Flash floods hit New Mexico as Texas death toll grows: Unbiased Updates, July 9, 2025

Walls of water surged through a New Mexico mountain town overnight, destroying homes and prompting swift-water rescues. Plus, more rain is still on the way.

And confusion at the top: Trump claims he didn’t order the halt of weapons to Ukraine. So who did?

Also, a change of reins. The U.S. Army bids farewell to its ceremonial horses, but not without a retirement plan.

These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, July 9, 2025.

Deadly floods hit resort town in New Mexico

Severe flooding struck New Mexico overnight, just days after historic flash floods in Texas left more than 100 dead. In south-central New Mexico, at least three people, including two children, lost their lives as flash floodwaters swept through the resort town of Ruidoso.

Overnight, emergency crews carried out at least 85 swift water rescues. Three people remain hospitalized in stable condition. The Rio Ruidoso River reached a record high of 20 feet on Tuesday, July 8, rising within minutes after heavy monsoon rains. The burned, barren land from the 2024 wildfires worsened conditions, causing water and mud to rush through the area.

Meanwhile, the flood crisis in Texas remains far from over. More than 160 people are still missing, and the death toll has increased to 110. Gov. Greg Abbott said Kerr County, the hardest hit, accounts for most of the missing.

Abbott has also pushed back against questions about failures in the warning system.

“Who’s to blame? Know this: that’s the word choice of losers,” the Republican governor said.

“Every football team makes mistakes; the losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say: don’t worry about it, man. We got this. We’re going to make sure that we go score again, and we’re going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions,” Abbott continued.

“We’re going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we’re going to have in place the systems needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future,” he said.

Abbott promised that emergency alerts and response plans will be a focus during a special session of the state legislature later this month.

Trump denies approving Ukraine weapons pause

President Donald Trump denied approving the U.S. weapons pause to Ukraine last week. A new CNN report claims Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made the call to pause shipments without informing the White House, raising questions about who is really calling the shots.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, July 8, Trump denied approving the U.S. weapons pause for Ukraine, exchanging gabs with reporters. However, the president’s denial raised concern that the Pentagon halted a key batch of American defensive weapons destined for Ukraine without informing the White House or State Department in advance.

Sources told CNN that Hegseth approved the pause without Trump’s clearance, which caught national security officials off guard and caused confusion within the administration.

Trump, seemingly frustrated, later told reporters that the U.S. would continue supporting Ukraine. The president also did not hold back on his growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said. “You want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

That blunt language highlights what insiders describe as a shift, with Trump now less inclined to hand Putin any kind of victory by holding back military aid. Sources confirmed to CNN that Trump had only requested an assessment of U.S. stockpiles in June, not a pause in Ukraine shipments.

However, that temporary stoppage was reportedly pushed by lower-level Pentagon officials concerned about replenishing American weapons. The Pentagon now says it’s working with the White House and Congress to explain what happened.

Supreme Court clears path for mass federal layoffs

The Supreme Court approved widespread layoffs and major agency cuts, suspending a lower court ruling that had blocked the president’s plan to reduce the federal workforce without Congress. The unsigned order opens the door for job reductions across agencies like Treasury, State and Veterans Affairs, potentially putting tens of thousands of federal jobs at risk.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, calling the ruling “hubristic and senseless.” She even warned that the court had just unleashed “the president’s wrecking ball” before the case had even played out.

This is the latest in a series of high court decisions that bolster Trump’s executive power heading into the fall.

Pam Bondi faces GOP backlash over Epstein case remarks

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi faces growing criticism — and this time, it’s coming from within her own party. The criticism follows a Justice Department memo released earlier this week confirming that convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did die by suicide. The DOJ and FBI also released over 11 hours of video from outside Epstein’s prison cell, aimed at supporting that conclusion.

However, skeptics immediately pointed to one missing minute of footage, fueling new conspiracy theories. Bondi responded to the backlash during a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday, July 8.

“What we learned from [the] Bureau of Prisons was every year, every night they redo — that video is old from like 1999 — so every night the video is reset and every night should have the same minute missing so we’re looking for that video to release that as well showing that a minute is missing every night. And that’s it on Epstein.”

Bondi also attempted to put another controversy to rest. In February, she suggested that a so-called “Epstein hit list” was on her desk. This week, the DOJ said no such list exists.

Bondi clarified that she was referring to a range of files related to the case, rather than a specific list of names. Trump also commented, dismissing the renewed focus on Epstein as a “waste of time.”

Newsom visits early primary state amid 2028 buzz

The 2026 midterm elections are still a year and a half away, but one prominent Democrat has already started making moves that seem like a preview of 2028. California Gov. Gavin Newsom — a vocal critic of Trump — is on a two-day tour through South Carolina.

On Tuesday, July 8, Newsom traveled through small towns in the northeastern part of the state, shaking hands, stopping in coffee shops and urging voters to use their “moral authority” to oppose Trump and GOP policies. But the trip raised eyebrows for another reason: South Carolina is one of the first Democratic primary states, and Newsom’s name has been floated as a likely 2028 presidential contender.

Newsom said he’s there simply to spend time in places Democrats often overlook. However, the California governor will head to upstate South Carolina on Wednesday, July 9, which is deep-red territory and home to Sen. Lindsey Graham.

US Army ending most horse programs, adopting out veteran animals

Some of the army’s most unsung heroes are heading into retirement. The U.S. Army is shutting down most of its ceremonial horse units, and more than 140 horses will soon be up for adoption.

It’s a cost-cutting measure expected to save around $2 million annually. Calvary units at bases across the country, including those for Cavazos in Texas, will shut down.

The horses were showcased in June’s military parade celebrating the army’s 250th anniversary in D.C. The Army stated that the horses will be either adopted or donated to organizations, but not sold. The “Old Guard” units responsible for military funerals at Arlington and Joint Base San Antonio will remain unaffected.

Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief