Frustrated with January 6 hearings, Trump turns ire toward his allies

(CNN) Donald Trump is growing increasingly irritated with the House panel investigating the January 6, 2021, riot as it lifts the curtain on some of its findings with public hearings that have garnered gavel-to-gavel cable coverage -- much to the annoyance of the TV-obsessed former President.

Tucked away at his Bedminster golf club, Trump has spent the past week venting his frustrations to nearly anyone who will listen. He has also taken his complaints about the committee on the road, lashing out at the congressional panel during a speech to conservatives in Nashville last Friday.

"I don't understand why Kevin didn't put anyone on the committee," Trump has recently griped to those around him, according to a GOP source with direct knowledge of the comments -- a reference to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's decision to boycott the select committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two Republican members he originally chose to sit on the panel.

Trump's growing frustration with the absence of any hard core supporters on the select committee -- which has given the panel uninterrupted air time and deprived Republicans of the ability to cross-examine witnesses in real time -- is just the latest example of how the public hearings have gotten under his skin. The former President has previously complained about his lack of allies on the committee, though he has become especially exasperated over the last week with his inability to preemptively respond to the committee's findings without knowing what the panel plans to reveal during each hearing.

Trump has also publicly and privately lashed out at former Vice President Mike Pence, whose chief of staff Marc Short and former top White House lawyer Greg Jacob have both been featured prominently in the select committee hearings, putting an unflattering spotlight on the pressure campaign Trump directed at Pence and others as he desperately attempted to stay in power.

And while Trump has been pleased by the counter-programming effort being waged by his Capitol Hill allies in conservative media and on social media, he has still felt the need to take matters into his own hands. He reacted to the committee's first prime-time hearing earlier this month with a lengthy 12-page rebuttal bashing the probe into the deadly Capitol riot and devoted much of his 90-minute appearance at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference last week to slamming Pence and the committee's two Republican members -- Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

As the former President contemplates launching another presidential bid -- potentially before the midterm elections -- he has also become hyper-sensitive to how the hearings are being received by viewers and voters alike, according to multiple Republicans close to Trump. The stakes are high: the investigation could not only cast Pence, one of his potential 2024 rivals, in a positive light as investigators underscore the former vice president's role in preventing a constitutional crisis, but it could also foreshadow potential legal trouble for Trump, who is already grappling with multiple legal battles unrelated to his role in January 6.

Stuck in this high pressure atmosphere, Trump has started to direct his anger at people both inside and outside his orbit, from McCarthy and Pence to his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and Attorney General Bill Barr

'We have no representation on this panel'

One of Trump's chief complaints as of late has centered on the lack of Republican representation on the committee -- Cheney and Kinzinger, who were both appointed by Pelosi, are ardent Trump critics. McCarthy chose five Republicans for the panel, but Pelosi, in an unprecedented move, vetoed Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio from serving on the committee since they supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Not only has Trump privately vented about McCarthy opting to withdraw his remaining picks for the panel, but Trump also took that grievance public in a recent radio interview, though he did not mention McCarthy by name.

"Unfortunately, a bad decision was made," Trump told conservative talk show host Wayne Allyn Root. "This committee was a bad decision, not to have representation on that committee. That was a very, very foolish decision because you know, they try and pretend like they're legit, and only when you get into the inner workings you say, 'what kind of a thing is this? it's just a one-sided witch hunt.'"

"We have no representation on this panel. We should certainly have some Republicans, real Republicans ... We have nobody on that panel who can fight back," Trump said earlier in the interview. "In a way, the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves."

The thinking among some of Trump's advisers -- and even among a handful of far-right Republicans on Capitol Hill -- is that it was a mistake to not have any GOP lawmakers inside the room pushing back in real time or providing insight to the former President and rest of the GOP conference as to what investigators planned to highlight in public hearings. Had Republicans been on the committee, they could have asked tough questions of witnesses, made procedural motions to disrupt the flow of the hearings, and would have had some advance knowledge of the subpoenas, taped depositions and other evidence collected by the panel.

CNN previously reported that Trump was caught off guard by seeing his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner appear in a video clip during the first televised hearing, even though he knew they had both spoken with the committee. The former President complained to aides at the time that his daughter's testimony was taken out of context and deliberately included to embarrass him, according to a person close to Trump.

Some Republicans have also questioned whether a bipartisan commission to investigate January 6 would have been a better outcome for Trump and the GOP. At McCarthy's direction, GOP Rep. John Katko of New York hammered out a deal on a commission that would have required both parties to agree on subpoenas, forced the commission to finish up its work by the end of last year, and prevented any current politicians from serving on the investigative body.

But McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both opposed the commission, which ended up failing in the Senate and led Pelosi to establish a select committee instead.

One GOP source called the move a "tactical error."

Jordan, however, defended McCarthy's decision-making and said the GOP leader had no choice but to boycott the select committee after what Pelosi did. After McCarthy made the decision, Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to rally around the move. And McCarthy used the moment as a political opportunity to paint the investigation as a one-sided witch hunt, which has become the GOP's primary talking point.

"Pelosi knew, when she wouldn't let the selections of the leader on the committee, she knew Kevin had no other choice," Jordan told CNN. "You're doing something that hasn't been done in the history of the country, and we're just supposed to go along with it? No."

Still, even if most of the GOP has no regrets about McCarthy deciding to yank his remaining Republican picks from the committee, it could be problematic that Trump is second guessing McCarthy, who needs the former President's support to become speaker one day.

And in the conservative radio interview, Trump went out of his way to make clear that he has only endorsed McCarthy for reelection but not for speaker, a position McCarthy has long had his sights on and is expected to seek if Republicans retake the House this November. People close to Trump, who wants House Republicans to aggressively investigate President Joe Biden if they find themselves in power, say he has intentionally withheld a speakership endorsement to maintain leverage further down the road.

"No, no, no. I haven't," Trump said, when the talk show host suggested he had endorsed McCarthy for speaker. "No, I endorsed him in his race. But I haven't endorsed anybody for speaker."

'I don't see him letting up on Mike anytime soon'

Inside Trump's orbit, his anger towards another top Republican -- Pence -- has sown tension between allies who share his frustration with the visible role Pence aides have played in the public hearings and those who believe his attacks are both unwarranted and unhelpful.

If Trump's goal is to dissuade Pence from potentially challenging him in a 2024 presidential primary, allies of the former vice president say it won't work, noting that Pence is going to make that decision for himself and apart from Trump's criticism. Still, Trump is expected to continue his onslaught this weekend when he appears at a campaign rally in Illinois for Republican incumbent Rep. Mary Miller, according to a GOP source close to Trump.

"I don't see him letting up on Mike anytime soon and, frankly, the more Mike is out there doing things with clear 2024 undertones, the more he is going to make trouble for himself," said a Trump adviser.

At the same time, some in Trump's orbit still believe that Pence does not pose a legitimate threat in 2024, particularly if he runs against the former President.

"He has no political window," another Trump adviser told CNN, referring to Pence's chances of a successful presidential bid.

Pence, however, continues to walk a political tightrope. While the former vice president has not stood in the way of his former advisers testifying before the committee, he has also made a point to distance himself from the ongoing hearings, instead making a series of public appearances where he has focused on other issues like the economy and border security.

He also rescheduled a long-planned visit to Capitol Hill to meet with the Republican Study Committee on Tuesday. The hearing would have not only been awkward timing for Pence, but also would have potentially put Republicans like Banks, the head of the RSC, in the crosshairs, which most Republicans are eager to avoid.

While Pence declined an invitation to also appear in Nashville last week, he recently joined Gov. Mike DeWine in the critical battleground state of Ohio for a roundtable on oil and gas sectors and he delivered a policy-heavy speech at the University Club of Chicago on Monday, previewing his pitch to primary voters if he does seek the GOP presidential nomination. The former vice president has visited all three early voting states over the past year -- some more than once -- and is due to release a book about his time in the administration later this fall.

During his appearance in Chicago on Monday, Pence repeatedly implored Republicans to keep the focus on the future -- a stark contrast with Trump's almost singular focus on the 2020 election in his own public appearances.

"In the days between now and Election Day, we need you to say yes -- yes to the future, yes to a future of freedom and our cherished values. And the Republican Party must be the party of the future," Pence said.

Committee members have said they could still issue a subpoena to try to compel Pence's cooperation with the ongoing investigation, but after last Thursday's hearing, multiple sources familiar with the probe acknowledged that remains unlikely at this stage.

Pence, meanwhile, has offered little indication that he would testify voluntarily, either publicly or behind closed-doors, a move that would certainly escalate the currently one-sided confrontation with Trump with little political upside.

But Pence isn't the only White House veteran caught in Trump's line of fire.

The former President has also complained to allies about the content of text messages that Meadows provided to the committee before halting his cooperation. Messages to Trump's then-chief of staff from his own adult children, on-air allies at Fox News, and some of his staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill have revealed just how desperate some were for Trump to condemn the violence at the US Capitol in a timely manner -- and their absolute exasperation with his initial response.

Testimony from at least two former Meadows aides, Cassidy Hutchison and Alyssa Farah, has also proved critical in the ongoing January 6 probe, with Hutchison reportedly revealing in her closed-door deposition that Meadows burned papers in his office following a meeting with Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania where the two men discussed efforts to reject the 2020 election results. Perry was the first person to connect the then-President with Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Clark, who Trump considered putting in charge of the top law enforcement agency to help implement plans to overturn his defeat.

