Editorials

By Paul J. Gessing

Among other things, the recent federal shutdown highlighted just how dependent New Mexico is on the federal government. According to the website Virtual Capitalist New Mexico is the most dependent state in the nation on federal dollars.

There are some good reasons for this. Our state has three major Air Force bases plus White Sands testing range. We also have two major national nuclear labs, Los Alamos and Sandia. Forty one percent of our state is managed by the federal government and a significant portion of that includes tribal lands.

But, as many New Mexicans recently saw for themselves, being reliant on the deeply indebted federal government ($38 trillion at last count) is not a comfortable place to be. New Mexico is not just dependent on Washington to manage its lands and military/national security operations, it is far too reliant on federal welfare programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

By Ruben Q. Leyva

They said there were two.

That's how the record tells it—two Apache women who entered the town of Fronteras to buy mescal, cooking pots, and a little sugar for the camp. Two women who spoke softly in Spanish and handed over gold to the Sonoran merchants while Geronimo and Naiche, son of the deceased Chokonen band leader Cochise, waited in the hills. Two women who Lieutenant Leonard Wood reports were temporarily seized by Mexican soldiers, on August 22, 1886, whose names history preserved as Tah-das-te and Dejonah. But what if there were three?

What if the one who carried the basket of mescal wasn't just a shadow between them, but Felicitas, a woman of the Leyva kin, who spoke both the language of the sierra and the marketplace, who knew the cost of survival? The National Archives don't say her name, not directly. They hint around her, "several squaws," wrote Lt. Charles Gatewood in his field journal (Gatewood 1898, 131). "Women," said Lieutenant Wood, who never stopped to count. Only the Mexican prefect of Arispe bothered to write them down: Felicitas and Cruz (Alonso 2025, 118). And so, from those fragments, an old story begins to breathe again.

Here is the link for information for voting on election Day, Nov. 4, 2025.

https://grantcountynm.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2242/2025-Regular-Local-Election-Brochure?bidId= 

Every USA citizen has the right to vote in federal, state and local elections. This year is an off year from  most congressional and presidential elections, although some states do have federal and state elections. New Mexico in off years, predominantly offers off-year elections on the local scale.

When you go to vote, whether in early voting, which has already ended, remember that your decisions not only affect your life, but also other folks' lives.

By Paul Gessing

Gov. Lujan Grisham recently announced a new plan for taxpayers to fund "free" childcare for all New Mexicans regardless of income levels. The Gov. portrayed this as a big win for New Mexico families. What she hasn't emphasized is that New Mexico has had taxpayer-funded "free" childcare in place since 2022. Until now that program has been limited to families with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty

According to federal poverty guidelines 400% of the poverty level allows a family of three to earn up to $106,600 annually and be eligible for the existing "free" childcare program. Since US Census Bureau data places median household income in New Mexico at $62,268, that means this new "free" childcare entitlement will benefit the most well-off New Mexicans (making amounts above $106,600.

"Free" childcare isn't cheap. The existing program costs New Mexicans $463 million each year. Making the program universal will cost another $120 million annually with an additional one-time capital expenditure of $20 million.

New Mexico has been on a mission to recognize early childhood education and care for what it is: a public good that is essential to families, communities, and our economy.

In 2022, New Mexico voters overwhelmingly affirmed this mission by passing a constitutional amendment for early childhood funding. Now, we're setting our sights even higher. Because of over a decade of advocacy from families, organizers, educators, and community leaders, with bold leadership from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state legislature, we'll be the first state in the nation to offer free child care to all families, regardless of income.

By Howard Hutchinson

After decades working on water and land issues in New Mexico including over 20 years on the Water Quality Control Commission, one truth stands out: foreclosing potential new water sources shortchanges future generations.

I have spent my life defending water and property rights. Today, produced and brackish water sit in a “gray area” of policy and public perception. But here’s the reality: New Mexico has no new water sources. If we want to sustain our communities, we must explore how to treat and use what we already have.

By Bob Ippel
Executive Director
New Mexico Association of Non-public Schools (NMANS)

Recently, I visited the webpage of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. I was struck by the words from Jeremiah 29:11:

"For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope."

These words are especially poignant in light of the August 27 mass shooting at Annunciation, which claimed the lives of two students and left 21 others injured. A future filled with hope is what we all long for—particularly for our children and youth. Sadly, we find ourselves trapped in a partisan system more devoted to ideology than to creating that very future.

Thank you for your tremendous response to our recent calls to action!

As of this morning, New Mexicans like you have sent more than 2,700 emails through our Action Center to legislators and the governor urging them to pass the interstate compacts for health care workers during the special session that starts at noon today. Your personal stories sharing the struggles you have faced accessing health care in New Mexico, and explaining how joining the interstate compacts would ease that burden, have made an impact. (Special thanks to the many Indivisible chapters across the state whose members have been so active on this issue - and there's still time to send in your message if you haven't already!)