Featured
A pattern of failures
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A Searchlight investigation reveals serious abuses within New Mexico's treatment foster care system.
Needs improvement
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Faced with a crisis, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has made child well-being a priority. And during the 54th New Mexico Legislature, which wrapped on March 16 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, some lawmakers followed suit — albeit with baby steps.
One generation removed: Raised by grandparents
Across New Mexico, grandparents have become an unofficial safety net, stepping up to raise the grandkids when their own children can’t. Cases of “kinship guardianship,” as it is known, are hardly unique to the state. But in New Mexico, where family ties run deep, grandparents are playing an unusually common role in caring for their grandkids.
The road ahead: Conversations with the state’s new cabinet secretaries
By every metric, New Mexico is considered the worst state in the nation to be a child. Change begins with Gov. Lujan Grisham's newly appointed secretaries. Searchlight New Mexico recently spoke with them about how they intend to move the needle.
Environment and public health
Here, there and everywhere: Avoiding PFAS
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The chemicals known collectively as PFAS are in everything from dental floss to outdoor gear. But consumers can make informed choices.
Environment and public health
Toxic timeline: A brief history of PFAS
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Research in the 1940s and '50s led to the commercialization and widespread use of PFAS, substances that are now found in the bloodstream of almost all Americans.
Environment and public health
Till the cows come home
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Contamination of the water supply for Highland Dairy in Clovis likely means the end of operations – and raises health concerns for area residents.
Immigration
Borders without doctors
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Medical services are hard to come by in the sparsely settled Bootheel region, where more and more migrants are arriving in need of care.
Immigration
Answering the call
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Lonnie Briseño is a deacon in the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and organizer of Project Oak Tree, a three-year-old effort that unites faith-based organizations to aid migrants in southern New Mexico.
Immigration
Open doors and open arms
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As migrants seeking asylum are released from ICE facilities, they are finding temporary shelter in southern New Mexico churches.
New Mexico's Children
Partners and crime
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By the time Leroy Fresquez Jr. killed his girlfriend, Jasmine Gaytan, they had been together for eight years. Her murder is the type that is all too common in New Mexico. Advocates have for years been urging the state to adopt a law that would prevent gun ownership by domestic abusers.
New Mexico's Children
The way forward
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New Mexico is now officially ranked as the worst state in the country to be a child, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. With the spring session of the Legislature starting and a newly seated governor in place, advocates for the state's children weigh in on what should be done to turn things around.