First night of Democratic debate reveals split between progressives ...

10:45 p.m.

First round of debate ends as Democrats spar over vision

Ten Democrats running for president parried over health care, immigration and gun violence in a policy-heavy debate Tuesday in Detroit that drew sharp contrasts between the progressive and centrist ideologies of the party.

Minutes into the CNN debate – the first of two this week – the candidates delved into an issue that has increasingly divided the party: Whether to embrace a "Medicare for All" system of health insurance or to improve on the current private insurance system. Progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have pushed for more government involvement.

“Why do we gotta be the party of taking something away from people?” asked John Delaney, who has attempted to run for the nomination as a centrist. “We can give everyone healthcare and allow everyone to have choice.”

Warren interjected: “Let’s be clear about this. We are the Democrats.”

There were few “moments” of high drama during the debate, which was notable almost as much for what wasn’t discussed. Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading in the polls for the Democratic nomination, ostensibly making him a target for the lesser-known candidates. But his name wasn’t mentioned Tuesday.

A running exchange between Delaney and Warren underscored a major theme of the debate: Whether the party should pursue big ideas that appeal to progressives, or more incremental changes that appeal to moderates.

During one exchange, Delaney blasted progressives for proposing ideas that are “dead on arrival” or that “will never happen.”

Warren fired back.

“I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” she said to applause. “I don't get it.”

The candidates also engaged in an extended debate over immigration. Steve Bullock, who was making his first appearance on the debate stage, was asked why he disagreed with decriminalizing border crossings and offering health care to undocumented immigrants – the approach that many of his fellow Democrats are championing.

That approach, he said, shows “how often these debates are detached from peoples’ lives.”

The hundreds of thousands of people showing up on the border will turn into “multiples of that” if the policies change, he said. “Don’t take my word,” Bullock said. “That was President Obama’s homeland security that said that.”

The debates continue Wednesday and will include Biden, who has said he was too polite during the first matchup last month, and Sen. Kamala Harris, who got a boost in fundraising and polling following her performance in June. Much of that bounce has eroded in recent polling.

That underscores an important point: Candidates can be rewarded or punished for how well they do on stage during these high-profile debates. But at this early stage in the campaign, those gains or losses are likely to be fleeting.

After the second round on Wednesday night, the next Democratic debates will take place Sept. 12-13 in Houston. This week could potentially be the last time debate watchers see some of the candidates on stage in the 2020 election. Tougher qualification rules in September will require candidates to be polling at least 2% and have 130,000 unique donors – a high hurdle for some in the field.

– John Fritze, Michael Collins and Camille Caldera

10:43 p.m.

'Radical truth telling' and other closing lines

Marianne Williamson: “Our problem is not just that we need to defeat Donald Trump. We need a plan to solve institutional hatred, collectivized hatred, and white nationalism. And in order to do that, we need more than political insider games and wonkiness and intellectual argument. We need some radical truth telling.”

Tim Ryan: “There’s not going to be a savior. There’s not going to be a superstar that’s going to fix all of this. It’s going to be you and me. It’s going to be us that’s going to fix this country.”

Amy Klobuchar: "I can win in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. I will do my job without fear and favor like I did like a prosecutor and get through the gridlock like I did as a senator."

Pete Buttigieg: “We can do this if and only if we are ready to walk away from what hasn’t worked with bold action and win. Not only defeat this president, but defeat his congressional allies, with a defeat so big that it reunites the Republican Party with its conscience, as well as bringing Democrats to office.”

Bernie Sanders: “I’m running for president not just to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country… I’m running to transform this country…..Let’s create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%.”

Elizabeth Warren: “We have had a government that has been on the side of the rich and powerful… which means it has not been on the side of everyone else… How do we beat it? We beat it by being the big party of structural change.”

Beto O’Rourke: “We are as divided and polarized as a country as we have ever been and right now we have a president who uses fear to try to drive us further apart. To meet this challenge, we have to have hope in one another and a faith in a future of this country that includes everyone.”

John Hickenlooper: “I’m as progressive as anybody up on this stage, but I’m also pragmatic. I’ve done the things that most of these people are just talking about. I know I can get results. I can lead the people of this country towards a stronger, healthier and a more secure future and defeat Donald Trump.”

John Delaney: “Donald Trump is the symptom of a disease, and the disease is divisiveness, and I’m the only one of the stage talking about curing that disease.”

Steve Bullock: “I’m running for president to beat Donald Trump, to win back the places we lost, and make sure that Americans know, where Washington has left them behind….I’ll be there.”

– Maureen Groppe, Sarah Elbeshbishi, Camille Caldera, Jason Lalljee and Ledyard King

10:41 p.m.

Whither Biden?

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading in the polls for the Democratic nomination. But you wouldn’t know it listening to the first night of the debates Tuesday.

Biden’s name didn't come up.

Biden also barely arose during the first night of debates in June. Traditionally, lesser-known candidates seek to attack the leader in polling. The absence of any discussion of Biden is likely a symptom of the debate format. It’s better to go after another candidate when they’re on stage. Just ask Kamala Harris, who had a “moment” with Biden in June by criticizing his past opposition to federally mandated busing.

Because of the size of the Democratic field, the debates are split over two nights. Biden won’t take the debate stage until Wednesday.

Biden has maintained his lead in polling, with about one-third of Democrats picking him as their favorite in three national surveys Tuesday.

– John Fritze

10:28 p.m.

Does age matter?

Pete Buttigieg is 37, just two years older than the age qualification included in the Constitution to be president. Bernie Sanders is 77.

Both candidates went on defense in a question on whether age should even matter for voters.

“I don’t care how old you are,” Buttigieg said. “I care about your vision.”

Buttigieg went on to say there is a new generation of Democrats.

Sanders agreed it is a “question of vision, whether you’re young, whether you’re old or whether you’re in between.”

“My vision, among other things, says that if we’re going to fight for health care we don’t take money from the drug companies or the insurance companies,” he said.

– John Fritze

10:22 p.m.

Sanders: ‘Trump is a pathological liar’

The candidates mainly stuck to domestic policy during the debate. But more than two hours in the moderators turned to foreign policy.

Asked why voters should believe him when both he and President Donald Trump have promised the U.S. should not be a police force for the world, Sanders blasted the administration’s foreign policy.

“Trump is a pathological liar,” Sanders said. “I tell the truth.”

The candidates all criticized Trump’s foreign policy but offered few distinctions among each other.

Pete Buttigieg promised that, as president, he would withdraw all troops from Afghanistan during his first year. Trump, too, has talked about drawing down troops, but the timeline for that move is uncertain.

“We will withdraw. We have to,” Buttigieg said. “I thought I was one of the last troops leaving Afghanistan…years ago.”

Beto O’Rourke would not agree to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan in his first year, but said he would do so in his first term.

John Hickenlooper said he looked at the U.S. mission in Afghanistan as a “humanitarian” issue and said he would not entirely withdraw troops from that country.

“We’re going to have to be in Afghanistan,” Hickenlooper said.

– John Fritze and Michael Collins

10:20 p.m.

Should college be free?

Democrats split over whether to forgive student loans or make college free.

“That would be great for us,” Pete Buttigieg said about the college debt that he and his husband have. But the day after all student debt is forgiven, the next students would wonder why they weren’t so lucky, he said.

Instead, Buttigieg said, the nation can expand Pell grants, make states pick up more of the cost of public universities and expand loan forgiveness programs in exchange for public service.

Marianne Williamson said she agreed with Bernie Sanders on eliminating student debt, calling it the best thing the country can do to stimulate the economy.

“I almost wonder why you’re Democrats. You seem to think there’s something wrong about using the instruments of government to help people,” Williamson said about some of her opponents, drawing applause. “That is what government should do.”

Beto O’Rourke reiterated his call for free two-year college, and tried to draw a distinction with the other candidates, saying his plan would also include room, board and textbooks.

– Maureen Groppe and Ledyard King

10:10 p.m.

Buttigieg quotes scripture

Pete Buttigieg, one of the Democratic candidates who has freely spoken about his faith on the campaign trail, called out “so-called conservative Christian senators” who are blocking a bill to increase the minimum wage

“When scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker,” Buttigieg added.

– Maureen Groppe

10:07 p.m.

Cashing in on 'damn bill' moment

Bernie Sanders may have had the line of the night – and he’s hoping to cash in on it.

Sanders’ campaign is peddling a sticker with a picture of the Vermont senator on a bullhorn with the phrase “I wrote the damn bill” underneath.

The sticker harks back to a moment earlier in the debate when Tim Ryan challenged Sanders’ assertion that "Medicare for All" would be better deal for union workers because it would include coverage for dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses.

Tim Ryan shook his head: “You don’t know that Bernie.”

“I do know,” Sanders shot back. “I wrote the damn bill.”

The audience erupted in applause.

That led to a tweet from the Sanders campaign celebrating the moment.

“Don’t Tell me what’s in Medicare for All. I wrote the damn bill! #DemDebate. Make a contribution and get our sticker now,” the tweet reads.

The tweet goes on to say that people can “donate any amount to get this sticker”

– Ledyard King

10:03 p.m.

Sparring over the Green New Deal

The candidates split on the Green New deal, the ambitious climate change proposal that’s been assailed by Republicans and moderates as a fantasy that would hurtle the country closer to socialism.

