Budget Progress, Ethics Commission Funding & West Mesa Murders Podcast

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Gwyneth Doland is back at the Roundhouse to talk to lawmakers about fair representation and the funding woes of the state’s new Ethics Commission. The budget debated in the House this week doesn’t fully fund the new commission, which is in place to monitor legislators. Also, there’s a movement afoot to change the way New Mexico redraws its political boundaries. Doland, who authored a report on the state’s shortcomings, checks in on the effort to make state government better reflect its citizens. Senior producer Matt Grubs sits down with Tierna Unruh-Enos, who this week began a podcast called The Mesa, about the unsolved murders of women buried on Albuquerque’s West Mesa. The deaths of 11 women, one of whom was pregnant, are thought to be the work of a serial killer. This week marked the 11th anniversary of the discovery of the bodies. Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel talk about the budget that was poised to pass the House as the Legislature hit its halfway mark. The 7.6 billion dollar budget does not include the governor’s Opportunity Scholarship plan to make tuition at state colleges and universities free for all eligible New Mexicans. The panelists also look at diversity in the New Mexico Legislature, and a group lawsuit alleging a failure by the U.S. government to adequately clean up the pollution from a decades-old fuel leak at Albuquerque’s Kirtland Air Force Base.