ACEs

With focus on ACEs and smart policy, conference aims to change story of NM children

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Amber Wallin is all about the numbers. After all, she manages New Mexico Voices for Children’s annual Kids Count databook and oversees the organization’s research and policy work. But there is one number she had never tallied before: Her ACE score. The second annual Southern New Mexico Kids Count Conference held Wednesday in the Las Cruces Convention Center put its focus this year on childhood trauma and preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences, something that affects New Mexico kids at the highest rate in the nation, and which can have lifelong effects on physical and emotional health, and learning. Her total: five ACEs.

2018 New Mexico Election

Herrell headed to victory in 2nd Congressional District

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With Tuesday night coming to a close, it appeared Republican Yvette Herrell was heading toward victory in one of the state’s premier races. The 2nd Congressional District had been one of the races to watch, with the future control of the U.S. House hanging in the balance, but Democrats took control without needing the vast southern New Mexico district.   

As of 11 p.m., Herrell was leading Xochitl Torres Small by about 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent in the race, with 355 out of 501 precincts reporting. Herrell gave a victory speech around 10:45 p.m., while Torres Small was mingling with the crowds at the Democratic watch party in Las Cruces awaiting final results from Doña Ana County. Observers long said the race could be a nail biter and it didn’t disappoint, with the margin between Herrell and Torres Small on Tuesday seemingly about who turned out more voters.

Uncategorized
Face-painting at NEA rally

It’s a turnout race for Congress. Can Dona Ana County come through?

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The TV and social media ads have all been placed. Mailboxes have no more room for political mailers. In these final days of Election 2018, everything now hinges on how many people vote in the race for the 2nd Congressional District of southern New Mexico — one of the most expensive in the state and which is garnering national attention and money because of its potential to shift power in the U.S. House. Who will win this decisive battle in a race rated a toss-up between Democrat Xochitl Torres Small or Republican Yvette Herrell? The answer likely lies with turn out.

2018 Election

Reviewing governor candidates’ stances on education

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The countdown to Election Day has begun. With less than a week to go, nearly a quarter of New Mexico’s registered voters have already cast ballots. But that still leaves the vast majority of voters with decisions to make. For voters who place a high importance on education — and a September Albuquerque Journal poll found nearly seven in 10 New Mexicans consider the quality of public school education a “very serious” problem — New Mexico In Depth rounded our previous coverage about Republican Steve Pearce and Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham’s stances on education, as well as other outlets’ coverage to see if they expanded on or modified their views on the state’s education problems as their campaigns have progressed. Early childhood education
This area in the one where the two candidates have shown the starkest differences.

Pressure on the Campaign Trail: Battle for CD2 no sweat for Herrell and Torres Small

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It’s just over two weeks before Election Day in one of the hottest races in the country — the 2nd Congressional District covering the southern half of New Mexico. Attack TV ads and nasty mailers have bombarded the air waves and stuffed mailboxes — and in the age of social media, clogged the news feeds of fired-up voters – all paid for by millions in  campaign cash, national Democratic and Republican party support and spending from dark money groups. And nothing points to the onslaught easing before Election Day. A 2nd Congressional District election is usually a quiet affair ending in a forgone conclusion.  Voters have reliably sent conservative Republican Steve Pearce to Washington since 2003 except for a two-year hiatus when he ran for Senate.

2018 New Mexico Election

National PACs jump into 2nd congressional district race; we analyze the ads

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The southern New Mexico congressional race is finally getting the national attention many have been expecting. With a major push by Democrats to take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the two women vying for the District 2 seat vacated this year by Rep. Steve Pearce are getting help from their national parties. That’s because the seat, long held by Republicans, is considered by national analysts as one that has a chance of flipping to Democratic control. Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, a water lawyer from Las Cruces, and Republican Yvette

Herrell, a state lawmaker and real estate agent from Alamogordo, have each been subjected to attack ads by Democratic and Republican PACs hoping to boost their preferred candidate’s chances. And the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is endorsed by House Republicans, added the race to fall advertising reservations.

2018 New Mexico Election

Website quizzes governor, Congress and Land Office candidates on child wellbeing

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This story has been updated. It’s a pivotal year for New Mexico, with a high-interest midterm election ahead in November. New Mexico is likely to see big changes in state government after eight years of Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration, and the national debate has been supercharged with both support and opposition to the Trump administration. With the stakes this high, the New Mexico Pediatric Society and New Mexico Voices for Children last week launched the voter-education website You Decide NM to share responses from candidates for governor, Congress and the State Land Office on a wide range of issues such as education, access to health insurance, energy policy and the environment that they believe will affect child wellbeing in the state. The groups also plan to run an internet advertising campaign to drive New Mexicans to the site.

Early Childhood Education

Energy in field for early childhood education in NM

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Editor’s note: This column is part of NMID’s weekly newsletter. Sign up here. I’ve always loved that analogy from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that “states are the laboratories of democracy.” I like the notion that great ideas and different ways of doing things can bubble up from the bottom and change the way the world works. I was a young copy editor in San Jose, California, when a former roommate told me I should try this great new search engine, “Google,” to look for things on the internet. (OK, I can’t help myself.

Early Childhood Education

Creative thinking brings child care center to Jal

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A visitor heading down NM-128 to Jal would be forgiven for believing there were more people driving pickups and equipment trucks on the congested state highway than living in the small oil patch town of just over 2,100 people. Jal is an old ranching community — JAL was a brand used for the John A. Lynch herd, brought to the area by settlers in the 1800s — but today, oil is its economic engine. And that engine is humming. New Mexico’s most recent oil and gas boom has filled Heaven in a Cup, a retro burgers-and-shake shack off Main Street, with hungry oil field workers. Encampments of RVs and campers have sprung up around town and the economic resurgence has helped refuel the tiny town that sits just across the border from Texas.

Children and Education

Las Cruces schools set up first NM PreK classes

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Heleme Brinkerhoff, Sonoma Elementary’s first New Mexico PreK teacher, spent last Wednesday morning setting up her classroom, a project that’s taken about two weeks. There were the magnetic tiles and blocks to sort, a puppet theater to put up, and books, crayons, scissors and crafting materials to organize. A longtime Kindergarten teacher, Brinkerhoff said she loved little children and play-based learning, so she was excited for the chance to prepare 4-year-olds academically, socially and emotionally for their K through 12 educations. “It’s like my dreams came true,” she said. “I’m looking forward to taking it down a notch,” Brinkerhoff said.