John Delaney dismissed the Green New Deal as “unrealistic” as he explained his own plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 that includes carbon pricing.

Warren, a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, called the climate crisis an “existential threat” that demands dramatic action.

But John Hickenlooper slammed the plan.

“The guarantee of a public job for everyone who wants one is a classic part of the problem. It’s a distraction,” he said. Deal with climate change, he said, “in a realistic way.”

The former Colorado governor was referencing an early draft of the Green New deal that included a guarantee of jobs for Americans – a plank that was never included in the final bill that was introduced earlier this year.

“I put a real policy on the table to put 1.2 million jobs in green manufacturing ... and no one wants to talk abut it,” Warren responded, looking at Hickenlooper. “What you want to do instead is find the Republican talking point of a made-up piece of some other part and say ‘Oh, we don’t have to really do anything.'”

“That’s the problem we’ve got in Washington right now,” Warren continued. “It continues to [be] a Washington that works great for oil companies, just not for people worried about climate change.”

– Ledyard King

9:55 p.m.

Top trending candidate: Marianne Williamson

Author Marianne Williamson was the top trending candidate on Twitter during the debate, despite having little speaking time.

An hour and a half into the debate, Williamson had spoken fewer words than any of the other candidates onstage, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Williamson was the third top trending topic in the last hour in the United States, netting about 28,000 tweets. John Delaney, Steve Bullock, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg (as “Mayor Pete”) were the only other candidates to trend in the top ten.

"Flint is just the tip of the iceberg," she said during the last twenty minutes of the debate in reference to the drinking water crisis in that Michigan city.

"If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I'm afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days," she said about broad structural racism in America.

"If the Democrats don't start saying it, why would those people vote for us?" she said about African-American voters.

One Twitter user who had positive things to say about Williamson was Donald Trump Jr., who wrote that he thought she was "winning this thing."

– Jason Lalljee

9:47 p.m.

Democrats blast Trump on race

Race, which President Donald Trump has been thrust into the presidential election, came up about 90 minutes into the debate.

Most of the candidates blasted the president’s recent tweets aimed at four progressive congresswomen of color as well as Rep. Elijah Cummings and his hometown, Baltimore.

But there were few distinctions between the candidates on the issue.

“We need to call out white supremacy for what it is, domestic terrorism,” Elizabeth Warren said in one of the main applause lines from the exchange.

Amy Klobuchar lamented that “little kids” woke up in Baltimore to hear news of the president calling their city “nothing more than a home for rats.”

Buttigieg, who is facing criticism among some black voters for his handling of a police shooting in his city, South Bend, Ind., said his “community is moving from hurting to healing.”

Beto O’Rourke, who said he would sign legislation to study to reparations for slavery, said the legacy of slavery and segregation is “alive and well” in the USA.

– John Fritze

9:41 p.m.

Only veteran on stage goes after Trump

Pete Buttigieg grabbed an opening to pivot to one of the ways he stands out in the field, as a veteran who served in Afghanistan.

Injecting himself into a discussion of climate change, Buttigieg said that his competitors all have similar visions on climate change. But the debate is theoretical, he said, unless Democrats defeat Trump.

“Nominate me and get to see the president of the United States next to me, an American war veteran, and explain why he chose to pretend to be disabled when it was his chance to serve,” Buttigieg said.

– Maureen Groppe

9:23 p.m.

Delaney, Warren battle for soul of party

An ongoing debate between John Delaney and Elizabeth Warren underscored a major debate theme: Whether the party should pursue big ideas that appeal to progressives, or more incremental changes to attract moderates.

During one exchange, Delaney blasted progressives for proposing ideas that are “dead on arrival” or that “will never happen.”

Warren fired back.

“I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” she said to applause. “I don't get it.”

– John Fritze and Sarah Elbeshbishi

9:19 p.m.

Who can best beat Trump?

Bernie Sanders was asked about John Hickenlooper’s claim that he’s too extreme.

“Every credible poll that I have seen has me beating Donald Trump,” Sanders said.

Mimicking Sanders' expressive arms, Hickenlooper said to Sanders “you can throw your hands up” but “we have to pick up the pieces” when promises are made.

“You can’t just spring a plan on the world and expect it to succeed,” Hickenlooper said

Tim Ryan jumped in on Hickenlooper’s side, complaining that some of his colleagues have been talking about taking private health insurance away from workers through "Medicare for All."

“We have to talk about the working class issues,” he said.

Sanders later responded: “We need to have a campaign on energy and excitement and vision.”

– Maureen Groppe

9:05 p.m.

Getting personal on gun control

Pete Buttigieg, the youngest candidate on the stage, used his age to make a personal point about gun control.

Buttigieg, 37, said his is the first generation to see mass shootings in schools.

“High school is hard enough without worrying whether you’re going to get shot,” he said, adding that the country is now seeing a second generation to witness school shootings.

“We know what to do, and it has not happened,” Buttigieg said, citing universal background checks as an example of the kind of gun-control measures that are needed.

Moderator Don Lemon asked Bernie Sanders if he still agreed with a statement he made a few months after the Sandy Hook massacre, in which he said that passing the strongest gun legislation wouldn’t “have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.”

“Nobody up here is going to tell you that we have a magical solution to the crisis,” Sanders said in response. “I have a D- voting from the NRA. As president, I suspect I will have an F record.”

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who did not call for a ban on assault weapons until last summer, mentioned that he’s a gun owner. “I hunt,” he said.

– Michael Collins, Camille Caldera and Jason Lalljee

8:58 p.m.

Contrarian Democrat on immigration

Republicans were gleeful when most of the candidates in the first debate said they would decriminalize border crossings and offer health care to undocumented immigrants.

Steve Bullock, who was making his first appearance on the debate stage, was asked why he disagreed. That approach that many of his fellow Democrats are championing, he said, shows “how often these debates are detached from peoples lives.

The hundreds of thousands of people showing up on the border will turn into “multiples of that” if the policies change, he said. “Don’t take my word,” Bullock said. “That was President Obama’s homeland security that said that.”

Elizabeth Warren defended decriminalizing border crossings, saying “the criminalization statute is what gives Donald Trump the ability to take children away from their parents.”

“What Trump is doing through his racism and xenophobia is demonizing a group of people,” Bernie Sanders said, the only candidate to invoke the word “racism” in connection to the border crisis.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the Democrats' immigration debate is turning into an open invitation for any person who can make their way to America to come here.

“Plus, they will be rewarded with free health care!,” Graham tweeted.

– Maureen Groppe and Jason Lalljee

8:50 p.m.

'I wrote the damn bill'

As Bernie Sanders was touting his "Medicare for All" plan, he said union members would reap benefits beyond the health care plans their leaders have negotiated because it would include coverage for dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses.

Tim Ryan shook his head: “You don’t know that Bernie.”

“I do know,” Sanders shot back. “I wrote that damn bill.”

The audience erupted in applause.

Ryan, whose Ohio district includes a large union population, tried to regain his footing by saying that Sanders “does not know all of the union contracts in the United States.”

– Ledyard King

8:46 p.m.

‘Bunch of crazy socialists’

The Democratic candidates are collectively wrestling with whether to run to the left, to court the party’s progressive wing, or to run to the center to appeal to blue-collar voters who backed Donald Trump in 2016.

Trump has repeatedly sought to characterize all Democrats as “socialists.”

Pete Buttigieg suggested Democrats should stop worrying about criticism from Trump on whatever policy path the ultimate nominee chooses.

“It’s time to stop worrying what the Republicans will say,” Buttigieg argued. "They’re going to call us a bunch of crazy socialists."

If they adopt a progressive agenda, Buttigieg said, Republican will label the party “crazy socialists.” If they move to the center, he said, the GOP will still call them “crazy socialists.”

“Let’s just stand up for the right policy,” he argued.

– John Fritze

8:39 p.m.

Putting moderates on the spot

Moderator Jake Tapper turned the table on the more moderate members, asking Amy Klobuchar if Elizabeth Warren was correct when she said in the June debates that those who don’t support "Medicare for All" lack the will to fight for it.

“That is not correct. I just have a better way to do this,” Klobuchar said.

The Minnesota senator said adding a public option is the easiest way to move forward quickly.

– Maureen Groppe

8:32 p.m.

Is 'Medicare for All' political suicide?

In the first question, moderator Jake Tapper tried to get a debate going between the most progressive and more moderate members about a top Democratic priority – health care.

Tapper asked Sanders how he would respond to Delaney’s claim that promising Medicare for All is political suicide and will re-elect Trump.

“You’re wrong,” Sanders said in his distinctive Brooklyn accent.

Sanders said health care is a human right, not a privilege, and he will fight for it.

Delaney shot back that Democrats don’t have to “take something away” from people by getting rid of private insurance.

“You’re running on telling half the country that your health care is illegal,” Delaney said.

Warren got applause by interjecting that "we're not trying to take health care away from anyone."

“That’s what Republicans are trying to do,” she said. “We should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to provide health care.”

– Maureen Groppe

8:30 p.m.

Candidates slam Trump on race

About 10 minutes into the debate, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the first candidate to raise the topic of racially charged attacks by President Trump over the past two weeks.

“… We come from a country of shared dreams. And I’ve had it with the racist attacks,” she said during her opening statement.

Trump has drawn broad condemnation for tweets assailing four Democratic congresswomen of color and, more recently, for describing a Baltimore congressional district that is majority black in Baltimore as “infested” with rats.

