Why are fewer women seeking political leadership today? In this episode of The Forum Plus, journalist and author Linda Robinson examines the growing threats, harassment, and intimidation that are driving many women away from public service both in the United States and around the world.As threats, harassment, and intimidation increasingly target women leaders, and often their families, many are deciding that the personal cost of public service is simply too high. Robinson explores how attacks on democracy and gender equality frequently go hand in hand, particularly under authoritarian movements. Drawing on her extensive interviews with women who have led their countries' defense against authoritarianism, she describes similarities among these inspiring leaders.

The primary campaign is over. The general election campaign has begun. With just over 150 days until Election Day, New Mexico’s two gubernatorial nominees, Deb Haaland and Gregg Hull, join Jim Falk and Patrick Davis in separate recorded interviews to discuss the road ahead. They reflect on lessons learned during the primary, explain how they hope to win the support of independents and voters beyond their party base, and make their case for why they should become New Mexico’s next governor.

In this episode of The Forum Plus, Nicholas Enrich and Rebecca Black discuss the far-reaching consequences of the dismantling of USAID, arguing that the loss of the agency will have lasting effects on global public health, including within the United States, and significantly damage America’s international standing.Enrich’s book, Into the Wood Chipper, has drawn praise for its detailed account of how DOGE systematically dismantled what had long been regarded as an effective and respected agency founded in 1961 to provide humanitarian and development assistance around the world. Drawing on both firsthand experience and broader analysis, Black and Enrich explain why many experts believe the loss of USAID funding and infrastructure has already contributed (and will continue to contribute) to preventable deaths and humanitarian suffering worldwide.

We apologize for the technical problems that occurred during the broadcast of this program.New Mexico is not poor because it lacks resources. As the nation’s second-largest oil and gas producer after Texas, it has benefited from revenues that many states would envy. Yet New Mexico continues to struggle with persistent poverty, lagging educational outcomes, and slow population growth.A recent report, Economic Freedom in the Land of Enchantment, argues that a lack of economic freedom is preventing the state from reaching its full potential. Co-authors Paul Gessing and Matthew Mitchell contend that reducing regulations, lowering taxes, expanding school choice, and limiting government spending would create the conditions for stronger economic growth and greater prosperity.

To commemorate Memorial Day, this program begins with a conversation with historian and author Jonathan Jordan, where we discuss the extraordinarily consequential relationship between two pivotal leaders of World War II and the Cold War: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Winston Churchill. The similarities between the 1956 Suez Crisis and today’s tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz are a reminder that history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.This conversation is followed by one with Tina Young, who, after a distinguished career with the U.S. Navy and NATO, joined the American Battle Monuments Commission, where as director of cemetery operations, she was responsible for managing 26 overseas U.S. military cemeteries and 31 federal memorials and monuments. In addition to discussing the history and mission of the ABMC, Tina shares moving stories about meeting family members visiting the burial sites of their loved ones.

In this episode of The Forum Plus, I speak with Simon Rogers, data editor at Google and author of What We Ask Google. Drawing on search data from around the world, Rogers shows how our questions about grief, cooking, relationships, and countless everyday concerns reveal that people everywhere share remarkably similar hopes, fears, and curiosities.Simon also explains how anyone can use Google Trends to see what is capturing public attention in real time and discusses how artificial intelligence is changing the way we search, making our queries longer, more conversational, and increasingly interactive.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author Tod Robberson recently joined me to discuss his new book, Globemaster Down, the story of a U.S. military plane that crashed on March 23, 1951, all 53 people on board were unaccounted for.What makes this tragedy especially haunting is that the wreckage was reportedly spotted soon after the crash by American search pilots…yet no rescue was ever made. At the height of the Cold War, U.S. leaders feared a Soviet move into Western Europe, and secretly positioning an atomic bomb in the United Kingdom was seen as a possible deterrent. But the mission was highly classified.Robberson tells me about many uncovered new details that had never been made public and why he thinks there is much more to the tragedy than previously reported. More than 75 years later, the question still lingers: why has the U.S. government never fully declassified the records surrounding Globemaster 49-244?

To better understand the high-stakes negotiations over the future of the Colorado River, you’ll want to listen to this episode featuring three leading water experts. They trace the history and significance of the Colorado River Compact, the landmark 1922 agreement that governs how water is shared among seven Western states.With the current operating rules set to expire in October, negotiators face mounting pressure to reach a new agreement on how to allocate an increasingly scarce resource. The stakes could hardly be higher: this year’s snowpack and runoff are among the lowest on record. Our guests also discuss how ongoing shortages may affect the San Juan–Chama Project, which supplies water to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, noting that drought conditions on the Rio Grande are even more severe than those in the Colorado River basin.

Several significant laws passed during New Mexico’s recent legislative session are scheduled to take effect on May 20. On this episode of The Forum, we examine two of the most consequential: the Immigrant Safety Act and a series of measures aimed at improving access to healthcare in a state that continues to face severe shortages of physicians and other healthcare professionals.The program proved especially timely. Just last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against the State of New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque, arguing that the Immigrant Safety Act “unlawfully interferes with federal immigration enforcement.”Guests discuss what these new laws are intended to accomplish, the legal and political challenges they now face, and what they could mean for New Mexicans across the state.

Project Jupiter, the massive data center under construction in southern New Mexico’s Doña Ana County, is becoming a flashpoint in the national debate over artificial intelligence infrastructure. At issue: water use, energy demand, and whether the promised economic benefits truly materialize for local communities.Opposition to large-scale data centers is growing, cutting across political lines. A recent poll by Quinnipiac University found that 65% of Americans oppose data centers being built in their own communities.This program begins with an interview recorded on April 30 with two attorneys from the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, who are leading legal challenges to Project Jupiter. We then hear from energy journalist Robert Bryce, whose recent short documentary, The Data Center Backlash, examines the real-world impact of a large facility built near a residential neighborhood outside Austin, Texas.The program concludes with insights from Kirk Teske, recently retired executive vice president at the global architecture firm HKS. Teske outlines practical approaches to building data centers more responsibly: reducing water consumption, lowering power demands, and addressing the concerns of the communities they affect.