward. That hearing will start about 1:30pm today and you can follow along on the webcast by heading to the New Mexico PBS homepage.
We also mentioned this morning an online petition surrounding efforts to reform the process of redistricting in New Mexico. A compromise bill (SB 15) is making its way through the Roundhouse, but opponents think there are still big concerns about the transparency and fairness of this measure.
Let us know what bills or issues you are following as the session heads into the final days of the 2021 session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.8.21
Another busy week in store for the session, and today also marks the second to last Monday of the 2021 Legislative Session. Lawmakers will definitely have their hands full in these last days, with plenty of high profile measures still to decide.
Today we talk the status of House Joint Resolution 1, which is an annual effort to allow the state to take more money from the permanent land grant fund and put that money (about $170 million a year) toward early childhood programs. This measure has often been a political hot potato, but it passed out of Senate Rules on a 7-4 vote. Next, it will move to Senate Finance.
Senate Bill 102 is the measure to keep New Mexico on daylight savings time year round, if the federal government approves. That measure is also moving forward after passing the full Senate Friday evening 22-18.
Senate Bill 15 is the compromise bill around redistricting reform. It is also moving forward after passing out of Senate Judiciary over the weekend. Next stop, the full Senate Floor.
There are also developments on legislation to do away with qualified immunity protections for police and other government employees who violate individual's civil rights. Senate Bill 376 which would change the state's Tort Claims Act to prohibit the use of qualified immunity stalled in committee over the weekend. That may have consequences for the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, HB4, which would eliminate the qualified immunity defense in New Mexico entirely. We talked about this issue on The Line on New Mexico in Focus Friday night. We encourage you to give it a watch to learn more about the debate and discussion on the issue.
The Full House will once again convene today at 11am, and the Senate gathers at about 2:30pm to consider business. And, there is a full slate of committee hearings as well. You can find the full schedule, webcast information and more by heading to the New Mexico PBS homepage.
Let us know what bills or issues you are following and we will do our best to keep you up to date on all of that as the session heads into the final days of the 2021 session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Who Carries Story?
Where do you get your news? Rather, where do you get your stories? Even more: how do stories shape us? And who are the people crafting these stories—what’s their story? For our second episode on black history, we are looking into storytelling and the people who craft the narrative, offering us insights we may have passed by.
We featured stories and conversations with host Khalil Ekulona's family last week, but family is not the only place that provides us with stories. We get it from the news we read as well. In episode 23, we get to know some of the African American journalists who are familiar to television audiences in New Mexico and around the country.
GUESTS:
- Jemele Hill, contributing writer for The Atlantic and co-host of "Cari and Jemele (Won't) Stick To Sports" on VICE TV
- Van Tate, sports director for KRQE News 13
- Shellye Leggett, general assignment reporter for KOAT Action 7 News
- Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, historical storyteller and author of children's books
- Lisa Salters, ESPN's Monday Night Football and NBA reporter, "E:60" co-host
- Kalyn Norwood, reporter and weekend anchor for KOAT Action 7 News
- James and Abby Woods, publishers of Cue The Culture
- Juba, a descendant of West African griots and a member of Storytellers of New Mexico
YOUR NM GOV: With the legislative session heading into the final lap, it is important that you know what is going on at the Roundhouse. Your New Mexico Government is where you can find daily updates on all the news coming out of Santa Fe. Look for "No More Normal" on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get those daily updates. This week, we'll hear from Gwyneth Doland for New Mexico PBS about all the redistricting drama.
NEXT WEEK: This time last year was our last time doing our normal routines. In N.M., March 15 is about the one-year anniversary of the quarantine. So let's look at the year in review. So many questions have developed in the last year. We talk with you to see if anyone has an answer.
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.5.21
One of the big stories to come out of the Roundhouse yesterday actually involves Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. State Auditor Brian Colon announced that he was moving ahead with a special audit of the Governor's discretionary fund, after local reporting discovered more than $13,000 in groceries, liquor purchases and dry cleaning over a six-month period in 2020. A group of Republican lawmakers also requested the audit in a letter to Auditor Colon. The Governor's office has said the purchases were appropriate but may have been excessive at times.
In the House, we saw movement on HB 111 which would offer new protections to tenants in the middle of an emergency like the ongoing pandemic.
NMPBS has done a lot of reporting on evictions and the housing crunch in recent months. You can find all of that on the New Mexico in Focus website.
Senate Bill 2 also passed a full House vote yesterday. Tis proposal would forgive liquor license renewal fees for a year, to give struggling businesses a boost during the ongoing COVID-19 struggles. It is now headed to the Governor's desk for a signature.
In this episode, we also talk about Senate Bill 168 which would raise the gas tax by five cents a gallon to fund much needed road repairs. We mentioned a great article that explains more in depth why those repairs are so needed. We encourage you to read that reporting by Daniel Chacon at the Santa Fe New Mexican.