Other candidates, including Bernie Sanders followed suit.

– Ledyard King

8:18 p.m.

Buttigieg watch party

They broke out the bingo cards at a Pete Buttigieg campaign watch party at Mike’s Bar down the street from the debate where the candidate himself was on stage.

Supporters fill in a box for key – or not so key – moments such as every time someone says “working class voters,” if a candidate has a coughing fit or if a moderator hushes the crowd.

In addition, the watch party features Buttigieg-themed drinks.

Supporters could suck down The Blue Tie (Blue Curacao, Ketel One Vodka, and Sprite) or Pete’s Old Fashioned (Bulleit Rye whiskey and bitters garnished with an orange and a cherry) among other cocktails.

8:10 p.m.

'Emphasis on progress'

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, the only candidate who did not appear in the last debate, got the first words in this one. In his opening statement, Bullock pointed out that he won not one – but three – elections in a red state. “Not by compromising our values but by getting stuff done,” he said. “I’m a progressive, emphasis on progress.”

– Maureen Groppe

8:10 p.m.

No hand over heart

During the singing of the national anthem, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan was the only one of the 10 candidates who didn’t place his hand over his heart.

Ryan and the anthem got immediate attention on Twitter.

– Michael Collins

8:08 p.m.

Andrew Yang throws shade at stage

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang threw some shade as his competition took the stage on Tuesday.

'Most boring football game in history':Democratic candidates not on stage poke fun as tonight's debate begin

“I’m sitting in a hotel room with my team,” Yang posted on Twitter. “It feels like we are about to watch the most boring football game in history.”

Yang will be on stage Wednesday.

– John Fritze

8:03 p.m.

And….here we go!

The Democratic hopefuls are about to give opening statements.

In the center of the stage are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the field’s progressive titans. They’re friends, but will they go after each other in a bid for the most liberal voters in the Democratic base?

They’re flanked by Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke, two of the youngest candidates, who have been in competition with each other for a similar pool of voters.

Most other candidates on the outer edges of the stage have struggled to make much of a dent in the polls. They could look for opportunities to go after the higher-polling Sanders and Warren by arguing that Democrats need a more centrist approach to win the White House.

Why debate in Detroit?:Because Michigan matters greatly in the 2020 presidential race

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, for example, who did not appear in the first round of debates, is likely to point out that he’s the only candidate on stage who has carried a red state.

- Maureen Groppe

Who’s on stage?

From left to right, the candidates are: activist Marianne Williamson; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; former Maryland Rep. John Delaney; former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

An interactive guide:Who is running for president in 2020? An interactive guide

Debate rules

The debates, which will begin at 8 p.m. EDT, will air on CNN as well as online at CNN.com.

The moderators are Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper.

Quizzing the candidates:Who is moderating the second Democratic presidential debate?

Bachelorette finale or Dem debate?:Viewers must decide

Unlike the first round of debates in July, candidates will give opening statements in addition to their closing remarks. And they will not be asked to raise their hand or give a one-word answer to any question.

They will have 60 seconds to respond to a question from a moderator and 30 seconds for rebuttals if attacked by another candidate.

Anyone who constantly interrupts will be docked time.

The location:Macomb County is Michigan's political promised land in 2020 presidential race

Democrats back constitutional amendment on donors

Their focus is on the debate, but nearly a dozen Democratic candidates took time Tuesday to weigh in on another issue that will be critical for their campaigns: Donors.

Eleven Democratic candidates have endorsed a proposed 28th amendment to the Constitution designed to override a Supreme Court decision that equates campaign donations with free speech. The idea is being pushed by an advocacy group called American Promise, which hopes to get all of the candidates to sign on.

The proposed amendment "is necessary to put power back into the hands of the American people," said Jeff Clements, president of American Promise.

The supporters so far: Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, Steve Bullock, John Delaney, and Tim Ryan.

The entire Senate Democratic caucus also proposed a 28th amendment on Tuesday, a long-shot proposal designed to reverse a Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court struck down laws that had prevented corporations and labor unions from using funds for political advertising, saying the bans violated free speech rights.

Trump will watch the debates

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will take a break from his rhetorical boycott of CNN to tune in for the Democratic debate.

“I’ll be watching the debates tonight,” Trump told C-SPAN in an interview, excerpts of which were released before the debate. “If I didn’t – you’d say ‘I can’t imagine.’ I would like to know who I’ll be running against.”

Of course, the president didn’t entirely miss the opportunity to knock the network he loves to hate. CNN is hosting the second round of debates in Detroit.

“It’s such incorrect reporting,” Trump said. “That’s why their rating went down so low.”

The entire C-SPAN interview will air after the debate.

"They are all the same"

Trump's campaign took out full-page ads in the Detroit newspapers Tuesday attacking Democrats on health care, immigration and taxes. The ad shows candidates from the last debate raising their hands when asked about some of those issues, including whether they support providing health care to undocumented immigrants. All said they do.

Television ads with the same message were expected to air during the debates.

That position, however, has also been criticized by some Democrats. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was Barack Obama's chief of staff, publicly advised candidates Monday not to "fall into the traps that had many of us shaking our heads" during the June debates.

"Before our party promises health care coverage to undocumented immigrants — a position not even Ted Kennedy took – let’s help the more than 30 million Americans who are a single illness away from financial ruin," Emanuel wrote.

For its part, the Democratic National Committee sent officials to a closing automobile plant in Michigan to "highlight Trump’s broken promises on the economy."

The issues:Health care, jobs, immigration and the Great Lakes top your 2020 election agenda

Maybe they're watching the Bachelorette?

Voters appear less excited about the second set of Democratic debates than the first rounds in June, according to an Emerson poll released Tuesday.

Less than six in ten of those surveyed planned on watching some of the debates, compared to the 72% who planned to watch the June debates.

Both tonight's debate and the Bachelorette finale are slated to run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST — and some viewers are torn over which high-stakes drama to watch.

What to watch for:The gloves will be off during this week's Democratic debates.

Who's ahead in the polls?

Joe Biden maintains his lead, with about one-third of Democrats picking Biden as their favorite in three national surveys out Tuesday.

But Biden has lost his lead in Iowa, according to a survey by Optimus for Firehouse Strategies. Elizabeth Warren has a slight edge over Biden in the first state where Democrats will vote next year. Biden continues to lead in the other early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina. But his support has softened since May, according to the survey.

Nationally, Biden does best with older voters and those who describe themselves as "moderate" or "conservative," according to the Emerson poll. Bernie Sanders is the favorite of those under 30 and "very liberal" voters.

Contributing: Noah Broder, special to the Detroit Free Press.

Analysis: Obama and Romney are back, and show how American ...

Obama made his first post-presidential trip to the White House Tuesday and showed he'd not lost a political step, telling demoralized Democrats -- worried about a possible midterm election shellacking -- to buck up and remember what political power is for.

Meanwhile, Romney -- now a Utah senator -- is suddenly turning into an old school Capitol Hill powerbroker. He plans to break with most of his GOP colleagues and vote for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson based on the throwback rationale that she's qualified. Romney is also in the thick of a bid to forge a compromise on Covid-19 funding, for which he's earned some rare praise from the White House.

"It feels like the good old days," beamed President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House, where cheers for Obama lifted the gloom of Democrats at an event promoting the current White House's expansion of the Affordable Care Act.

But as much as anyone might want to believe it, with Russia's atrocities in Ukraine and the Republican Party fully signed up to ex-President Donald Trump's democracy threatening authoritarianism, the good old days are far from back -- and they weren't that great anyway, as anyone who remembers the fierce feuds over passing Obamacare and government shutdowns of that era will remember.

Still, if things were bad back then, they are indisputably worse now.

Misinformation, conspiracy theories, lies, culture wars and barely concealed racism now dominate Washington -- and, judging by recent events, are seen by an increasing number of lawmakers as a ladder to power. Obama is set to speak about misinformation in a Chicago speech on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Trump acolyte Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida berated Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, warning that the chaos of the Afghan withdrawal and Russia's invasion of Ukraine happened because the US military studied "wokeism" instead of strategy.

Gaetz's histrionics were a classic example of a new breed of lawmaker who uses their platform to create viral media moments designed to animate the unhinged theories of conservative news, rather than to build a legislative career.

His outburst came in a week when Republican senators re-upped their slander of Jackson, painting her as an enabler of sex offenders, despite a sentencing record as a judge that is well within the mainstream. While she's almost certain to be confirmed, Jackson's treatment highlighted how the process of installing a new associate justice on the Supreme Court has become a vicious political play for base voters.

Proving that the bar can always be lowered in Washington, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton -- one of several senators who used the Jackson hearings to highlight his potential presidential ambitions -- suggested the first Black woman nominated to serve on the nation's top bench would have been lenient on Nazis. In a Senate speech, Cotton referenced former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson who was the top prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Adolf Hitler's subordinates after World War II.

"You know, the last Judge Jackson left the Supreme Court to go to Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis. This Judge Jackson might have gone there to defend them," Cotton said.

Washington is meanwhile still reverberating with a bizarre episode triggered by Republican North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn's claim he was invited to an orgy and saw leaders in the nation's anti-drug fight snorting cocaine. The House GOP declined to censure members for attending white supremacist rallies or for whitewashing Trump's coup attempt from history. But it did draw the line at Cawthorn. The congressman earned a rebuke because he embarrassed his colleagues in front of their constituents.

