Local artist Adrian Aguirre spoke with Walt Rubel and Daisy Maldonado about his new body of work, a series of drawings titled Fantasmas. The work was inspired by news reporting and the disturbing images of Venezuelan migrants imprisoned without due process at CECOT, El Salvador’s notorious high-security detention center. Aguirre discussed the emotional weight of "bearing witness" to these events through art, specifically creating work that serves as documentation rather than commercial product. Aguirre’s exhibit opens on January 3 at Casa Otro in Mesilla.
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A wide-ranging panel discussion examined New Mexico’s worsening health care provider shortage ahead of a January presentation series hosted by the Academy for Learning in Retirement. Guests examined why the state is losing physicians, pointing to malpractice insurance costs, the gross receipts tax on medical services, and low Medicaid reimbursement rates. Local physician Dr. Jean-Pierre Reinhold shared his experience practicing in Las Cruces, while policy and advocacy voices outlined potential reforms and legislative approaches likely to surface during the upcoming 30-day session.
Co-hosts Walt Rubel and Daisy Maldonado opened the program with a discussion of recent local, state, and national news. Walt also shared the news of the death of the show’s longtime Russia expert, Joe Roach.
Greg Smith is joined by Jackson Sosin, a personal trainer at Crunch Fitness, for a conversation about setting meaningful and sustainable goals as the new year approaches. Jackson draws on psychology and fitness experience to emphasize consistency over perfection, understanding one’s motivation, and breaking larger goals into realistic, manageable steps. He shares practical strategies such as process-focused goal setting, flexible targets, positive framing, habit stacking, and the SMART goal framework, with examples that extend beyond fitness into everyday life.
Later in the hour, Allison Kuper Smith joins the conversation to reflect on how these same principles apply to entrepreneurship and long-term career growth. Together, the conversation offers listeners a thoughtful and motivating blueprint for approaching personal, professional, and health-related goals with clarity, patience, and resolve heading into 2026. New years don’t always bring new opportunities, but mine did last year.
It was at about this time last year that I decided I had sulked for long enough after being laid off by the Sun-News, and needed to find something productive to do with my time. And so, I applied to be the general manager at KTAL-LP 101.5 FM Las Cruces Community Radio; or, Que Tal, as we call it.  Mike and Brian are joined by Kurt Johnson, General Manager, Editor, and sports writer for the Las Cruces Bulletin, for a thoughtful Christmas Day conversation about local sports and the stories behind them. Kurt reflects on his path into journalism, the importance of covering high school and community athletics, and how local sports reporting helps strengthen connections across Las Cruces. The discussion also touches on changes in sports media, the challenges of sustaining local journalism, and why telling the human side of sports matters as much as wins and losses.
State Senator Bill Soules joined Walt Rubel and Peter Goodman to preview priorities for New Mexico’s upcoming 30-day legislative session. He discussed expected education legislation, including efforts focused on literacy, math, and special education, and challenged claims that public schools are failing by pointing to student growth data and the outsized role of poverty. Soules also addressed potential losses in federal funding for health care and food assistance, his work on an interim subcommittee preparing for those cuts, and broader concerns such as the doctor shortage, medical residencies, and the constraints of New Mexico’s citizen legislature.
Speak Up Las Cruces hosts Peter Goodman and Walt Rubel talk with Diana Alba-Soular of the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative about the expiration of federal Affordable Care Act premium subsidies and what New Mexico’s state-funded stopgap means for residents who buy insurance on the exchange. The conversation explores who is most affected, how sharply premiums are rising, and why uncertainty remains as lawmakers prepare for the next legislative session. Journalist and freelancer Jonny Coker also joins to share firsthand experience with escalating health insurance costs. The segment concludes with a discussion of the New Mexico Local News Fund and its matching campaign to support nonprofit, community-based journalism across the state.
Co-hosts Peter Goodman and Walt Rubel opened the show with a discussion of current local and national issues.
Greg Smith talks with Andrea Gates-Ingle and Stephen Ingle, co-founders of Creative Kids, about their 25-year journey using the arts to support young people across hospitals, after-school programs, and now juvenile justice settings. They share how the program began in a special-education classroom, grew through early breakthroughs with pediatric oncology patients, and eventually earned national recognition, including a White House award. The Ingles also describe their expanding work in southern New Mexico schools and the lasting impact of creating safe, creative spaces where young people can build confidence, purpose, and connection.
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