It's Friday which means a new episode of New Mexico in Focus on NMPBS. The Line opinion panel will be delving into several legislative issue, including predatory lending reform and cannabis legalization. And, we also have interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Senator Martin Heinrich. Tune in tonight at 7pm.
Speaking of cannabis legalization, Saturday will be a big day for advocates on both sides of that issue. The Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee will be working to build consensus on a singular effort to legalize. Right now there are at least three competing bills still alive, and the clock is speeding up. Tune back in for more on that meeting in a future episode.
***Update: It looks like this hearing in the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee has been pushed back to at least Tuesday. The Senate Majority Office confirmed this with Andy Lyman at New Mexico Political Report this morning.
Let us know what bills or issues you are following and we will do our best to keep you up to date on all of that as the session heads into the final days of the 2021 session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.4.21
Thanks for joining us again for this short legislative update, coming to you straight from my garage! We're working on our floors right now, so the usual spot in the closet was taken today. Another busy day in the Roundhouse, including another long night in the House. That will likely continue for the rest of the session as the pattern now is to start the daily House Floor sessions at 4:30pm. The Senate Floor sessions are happening starting around 11am. And, of course, committee meetings are still in play throughout the day as well. Some of the highlights from yesterday's action, you'll hear me talk more about in today's episode:
*Governor Lujan Grisham signs a pair of pandemic relief bills
*The House did approve a tax bill last night, House Bill 291, that would include tax credits for low income New Mexicans, and tax increases for high earners. A proposed amendment to that bill failed to get enough backing, however. It would have instead instituted new taxes on renewable energy businesses in our state.
*A bill that paves the way for limited at-home liquor delivers (HB 255) made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now headed to the full Senate. A vote on that could happen later this week, but time will tell.
*Senate Bill 93 is headed to the House, after a 33-6 vote in the Senate yesterday. This would create the new Office of Broadband Access and Expansion to help us create a comprehensive plan to connect more of the state, which was ranked 42nd in the country in a new broadband report.
Let us know what bills or issues you are following and we will do our best to keep you up to date on all of that as the session heads into the final days of the 2021 session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Passed Down The Line
When host Khalil Ekulona thinks about his purpose in life, he often thinks of my family. Family is where we get our first lessons and introduction to the world. On Episode 22, Khalil enters conversations with his family about the meaning and purpose of familial love, support, and collective dedication to passing those lessons along.
Whatever Khalil and his siblings' individual interests were, their parents encouraged their kids to go and experience them. And they keep it going for a new generation. You'll hear from his mother, his father, four of his siblings and four of his cousins. This extended online version of the episode includes many more of the gems embedded in these conversations. We hope you enjoy this retrospective on a dynamic family where righteousness, spirit, drive and a well timed joke are the only currencies that matter.
GUESTS:
- Olufemi Ekulona
- Ademola Ekulona
- Saidah Arrika Ekulona
- Afi Rukavina
- Atif Ekulona
- Paige Walker
- Keisha Toomer-Withers
- Toneshia Toomer-Johnson
- Janine Renee
- Djasi Falcon
- Jeffery Marshall
YOUR NM GOV: This week, we caught up with Harold Pope Jr., the first African American state senator in the Legislature's 109-year history. Your New Mexico Government is keeping you up to date with everything that happens at the roundhouse in collaboration with New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. We've got daily updates for you now through the end of the session. Find them on this website, or on No More Normal's podcast feeds.
NEXT WEEK: February, the shortest month of the year, is not enough to fit the breadth of Black history, so we are going to continue with our show on Sunday, March 7, where we look into Black storytelling. How do stories shape the world and the future? We talk with some of the sculptors.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- All of Khalil's family members for sharing their expertise on life. Some say you don’t get to choose the family you have, if that’s the case, Khalil says he got very, very lucky.
- Jazztone the producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sundog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawat produced some of the show’s themes.
- Taylor Velazquez handles social media and helps with editing and story generation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.3.21
A definite potpourri of legislative topics for you today, starting with an update on proposals to deal with the learning loss caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We also talk about some movement regarding predatory lending practices in New Mexico, which spurred several hours of debate yesterday in the Roundhouse. Our partners at the Santa Fe Reporter have done a lot of great reporting on the issues that are wrapped up in that debate, and we encourage you to read up on that background when you can. We also referenced a report by the Albuquerque Journal's Dan McKay about the complicated topic of reforming medical malpractice laws in our state, and some pushback from industry folks around plans to reform liquor licensing practices. As always, let us know what you are seeing and hearing in this most unusual session, and join us again for another update tomorrow morning!
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.2.21
The week started off with some legislative drama, both on the Senate Floor and in committee. We run down some of the big news, including a potential compromise on efforts to reform how the state handles the once a decade process of redistricting. NMPBS Executive Producer Kevin McDonald runs down some of the key highlights from Monday and previews some of the scheduled committee discussions for Tuesday. How is the session going for you this year? What do you think of how both chambers are handling public comment. We want to hear from you!