In another sign of its twisted sense of right and wrong, the House GOP is already threatening to use its possible new majority next year to kill the Select Committee probing a far greater transgression, Trump's incitement of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.

Obama was not the only White House powerbroker back on Washington's center stage on Tuesday. Ivanka Trump was testifying to the House committee, as members try to establish how much she knows about her father's thwarting of the US tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

That a former first daughter's appearance before such a body is now considered perfectly routine is a sign of how mind-bogglingly warped Washington has become.

Obama is back

It had been more than five years since he walked out the front door under the North Portico. There was never a chance that Trump would have had him back for the traditional unveiling of a former president's portrait. And given Trump's racist birtherism campaign against his predecessor, there's even less of a chance that Obama would have shown up to any such event.

Obama, instantly at ease back behind the presidential seal on Biden's podium, gently mocked his former vice president over his aviator sunglasses and love of ice cream. He began his speech by addressing his host as "Vice President Biden" before quickly correcting himself, saying, "That was a joke!" But two people close to Obama later told CNN's Jeff Zeleny it had been a slip of the tongue, and not how Obama had intended to begin his remarks touting the legacy of the Affordable Care Act.

Photos: Obama returns to the White House Photos: Obama returns to the White House Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, April 5 Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama delivers remarks from the East Room of the White House as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris look on. Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Biden fist-bumps Obama after Biden signed an executive order aimed at strengthening the Affordable Care Act. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House "It's an honor to welcome my friend President @BarackObama back to the White House," Biden said in an Instagram post that showed the two men in the Oval Office on Monday. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Harris reacts as Biden and Obama shake hands in the East Room. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Harris, Biden and Obama walk to the event in the East Room. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama hugs Harris at the event. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Biden and Obama listen to Harris speak Monday. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama talks with others at the White House. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama listens to Biden speak. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Biden and Harris stand behind Harris as she delivers remarks. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House "They are real friends, not just Washington friends," press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday of Obama and Biden. The two also had lunch together. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama hugs House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the end of the event Monday. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Obama returns to the White House Obama's return to the White House is the first sign of what many Democrats hope will be an increased involvement in the 2022 midterm elections. Hide Caption 14 of 14

He recalled the struggles the pair had fought together to finally pass the Affordable Care Act, which secured health insurance for millions of Americans for the first time after it was signed into law in 2010.

Obama used that experience as a parable to urge Democrats not to give up on reform -- even if it falls short of initial aspirations.

"I'm outside the arena, and I know how discouraged people can get with Washington -- Democrats, Republicans, independents," Obama said. "Progress feels way too slow sometimes. Victories are often incomplete. And in a country as big and as diverse as ours, consensus never comes easily."

The ex-President seemed to be talking directly to his party, which has been riven by divides among progressives and moderates that have stalled Biden's ambitious social spending and climate change plan. As was often the case while he was president, Obama's eloquence framed the choices for his party in simple but compelling language as he laid out a mission statement for the midterms.

"But what the Affordable Care Act shows is that if you are driven by the core idea that, together, we can improve the lives of this generation and the next," Obama said.

He added, "If you're persistent -- if you stay with it and are willing to work through the obstacles and the criticism and continually improve where you fall short, you can make America better. You can have an impact on millions of lives."

Obama's faith in the American system seemed a little archaic at a time when that democracy is under mortal threat from Trump's lies about election fraud -- and the ex-President's apparent new campaign for a second term that would surely be even more authoritarian and unhinged than his first.

Yet Obama also had the luxury Tuesday of walking out of the White House and taking off the tie he said he now rarely wears. The presidential burden of responding to Vladimir Putin's atrocities, the raging tempest of rising inflation and a likely midterm election hammering by Republicans, now rests with Biden.

Romney once led his party. Now he's an outlier.

When Romney was running to deprive Obama of a second White House term in 2012, Democrats lambasted the Republican nominee and former venture capitalist as a heartless corporate raider with no soul.

Now, he might just be their best Republican friend in Washington -- and the fact that in the space of 10 years he could go from leading his party to being a dissident from its Trump-era extremism shows just how much the GOP has changed.

In his own way, Romney is also standing up for a functional brand of politics.

His support for Jackson recalled a time -- not too long ago -- when presidents could expect broad support for their Supreme Court nominees.

But the process has become so politicized that's no longer the case. Democrats and Republicans argue about who put ideology at the center of the process. But it has now become the primary driver of confirmation hearings.

Romney -- whom no one would mistake for a liberal -- explained that after spending time with Jackson, he changed his mind about her ahead of her expected confirmation vote in the Senate this week.

"I became convinced that she's within the mainstream. She's also a highly qualified, intelligent, capable person," Romney told reporters. He said that while he doesn't expect to agree with Jackson on everything, he will join Republicans Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Liza Murkowski of Alaska in supporting her nomination.

Romney also delivered another gift to the White House this week. He is leading a compromise drive to secure $10 billion in funds for a new Covid-19 relief plan that the White House believes is needed to stave off any future wave of the virus. The plan strips funding for global vaccination drives that could snuff out future variants. But Romney is the administration's best hope for getting the Republican support that would be needed to force any eventual deal through the Senate.

Like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, the former GOP nominee is also one of the few in his party to call out Trump's extremism, in the knowledge that he is ostracizing himself from his own party.

Obama's swipe at his rival in a presidential debate that "the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back" dripped with sarcasm. But subsequent events, especially the invasion of Ukraine, showed that Moscow remains a top US adversary.

Romney's corporate conservatism and rich man's ethos were fair game for the Obama campaign in rough and tumble politics a decade ago.

But the moral courage that Romney is demonstrating late in his career is showing that the caricature Democrats created of a man without a soul was deeply unfair.

Iowans pepper John Kasich with immigration Qs

Chrissie Thompson

cthompson@enquirer.com

UPDATE: 5:24 p.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Questions about immigration dominated Gov. John Kasich's visit here Wednesday, from an Ohio family who flew out to discuss their immigration case to the first shouted question at a 200-person business forum: "Immigration!"

Latinos are the fastest-growing ethnicity in Iowa. Families have moved here to work in the meatpacking industry, and Latino farm workers first moved here decades ago.

"If they're law-abiding and they register, I think they ought to be able to stay," Kasich said about people who are living in the U.S. illegally. "They may have to pay a penalty. … You don't ditch the line … and if you do, you don't get rewarded for it."

Kasich said he'd prefer not to offer such immigrants a path to citizenship but says he believes it needs to be an option on the table so that immigration activists are willing to open negotiations.

"Just this morning, I see this mom and her son, and I'm looking at them. … They're made in the image of the Lord," Kasich said to reporters before his speech at the business group's forum.

The Ohio woman, a Peruvian immigrant named Maria, said she'd tried to meet with the governor back home about her immigration case, but her request was denied. So she and her 11-year-old son, Andrew, flew to Iowa to try to talk with him.

Kasich instructed an adviser to set up a time to bring Maria and Andrew into the office to share their story.

But Kasich's spokesman reacted differently, calling an Enquirer reporter with the administration's side of the story.

Three groups of immigration activists came to Kasich's Columbus office on May 19, spokesman Rob Nichols said, dropping off petitions asking for the governor to withdraw Ohio from the federal suit seeking to stop Obama's executive action on immigration.

"They didn't schedule an appointment. They didn't ask to meet with the governor," Nichols said, disputing Maria's story.

(Update: Late Wednesday night, an Ohio's Voice leader forwarded to The Enquirer a May 12 email from the governor's office. In it, a staffer acknowledges a request to meet with Kasich, but says: "The Governor will be unable to meet with you.")

In any case, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine – not Kasich – decided to join the suit, Nichols said.

"The attorney general doesn't need our blessing to sue," Nichols said. "What they asked to do cannot be done constitutionally, but we took the time to have our attorney go out and meet several times with them."

The immigration activists posted a video on YouTube after their visit. In the video, Ohio's Voices leader Lynn Tramonte says: "The governor was just on the other side of the door, most likely."

Not true, Nichols said. Kasich was in New York taping for "The Kelly File," with Megyn Kelly.

UPDATE 11:35 a.m.:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Maria A. and her 11-year-old son, Andrew, flew all the way from Ohio to see Gov. John Kasich in Iowa, hoping he would help with Maria's immigration case.

Maria, a citizen of Peru, entered the U.S. on a tourism visa 13 years ago, but stayed. Her son was born in the U.S.

"We came here trying to fix our status, but it was not possible," said Maria, who declined to give her last name because she lives in the U.S. illegally.

Then, President Barack Obama's executive action deferred the deportation of millions living in the U.S. illegally, giving Maria and Andrew hope of staying together. But a federal judge halted that action in February. Appeals are ongoing, and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has signed on to the lawsuit to block the action.

Maria, with the help of a group called Ohio's Voice, said she tried to meet with Kasich in Ohio, but staffers declined the request.

"Kasich's office said it wasn't their decision" to join the federal suit, said Lynn Tramonte of Ohio's Voice. "We feel like as governor he has a role."

Kasich told Maria and Andrew, who were both decked out in Ohio State University gear, that he wanted to bring them in to hear what they had to say. An adviser gave Maria his contact information.

"She is such a nice lady. We don't want you to leave," Kasich told Maria.

Kasich has said he opposes deporting all people living in the U.S. without legal permission, but most recently said he didn't personally like the idea of offering them a path to citizenship.

