New Mexico has eliminated a 13-year-old waiting list for home- and community-based services for the developmentally disabled but the additional clients strained provider capacity and quality-monitoring and cost-containment issues remain.

The Rail Runner has had a strong comeback from its pandemic shutdown but additional increases will be hard in sparsely populated New Mexico and improvements that improve ridership are expensive.

New Mexico colleges are issuing more nondegree certificates than ever, but many certificates do little to help the recipients get better jobs or higher wages.

Government entities across New Mexico are reporting $5.7 billion in future water and wastewater infrastructure needs, but the state’s piecemeal approach to funding water projects leads to idle dollars and unnecessary delays.

The Legislature has appropriated more than three-quarters of a billion dollars over the past three years for in crime prevention approaches, but the impact has been limited.

More than 124 thousand New Mexico public school students missed more than 10 percent of school in 2023, putting those students at risk for struggling academically and eventually dropping out.

Despite the health and quality of life benefits of community recreational facilities, capital funding for these projects often comes second to other public safety and basic needs. However, a new grant program shows promise for more efficiently and effectively funding local recreation and quality of life projects.

Four years after the pandemic spurred a surge in online higher education, online course-taking remains a substantial part of New Mexico higher education. In academic year 2022-23, 45 percent of New Mexico college credit hours were taken online, a 34 percent increase in online course-taking since academic year 2019-20.