Featured
A pattern of failures
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A Searchlight investigation reveals serious abuses within New Mexico's treatment foster care system.
Many grandparents raising kids locked out of state aid
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The number of children being raised by grandparents has exploded across New Mexico, nearly doubling to more than 55,000 — 10 percent of all the state’s children — since 1990. Today, grandparents in this state are caring for their grandchildren at astounding rates — more than three times the national average in some opioid-ravaged counties. And each child a grandparent takes in saves the state up to $25,000 a year in foster care costs. But many of those grandparents have found themselves denied assistance, often even when they meet eligibility requirements.
Emilia’s story: Family, tradition, addiction
I discovered a core of human goodness in troubled places, and it struck me as one of the great ironies that such darkness persists amidst such a culture of deep-rooted familial strength. I see that paradox in Emilia, a young woman who shares with me a strong connection to extended family in rural New Mexico.
Where trust counts: The census and NM’s border cities
In the last 10 years, so much has changed in Sunland Park and elsewhere along the border that observers are girding themselves for what may prove to be a damaging undercount in the 2020 census.
Government
Spend wisely to boost child well-being, finance official says
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New Mexico tends to wait to deal with problems until they grow overly expensive and challenging to solve, Charles Sallee of the Legislative Finance Committee told a forum on early childhood issues this week.
Government
Risky buildings: State’s public schools run on old infrastructure
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Problems with school "systems" -- which include everything from broken furnaces to mildewed carpets and shredded electrical wires -- are rampant across the state, according to a Searchlight New Mexico analysis of data collected by the agency charged with awarding money to help keep the public schools running.
Education
How the Yazzie lawsuit could be a ‘game-changer’
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The judge’s ruling in this landmark case is a chance for reform, experts say.
Education
Years of frustration lie behind landmark school lawsuit
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For Wilhelmina Yazzie, joining the groundbreaking lawsuit against New Mexico wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was the only thing to do.
Education
College-focused charter network eyes New Mexico
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IDEA Public Schools is a Texas nonprofit that targets low-income, Hispanic communities and delivers academic results. Building on the success of its 79-school network, the company -- founded 18 years ago in a south Texas border town – is advertising aggressive plans to multiply.
Education
Charter schools target New Mexico’s at-risk students
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Some offer career-specific curricula in partnership with local employers, with traditional academics taking a low priority and standardized testing de-emphasized. Others focus on college prep. With so much variety, the question is, how well do they work?
Government
Native communities harnessing the power of data
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Like indigenous peoples around the world, they are today reclaiming their place as data researchers.
Government
Underfunded, undercounted: New Mexico at risk in 2020 census
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The state’s residents are notoriously hard to count — in 2000, the census undercount amounted to nearly 2 percent or about 35,000 people missed. Here’s why that matters.