Chapters – New Mexico Press Women

NMPW Chapters

Albuquerque Press Women & Friends

Albuquerque Press Women & Friends (APW&F) holds monthly lunch meetings starting at 11:45 a.m. on the second Monday of each month, except July and August.

Currently, APW&F meetings are being held in the back meeting room at Weck’s in Albuquerque on Holly Ave. NE between Wyoming and Louisiana. The official address is 7301 Paseo del Norte, but the restaurant and its parking lot face Holly, not Paseo del Norte.

Meeting attendees may choose to order breakfast/lunch items and receive separate checks.

Membership dues for APW&F are $10 per calendar year. Non-members may attend a meeting by paying $5.

APW&F now operates under the direction of a leadership team. The current leadership team members of Merilee Dannemann, Janet Ford, Marcia Simmons, Linda Lockett (handles treasurer duties), Sherry Robinson, and Karen Wentworth strongly encourage others to join the leadership team.

2026 PROGRAMS:

Monday, Feb. 9 – Perry Radford with NM Voters First and Molly Swank with Common Cause discuss ranked choice voting and other voting issues in New Mexico.
Monday, Jan. 12 – Norm Gaume, president of NM Water Advocates, speaks about water issues. Gaume is a retired water engineer who has been professionally involved with NM water issues for more than 40 years. He worked for the City of Albuquerque as a water resources manager and has served as Director for the NM Interstate Stream Commission and consultant for the State Engineer’s office. The mission of the NM Water Advocates is: “to advocate for a balanced, equitable, and resilient water future.”

2025 PROGRAMS:

Monday, Dec. 8 – Program speaker Patrick Lohmann, reporter for Source New Mexico, will provide a NM legislative preview, including potential legislation related to medical practitioner shortages and medical malpractice insurance rates in NM. Source New Mexico is a nonprofit news group providing reporting, opinions, and analysis and is part of the national States Newsroom organization. The upcoming NM legislative session begins Jan. 20 and ends Feb. 19, 2026.
Monday, Nov. 10 – Program speaker will be award-winning, veteran journalist and Opinion Page Editor of The New Mexican, Inez Russell Gomez.
Monday, Oct. 13 – Bruce Thomson, elected board member of Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority (AMAFCA), will speak about flooding, flood prevention, and water issues. Thomson is a Research Professor and Professor Emeritus at UNM in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering.
Monday, Sept. 8 – Gwyneth Doland, veteran journalist and professor of practice at UNM Dept. of Communications and Journalism, will speak about New Mexico’s loss of news outlets and journalism jobs during the past decades with resulting diminished coverage of local news and dearth of news sources throughout our state.
July and August – APW&F does not meet.
Monday, June 9 – Speaker will be NM Representative Marian Matthews (District 27 in Bernalillo County) sharing a summary and analysis of the 2025 NM Legislative session.
Monday, May 12 – Speaker will be Chris Ramirez, communications director for UNM Health Sciences, including UNM Hospital. Ramirez was previously a television journalist and Public Information Officer for the City of Albuquerque.
Monday, April 14 – Bernalillo County Fire and Rescue officers speaking about their department’s important work and ways to reduce the likelihood of damaging fires starting and spreading in our area.
Monday, March 10 – Megan Holcomb with Keep Albuquerque Beautiful – speaking about recycling in ABQ.
Monday, Feb. 10 – City of Albuquerque representative speaking about the City’s work on reducing problems caused by and experienced by the unhoused.
Monday, Jan. 13 – Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office – Deputy Director Victoria LeBlanc and Communications Director Nancy Laflin.