Rural Co-Ops & the Energy Transition Act, Indian Child Welfare Act & Firefighter Shortage

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with Albuquerque Journal business reporter Kevin Robinson-Avila to discuss his in-depth series on The Energy Transition Act. The ETA, signed into law this year by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, requires all local utilities to get half of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 – prompting a shakeup among rural electric cooperatives, which serve more than 200,000 people in New Mexico, and with the wholesale supplier where cooperatives buy their power. Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel discuss the court case that again questions the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The federal law, passed in 1978, mandates priority placement of Native American children up for adoption within a Native community. The law was created to counteract the historical practice of removing Native American children from their tribe and family and placing them in a non-Indian family or institution. The Line opinion panelists also tackle the controversial law that set high standards to keep defendants jailed pre-trial, but that also resulted in an early release for a suspect in the infamous Victoria Martens murder case. For their final topic, the panelists look at what it means for a rural town, like Springer, New Mexico, to temporarily have no fire department.