"We've got millions of people who have come over here illegally, and it's impractical to think, in my opinion, that we can stick them on a school bus and drive them to the border, open the doors and say, 'Get out.' Of course, you have to secure the border," he said in February.

"I don't want them to have to leave," he told reporters afterward. "As to whether you take the final step to citizenship, that's a whole other question. But what I said (in December) is, 'I'm not closed to anything.' "

UPDATE10:55 a.m.:

UPDATE 9:40 a.m.:

Here is The Des Moines Register preview of John Kasich's Iowa visit.

A recent Iowa Poll shows a majority of likely GOP caucusgoers — 59 percent — don't know enough about Kasich to form an opinion of him.

He acknowledged Tuesday that some Iowans probably don't even know how to say his last name. "My name is pronounced KAY-sick — it rhymes with basic," he said.

UPDATE 9:32 a.m.:

Here is Gov. John Kasich's Iowa schedule today. Our Chrissie Thompson will be with him. Follow live coverage on Twitter.

Des Moines

10:15 a.m. Eastern Time - Kasich will attend National Junior High Finals Rodeo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds

12:15 p.m. - Kasich will speak with reporters, then address the Greater Des Moines Partnership, an economic development group. Watch live video here.

2 p.m. - Kasich will address the Bull Moose Club of Des Moines

Council Bluffs

5:30 p.m. - Kasich will speak with reporters, then tour the Iowa Western Community College

---

Original story

John Kasich's 2016 effort is ramping up Wednesday with his first trip to Iowa, and The Enquirer will be there to cover it all.

The Hawkeye State's Republican caucus voters will vote Feb. 1 to kick off the battle for the party's 2016 nomination for president.

Kasich so far has ignored Iowa, instead saying his likely White House bid will hinge on whether he can secure a victory in New Hampshire, whose first-in-the-nation primary will follow the Iowa caucuses.

That will change Wednesday, as Kasich visits a rodeo at the famed Iowa State Fairgrounds, then speaks to business leaders and a fraternal group in Des Moines. On Wednesday evening, Kasich will tour a community college in western Iowa, whose suburbs are part of metropolitan area of nearby Omaha, Nebraska.

Kasich's visit to Iowa comes months, or even years, after most GOP candidates started campaigning there. He appears unlikely to launch a full-blown effort to win the caucuses, such as by visiting all 99 counties. In any case, Kasich's moderate stances on Medicaid expansion and Common Core aren't likely to appeal to Iowa's conservative Republicans.

Still, Iowa's Republican governor, Terry Branstad, this week touted Kasich's credentials as a serious GOP candidate. Kasich should return often to the state to contend in the caucus, Branstad said.

"Obviously it is a crowded field, but he is the governor of an important state," Branstad told reporters Monday. "He just won a strong re-election as governor of Ohio, and you know they say, as Ohio goes, so goes the nation in presidential elections."

Branstad declined to express an opinion on Kasich's support for expanding Medicaid in Ohio under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. He said each governor has had to determine what makes the most sense for their state, noting that Iowa expanded its health care program for low-income people under a waiver from the federal government.

Kasich's leadership ability will matter in Iowa more than his positions, said U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican.

"We have a lot of different voters," she told The Enquirer this weekend, ahead of a speech at the Ohio Republican Party state dinner. "If he can demonstrate leadership, that's what we're hungry for. I think all of the other issues will sort themselves out. He's got to have conviction."

Nevertheless, New Hampshire voters seem a better fit for the governor's likely campaign.

Voters in the "Live Free or Die" state have said they're more concerned about fiscal issues and seem more open to the governor's stances on Common Core or Medicaid expansion. The smaller state would better suit Kasich's White House bid, which is likely to have far less money than the likes of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. And Kasich has the backing of former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, the crown prince of a New Hampshire GOP dynasty.

Des Moines Register reporter William Petroski contributed to this report.

Stay with The Enquirer's Chrissie Thompson as she travels Iowa with Gov. Ohio John Kasich. Come to Cincinnati.com and follow @CThompsonEnq.

Lion Man, Garden State bud: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

CORRECTION: This article originally misstated details about a museum in the works in Atchison, Kansas, the birthplace of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. The centerpiece of the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is Muriel – the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E. Named after Earhart's younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Muriel is identical to the plane Earhart flew on her final flight around the world.

Alabama

Florence: An organization that has staged dozens of protests against a Confederate monument in north Alabama filed suit contending the city is trying to limit the demonstrations in violation of free-speech guarantees. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Project Say Something and its founder, Camille Bennett, claims the city and Police Chief Ron Tyler are trying to clamp down on the protests by telling the group when, where and how it can demonstrate against the monument, located at the Lauderdale County Courthouse. Bennett said the organization, a nonprofit she founded about eight years ago, has tried to work with the city, the TimesDaily reports. “Alabama has a long history of confronting racial injustice through peaceful demonstration, and it is imperative that we not lose that ability to speak truth to power when the situation demands it,” Bennett said in a statement. The city has not responded to the federal lawsuit in court, and city officials declined comment. Project Say Something held as many as 175 demonstrations at the monument in 2020 but cut back the following year because the city used its noise and parade permit ordinances to discourage them, the lawsuit said. The chief relocated the demonstrations to a “protest zone” away from the courthouse to shrink the potential audience, it claimed, and he threatened to issue citations.

Alaska

Juneau: U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is in the midst of her first visit to the state in the role, including a visit to a community at the center of a long-running dispute over a proposed land exchange aimed at building a road through a national wildlife refuge. Residents of King Cove have seen a road as a life and safety issue. Haaland was in King Cove on Wednesday with Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Dunleavy’s office said. King Cove residents have long sought a land connection through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay, which is about 18 miles away and has an all-weather airport. The refuge is near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula and contains internationally recognized habitat for migrating waterfowl. “The federal government needs to consider human safety and quality of life factors for residents in King Cove. The locals deserve to be heard by the federal government,” Dunleavy said in a statement. A U.S. Justice Department attorney last summer said Haaland had not decided what position she would take on a proposed land exchange, saying Haaland planned to review the record and visit King Cove before making a decision. A planned trip to Alaska last year didn’t materialize.

Arizona

Phoenix: The state’s Republican House speaker on Thursday was named one of five recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award for his refusal to consider overturning the 2020 election results despite massive pressure from ex-President Donald Trump and his supporters. Speaker Rusty Bowers rebuffed repeated direct efforts by Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and others to overturn results that saw President Joe Biden narrowly defeat Trump in Arizona. Trump and Giuliani urged Bowers in a phone call to retroactively change Arizona law to allow the Legislature to chose a different slate of presidential electors than those picked by the voters. “I am very grateful for this honor yet cannot help but feel undeserving of it,” Bowers said in a statement. “Honoring my oath and the people’s choices at the ballot box are not heroic acts – they are the least that Arizonans should expect from the people elected to serve them.” The award created by Kennedy’s family in 1989 is designed “to recognize and celebrate the quality of political courage that he admired most” and is given each year to one or more political figures. This year’s award honors those who showed “courage to protect and defend democracy in the United States and abroad.” The awards will be presented at a May 22 ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Arkansas

Fort Smith: A local agency says it’s seeing an uptick in calls for help after the end of a statewide rent relief program. The Arkansas Department of Human Services closed its program April 1, leaving many renters struggling to find additional avenues to keep their families housed. The Arkansas Rent Relief Program provided up to 15 months of relief for unpaid rent and utilities due on or after April 1, 2020. As of the beginning of this month, about 30,000 applications had been paid at the close of the program, totaling $92.5 million in funding distributed. Some households are still waiting for assistance as their applications are being processed. As of April 7, about 3,700 applications were still being processed across the state. In the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey taken from Jan. 26 to Feb. 7, 41.4% of Arkansas households surveyed said they were not current on rent or mortgage, making eviction or foreclosure either very likely or somewhat likely in the next two months. Dana Crawford, family services manager at the Crawford-Sebastian Community Development Council, said she has seen an uptick in calls looking for help following the closure of the state’s rental assistance program. “We did have the Arkansas Fresh Start, but we have since depleted those funds,” Crawford said.

California

Sacramento: Parents of middle and high school students in the state would be warned about the dangers of firearms every year under a measure that advanced Wednesday. But they would no longer be required to tell school officials if they keep guns in the house, under the revised legislation. The state Senate Education Committee three weeks ago rejected the firearms reporting requirement as an invasion of privacy. So Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino reworked his bill, eliminating the parental reporting. The narrower version cleared the same committee Wednesday on a 5-1 vote. His revised bill requires schools to include information on the safe storage of firearms in the annual notifications they send home to parents of students in middle and high schools, starting in the 2023-24 school year. Legislation with a similar requirement has already passed the California Assembly. More than two-thirds of school shootings involve weapons taken from the students’ home, friends or relatives, Portantino said. “This is an attempt to try to empower school districts to do everything they can to make the school environment safe,” he said. “This errs on the side of caution.” If there are threats or perceived threats of school shootings, the proposal requires investigators to check the state’s firearm database to see if the suspect’s family has registered firearms.

