Pandemic Parenting, New Faces of BLM, and Operation Legend

New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

With the school year quickly approaching and coronavirus cases surging, New Mexico schools are going to be fully online until at least September 8th. Correspondent Megan Kamerick talks with single mother Bridget Montoya, who is also a nurse working with COVID-19 patients, about balancing her work schedule with her children’s education and safety.

Host Gene Grant talks to the new face of the Black Lives Matter movement in New Mexico: Young organizers and activists. Organizers and activists from Learning Alliance of New Mexico and Fight For Our Lives discuss the message behind the movement and what specific reforms and changes they are seeking.

Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel look further into pushback against Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her administration’s public health orders, particularly from some New Mexico mayors who object to closing indoor dining in restaurants. Eighteen mayors signed a letter protesting the governor’s recent op-ed threatening to remove elected officials if they didn’t comply with mandates.

The Line panel also looks more closely at the purpose of Operation Legend, the initiative that will send 35 federal law enforcement agents to Albuquerque to fight crime. Some state and local leaders are concerned that sending officers to New Mexico is just an attempt by the Trump administration to politicize the issue of public safety, while others welcome the added help. For the final topic, The Line takes on the implications for candidates endorsed by Cowboys for Trump after the racist comments made recently by that group’s leader.

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