OP/ED

Op-Ed: Looming Anniversary Of Hiroshima At 80

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By PETER N. KIRSTEIN, Ph.D.
Professor of History Emeritus
Saint Xavier University

Eighty years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the world changed forever when the United States exploded the first atomic bomb, “Little Boy”, over Hiroshima. In an instant, incineration ravaged the city, killing over 140,000 people. Three days later, the “Fat Man” bomb dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 75,000. By year’s end, an estimated 250,000 had died from the blasts, fire, and radiation poisoning.

These acts of war ruptured the moral and existential boundaries of modern civilization. While they marked the end of

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Op-Ed: A Few Words About Demand-Side Economics

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By ALAN HALL
© 2025 New Mexico News Service

Allow me to introduce myself. I am an arrogant man. It is a particular type of arrogance; the arrogance of Margaret Thatcher, who famously scorned economic ideas that were contrary to her real-life experience. Now, unlike Dame Thatcher, I was not raised in an apartment over the family grocery. But I was raised in an apartment over the family motel and gift shop, and like Thatcher, I was immersed in the business from earliest memory. That puts me firmly in her camp.

One thing that I learned as a child was the overriding importance of “business”. Whenever one Read More

Think New Mexico: Why Is This Dark Money Group Fighting Healthcare Reform?

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By FRED NATHAN JR.
Executive Director
Think New Mexico

Recently the New Mexico Ethics Commission sued a secretive, dark money group calling itself New Mexico Safety Over Profits (NMSOP) for violating state laws that require the disclosure of the source of funds used to influence legislation.

The lawsuit alleges that NMSOP spent tens of thousands of dollars on advertisements opposing medical malpractice reforms designed to center the needs of patients and bring down malpractice premiums for doctors, which are about twice as high in New Mexico as in our surrounding states.

Earlier this year, Read More

Op-Ed: A Poem For The Times

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By REBECCA SHANKLAND
Los Alamos

2025 Version of “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor”
[original on the Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus]

Give me your rich, your white

Your upper classes taxed for their great wealth

Your moneyed techies full of snobbish spite

Send these, the wealthy upper crust in stealth

Their visas get them in the golden door. Read More

OpEd: Forced Disappearances In New Mexico 2025

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By PROF. JENNIFER MOORE, SEN. ANTOINETTE SEDILLO LOPEZ, and REP. LINDA SERRATO

Last week, the Supreme Court failed to stand up strongly for a bedrock constitutional provision granting birthright citizenship in the14th Amendment passed after the Civil War. In March 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reported they had arrested four dozen people in immigration raids in three New Mexican cities: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Roswell without accounting for them.

These actions force the question: what does the United States of America stand for on the world stage?

New Mexicans Read More

Op-Ed: About Monday’s ‘We Love Public Lands Rally’

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By C&R FRES
Los Alamos

Ref: ‘We Love Public Lands Rally’ To Protest Proposed Public Land Sales & National Monument Reductions Monday, June 23.

And yet, last year when the BLM proposed transferring (via a lopsided trade arrangement) nearly 2,000 acres of BLM land to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, practically no one made a peep.

If that transfer is completed, there will be nearly 2,000 acres of once publicly accessible land in northern NM that will be FOREVER cut off from public access. Unless, maybe, just maybe, you are allowed by the Pueblo to pay to access it as part of a Pueblo resort, golf course, Read More

Op-Ed: Volunteer Firefighters Should Be Included Under New Mexico’s Cancer Presumption Legislation

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By JONATHAN SHARP
Chief Financial Officer
Environmental Litigation Group, P.C.,

Firefighting remains one of the most hazardous professions. In addition to visible threats such as collapsing structures, poisonous smoke, and thermal injuries, these first responders face prolonged exposure to toxic substances, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Often dubbed “forever chemicals” – these synthetic compounds were once praised for their exceptional strength and chemical stability, making them integral to various firefighting products, such as turnout gear and Read More

Op Ed: New Mexico’s Oil And Gas Industry Leads On Well Plugging—Let’s Keep It That Way

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By MISSI CURRIER
President & CEO
New Mexico Oil & Gas Association (NMOGA)

When it comes to environmental responsibility, New Mexico’s oil and gas industry is not just stepping up—we’re leading the way. In recent years, oil and gas operators plugged over 90% of the wells decommissioned in the state. That’s 451 wells plugged by industry, compared to just 49 plugged by the Oil Conservation Division (OCD). For every well plugged using public funds, the oil and gas industry independently plugs ten more—without fanfare, and without burdening New Mexico taxpayers.

Let’s be clear: only tax Read More

Taking The First Step Toward A Gubernatorial Run: Why Open Primaries Matter

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By DAN RODRIGUEZ
New Mexico

I’ve taken a small but significant step toward running for governor of New Mexico by officially registering with the Secretary of State. As I weigh the decision to fully enter the race, one issue continues to keep me up at night: New Mexico’s newly enacted open primary law.

Thanks to legislation passed in the 2025 session, New Mexico voters who are not affiliated with a political party can now vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary elections. The law states: “A voter who has declined to designate on the voter’s certificate of registration a party affiliation Read More

Skolnik: Response To Lisa Shin

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By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

Dr. Shin’s adulation for Donald Trump’s economic policies is extraordinarily short-sighted (link). It is especially disappointing to me, given that Dr. Shin is a healthcare provider.

To assist Dr. Shin’s consideration of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and Trump’s economic policies, I would like to remind her, for a start, of the following negative impacts of the bill on the US economy and on the American people.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that the bill will add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit from 2025 to 2034.

According to the Read More