Features

Fracking Wastewater Slashed From ‘Strategic Supply’ Bill, But $74 Million Allocation Remains

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Norm Gaume
President
New Mexico Water Advocates

By ALAINA MENCINGER
The Santa Fe New Mexican

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made waves in 2023 when she announced a plan to ensure a secure water source for New Mexico. 

She pointed to two unorthodox, untapped water resources: brackish water — or naturally occurring, salty water — and what’s known as “produced water” — a byproduct of hydraulic fracturing. 

The latter instantly generated controversy. 

Although the measure floundered last year, Lujan Grisham was ready to try again to incentivize the treatment and reuse of both brackish Read More

NMDOH: Measles Outbreak Declared In Lea County

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NMDOH News:

The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reports two adult Lea County residents tested positive for measles Thursday– as confirmed by the NMDOH Scientific Laboratory Division – totaling to three cases this week.  

New Mexico meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s outbreak criteria with three unrelated cases in Lea County. The cases border Texas’s Gaines County, where cases have jumped from 2 to 48 cases in two weeks. While a connection to the Texas outbreak is suspected, it remains unconfirmed. 

“We are investigating every suspected case, and we encourage Read More

Bipartisan Legislation Introduced To Bring New Mexico Into Nine Major Interstate Compacts For Health Care Workers

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Fred Nathan, Jr.
Executive Director
Think New Mexico

From Think New Mexico:

A bipartisan team of 10 legislators has introduced a package of bills to bring New Mexico into the interstate compacts for physicians, physician assistants, psychologists, counselors, dentists and dental hygienists, emergency medical personnel, audiologists and speech therapists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. (See below for a chart listing all bill numbers and sponsors.)

Joining these interstate compacts was one of the top reforms recommended by the nonpartisan think tank Think New Read More

New Mexico Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program Returns

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NMDOH News:

SANTA FE — The Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program, which provides benefits for eligible seniors and families in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) has returned. 

This seasonal program, provided by the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH), helps connect income-eligible seniors (60 and older, or 55 and older for Native Americans) and WIC families with locally grown fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The program for seniors also includes local honey.  

“Eating a healthy diet is key to thriving at every stage of life,” said Read More

School-Based Health Centers Making A Difference Statewide

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NMDOH News:

SANTA FE — Children in New Mexico public schools can focus more on lessons after a recent expansion of School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) has provided care that helps keep them in the classroom.

February is National School-Based Health Care Awareness month and an opportunity to celebrate successes and raise awareness about how SBHCs improve access to health care services for children and adolescents and make a difference in their lives today and in the future. 

The New Mexico Department of Health’s (NMDOH) Office of School & Adolescent Health Office funds 59 of the more than Read More

Robinson: Patients Sound Off On Medical Malpractice Costs

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By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2024 New Mexico News Services

This is how bad New Mexico’s medical malpractice problem is. Reader Carl Hester, of Hobbs, writes that when he went to a doctor in Lubbock, he had to sign a statement, apparently intended for New Mexicans, saying “any lawsuit or other dispute arising from or related to medical care I receive from (the provider) will be brought only in an appropriate court located in Lubbock.”

New Mexico’s reputation for doctor targeting, judge shopping and sky high awards has spread to Texas, where a great many people living on the East Side go for medical Read More

Trio Of Behavioral Health Bills Pass New Mexico Senate

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NM Senate Democrats News:

SANTA FE — Marking a major step forward in the legislature’s shared commitment to addressing New Mexico’s behavioral health and public safety crisis, a suite of behavioral health bills cleared the Senate floor Friday, now advancing to the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support.

Senate Bill 3 (passed 37-5), the Behavioral Health Reform and Investment Act, empowers a newly established Behavioral Health Executive Committee to create behavioral health regions across the state (based on counties or judicial districts). With key stakeholder engagement, Read More

Billion Dollar Behavioral Health Trust Fund Passes Senate

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By ALAINA MENCINGER
The Santa Fe New Mexican

A massive investment in the state’s behavioral health care system swept through the New Mexico Senate on Friday — and, with five weeks to go in the legislative session, in record time. 

Senate Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth in January promised to turbo-charge the process and get a package of public safety-related legislation to the governor’s desk as soon as possible. 

If the bill numbers were any indication, the plan’s working so far. With almost 400 bills filed in the Senate alone, the trio of bills — SB1, SB2 and SB3 — was first in line. 

The bipartisan Read More