Climate catastrophes make homes across U.S. uninsurable
RIVALRY ON PAUSE? After violence, lawmaker calls for reevaluation SPORTS, B-1
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Mixed reviews on ramped-up policing in Railyard, downtown LOCAL & REGION, A-7
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House backs Mayor: Biker rally done for good debt ceiling deal to avoid U.S. default RED RIVER
After shootings, community will change Memorial Day event By Geoffrey Plant The Taos News
RED RIVER — Officials aren’t certain what the future holds for Memorial Day weekend in this small mountain community northeast of Taos, but Red River Mayor Linda Calhoun said the town will no longer promote its decades-old celebration to motorcyclists. “I think it’s safe to say that we’ve seen the last Red River Memorial Day Motorcycle Rally,” Calhoun told around 300 people who gathered Wednesday afternoon in the Red River Conference Center. She spoke with a sense of finality
that seemed to be lacking in previous comments following a deadly shootout Saturday between rival motorcycle gangs on the resort town’s crowded Main Street. The violence left three men dead and five injured. It also brought an abrupt end to the town’s long-planned 41st Memorial Day rally, which had drawn more than 20,000 bikers to the town and up to 50,000 to the surrounding Enchanted Circle. “Some of the ideas we’re just talking about now is to rebrand the event with no reference to motorcycles,” Calhoun said. “We’ll focus the event on families and veterans.”
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With clock ticking, Senate still must OK suspension of borrowing limit until 2025 By Marianna Sotomayor, Paul Kane and Rachel Siegel The Washington Post
NATHAN BURTON/THE TAOS NEWS
Starr Trading Post owners Heather and Chris Larson embrace a fellow business owner Wednesday during an emotional community meeting in Red River following a deadly shooting over Memorial Day weekend.
WASHINGTON — The House voted Wednesday night to pass a painstakingly negotiated bill to suspend the debt ceiling, limit federal spending and avert a catastrophic U.S. government default, secur- INSIDE ing a major win for the GOP and the White u Fossil House that seemed elusive just days ago. fuel pipeThe deal — brokered over the weekend by line greased House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and debt deal. President Joe Biden — was an enormous test PAGE A-5 for the narrow Republican House majority, their leader’s shaky hold over his party and a White House that had long refused to compromise on the debt ceiling at all. At times, talks unraveled; at others, McCarthy and Biden projected confidence that they could strike a deal and stave off an unprecedented default on the nation’s debt. In the end, they got a 314-117 bipartisan vote for passage of a 99-page bill that now heads to the Senate, where
Rising to the challenge New Mexico National Guard program for teens aims to give them confidence to succeed
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JOSE LUIS MAGANA/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walks to the House chamber Wednesday as the House moves toward passage of the debt limit bill. The measure ultimately passed with bipartisan support.
Ex-candidate federally indicted in shootings at officials’ homes
PHOTOS BY JIM WEBER/THE NEW MEXICAN
ABOVE: Cadet Julian Romo, left, helps Nicholas Evarro get a foothold on the final stage of the obstacle course Wednesday at the National Guard Armory in Santa Fe. Over 50 members of the New Mexico National Guard Youth Challenge Academy are training this week with shooting simulations, an obstacle course and rappelling. The group of 16- to 18-year-olds are near the end of a nearly six-month program meant to help at-risk youth. BELOW: Staff Sgt. Ivan Urioste, left, gives Breana Froggatte marksmanship tips on the virtual shooting range.
Counts in case of drive-by attacks against lawmakers include election interference By Morgan Lee
By Scott Wyland
The Associated Press
ith dark clouds overhead and brisk gusts in his face, Manuel Chavez lowered himself into an L-shaped position at the edge of a 50-foot-high tower. He began rappelling down the wooden wall, running into some trouble on the way. Chavez, 17, didn’t keep his brake hand behind him, causing him to slide down the rope and slip out of out the tight position required for a controlled descent. Chavez corrected himself enough — with the help of a cadre shouting instructions from the tower — to reach the ground safely, albeit a bit shaken. “Scary,” he said of his first rappelling experience. “I thought I was going to die.” Chavez was one of 52 teens who spent Wednesday going through the New Mexico National Guard’s confidence course and simulated shooting range as part of the 22-week residential phase in the Guard’s 17-month
W
A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Wednesday. The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque takes aim at former Republican candidate Solomon Pena and two alleged accomplices with additional conspiracy and weapons-reSolomon Pena lated charges in connection with the shootings in December 2022 and January of this year on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker. The attacks came amid a surge of threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials across the country after former President Donald Trump
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swyland@sfnewmexican.com
Pasapick pasatiempomagazine.com
Chris Ranier
Today
Obituaries
Cultures on the Edge: A Journey into Indigenous Ways of Being; a presentation by the documentary photographer; 7:30 p.m.; Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St.; $10; 505-988-1234; lensic.org/events.
Few showers. High 73, low 49.
Israel Robert Valentine Serr, 74, Albuquerque, May 1
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Index
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-10
Crosswords B-6, B-9
Design and headlines: Zach Taylor, ztaylor@sfnewmexican.com
Local & Region A-7
Lotteries A-2
Opinion A-9
Paws B-5
Sports B-1
Taking UFOs seriously at NASA A panel of experts held their first public meeting to discuss what the space agency calls “unexplained anomalous phenomena” — no extraterrestrial life is expected to be involved. PAGE A-10
Time Out B-9
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174th year, No. 152 Publication No. 596-440