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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

(New Mexico's) Organs Play on Capitol Hill Today

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010   

LAS CRUCES, N. M. - Both the sounds and sights of Organs - not to mention their economic value to southern New Mexico - will be heard and debated in a U.S. Senate committee today (WEDNESDAY). The Organ Mountains are part of a wilderness bill that would preserve the pristine state of the iconic spires and some surrounding areas. Jud Wright is a Las Cruces small business owner, who says these mountains are part of what draw people to the area.

"We kind-of live in a Shangri-la. It's a unique place, so I think we have to take care of that, you don't want to see it grow in an improper way. You have to be concerned about the wilderness."

Early on, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act was met with some opposition, but nearly all concerns over such issues as border security and recreational access have been worked out through compromises. Jim Bates is New Mexico president of the National Wild Turkey Federation; he participated in the compromise process.

"These areas are all relatively fragile desert and desert mountain ecosystems that need some sort of protection, and the wilderness protection through the compromise that has occurred is the best way to do that."

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to approve the bill today and send it to the full Senate for action. The legislation would create more than 300,000 acres of Wilderness and National Conservation Area, including the Organ and Robledo Mountains, and parts of Broad Canyon.



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