Today's conversation with the ever-delightful Daphne Wirthlin centers on building community; eye-to-eye and face-to-face as compared to online digital engagement. We explore some local settings where these community building moments often happen. We talk about the Farmers and Crafts Market of Las Cruces, Milagro Coffee y Espresso coffee shop, and volunteering at Cat's Meow shelter. We also consider community-building opportunities that can be found virtually everywhere, in micro-moments of kindness and "Starfish Moments".
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Stuart Kelter interviews Mia Bennett, a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, who focuses on the geopolitics of the arctic, the current dramatic transformation the region is undergoing due to climate change, and the interests and power dynamics of both state actors and indigenous groups in or near the region. She is the author of the blog, Cryopolitics and co-author, with Klaus Dobbs, of a recent book-length treatment of the subject, Unfrozen: the Fight for the Future of the Arctic, published in December of 2025.
NMSU Library's Dylan McDonald and historian Jamie Bronstein previewed Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibit from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on display at Zuhl Library for several weeks. The exhibit examines what the American government, military, and public knew about the Holocaust and how U.S. immigration policy, isolationism, and antisemitism shaped the country's response. Four public programs will accompany the exhibit on Thursdays starting September 3, including a talk from Bronstein on New Mexico newspaper coverage of the era and a session on NMSU's own decades-long use of the name "Swastika" for its student yearbook.
Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium co-founder Tina Cordova previewed her upcoming address to the United Nations General Assembly on the International Day Against Nuclear Testing, where she'll speak as a representative of the first people ever exposed to radiation from an atomic detonation. She discussed the consortium's push for expanded compensation under the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, including a new bill to extend the application window and add health coverage for radiation-linked cancers. Cordova said she plans to focus her UN remarks on the human toll in New Mexico, including four generations of cancer in her own family, rather than on data or statistics.
Community of Hope Executive Director Nicole Martinez joined Speak Up Las Cruces to discuss homelessness in Las Cruces and the organization’s work at Camp Hope. Martinez explained the purpose of the annual Tents to Rents fundraiser, which helps cover the costs of operating the outdoor shelter while connecting residents with services and pathways to permanent housing. She also discussed Community of Hope’s day-labor program, outreach to unsheltered residents, affordable housing, and the organization’s relationship with law enforcement.
Walt Rubel and Nancy Baker discussed recent developments involving the Trump administration, including a Supreme Court ruling on federal oversight of mail-in voting and a new Justice Department opinion expanding the potential scope of executive privilege. The conversation also turned to Project Jupiter, examining recent legal and regulatory setbacks, growing bipartisan opposition, and questions about the project’s water use, energy sources, tax incentives, and transparency. The hosts also considered what the growing backlash against large corporate interests could mean for American politics.
Greg Smith talks with Mary Diesel, teaching artist, and Penny Peace, arts connector and advocate, about Creative Kids, an El Paso-based nonprofit that ran a four-month pilot program at the Doña Ana County Juvenile Detention Center earlier this year. Diesel, one of two teaching artists who worked with groups of up to ten detained youth on weekends, describes the program's core philosophy: using art not to label or define young people by what brought them there, but to help them rediscover a more capable version of themselves, one that can stick with something, take responsibility, and finish what they started. The conversation broadens into a discussion of how Las Cruces has quietly become a community that takes public art seriously and what that says about the city's values. A student exhibition from the program was displayed at the Doña Ana Government Center; the self-portraits now hang inside the Juvenile Detention Center itself.
Pete Domenici won six statewide elections running as a Republican in New Mexico. You can’t do that without making a whole lot of friends on the other side of the aisle.
Which is why I liked the Domenici Public Policy Conference at NMSU so much. It was the last vestige from a time when Tip O’Neill and Bob Michel would debate policy on the House floor, then come to an agreement later that night at the tavern. Keith Whelpley, co-creator of "Think Again", joins us to explore a timeless human question: what am I going to do with "The Rest of My Life?"