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Government: Roundhouse Update | 3.1.21
Today, we kick off our daily updates on the 2021 Legislative session, which is now in the home stretch. A busy weekend was kicked off last night by a narrow vote in favor of mandatory paid sick leave in New Mexico. You can read more on that vote from Daniel J. Chacon at the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Also in this update we check in on the progress of cannabis legalization legislation. You can read more on that from Andy Lyman at the New Mexico Political Report and of course, tune in to our other podcast, "Growing Forward" with Andy and NMPBS Correspondent Megan Kamerick. Our Your NM Government partners at the Santa Fe Reporter are also doing a great job covering the cannabis legalization debate this year. All of these are good resources to help you understand the finer elements of these complex discussions.
We end by running down some of the big bills on tap in various committee meetings today, including a proposal to create a commission to handle redistricting in New Mexico. Learn more about that issue in this recent segment of The Line on NMPBS's "New Mexico in Focus."
Let us know how the session is going for you! And if you want us to track a specific piece of legislation, let us know that as well!
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Gov: Slow Growing Support For Cannabis Legislation
Cannabis is the topic. As part of the continuing coverage from Your New Mexico Government it is time for an update on the legislative session at the Roundhouse. To discover more about the Cannabis legislation under debate at the state Capital, KUNM's Khalil Ekulona sat down with Juile Ann Grimm, editor for The Santa Fe Reporter.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Old-School Shoutout Show 2
It's the return of our Old-School Shoutout Show on Episode 21. The first one, we did back in May. Now, as the pandemic wears on, we wanted to hear from callers: Who do you love? Who do you miss? Who do you want to celebrate or honor? We did the episode live this year.
Because of the rules around copyright, we can't post the audio as it aired with some of our favorite songs, curated by DJ and NoMoNo host Khalil "Always Keep It Real" Ekulona. This post and podcast version makes use of contributed music instead. If you want to, find the megahits edition on our two-week archive for Sunday, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. And there are different shoutouts in that version, too.
NEXT WEEK: We get a little personal on No More Normal as we celebrate Black History Month. We are looking into the stories of Khalil's family! Join us next week as we get ahold of the Ekulonas and discover the stories that shaped them, visions of the future, and the way they think about the world.
YOUR NM GOV: The legislative session is going down at the Roundhouse. We are partnered with New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter to bring you everything that happens as it happens. If you haven’t already, subscribe to No More Normal anywhere you get your podcasts. You’ll hear this show, plus legislative updates. Starting Monday, they’ll be happening every single day. So stay up to date with Your New Mexico Government and No More Normal.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Jazztone The Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Oh Lawd Records and Business School for providing music for the show.
- Taylor Velazquez for managing our socials and generating ideas, and for answering the live shoutout hotline this week.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Your NM Gov: Climate Bills Reach Committee
Your New Mexico Government is continuing its coverage of everything that happens at the Roundhouse with an interview of Laura Paskus from New Mexico PBS. Paskus talks about the Clean Water Act, SB 86, which proposes regulations on oil & gas companies in regards to produced water. And she tells us all about the Climate Solutions Act, HB 9, which looks to find solutions to the climate change issues New Mexico is facing, while using those efforts to boost the state's economy.
Get updates on the legislative session by listening to No More Normal. Sunday's at 11 a.m. on KUNM or find it anywhere you get your podcasts.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
When Piggy Banks Fly
We get into what money really is. We take a dive into a bill that looks to create a public bank. We talk with a member of a financial innovation group about how universal basic income has helped businesses during the pandemic. We grapple with student loans. We hear the journey of how difficult it is to start a business as a pandemic is raging. And we have a talk with the secretary of workforce solutions about where the jobs are going to be.
In episode 20 we are talking about money: you may know it as cash, moolah, greenbacks, cheese (cheddar to be specific), loot, coin, lettuce, or if you are a fan of the 90’s, duckets. We take a look at our economy during the pandemic and ask some questions about the nature of money.
GUESTS:
- Nina Robinson, Runway
- Jacob Goldstein, Planet Money
- Diego Diaz, owner of Tio David's Peruvian Flavor
- Wall Street Bets user, Clifford Grindstaff
- Patrick Watson, Mauldin Economics
- Secretary Bill McCamley, New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions
YOUR NM GOV: A bill proposing a public bank for New Mexico is making its way through the Senate. Anglea Merkert is the Executive Director for the Alliance Of Local Economic Prosperity, a think tank. She joins us this week to talk about what that could look like here.
We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Our Common Purpose
If you have listened to the show for a while, a few months back, you may have heard an interview we had with Stephen Heintz, a co-chair of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. The commission is charged with discovering ways to activate participation of U.S. citizens in democratic civil life. So that's what they did.
After spending two years and hundreds of hours talking with people all around the country about what’s working and what’s not, a group of 35 scholars, business leaders, and civic catalysts from all over the political and social spectrum have created a document. It’s called Our Common Purpose, and it was put out by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
These are practical, real suggestions to freshen up our system of government, to update it, so the people—all of us—are back in the driver’s seat. The NoMoNo team read it, and we were inspired to gather a panel of citizens to debate these ideas.
