Op-Ed: Pass The Rest Of The Health Care Worker Compacts This Year
By FRED NATHAN
Executive Director
Think New Mexico
It was a big bipartisan win for New Mexicans when the legislature and governor enacted Senate Bill 1 to bring New Mexico into the interstate licensure compact for doctors. According to the New Mexico Medical Board, joining this compact will result in an increase of 10-15% in the number of doctors applying to practice in New Mexico annually.
Unfortunately, eight other compacts needed to address shortages of psychologists, counselors, EMTs, physician’s assistants, speech therapists and audiologists, physical therapists, occupational Read More
Council OKs Fleet Conversion Plan
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
The work progressed Tuesday night to make carbon emissions in Los Alamos a thing of the past after Los Alamos County Council approved 6-0 to accept the fleet conversion plan.
The plan lays out how the County will replace its gas-fueled vehicles with electric vehicles (EV) by 2050. Council shared their support for the plan although Councilor David Reagor was absent from the meeting.
Analy Castillo with Stantec, a County-hired contractor, discussed what was involved in the fleet conversion plan.
“The main goal for this is to have Read More
County Updates Comprehensive Plan Preparing For Future
From left, Lauren Helm with CZB, the County-hired contractor involved in updating the comprehensive plan, walks Becky Shankland through the process of providing input on the plan during Thursday’s open house in the White Rock Branch Library. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
When looking 10 years into the future for Los Alamos County, what does everyone hope to see and how does the County deliver on those hopes?
To help answer those questions, the Los Alamos Community Development Department (CDD) is pulling Read More
The FOIA: Off To A Slow Start, Picked Up Speed, Now Hitting A Brick Wall
By THOMAS M. SUSMAN
American Bar Association
Feb. 16, 2026
It was June 1968 when I arrived in Washington, D.C., after a year in New Orleans clerking for Fifth Circuit Judge John Minor Wisdom. A new law requiring more government transparency was just going into effect.
I had accepted a job as a Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Frank Wozencraft in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). While I worked on efforts to advance the confirmation of Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice on the Supreme Court, I was also assigned to work with OLC attorney Warren Belmar, Read More
Rep. Gabe Vasquez Leads Sweeping Energy Bills Relief Act To Lower Utility Bill Prices For Hardworking New Mexicans
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez
STATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 18, 2026, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) announced a new bill to cut energy costs, modernize the electric grid, and protect consumers from politically driven decisions that drive up prices. Rep. Vasquez introduced the Energy Bills Relief Act alongside Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49), which comes as New Mexicans are feeling the strain of rising electricity costs.
Under the current Administration, average electricity prices in New Mexico have increased nearly nine percent, and in 2025 alone, at least one utility serving New Mexico enacted Read More
Senators Tobiassen, Brantley Demand Transparency On CYFD Spending—Warn Silence Undermines Public Trust
NMSR News:
SANTA FE — Sens. Nicole Tobiassen (R–Albuquerque) and Crystal Brantley (R–Elephant Butte) are calling for immediate transparency and accountability following troubling findings regarding the use of legislative appropriations within the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD).
Last week, the Senators formally requested that the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Child Advocate provide lawmakers with the complete audit materials and deliver a joint briefing to an appropriate legislative interim committee. The request follows findings Read More
Heinrich And Whitehouse Host Roundtable On Skyrocketing Energy Costs
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, host roundtable on skyrocketing energy costs, March 17, 2026. Courtesy photo
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, hosted a Read More
Los Alamos County Clerk’s Office Announces Candidates Qualified For June 2, 2026 Primary Election
COUNTY News:
The Los Alamos County Clerk’s Office has completed the candidate qualification process for the upcoming primary election to be held on Tuesday, June 2.
Candidates seeking placement on the primary election ballot were required to file the appropriate paperwork and meet all statutory requirements established by the State of New Mexico on March 10.
Following review and certification, the following candidates have qualified to appear on the ballot for Los Alamos County voters:
State Representative, District 43
- Christine Chandler, Democrat
Magistrate Judge
- Catherine E Taylor,
National Sunshine Week Runs March 15-21, 2026
The Document Divide: Why public record laws are failing average Americans, and what to do about it
By DAVID CUILLIER
Brechner Freedom of Information Project
Feb. 9, 2026
Freedom of information should be freedom of information for all.
It is not.
As we approach the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and celebrate national Sunshine Week March 15-21, we look back at the signing of the law by Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966: “I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded.” Read More
Bregman: Use Oil & Gas Windfall From Trump’s Illegal War To Send Up To $500 To Every New Mexican
Sam Bregman
STATE News:
ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Sam Bregman said today that the surge in oil and gas prices and the revenue generated to New Mexico’s state government coffers due to the ongoing Iran conflict presents a rare opportunity to directly help New Mexico families. He is proposing a plan to send reimbursements of up to $500 per family member to New Mexico families earning less than $200,000 per year, using the unexpected revenue windfall.
Global oil prices have surged since the outbreak of Donald Trump’s war in Iran, benefiting major energy-producing states Read More
LANL Public Trails Meeting March 25 At Fuller Lodge
LANL News:
Want to learn more about our trails and how you can help care for them? The National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos County, and the U.S. Forest Service will hold a public information meeting on the area’s trails, 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Ave.
