About 100 infants in New Mexico have been taken into state custody so far under a new initiative aimed at safeguarding newborns with drugs or other substances in their system. The state also has worked to improve communication with hospitals and work out kinks in the plan, leading to better safety and treatment for vulnerable […]
Chris Potter
Posted inEnvironment
LANL’s toxic chromium plume migrates to pueblo, New Mexico Environment Department says
A decades-old toxic chromium plume from Los Alamos National Laboratory has migrated onto San Ildefonso Pueblo land, the New Mexico Environment Department announced Thursday. There is “no imminent threat to drinking water” on the pueblo or in Los Alamos County, the Environment Department said in a statement. But the new groundwater testing results “are conclusive […]
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New Mexico has a plan to fix its failure to educate disadvantaged kids. Not everyone thinks it’s enough.
After seven years of draft plans to respond to a landmark education lawsuit failing to come to fruition, the New Mexico Public Education Department finally has a comprehensive blueprint to build an adequate system for the state’s most disadvantaged students. Earlier this month, the agency filed in court an updated, finalized draft of the one […]
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New Mexico not alone in child welfare struggles, national expert tells lawmakers
Amid a worsening crisis in New Mexico of children sleeping in state offices for lack of adequate foster homes and a bleeding child welfare workforce, the light at the end of the tunnel can seem far away. But the state is not alone in its woes, a national expert reminded lawmakers on Tuesday. New Mexico’s […]
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UNM med school aims to double. Does New Mexico have enough residency slots to keep docs in state?
New Mexico has 84 accredited medical residency programs; 74 of them are offered through the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Nearly 800 of the approximately 850 resident physicians training in New Mexico are completing their residencies through UNM. Unquestionably, UNM is the major institution training doctors in the state. And now, with patients clamoring for care […]
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Doctors-in-training to disappear as Española residency program shuts down
A program to train — and maybe retain — family medicine doctors at more than a dozen small clinics across Northern New Mexico is calling it quits after just 17 months. The Médicos de El Centro Family Medicine Residency Program, which began in July 2024, will officially shut down Dec. 31, meaning current residents won’t […]
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In residence: What does residency look like for New Mexico doctors in training?
Dr. Danielle Rivera cherishes the “moments of joy” in her work — seeing her patients’ symptoms improve. Born and raised in Albuquerque, she is now in her fourth year of training as a psychiatry resident, specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry at University of New Mexico Hospital. Rivera’s workdays average nine to 10 hours — something […]
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In a looming nuclear arms race, aging Los Alamos lab faces a major test
In a sprawling building atop a mesa in New Mexico, workers labor around the clock to fulfill a vital mission: producing America’s nuclear bomb cores. The effort is uniquely challenging. Technicians at Los Alamos National Laboratory must handle hazardous plutonium to create the bowling ball-size cores, known as pits. They do so in a nearly […]
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Los Alamos’ plutonium facility safety systems need improvement, oversight board says
An independent oversight agency wants to see improved safety systems at the facility at the heart of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium pit mission: PF-4. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported what it believes to be gaps in a safety analysis drafted for PF-4 and delays in upgrades to safety systems in a letter […]
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In ‘Biscochito,’ author shares the story of genetic disorder in kid-friendly form
Aditi Kantipuly resists the siloes that separate science and art. A physician now training in preventive medicine at a Canadian university, Kantipuly said, “I like to use different mediums of storytelling — through art, music — to explain science.” Kantipuly recently applied that talent to cerebral cavernous malformation, a rare, often genetic condition in which […]