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GUESTS:
- Darshan Goux, one of the authors of the report
- Dr. Gerald Chavez, a clinical psychologist
- Gus Pedrotty, a mayoral candidate in 2017
- Business owner Kristelle Siarza
- Pastor Barry Bitzer
- Oriana Sandoval from the Center for Civic Policy
- College student and poli sci major Taylor Velazquez
YOUR NM GOV: Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, NMPBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter is on top of all that’s happening at the Roundhouse as the 55th state legislative session is in full swing. We don’t have any updates on the show this week, but check out our conversation with Matt Grubs about the battle to set the rules for the legislative session on KUNM’s news broadcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you haven’t followed us yet, do it. This YNMG segment will pop up in your feed.
NEXT WEEK: Money, Money, Money. That has been on most people’s minds before the pandemic started. Cash is weighing on us even heavier as we try to pull ourselves out from under the pandemic waves. Next week we take a look at what’s going on in the economy, and what is the deal with Wall Street, Reddit, and gamestop?
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Jazztone The Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Bigawatt produced some of the shows themes
- Reporter Taylor Velazquez who handles our social media and helps to edit the show
We dedicate this and every episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Consequences
Our democracy is being tested right now. It is not the first time. But it feels like a tipping point, and our very lives are in the balance. Can we find truth? Will we come to a place of peace? Can we resolve not to look the other way when the view is uncomfortable? Will those who stormed the Capitol, who aided and abetted seditionists, and who proliferated racism and dangerous lies, face punishment? Episode 18 is all about the fallout.
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Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,
First, let us offer our congratulations on taking office. Not only did you both campaign arduously and effectively to be nominated and subsequently win the election, to keep it real, it was looking kinda dicey there a couple of weeks ago. Yet the process of our democracy prevailed—even though it was surrounded by armed troops this time.
But it won out. For now. This is a process that you, members of Congress, justices of the supreme court, state and local officials, all of us are entrusted to maintain, repair and evolve. The last team on the job didn’t leave much in the way of notes but definitely left a mess for you to clean up. It’s fortunate that you don’t need on-the-job training. That much is true. Yet, how you go about your jobs is more important than ever.
Some of that work is in consequences: Doling them out to bad actors, and dealing with the results of the last four years.
GUESTS:
- Former Sen. Tom Udall
- Common Cause N.M. Executive Director Heather Ferguson
- Shaun Griswold, New Mexico In Depth
- Gabriel Biadora, Daily Lobo
- Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande Chapter President Ryan Lowery
- Becky Monroe, director of the Leadership Council on Human and Civil Rights
- Dr. Luis Herrán Ávila, University of New Mexico
- Dr. Robert F. Jefferson Jr., University of New Mexico
YOUR NM GOV: It's the first week of the legislative session. We talk about predatory lending in the state. Lawmakers are pushing to cap the interest rates and fees at 36 percent. Reporter Jeff Proctor is our guest on the YNMG segment this week. He co-authored an article with Katherine Lewin for the Santa Fe Reporter called "The Weight."
NEXT WEEK: Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman told us that America isn’t broken but simply unfinished. As the Constitution was being ratified, Benjamin Franklin had concerns but signed his name to what he called an imperfect document. As this nation aged, those imperfections have been made clear, and sometimes, steps were taken to correct or amend it. If we are to really move forward, it's past time that we evolve it again, so that this imperfect document fits more with today's imperfect America.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
How We Got Here
Anyone who’s been paying attention to racism and white privilege in this country knows that what happened in D.C. has been brewing a long time. There’s a lot of good research and reporting happening right now outlining what’s been missed, suppressed and ignored when it comes to the rise of extremist militias in the U.S. We get into it in episode 17.
Just a few days into 2021, a mob of thousands of people marched on the Capitol building and attempted to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Things quickly turned violent as the mob overtook Capitol Police and found their way into the chambers.
If you, like many of us, saw the footage, there were images that will stick in your mind. Images that show, in real time, the issues we have to address in the country: The confederate flag being waved in on the House floor, the difference in law enforcement's response to the right-wing rioters as opposed to last summer’s racial justice protests, the number of law enforcement and military members who participated in the coup against our government.
GUESTS:
- U.S. Rep. from Northern New Mexico Teresa Leger Fernandez
- U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
- National Security reporter with VICE News Ben Makuch
- Organizer and Veteran Barbara Jordan from Rio Rancho
- Executive Producer with New Mexico PBS Kevin McDonald
NEXT WEEK: Our democracy is being tested right now. It is not the first time. But it feels like a tipping point, and our very lives are in the balance. Can we find truth? Will we come to a place of peace? Can we resolve not to look the other way when the view is uncomfortable? Will those who stormed the Capitol, who aided and abetted seditionists, and who proliferated dangerous lies, face punishment? Find out with us next week on No More Normal. It’s all about consequences.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Sharon Chischilly, news photographer and rising star, for the image for this week's episode
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall and Bigawatt produced some of the show's themes.
