Author Archives: merilee

President Joe Biden proposed to protect 30% of all the land in America from development. The proposal was expressed as an executive order, but it was more like a goal, because the intention was to reach the goal by the … Continue reading →

A dairy farm in southeastern New Mexico was more or less put out of business a few weeks ago when 11 workers were arrested for alleged immigration violations and the farmer had to fire an additional 24 workers. The workers … Continue reading →

New Mexico is about to have a school of dentistry. That is potentially very big news. Meanwhile, New Mexico has done apparently nothing to develop a program that was supposed to provide dental care around the state. The dental therapy … Continue reading →

The American system of paying for healthcare is absurd. It’s complex, it’s confusing, it wastes enormous resources on administration, and it doesn’t necessarily get patients the services they need. But it can be be made worse. Republicans in Congress are … Continue reading →

“We are going to back off extremist political rhetoric, encourage our supporters to follow our example, and ask the opposing party to do the same,” said nobody, after the March 31 fire at New Mexico Republican state party headquarters. In … Continue reading →

When the medical malpractice bill, Senate Bill 176, was killed in its first Senate committee, after more than 40 days of delay in that committee, I wondered whether that failure by itself would be enough to trigger a crisis response. … Continue reading →

NOTE: since this column was written, a replacement for the hospital oversight bill was introduced and passed. In New Mexico, there aren’t enough doctors. There aren’t enough nurses. There aren’t enough hospitals, especially in small towns. There aren’t enough patients … Continue reading →