Colorado

Aurora: The police chief who led the force in the Denver suburb when a gunman killed 12 people in a movie theater a decade ago is returning to temporarily lead the embattled department following the firing of its last chief. Daniel J. Oates, who served as police chief in Aurora from 2005 to 2014 before retiring as police chief in Miami Beach, Florida, will serve as interim chief and help in the selection of the next police chief, the city announced Wednesday. City manager Jim Twombly said he hired Oates “because he has established trust within our community and many of our officers.” Earlier this month Twombly fired Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, who was hired in 2020 as the city faced scrutiny over the death of Elijah McClain – a case that received widespread attention in the wake of protests of racial injustice and police brutality. McClain died after being stopped by police, put in a chokehold and injected with the powerful sedative ketamine in 2019. Three police officers and two paramedics were indicted in McClain’s death last year. Wilson acted quickly to fire officers for misconduct, including officers who took and shared photos appearing to mock McClain’s death. Twombly praised Wilson’s community outreach but said he fired her because of concerns about her leadership and management of the department, without getting into specifics. Wilson disputed Twombly’s assessment and alleged she was forced out for political reasons.

Connecticut

Westport: Emergency responders rescued 50 dogs and cats from a fire at a pet boarding facility after three people had escaped the flames by jumping from a second-floor window, authorities said Thursday. The fire was reported shortly before midnight Wednesday in a two-story building on Post Road East, Assistant Chief Jeff Gootman of the Westport Fire Department said in a news release. Firefighters responded and found heavy fire on the second floor of the building, which housed a pet boarding facility on the first floor and basement and an apartment on the second floor, Gootman said. After firefighters extinguished the flames, they searched the building and determined that the three people on the second floor had jumped to safety from a window, Gootman said. None required hospitalization. Westport firefighters and police officers removed approximately 50 dogs and cats from the boarding facility, Gootman said. The cause of the fire was under investigation Thursday.

Delaware

Wilmington: After decades of criticism over use of force and a strained relationship with the community, the Wilmington Police Department’s policies and procedures are coming under legal scrutiny. A federal lawsuit filed against Wilmington officers involved in the 2020 shooting of a man found sleeping in an SUV lists years of departmental procedures claiming city police are unable to handle many situations, including making contact with unarmed individuals. The civil lawsuit touches on documented accounts of how Wilmington officers have not been taught to give proper verbal warning prior to using deadly force or to take cover when officers believe someone is armed. The lawsuit also claims department supervisors, among others, fail to check that officers use their standard-issue equipment and fail to prohibit officers from making false statements. These failures create unwritten policies, allowing Wilmington officers to engage in acts of excessive force without accountability, which in turn result in injury to civilians, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Jabri K. Hunter, who was shot by a Wilmington officer April 12, 2020. “These inadequate training policies existed prior to the date of this incident and continue to this day,” said the lawsuit targeting the officers involved in the shooting, Chief Robert Tracy and the city.

District of Columbia

Washington: Mayor Muriel Bowser and other community leaders announced Thursday that the city’s annual census of individuals experiencing homelessness showed a decline for the sixth straight year, WUSA-TV reports. Over the past year, the overall number of people experiencing homelessness has dropped 13.7%. Since 2016, when the Bowser administration began its Homeward DC plan, homelessness has declined by 47% total, data show. For the 2016 Point in Time count, 8,350 people were experiencing homelessness. In 2022, that number was 4,410. That’s the lowest recorded number going back to at least 2005, the mayor’s office said. The 2022 results also show declines in family homelessness (down 14%), homelessness among single adults (down 12%), and chronic homelessness for families (down 26%) and single adults (down 22%). “These results are a culmination of years of working together – across government, with our community partners and providers, and with residents in all eight wards – to implement Homeward DC and build systems and resources that meet the needs of D.C. residents,” Bowser said in a statement. “While we are proud of these results, we know there’s more work to do.”

Florida

Tallahassee: Black lawmakers staged a sit-in on the Florida House floor Thursday to protest a congressional map pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that they say will diminish the state’s Black representation in the U.S. House. The DeSantis map would increase Florida’s GOP presence and dismantle two districts now represented by Black members of Congress. As debate on the maps was nearing an end, Reps. Angie Nixon and Tray McCurdy opened up their suit jackets to display “Stop the Black Attack” T-shirts and shouted the same phrase. They sat on the state seal in front of the House speaker’s rostrum and were soon joined by other other Black Democrats and other supporters. The Republican-led chamber called a recess, all GOP lawmakers left the floor, and the state Florida Channel stopped broadcasting the proceedings. “This is good trouble! Necessary trouble!” Nixon shouted, echoing a phrase used by the late civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. The group sang “We Shall Overcome” and prayed. Some members went on Facebook to stream live feeds of the protest. Nixon said in a text message to the Associated Press that the lawmakers would not leave the floor unless they were physically removed.

Georgia

Atlanta: Democrat Stacey Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign asked a federal judge Wednesday to shut down unlimited contributions to a committee controlled by Republican incumbent Brian Kemp. The filing is yet more litigation over the constitutionality of a 2021 Georgia law that allows certain top elected officials and party nominees to create “leadership committees” that can raise campaign funds without limits and coordinate spending with campaigns. The judge earlier denied a request by Abrams to start taking unlimited amounts before she clinches the Democratic nomination May 24. Kemp narrowly beat Abrams in the 2018 general election, and they would match up again if Kemp survives a Republican primary challenge from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue and others. The law allows the governor and lieutenant governor, opposing major party nominees, and both party caucuses in the state House and Senate to form leadership committees. Donors can give as much as they want, while they can’t directly give candidates for statewide office more than $7,600 for a primary or general election and $4,500 for a runoff election. Opponents say the law unconstitutionally favors incumbents over challengers because they can raise limitless sums for years ahead of an election.

Hawaii

Honolulu: Public school students must continue wearing masks in classrooms despite state officials lifting the same rules for airports and public transportation following Monday’s federal judge decision to remove mask requirements on U.S. flights. Masks are no longer required in Hawaii airports, on city buses or in handicapped vans, but all public students will be required to wear masks through the end of the school year, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. “I understand that there are different perspectives regarding the Hawaii State Department of Education’s indoor masking in schools,” interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a letter to parents. “We will continue to implement universal indoor masking in schools.” Federal transportation officials announced Monday that they would no longer enforce mask rules after a U.S. judge’s decision to strike down the mandate on domestic flights. The four largest U.S. airlines almost immediately dropped their mask requirements, and Hawaiian Airlines announced late Monday that it would follow suit. “We ask for our guests’ patience and understanding as we update all our communications and announcements,” the airline said. “We advise travelers to stay informed and follow mask requirements that may remain in effect at their origin or arrival airports.”

Idaho

Boise: Two men have been sentenced to jail time and banned from hunting for years after pleading guilty to poaching a grizzly bear near Yellowstone National Park. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game said in a press release that Rex Baum, 79, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in connection with the female grizzly’s death last year. He was ordered to serve 3 days in jail and was banned from hunting for a decade. Baum’s son, Jared Baum, of Ashton, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and banned from hunting for life after pleading guilty to a felony in connection with the incident. Fish and Game officers discovered the grizzly’s carcass April 9, 2021, after the bear’s radio tracking collar signaled it had died, the Idaho Statesman reports. X-rays of the bear showed she had been shot more than a dozen times. Conservation officers visited the bear’s den, discovering a dead male cub. The agency contacted the two men after sending a warrant to Google for records of electronic devices that had been in the area around the time of the grizzly’s death. Idaho grizzlies are federally protected. Last month, Gov. Brad Little joined Montana and Wyoming governors in petitioning for the bears to be removed from Endangered Species Act protections.

Illinois

Springfield: The city will have a starring role in the state’s latest marketing campaign, with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Cozy Dog Drive-In, and other sites featured in the new promotion. Gov. J.B. Pritzker officially announced the new campaign, “Middle of Everything,” at a ceremony Monday at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. While the Windy City is spotlighted heavily, Springfield gets plenty of love as well, with sites related to the 16th president, such as Lincoln’s Home and Lincoln’s Tomb, promoted in addition to the museum and a statue of Lincoln sitting on a park bench outside the museum. Pritzker said the $30 million campaign would help to recover tourism dollars lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and put the state in a position to grow in the years to come. A series of TV ads will run with the campaign, directed by Illinois native Jane Lynch, famous for roles such as in the TV series “Glee” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The Dolton-raised actor, a graduate of Illinois State University, narrates a quartet of 30-second ads that showcase a Lincoln impersonator at the Lincoln Home, a muscle car at the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices downtown, Lynch interviewing a family at the Cozy Dog and speaking with a ghost of Lincoln at “Ghosts of the Library” in the ALPLM, among others.

Indiana

Indianapolis: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Thomas McDermott Jr. released a new video ad Wednesday of him smoking marijuana in honor of 4/20, a cannabis-related celebration. McDermott, who will face Republican Sen. Todd Young on Nov. 8, has been vocal about his support for the legalization of marijuana, but the video of him lighting it up is a first. In the video the Hammond mayor posted on Twitter, McDermott lights a joint and smokes it in an Illinois backyard, where marijuana consumption has been legalized. He talks to an attorney, a physician, a criminal defense attorney, a professional distiller and another elected official about the benefits of legalizing weed. “Here’s the bottom line,” McDermott says in the video. “We need to legalize marijuana on the federal level. We need to also legalize cannabis in Indiana as well, so Hoosiers can get the health and economic benefits of cannabis.” The mayor admitted last year on his “Left of Center” podcast that he smoked marijuana at a recent Grateful Dead show at Wrigley Field. McDermott unveiled the ad the same day the Indiana Democratic Party launched a tour to push marijuana legalization. It started publicly advocating for the policy change in November, but with Republicans in control at the Statehouse, it went nowhere in the 2022 legislative session.