- Reporter Taylor Velazquez for the editing help, and for handling much the show's social media outreach
- Reporters Yasmin Khan and Nash Jones for the editing help this week
We dedicate this and every single episode of No More Normal to Hannah Colton. We love and miss you, Hannah.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Journey Through Election Week 2020
Wow, we just had a tense bunch of days, each one filled with anticipation and impatience and consternation. From people worrying about how the election was going to play out, to some keeping an eye on potential violence, it would be an understatement to say that anxieties were high. It makes sense, 2020 has been mad anxious as my East Coast compatriots would say. But the electoral college digits that just wouldn’t move are not the only numbers the United States has to grapple with. Most of the country spent so much of their attention on the election, news of record- breaking new covid cases barely cut through the din. No matter who’s in charge, we’ve got a lot in front of us.
This week, we follow Host Khalil Ekulona through his Election Week diary, and talk to some folks about what's happening and what's left to do.
Guests:
- Clifton White and Selinda Guerrero, activists pushing back against an unjust criminal legal system and fighting for prisoners' rights.
- State GOP Party chair Steve Pearce
- NM Dems Party chair Marg Elliston
- Journalists from our partner the Santa Fe Reporter Katherine Lewin and Leah Cantor
- KUNM News Director Hannah Colton and Host / Reporter Nash Jones
- Jeff "Jazztone" Alberson
Next Week: It’s time to look into the future. What can we do to make this democracy run better, so that representation is something guaranteed to all of us? Hey, technology isn’t the only thing that needs updates. We focus on "Our Common Purpose," a great document that may be a guide for the country.
No More Normal is brought to you by the same crew behind YNMG. Hear the show on KUNM’s airwaves Sundays at 11 a.m. or find it wherever you get your podcasts.
Special thanks to:
- Hannah Colton, Nash Jones and Yasmin Khan for the amazing last-minute editing help
- Our amazing homies out in the field with us
- Reporter and photographer Margaret Wright, who contributed some photos for this week’s show
- All of the amazing meme-makers of the World Wide Web
- Thanks to Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show. Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall, and Biggawat produced some of the show's themes
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
We Need A Plan
The final presidential debate of 2020 got passing marks because the candidates managed to take turns. But rarely did they roll out the kind of action plans the moderator was looking for. She kept asking: If elected, what will you do about this big problem we are facing? Still, candidates did not venture into specifics. We think that was by design. The strategy was, make debate No. 1 so bad that by the time debate No. 2 comes around, expectations are so low, everyone will just be grateful it’s not incoherent shouting and call it good. But in a time with multiple crises pressing down on us, specific plans can pull people together, provide direction and alleviate anxiety. So that’s what this episode is all about. What do you want to hear candidates talking about? What kinds of plans and policies do you wish they were outlining before the public?
In episode 15, we hear from an array of people about the specifics they want to hear discussed by people seeking political power in this tumultuous time.
THE REAL DEBATE 2020
Executive Producer Marisa Demarco used to play a game with her stepchild when they were little. It was a presidential debate with the kiddo as a candidate and questions posed about real things happening in the world. Demarco would ask: "When you are president, how will you address this issue?" They would play for hours, until any of the adults around couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to pass along an interest and investment in the news, in the world. This week we invited two 10-year-olds to be presidential candidates, and we posed similar questions to what was asked in the second debate of 2020.
COVID 19 / PUBLIC HEALTH / HEALTH CARE ACCESS
- Barbara Webber – Executive Director, Health Action New Mexico
- Shelley Mann-Lev – Co-President, New Mexico Public Health Association
- Dr. Anthony Fleg – University Of New Mexico School of Medicine, Native Health Initiative
- Hunter Marshall – Frontline nurse and medical student
CLIMATE CHANGE / ENERGY
- Laura Paskus – Environmental Journalist
- John Ammondson – Advocate, Environment New Mexico
- Mariel Nanasi – Executive Director, New Energy Economy
IMMIGRATION
- Allegra Love – Director, Santa Fe Dreamers Project
- Rebecca Kitson – Immigration Attorney
- Jacqueline Stevens – Professor at Northwestern and Founding Director of the Deportation Research Clinic
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
The Disinformation Age
The NoMoNo team was talking about ideas for our election coverage in early August: The potential for violence, attempts to subvert the vote and the importance of media literacy. It is not hyperbole to state that for most of us, this is the most important election we have ever taken a part in. That said, it is imperative that we are not only informed about our voting rights, but we ensure they are protected. That means becoming savvy about misinformation and disinformation and the ways that you and some people you may know are possibly being manipulated.
LINKS
- National Black Cultural Information Trust: Disinformation guide.
- Media Literacy Now: Main resource page for educators, librarians, and parents.
- Abq/Bernalillo County Public Library: Fake news resource.