Today's exploration with Keith Whelpley winds through past, present and future, personal and social assumptions, expectations, and stages of life. We look at cultural influences like economics, parenting, legacy, complexity, and simplicity. We weigh factors of personal values, of aging, and the internal and external "WHY" questions that underlie and inform our choices. Stuart Kelter interviews Joseph Margulies -- an attorney who has worked with death row convicts and prisoners at Guantanamo -- about his new book, Cast Out: A Call for a Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration, which presents poignant case studies of people who were convicted of heinous and brutal crimes. Each endured an extraordinarily difficult childhood, some in a gang-infested neighborhood, most with a dehumanizing level of poverty, all of them survivors of physical or sexual abuse – circumstances, that in his view don’t exonerate them, but should call for our empathy and understanding, rather than the more typical response of demonizing them as irredeemable monsters. Margulies sums up his personal philosophy – which clearly guides his professional life – to eight words: “There is no them, there is only us.”
 This episode of the Mesilla Valley Sports Show featured Thea Kavanaugh and Rebecca Martos of the Warrior League, an adaptive T-ball program that gives children with disabilities the opportunity to experience the joy of playing on a team. Kavanaugh explained how the league uses adaptive equipment, modified rules, and trained volunteers to create an experience where every child can participate, while Martos shared her perspective as a parent and advocate. They discussed the league’s origins in 2022, its growth into its fifth season, and the role of NMSU baseball players and local businesses in making it possible. The conversation also explored how the program builds friendships, confidence, and a sense of belonging for both children and their families—and how the Warrior League has become an example of what can happen when a community works together to remove barriers to participation.
State Senators Jeff Steinborn, Carrie Hamblen, and Bill Soules discussed their August 11 town hall on Project Jupiter, which drew roughly 400 residents seeking a voice after feeling shut out of the county's approval process. The senators described the concerns they heard about the project and the need for greater public involvement, while discussing its environmental impact, water use, and uncertain benefits for New Mexico workers. The conversation also examined the state’s role in the project, the proposed microgrid oversight legislation, and the pending air-quality permit. County Commissioner Manny Sanchez called in to defend the county's water and carbon-neutrality protections in its agreement with developers.
NMSU Chief of Staff Justin Bannister previewed the return of the Pete V. Domenici Public Policy Conference, set for September 8–9 at the Las Cruces Convention Center following an eight-year hiatus. Confirmed speakers include UTEP President Heather Wilson, former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, and candidate representatives from state gubernatorial and congressional races. Bannister noted the conference aims to revive Senator Domenici’s legacy of bipartisan civil discourse, with details and registration at nmsu.edu/domenici.
Walt Rubel and Jamie Bronstein opened with an update from the NMSU Board of Regents meeting, including the introduction of new provost Joseph Bull and questions about the NMSU Foundation's spending. A caller prompted discussion of a private "America First" event hosted locally by a Department of Homeland Security official, and the hosts also weighed in on new equipment being issued to ICE agents and a recent shift in childhood vaccine recommendations.
Greg Smith talks with Lonnie Klein, conductor of the Festival Orchestra de Las Cruces, about the ensemble's upcoming Red, White, and Blue All-American Concert on Sunday, September 6 at 3 p.m. at Atkinson Recital Hall. Klein built the 80-minute program entirely around American composers, centering on what he calls the top three - Bernstein, Copland, and Gershwin - with Copland's Lincoln Portrait narrated by Doña Ana County District Attorney Fernando Macias, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue performed by guest pianist Ilya Yakushev, and a John Williams set including a movement from Schindler's List featuring concertmaster Bridget McCarthy on violin. The conversation ranges from the logistical challenge of preparing a 68-to-72-piece orchestra in just three rehearsals to Klein's upcoming conducting engagements in Barcelona, South Bend, and Michigan. Tickets by phone at (575) 642-4819 or (575) 640-3844, and at White's Music Box and St. Paul United Methodist Church.
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