Doors open at 5 p.m. with an opportunity to interact with trails, resources management, and safety personnel. The meeting will provide the latest information about our trails and feature discussions on trail management and safe trail use.
Presentations Read More
Leger Fernández’s Small Cemetery Conveyance Act Passes In The House Of Representatives
CONGRESSIONAL News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House unanimously passed Congresswoman Leger Fernández’s (NM-03) bill, H.R. 4284, the Small Cemetery Conveyance Act. The bill would remove long-standing federal obstacles for rural, Tribal, and land-grant communities to care for ancestral cemeteries located on National Forest lands.
For generations, families laid their loved ones to rest on lands consecrated long before those lands were claimed by the federal government. Too many communities must navigate costly, time-consuming bureaucratic processes simply to maintain the cemeteries Read More
Luján, Budzinski Introduce Legislation To Strengthen Resilience Of U.S. Food Supply Chains
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, introduced the Grocery, Farm, and Food Worker Stabilization Grant Program Act, legislation that would create a new, permanent grant program to provide stabilization payments to farm, grocery, and meatpacking workers in the case a major disaster.
In 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture created the Farm and Food Workers Relief Read More
Robinson: Chronicling Tariffs’ Path Of Economic Destruction
By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote
© 2026 New Mexico News Services
Jerry Pacheco probably doesn’t own a crystal ball, but at the end of the year he wrote: “Countries that strongly trade with each other do not go to war with each other. The animus and uncertainty caused by starting a tariff war put the U.S. on the road to fractured relationships and isolationism.”
Pacheco is executive director of the nonprofit International Business Accelerator in Santa Teresa. He’s spent his career advising on international trade and recruiting companies to the border region. In the last year Pacheco has opined Read More
Gomez: NM Needs Action On MMIWR Crisis – Not Symbolism
Scene from a protest outside UNM Law School in 2023. Courtesy photo
Women, children and elders protesting outside UNM Law School in 2023. Courtesy photo
By DARLENE GOMEZ
MMIWR Activist/ Attorney
For decades, Indigenous families across New Mexico have lived with a heartbreaking reality: daughters, sisters, and mothers along with sons, fathers, uncles and cousins vanish, and too often the system fails to find them or bring justice. As an attorney representing families of Murdered, Missing, Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR), I have sat across kitchen tables with parents who still leave Read More
Op-Ed: Let’s Turn Local Government On Its Head
By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock
I appreciate very much James Wernicke’s always thoughtful writing on local government and would like to offer here some additional and very brief comments on this subject. I do so as someone who spent 40 years working with governments in a large number of countries on how they could enhance economic development and the health and education of their people. I also do so as a lifelong member of the political party of most of our County Councilors, which might surprise some people who read what I say below.
Although we may argue about the role of government, a county government Read More
MOWW To Feature Talk On ‘Real Russian Collusion’ By Dr. Glen McDuff March 17
Dr. Glen McDuff
MOWW News:
This month’s meeting of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) is Tuesday, March 17, in conference room 203A at the Los Alamos Research Park.
The featured speaker is Dr. Glen McDuff who will discuss “Real Russian Collusion”. With the advent of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, a.k.a. Star Wars, it was soon determined that a major flaw in the plan. Even though most of the planned defensive systems were within the realm of possibility, there was no way to provide station keeping power for the space platforms. Where the U.S. had ceased development of space
James F. Ellison Announces Intent To Run For State Treasurer Of New Mexico
James F. Ellison
STATE News:
ALBUQUERQUE — James F. Ellison, a former commissioner with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC), announced March 12 his decision to drop out of the race for governor and enter the race for State Treasurer of New Mexico.
In a statement announcing his decision, Ellison spoke of the need for strong investment credentials and professional oversight of investment decisions.
“New Mexico faces real challenges—rising energy costs and decreasing affordability, lackluster economic growth, and an educational system that delivers poor outcomes. I entered Read More
Sen. Jaramillo: Española’s Culture Deserves Recognition
By Sen. Leo Jaramillo
New Mexico Dist. 5
Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Sandoval & Santa Fe
As a proud native son of the Española Valley and a member of the New Mexico State Senate, I was deeply disappointed to see the veto of $500,000 that would have funded Phase 2 of the feasibility study for a Lowrider Museum in Española. This follows last year’s veto of legislation recognizing our community as the “Lowrider Capital of the World”.
That license plate bill received bipartisan support, and when I rose to defend it on the Senate floor, my colleagues responded with a standing ovation. Lawmakers from across Read More
Rep. Gabe Vasquez Pushes To Ban Public Officials From Insider Trading On Prediction Markets
STATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) continued his push to hold Washington accountable and cosponsored a bill to ban public officials from insider trading on prediction markets.
The Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act addresses flagrant corruption that allows government employees to use insider information for personal gain on prediction markets. The bill bans the use of prediction markets for any federal employees who may be able to profit from their position and access to government information through betting or trading.
“Enough with the Read More