VOICES BEHIND THE VOTE: Many first-time voters have a lot on their mind this election cycle. College students are coming of age in an unprecedented time with the COVID-19 pandemic, civil uprisings for racial justice and accelerating climate change. They're trying to figure it all out while keeping up with remote classes and assignments. As part of our Voices Behind the Vote series, UNM freshman Delaney Brigman spoke with KUNM’s Taylor Velazquez about why voting is important to her and what young people want from their politicians.
VOTER PROTECTIONS: The New York Times released an article on Wednesday, Oct. 21, that detailed findings from federal officials that say Iran and Russia have obtained voter registration data. The FBI says Iran used the information they got a hold of to send threatening , fake emails to potential voters—that’s misinformation.
And a new poll is showing that voters who aren’t White are concerned about violence, militias and police if they go to cast their ballot in-person.
We know that some of you have voted early, others have voted by mail. But anyone who is preparing to get in line on Nov. 3 (Election Day), know that your right to vote is protected by many laws, agencies, and officials.
No one has the right to threaten you, harass you or intimidate you at the polls. Any election’s official who discriminates against an in-person voter faces a five-thousand-dollar fine or up to five years in prison. Anyone who conspires to deprive someone of their right to vote faces up to 10 years in prison. No one can confront you at the polls under the law, raise their voice with you, threaten you or insult you. Law enforcement isn’t allowed at the polls except to vote, or to maintain order if something gets out of hand. And people who aren’t police can’t go to the polls dressed like law enforcement, either, under the law.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
The Real Crime
Attack ads and contemporary political rhetoric about crime have a disturbing campaign ancestor: The Willie Horton ad that may have cost Michael Dukakis the presidential election in 1988. It relied on racism for its efficacy, and it ushered in an era of so-called "tough-on-crime" laws and posturing that nearly broke criminal legal systems, like the one in Albuquerque. Executive Producer and longtime criminal justice reporter Marisa Demarco navigates in Episode 13 how racist, fear-based electioneering warped the country's approach to crime. That continues to this day, favoring quick vengeance over long-term solutions that might have a real impact on crime rates. It's an addictive cycle: These methods, in fact, might be a big part of creating the problem candidates are promising to solve with them when they're counting on fear to salvage their flagging campaigns.
Why did host Khalil Ekulona and Demarco decide to give an episode to this? Because they don’t want there to be crime, either. They want to see the number of murders drop to zero. And Demarco's tired of watching racist campaign-trail rhetoric about crime turn into policies that don’t seem to work, that ruin lives, that wreck generations. We can’t say for sure what will work, but we’ve got a couple of clues, outlined in this episode.
And why now? One, because crime fears underscore existing racism and breed new racism that infests all corners of our worlds, creating this situation where people who aren’t white are dying of coronavirus at rates higher than everyone else. Two, because crime fears were just used by President Trump to deploy federal agents to violate people’s fundamental rights around the country. And three, because there’s a bigger threat out there than crime if you're looking at the numbers. It’s coronavirus. We need our focus on saving ourselves and saving each other now more than ever.
Guests:
- Gene Grant, host of New Mexico In Focus on our partner station New Mexico PBS
- Elise Kaplan, crime reporter for the Albuquerque Journal
- Jeff Proctor, longtime criminal justice reporter and contributing editor for the Santa Fe Reporter
Next Week: We turn our attention to media literacy and the election. Are you following a bot on social media? How can you tell if the information you’re reading is factual? And what’s the deal with the Facebook and Twitter political ad policies? Now is not the time to let the truth get hacked.
If you want to hear any of the past episodes of NoMoNo, find the show here on KUNM's site, look us op on Spotify, Apple Podcasts … everywhere that podcasts are.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
What's at Stake?
Let’s take a breath. In episode 12, we try to fend off that wild pandemic election news cycle we’ve been living inside of, which can feel like a deluge of disorganized tragedies and failures. And we put the focus on what’s hanging in the balance these next couple of weeks as we cast our ballots.
Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree: climate change is real. That comes from NASA. You’re probably sweating a little more than usual. Your world is getting hotter. Or maybe temperatures near you snap all of a sudden instead of the seasons flowing into one another gradually like they do in your memories.
Here’s a consequence that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the news: Migration is often a climate change issue, too. People are forced to flee their home countries for U.S. borders because climate change messed with their crops—their food and their livelihoods.
Environmental reporter Laura Paskus just published a book called At The Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate. She tells us there's a good chance the Rio Grande will dry up through Albuquerque in the coming week for the first time since the '70s.
So many of us are sick of politics, and plenty of people feel disconnected from elections. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an organization that for almost 250 years has been tasked with generating new ideas. The academy sent researchers to travel the United States to talk with disappointed and frustrated citizens. They came up with recommendations about how we can evolve our practice of democracy and get back to where our government works for us. Stephen Heintz co-leads the project.
Continuing the Voices Behind the Vote series, reporter Nash Jones speaks with former Albuquerque police officer Debbie Kuidis about the changes to policing she wants to see politicians affect, and why she’s paying attention to political races from the national to the local level.
