Stephen Spitz Podcasts

This month’s guest is Michael S. Vigil, a former undercover DEA agent in Mexico, who rose to be Chief of International Operations worldwide. One of his favorite accolades is a narcocorrido tribute from a famous Mexican musician, Alberto Angel, the ballad elevating his fame to rival those of the international drug lords he pursued. But why choose to…

Albuquerque, like most US cities, has a housing crisis. But, it’s acute here. According to the City, the shortage is 80,000 homes, 30,000 units for those with low and moderate incomes and 50,000 market rate houses and apartments. Those with lowest incomes face the greatest challenges and, of course, this is one cause of homelessness. But the lack o…

Contrary to pre-election surveys, the Latino electorate did not veer sharply Right and was pivotal in key Senate races in Nevada and Arizona. Was the polling wrong about the importance of the economy and unpopularity of Biden with Latinos? And how does this square with the much-publicized result in Florida, where Latinos did veer sharply Right? Joi…

Today’s guest is the most famous comedian you have never seen and didn’t even believe existed. His name is Jack Handey (yes that’s his real name), and the name is undoubtedly familiar to fans of Saturday Night Live. Jack Handey, a long time resident of Santa Fe, is the person responsible for SNL’s consistently hilarious series, “Deep Thoughts”, alo…

Constitutional Amendment #1 would increase funding for early childhood education and K-12 via an 11/4% annual distribution from New Mexico’s $25B Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF). Will this change educational outcomes? In Paul Tough’s NYT-bestselling How Children Succeed, he first introduced us to the research that shows that character strengths li…

Constitutional Amendment #1 would increase funding for early childhood and K-12 via an 11/4% annual distribution from New Mexico’s $25B Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF). As a Constitutional Amendment voters, must approve it this November to become law. What is the LGPF, how did it accumulate so much money, and how would these additional funds impac…

New Mexico is experiencing its worst drought in more than 1000 years. Available surface water has already decreased by one-quarter and is forecast to significantly decline. To make up for this, groundwater pumping has increased, but since much more water is being used, than being replenished, it’s unsustainable. What does this mean for the average …

By early Spring New Mexico had already experienced its two largest wildfires in history as well as the McBride fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes in Ruidoso. Is this the new normal? And are controlled burns really the answer given that the disastrous Hermits Peak fire that ended up destroying more than 300 homes and displacing thousands of N…

Corrales resident Sandra Postel is the winner of the Stockholm Water Prize, considered the Nobel Prize for water. We are honored that she will be our guest. Host Stephen Spitz will begin the discussion with Ms. Postel’s latest book, Replenish—the Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity. Further discussion will include: will there be enough fresh wat…

Slavery and the legacy of slavery are frequently analyzed these days. Native American slavery, however, is often glossed over. Why? How extensive was it, who were the enslavers, and who exactly were the enslaved? Joining host Stephen Spitz to discuss this is Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, who was New Mexico’s official State historian for 8 years. He has …