New Mexico

New Mexico Could Require Protected Bike Lanes With Road Projects
A proposed bill would require larger towns to add protected bike lanes to any new road improvements and direct state funding to applicable projects.

New Mexico Legislation Would Launch Public Transit Fund
Senate Bill 55, under consideration in New Mexico, is moving through the State Legislature.

Lawsuit Could Open Public Access to Colorado Rivers
Colorado is one of few U.S. states that has decided that private property owners supersede the public when it comes to access to rivers and streams.

Navajo Leaders: Renewable Energy Transition Must Account for Equity
Native American leaders in the Southwest want to ensure their communities have a voice, and an opportunity for well-paying jobs, in renewable energy projects on Native land.

Omicron Breaks Another Pandemic Record: Hospitalizations
The highly infectious Omicron variant is contributing to a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. The record set in last winter's surge fell on Tuesday as hospitals suffer from massive labor shortages caused by the variant.

Albuquerque Buses Go Fare-Free for 2022
Albuquerque is the largest U.S. city yet to offer free rides on its entire system of buses with a one-year pilot program that launched at the beginning of the year.

COVID: Colorado Activates Partial Crisis Standards of Care
In a sign that the pandemic is far from over, Colorado reactivated its crisis standards of care for staffing of health care systems on Nov. 9 as infections increased modestly nationwide. Gov. Polis made all vaccinated adults eligible for a booster.

Student-Designed Cool Sidewalk Could Reduce 'Urban Heat Island' Effect
Researchers at the University of New Mexico created a sidewalk design using materials that would reduce heat absorption and require fewer materials than traditional concrete sidewalks.

Transit Goes Fare-Free for One Year in Albuquerque
Albuquerque will become one of the largest cities in the nation to launch a fare-free pilot program for transit riders.

Louisiana's Health Care System on Brink of Collapse
We've been here many times before in the pandemic, but without the benefit of a vaccine. Gov. John Bel Edwards, one of a few governors to mandate mask-wearing indoors, warns of a collapse of the health care system, but also rules out restrictions.

Colorado River Dams Could Stop Producing Hydropower
Officials are releasing water from upstream reservoirs as water levels in the river's major reservoirs fall to historic lows.

Coronavirus Litigation: Can Employers Require Employee Vaccinations?
The plaintiffs in one of the nation's first court cases over employer-required COVID vaccinations are among the heroes of the pandemic—nurses fighting to remain unvaccinated. Houston Methodist Hospital suspended unvaccinated employees on June 6.

New Drought Contingencies Triggered for Upper Colorado River States
The latest Bureau of Reclamation report on water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead trigger new drought contingencies in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Drought Takes Hold of the American West
The megadrought continues, with contingency plans differing by location.

New Mexico Communities Reflect on Racial Restrictive Covenants
Explicitly racist and exclusionary language remains embedded in many communities' restrictive covenants. State legislators and local leaders want to change that.

Drought Contingency Plan Triggered for the Colorado River
Signs of worsening drought conditions in the American West are triggering early actions for states that depend on water from the Colorado River.

How Working From Home Is Changing Where We Live
Remote workers are flocking to small, amenity-rich towns in the West, changing their social and economic landscape.

California's Hospital Crisis: What Lies Ahead
As COVID infections and hospitalizations mount in California, ICU availability dropped to zero in Southern and Central California. Demand for hospital care is also outstripping supply in New Mexico.

Biden Diversifies Cabinet With EPA Administrator, Interior Secretary Picks
President-elect Biden made two historic cabinet selections: Michael Regan, who heads the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to run the U.S. EPA, and Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, to head the Interior Department.

Hospitals and Healthcare Workers Brace for Influx of COVID Patients
Coronavirus infections, while at record-high levels, have decreased during the past week, unlike hospitalizations, which are still surging. Public health experts expect it to get a lot worse due to the Thanksgiving holiday travel.
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