In 2020, people are fighting to preserve voting rights. Nia Rucker is policy council heading up that work at ACLU New Mexico. She explains what the organization is doing to protect your ballot.
Quality health care and access to health care have always been critical issues. Who could argue otherwise, especially during the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fleg, has a lot of titles in New Mexico, including coordinator of the Native Health Initiative, director of Running Medicine, instructor at UNM's Department of Family and Community Medicine and also at the College of Population Health. And he's a family practice physician. He walks us through global equity issues in medicine when it comes to vaccines and treatments.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and The Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from The New Mexico Local News Fund, The Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners. Support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Get Out and Vote
Millions of people around the U.S. have already voted early. Simultaneously many people are preparing to fill out their ballots, but are concerned with how they will deliver them, and, more importantly, if their vote will be counted. So many questions. Here at NoMoNo, we are going to dig deep to find answers for you. Episode 11 is all about preserving and exercising your right to vote. We talk with New Mexico's secretary of state, the president of the Albuquerque chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, a national election law expert, activists who protecting voting rights for underserved communities—and voters.
Tuesday, Oct. 6, is the last day in New Mexico that you can register to vote by mail or online for this election, though you can register in-person at your county clerk's office up through Halloween.
A quick note: Some of these interviews we did early on in the week before President Trump revealed he had contracted coronavirus.
Matthew Weil is the director of the Elections Project for the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in D.C. Everyone's looking closely at election law the last few days. We ask him about what courses of action political parties would take if a presidential candidate dies before the election.
We’re launching the Voices Behind The Vote series this week, where we find out about who voters are and what they care about. We’ve got a couple in this episode: Executive Producer Marisa Demarco catches up with voter Art Simoni, who was her editor when she was a student reporter nearly 20 years ago. Reporter Nash Jones speaks with Reina Davis, a 23-year-old Albuquerque voter who, while not particularly excited about her options for president, sees voting as harm-reduction and as one facet of fighting for reproductive justice. And Jones also talks to Albuquerque voter Georgia Petropoulos, who owns Casa San Pablo, a senior-living home, about how the pandemic affected her small business and now informs her vote.
Free and fair elections should be bedrocks in any democracy. The dependence on ethical governance is key to having a thriving country. Heather Ferguson is the executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, an organization that focuses on ethics and accountability in government.
Maggie Toulouse Oliver is the secretary of state for New Mexico. That means she is coordinating the state’s election process. Hence, she’s very busy. We hear from her about the types of conversations she’s had with postal officials and the confidence New Mexicans can have in the voting process.
If you run into trouble as you vote, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Voting rights advocates will be waiting to hear from you. Common Cause also has hotlines for people who speak other languages. Find all those numbers at commoncause.org.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and The Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from The New Mexico Local News Fund, The Kellogg Foundation, and KUNM listeners. Support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Counting On It
The census is one of the more important events in our democracy. Every 10 years each person is counted so that resources can be allocated, programs created, and a general understanding of the population is had. It should be a clean process. Should be. The 2020 census has proven to be anything but clean. Mud has been thrown on the process, as people and institutions attempt to manipulate the numbers, subsequently stripping power from some and giving it to others. Peppered throughout this episode is an editorial from NoMoNo about why the census matters: The state is counting on us to be counted. If you haven't completed the census form yet, do it now. It only takes a few minutes. Click here to get started.
A recent anti-racism protest in Rio Rancho by the Black New Mexico Movement drew a lot of pushback. The tensions took over the news stories recounting that night. But before everything really erupted, Nichole Rogers, founder of the Welstand Foundation, gave a brief speech about the Census. Thanks to KUNM News Director Hannah Colton for that tape.
On our sibling show Let's Talk New Mexico, host Ty Bannerman spoke with:
- Ahtza Dawn Chavez, executive director of the NAVA Education Project
- Jaime Gloshay of the New Mexico Native Census Coalition
- Cathy Lacy, director of the U.S. Census Bureau's Denver regional office
- Pamelya Herndon, KWH Law Center for Social Justice
- Carolina Romero, community outreach liason for Catholic Charities
- Mohammad Ismail, Albuquerque Public Schools Refugee and Newcomer Supports Program
We also hear from KUNM's Kaveh Mowahed, who interviews journalist Shaun Griswold of New Mexico In Depth about how the Census is going in New Mexico. Read Griswold's latest for NMID: Tribes in N.M. under intense pressure to complete census count by new deadline.
Next week: We are taking a break next Sunday as we gear up for a month’s worth of election coverage. It’s going to be an election marathon. If you want to hear any of the past episodes of NoMoNo, find the show here on KUNM's site, look us op on Spoitfy, Apple Podcasts … everywhere that podcasts are. Search: No More Normal.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Highlights From The Last 6 Months—Or 1,000 Years?
he crew at NoMoNo headquarters takes a look at where we’ve been since the pandemic started, reflecting a little—hard to find time to do it when we’re all stuck in an unending news cycle. But hopefully, this is a pleasant look back if you’ve been hanging in there with us. We want to thank all of you who listened to the show when it was Your New Mexico Government back in March—you know, 1,000 years ago.
