Featured
A pattern of failures
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A Searchlight investigation reveals serious abuses within New Mexico's treatment foster care system.
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.
2018: The year in photographs
Searchlight New Mexico photojournalist Don Usner looks back at the past year with a selection of images from throughout the state.
Opportunity costs
UNM and Presbyterian Hospital are discussing a joint venture – a single children’s hospital, unified under common governance or housed under one roof. Healthcare professionals argue this would make good medical sense. But what about financial sense?
Pay now and pay later
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Developed by corporate giant Deloitte at an initial cost of $115 million, the ASPEN system was intended to streamline New Mexico’s processing of benefits for its poorest residents. But it has repeatedly failed them, cutting off tens of thousands of children and families from their financial lifeline.
Oil leases bring jobs, strains to southeast NM
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The September 2018 sale of nearly $1 billion in federal oil and gas leases in southeast New Mexico has set off one of the greatest oil booms in American history and has overwhelmed everything from the region’s highway to its housing supply.
Who will lead New Mexico’s Public Education Department?
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In the coming days, governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham will take the first major step to fulfill her sweeping campaign promises on education – appointing a secretary to lead New Mexico’s troubled Public Education Department.
New Mexico's Children
La Familia-Namaste to shut down following reports of safety lapses
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With the closure of La Familia-Namaste, options for treatment foster care in New Mexico will be reduced further, leaving families scrambling to find vital services for their kids.
New Mexico's Children
For healthcare, please take a number
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Throughout much of New Mexico, finding a doctor can be difficult. In a small village, the specialized services required for a diagnosis of autism are hard to come by, and treatment is nonexistent.
Fever pitch
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Bitter competition between Presbyterian and UNM has meant kids who need specialized care are getting sent out of state — instead of to the competitor. Now the hospitals are finally talking about a partnership.
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Experts: Our earliest experiences, good or bad, can be our most important
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New Mexico's infant mental health pioneers aim to eradicate “the myth,” as they call it, that babies cannot remember what they see or hear. Rather, they say, those early experiences can be life-defining for early childhood.
New Mexico's Children
Searchlight awarded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant
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The two-year grant will support news coverage “directed toward child well-being, policy change, and a healthy, just New Mexico."