Editorials

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!)

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the application form that states will use to request funding from the $50 billion fund for rural hospitals that was included in the federal budget bill.

The application for those federal funds awards more points to states that participate in the interstate health care worker compacts, as the Albuquerque Journal and Source New Mexico reported on Friday.

This means that New Mexico's failure to participate in most of the compacts could result in the state forfeiting millions of dollars for our rural hospitals.

Please email your legislators and urge them to pass all of the interstate health care worker compacts during the special session! The governor has said she would like to include them if the legislative leadership agrees.

By Paul Appel

As often happens, a bill died in the last day of the 2025 session when time ran out and what died just might be our roads. But legislators and the governor have a chance to fix it, make our roads safer, and save thousands of jobs.

In average years, the legislators fund road construction and necessary road maintenance to the tune of $200 million. In this year's session back earlier this year, there was only a $65 million allocation – for maintenance alone, leaving the state's road construction and maintenance fund short by $135 million. This has thrown road construction and maintenance operations into chaos and crisis.

By Fred Nathan, Executive Director, Think New Mexico

When the legislature convenes for a special session starting October 1, they should enact a straightforward reform that will immediately increase access to health care providers in New Mexico: join all the interstate compacts for health care workers.

These interstate compacts are agreements among states to recognize professional licenses issued by the other states participating in the compact. So, for example, a doctor licensed in Colorado could provide their license information to the New Mexico Medical Board and quickly become licensed to practice here as well.

By Paul Gessing

New Mexico is facing an increasingly dire situation on its roads. A recent Albuquerque Journal story stated that "New Mexico faces a $471.6 million gap in funding for priority projects around the state." A total of $5.6 billion is needed for road maintenance. Furthermore, the report noted that "the percentage of acceptable roads in New Mexico has decreased in recent years, from 75% in 2011 to 69% in 2023."

Deteriorating roads have real economic and safety implications. According to SourceNM, "deteriorating roads result in drivers paying an average of $2,074 annually, for vehicle maintenance, congestion and safety costs. New Mexico has 1.74 deaths per 100 million miles driven, which is the third-highest fatality rate in the country.

The Kinship Corridor

By Ruben Q. Leyva

The cornfield armistice at Cañada Alamosa was a fragile peace, measured in rows of maize and bolts of cloth. It was there, in 1867, that Apache Frank first appeared clearly in the historical record as an interpreter—a young man trusted to carry words between his people and the United States. Standing beside Loco, he was not a captive but a negotiator, working in the narrow space between subsistence and survival. The cornfield showed Frank as a figure who could move between worlds, his presence marking a moment when dialogue, however fleeting, was possible.

By Ruben Q. Leyva

In the Cornfield
In October of 1867, outside Cañada Alamosa (Monticello), New Mexico, Apache Frank Leyva stood among the rows of corn and men, dust on his moccasins, reading faces the way his Navajo stepfather taught him to read tracks. To the town, he was Mexican; to some officials, he had been referred to as Navajo; to his mother's family, he was of the Red Paint People [Chihene band]. He was not a captive, but the interpreter for Chief Loco. Lieutenant Colonel Cuvier Grover, commander at Fort Craig, had confirmed Loco's leadership of the group upon the passing of his relative, the great leader Mangas Coloradas, four years before. However, on this day, Frank carried all of his ancestors with him. Names could wait. The work in front of him was simple: end the shouting before someone's son died for a sack of grain.