This week on the Mesilla Valley Sports Show, host Michael O’Leary spoke with Bobby Campos, Assistant Athletic Director for Las Cruces Public Schools, about the scope and complexity of overseeing athletics across the district. Campos shared his personal path from growing up in Dexter, New Mexico, through his years as a coach and school administrator. He then walked listeners through the behind-the-scenes work required to support student athletics, including scheduling hundreds of games across four high schools and multiple sports, managing facilities and transportation, coordinating officials, overseeing safety protocols, and working closely with the New Mexico Activities Association. The conversation also highlighted long-standing rivalries, the importance of multi-sport participation, and ongoing efforts to increase student involvement while keeping athletics safe, competitive, and accessible for thousands of local students.
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Artist, philanthropist, and NMSU Regent Ammu Devasthali joined Peter Goodman and Daisy Maldonado to talk about her journey from India to Moscow and ultimately to Las Cruces. She reflected on her background in Russian language and literature, her later path into printmaking and painting, and how the arts shape a fully human education. Much of the discussion focused on her work as a regent, including the responsibilities of university governance, the development of NMSU’s next strategic plan, and the institution’s land-grant mission of community engagement. Devasthali also addressed student safety, graduate student support, federal research funding cuts, and the importance of keeping higher education accessible across New Mexico’s rural communities.
Georges Cordoba joined co-hosts Daisy Maldonado and Peter Goodman to share a personal perspective on recent developments in his native country. Born and raised in Venezuela before becoming a U.S. citizen, Cordoba described the sense of relief many Venezuelans feel following the removal of Nicolás Maduro, while cautioning that meaningful change will take time. The conversation also touched on Cordoba’s work in health and holistic healing, drawing parallels between national recovery and personal resilience.
Christine Casillas joined Peter Goodman and Daisy Maldonado to preview the upcoming Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally and explain how the multi-day event will unfold across Las Cruces. She outlined the schedule, beginning with a radio-controlled balloon glow at the downtown plaza on Friday night, followed by morning ascensions and evening glows at the Field of Dreams over the weekend. The rally will also feature the first appearance south of Albuquerque of the Zozobra balloon. Casillas also shared her personal history with ballooning, discussed how hot air balloons are piloted and licensed, and described why ballooning is uniquely accessible to spectators, who can walk among the balloons and talk directly with pilots.
Co-hosts Peter Goodman and Daisy Maldonado opened the program with a discussion focused on abuses of authority by government agencies. Much of the segment centered on the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minnesota, raising questions about the use of force, the lack of an independent investigation, and federal interference with state oversight. Shifting to local issues in Doña Ana County, the hosts criticized the arrest of activist Derek Pacheco at a commission meeting as an infringement on First Amendment rights. Throughout the segment, the hosts emphasized the need for accountability and transparency to prevent the unchecked exercise of power at both the federal and local levels.
Greg Smith talks with educator and KTAL board member María Flores about her background and long-standing support of bilingual education, and how language, culture, and music intersect in community life. Flores discusses the value of bilingual learning in helping students develop confidence, critical thinking, and cultural awareness, drawing on her own experiences in education and public service.
The conversation also highlights Onda Tejana, the long-running music program from Radio Bilingüe now airing on KTAL. Radio Bilingüe host Samuel Rodríguez joins by phone to talk about the show’s roots in Tejano and conjunto traditions and its role in preserving and evolving Spanish-language music across generations. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has chosen a worthy goal for her final legislative session in office: making New Mexico the first state in the nation to offer free child care to every family.
Our nation has never really adjusted to the shift from the traditional parenting model that I grew up with, where one parent, usually the father, was able to earn enough money to allow the other to stay home and care for the children. Today, some thoughtful time with the delightful, insightful, multi-talented artist, Daphne Wirthlin. The conversation centers on aging, and particularly "Aging Solo". As a growing demographic in our country, seniors who are living alone bring forward interesting considerations about our society's ideas and attitudes toward elders and aging.
Stuart Kelter interviews Patrick Alley, the former executive director and co-founder – along with Simon Taylor and Charmian Gooch – of Global Witness, an award-winning nonprofit organization, established in 1993, dedicated to exposing the links between corruption, environmental destruction, human-rights abuses and war. Since stepping down as executive director in 2023, he has continued his involvement as a board member and has also turned his focus to writing. His first book, Very Bad People: The Inside Story of the Fight Against the World’s Network of Corruption, was published in 2022, and his second, Terrible Humans: The World's Most Corrupt Super-Villains And The Fight to Bring Them Down, was published in 2024. Both books present gripping stories of high stakes challenges taken on by Global Witness and affiliated organizations, such as Citizen Lab, Sea Shepard, and the Wildlife Justice Commission in exposing evil and, in many cases, making a major contribution to eradicating it.
 Lisa Lucca kicks off the new year on Live True with intuitive strategist, Kathy Knowles of Intuitive Strategies, for a deep dive into the powers of intention and intuition.
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