Executive Producer Marisa Demarco says in this episode that she's never seen a moment where the decisions politicians make have immediate, life-or-death impact on our families, neighbors and communities. We've talked to politicians as they were going through the decision-making process. On Episode 9, we hear from:
- Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez
- Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
- Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller
- Rep. Deb Haaland
- Sen. Tom Udall
(These links will send you to the original episodes, if you want to hear more of those interviews.)
We speak with our media partners, Kevin McDonald from New Mexico PBS and Julie Ann Grimm of the Santa Fe Reporter, about why teaming up matters for you, the listener, reader or viewer of the news.
We also dive into the realities of this time and revisit conversations with:
- David Carroll, who took on Cambridge Analytica to get his data back and is featured in the Netflix documentary The Great Hack
- Mutale Nkonde, CEO of AI for the People
- Mariaelena Lopez, who lost her mom to COVID-19 early on in the pandemic
- Young adults weighing social distancing and the future
- Musicians exploring hip-hop and the music industry
Hear the show on KUNM’s airwaves Sundays at 11 a.m., or find it wherever you get your podcasts.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
Mental Wellness
As the summer season transitions into fall, it is important to note that September, the ninth month of the year, isn’t just for football and the start of school. It is also a month to raise awareness of suicide prevention and recovery. Both are already long-standing issues in our society—especially here in New Mexico. Coupled with the pandemics of COVID-19 and racism, hard feelings and thoughts can balloon. Left unattended or unnoticed, these issues lead to tragedy. But can we stop those tragedies before they happen? Talking things out and finding resources are two key solutions, and Episode 8 is full of options. This week we talk with counselors, therapists and people looking to help with an open ear, willing to hear about your problems and help you work through them. Because the world as it is today demands flexibility, but it’s tough to adjust to what you can’t see.
If any of the conversations on this show surfaced sadness or anger, and you need to talk to someone, call the Warmline. People there are ready to hear you, even if you’re not in crisis. That’s why it’s a Warmline, not a hotline. 1-855-4NM-7100 (466-7100) between 3:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. every day.
Next week: We take a trip down memory lane (all 6 months of it) and take a look at some of the best and most profound moments of No More Normal and Your New Mexico Government. Tune in Sunday, Sept.13, at 11 a.m.
RESOURCES:
- New Mexico Warmline 1-855-4NM-7100 (466-7100)
- New Mexico Crisis Access Line 1-855-NMCRISIS or 662-7474
- The Agora Crisis Center: 505-277-3013 or 855-505-4505
Special thanks to:
- Adri De La Cruz for the artwork for this week
- Yasmin Khan for contributing.
- Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
- Ty Bannerman and Nash Jones for helping out with the editing.
- And as always thanks to our guests for sharing their stories, lives, and perspectives.
Sound design and composition for "Surge Capacity" by Demarco, based around a beat composed by Ekulona.
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New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, The Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thrornburg Foundation.
The Survival Basics
Summer is winding down and harvest season is quickly approaching. The change of the season is always very beautiful, but before the excitement of the leaves changing colors begins, we have to understand the dangers that many people are facing. With food security concerns around the state and a potential eviction crisis on the horizon it is important to ensure that everyone has the basics for survival. In Episode 7, we look at the essentials of survival—shelter, health care and food—and attempt to see not only what the problems are, but how they can be fixed.
New Day Youth and Family Services is a shelter for young people in New Mexico. CEO Steve Johnson talks about how fewer people than he expected are seeking help from New Day during the pandemic, and that could mean young folks are staying in hard situations instead. He also discusses the impressive ability of young people in trouble to heal once they are in a safe place, and to build a future for themselves.
Cholla Khoury is the director of the Division of Consumer and Environmental Protection at the Attorney General's Office. She works on a program called Keep Your Home New Mexico, which provides advice and help to homeowners who are facing foreclosure and renters facing eviction.
With an eviction crisis looming, examining the data to learn who is bearing the brunt of the burden helps policymakers determine how to prioritize assistance. Steven Brown is a research associate at the Urban Institute, a think tank focused on economic and social policy based in Washington D.C. He says the numbers show nearly twice as many Latino and Black people around the country say they may not be able to pay rent next month, and one-fifth of Black and Brown families were not getting enough to eat at the end of July—even before the coming decrease in unemployment benefits.
We've made it a point to cover the stories of people who are without shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimates say that number is about to go up. KUNM's News Director and reporter Hannah Colton brings us a snapshot of what it's like out there on the streets five months into the pandemic.
Ismael Camacho is the staff attorney on the farmworker project at New Mexico Legal Aid. He breaks down the pandemic-driven concerns of the people who pick most of the state's food and the lack of access to coronavirus testing.
Next Week: We are talking mental wellness. What have you been doing to keep your mind balanced in these turbulent times? Tune in Sunday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m.
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No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellog Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public meida provided by the Thornburg Foundation.