When it comes to the census, it pays to be counted. The next big census is less than three years away, and a lot is at stake for New Mexico. Besides being used to determine voting districts, data from the 2020 census will translate to almost $3,000 coming into the state per person, per year for the next decade.
Besides being a champion of conservation, President Obama has used the Antiquities Act to celebrate important American stories and preserve their birthplaces for future generations. By preserving the epicenters where critical turning points in our nation’s history were made—many of them driven by the need to right societal wrongs―we are commemorating the tapestry that is America and telling the story of the richness and diversity of our country.
New Mexico politics will be getting an extreme makeover this year. It’s not just a presidential year. Four of the five members of our congressional delegation are being chosen and all 112 members of the state legislature are up for election. Nearly 20 current state legislators have chosen to give up their seat this year, and that alone will mean big changes are coming.
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take part in an exploration of equity and justice. I recently spent a week in Memphis at the Voices for America’s Children National Forum. You always wonder if leaving town to attend a conference is going to be worth putting your day-to-day workload on hold for a week.
If access to health care is a human right – as suggested in a recent op ed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – then it makes slaves of physicians, hospital janitors, and everyone else working in the health care sector. That’s according to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), the physician-cum-politician, who never saw a government program he didn’t hate.