Iowa

Dyersville: This year’s Major League Baseball Field of Dreams game between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs will have an opening act. The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits will play a regular season minor league baseball game in the stadium located near the iconic diamond from the movie Aug. 9. That showdown is set to take place just two days before MLB’s second-straight visit to the famous farmland and in the same ballpark used last season by the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. The Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds will play on the same field Aug. 11. “I think it just adds to an entire week now up there,” said Kernels general manager Scott Wilson. “Instead of just one night even with the major league game, you’ve got Tuesday night with us. It gives the Field of Dreams some opportunity to do some things on Wednesday between us and have that game on Thursday.” It’s a marquee matchup of minor league teams have been rivals in the Midwest League for years. The River Bandits are the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Kernels are the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The two teams, who are are located in Eastern Iowa, will become the first two minor league teams to play on the field.

Kansas

Atchison: Aviator Amelia Earhart vanished as she tried to fly around the world in 1937, along with navigator Fred Noonan and their Lockheed Electra 10-E airplane. The centerpiece of the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is Muriel – the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E. Named after Earhart's younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Muriel is identical to the plane Earhart flew on her final flight around the world. That museum is in the works in Atchison, Earhart’s birthplace. Museum founder and president Karen Seaberg announced last week that supporters had already donated $10 million of the estimated $15 million needed to create the museum, including corporate powerhouses FedEx, Garmin and Lockheed Martin. The museum is expected to open next year, according to its website. Earhart, born in 1897 in Atchison, was a social worker in Boston in 1923 when she became the 16th woman in the U.S. to be issued a pilot’s license. She subsequently became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. She was also the first woman to fly nonstop across the U.S. She became a celebrity and drew attention by rejecting traditional women’s roles and speaking in support of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. Earhart also created her own line of women’s clothing, featuring comfortable outfits designed for “active living.”

Kentucky

Frankfort: Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that he will form an advisory team amid a broad review as he weighs whether to take executive action to legalize access to medical marijuana. Beshear said he instructed his legal team to analyze potential options for executive action to create a framework to make medical cannabis available for people suffering from specified ailments. The Democratic governor also made a direct appeal to Kentuckians to offer their views on the issue. “I want to be clear: I am for medical cannabis,” Beshear said at his weekly news conference. “I want it done in the right way. And we’re going to be looking at our legal options very closely. And at the same time, we want to hear from you.” The advisory team will travel the state to gather public input, and Kentuckians will be able to express their views directly to the governor’s office, he said. The expanded review reflects the governor’s growing frustration after the latest bill to legalize medical marijuana died in the state Senate during the legislative session that ended last week. Lawmakers failed to “get the job done,” with Kentucky falling behind the majority of states that make medical cannabis available as an alternative to opioid medications, the governor said.

Louisiana

New Orleans: A federal judge and court-appointed monitors hired to oversee reform of the New Orleans Police Department said Wednesday that the long-troubled agency could reach full compliance this year after a nearly decade-old court-backed overhaul of its policies and practices. “I’m proud of how far NOPD has come,” U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan, who approved the agreement in 2013 a highly critical 2011 investigation and report by the U.S. Justice Department. Morgan tempered her praise with acknowledgment of continuing problems, including the short-handed department’s slowdown in recruiting and allegations of wrongdoing by officers who work private duty details arranged through the department. But the department has shown transparency in dealing with such setbacks, Morgan said. The reform agreement, embodied in a court document called a consent decree, was welcomed by department critics when it was negotiated during former Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration. They said it was needed for a department that had been plagued by recurring scandals involving corruption or questionable use of force for decades. But the consent decree had its critics as well, including police officer representatives who said it hampered police work.

Maine

Augusta: Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed off on a $1.2 billion supplemental budget Wednesday that sends more than half the money to residents in the form of $850 relief checks. Backed by dozens of lawmakers and Cabinet members, the governor signed the bill into law in the State House Hall of Flags. “What this budget shows once again – through hard work and good faith negotiation – Democrats, Republicans and independents can come together to do what is right for Maine people. And that we can do so without rancor or bitter partisanship that has sometimes divided Augusta in the past,” she told the assembly. The swift action means the checks will be mailed to more than 850,000 Mainers as early as June. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the budget proposal in a show of bipartisanship. Mills proposed returning much of the money to Mainers, taking a suggestion from Republicans as a historic surplus ballooned thanks to federal spending and rosier-than-expected revenue forecasts. It was originally touted as pandemic relief but is now called inflationary relief. Mills’ opponent in the upcoming election, Republican former Gov. Paul LePage, derided the relief checks as a “gimmick.”

Maryland

Annapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan signed measures into law Thursday aimed at increasing public safety, jobs, environmental stewardship and mental health resources. The Republican governor, who prioritized initiatives to support the police and fight crime this legislative session, signed legislation to increase transparency in the criminal justice system and to create a state gun analytics center to coordinate resources to screen and vet gun cases to improve the prosecution of gun crimes. “Violent crime continues to be Marylanders’ top priority, and today we’re signing our Judicial Transparency Act so that the public knows more about the sentences that are being handed down for violent criminals,” Hogan said. “We’re further expanding our warrant apprehension efforts and strengthening prosecutions on gun crimes.” Hogan opened his remarks before signing 103 bills with House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Pro Tem Melony Griffith by noting it was the first time two Black women were the presiding officers representing the Maryland House and Senate together at a bill signing. The criminal justice measures marked a compromise between the Republican governor and the General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats.

Massachusetts

Martha’s Vineyard: A local family will go to court Friday over its continuing fight over a piece of land in Aquinnah that the Kennedy family donated to the Vineyard Conservation Society in 2013. Tanisha Gomes and her family say they are the rightful owners of that 5.7-acre property and are challenging the society’s motion for summary judgment, which asks a judge to throw out the case. In 2017, Gomes received a letter from Fidelity National Law Group, a firm that represents Vineyard Conservation Society Inc., to inform her and 19 members of her family about title problems with the land. The letter informed Gomes and her relatives that a lawsuit was filed with Dukes County Superior Court against the family, who are considered heirs of Louisa Pocknett. Pocknett, described in the complaint as the former owner of the property, died Aug. 29, 1874, and was a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. The family members were asked to sign an agreement to verify they had no right, title or interest in Lot 240, which was indicated on a plan entitled “Plan of Gay Head.” After further research, Gomes and her family found that Lot 240 remains in Pocknett’s name on the town of Aquinnah’s assessor’s website and objected to the lawsuit due to discrepancies surrounding incomplete deeds.

Michigan

Lansing: Republican state Sen. Lana Theis opened a session with an invocation by claiming children are being attacked by “forces” that want to indoctrinate them with ideas their parents do not support. Three Democrats walked out of last week’s meeting to protest her apparent reference to how schools address sexual orientation and gender identity and critical race theory. Within days, one who tweeted criticism of the prayer was targeted by Theis in a fundraising email, calling Sen. Mallory McMorrow a liberal social media “troll” and accusing her of wanting to “groom” and “sexualize” kindergartners and teach “that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery.” McMorrow responded Tuesday with a forceful, impassioned floor speech that resonated nationwide. “I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom” who wants “every kid to feel seen, heard and supported – not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white and Christian,” she said. Theis, who declined to speak after the session, released a statement in which she did not apologize but again accused Democrats of trying to undermine parents as the primary decision-makers in their children’s education. McMorrow’s 5-minute speech found an engaged audience on social media, racking up millions of views across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Minnesota

St. Cloud: Mike Dando, a St. Cloud State University English professor, has helped to create a new superhero comic and is aiming to teach students in grades 5-12 literacy skills, critical thinking and self-reflection this summer through an often overlooked medium. Exploring concepts like Afrofuturism and the African diaspora, students can imagine new worlds by reading and analyzing the story of the first Black superhero, Lion Man. In 2018, after the highly successful “Black Panther” movie debuted, Dando worked with a group of artists and professors around the world to revisit Lion Man, the first Black superhero comic, written in 1947 by Black Philadelphia journalist Orrin Cromwell Evans. The original story follows Lion Man, a scientist turned superhero tasked by the United Nations to watch over a magical mountain full of uranium in Africa to prevent war. When All-Negro Comics Inc.’s paper supplier refused to help the company produce another book because its founders were Black, only one Lion Man issue was ever published – until now. Dando’s new, much longer Lion Man comic book follows the character’s journey of self-discovery and heroism as he works to save a group of other heroes trapped in monstrous bodies. He served as editor and project manager for the work written by John Jennings and illustrated by David Brame. Thanks to a grant from St. Cloud State, the team was able to make copies of the comic book – one of which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – and Dando will work with a variety of after-school clubs this summer to talk about the narrative structure and themes of the book, as well as teach students how to make their own comics.

Mississippi

Gulfport: Volunteers on Thursday planted several types of grasses along a stretch of Mississippi Gulf Coast beach to help restore habitat for newly hatched Least Tern chicks. Audubon Delta, along with Harrison County Sand Beach Authority and Gulfport High School, partnered to install several species of beach grasses into a globally recognized conservation zone in Gulfport in order to stabilize the beach, encourage dune formation and provide coverage for the endangered birds. The area was destroyed after hurricanes Ida and Zeta and several tropical storms over the past two years, officials said. The project was made possible by a Caring for Our Coasts grant issued by Citgo and Restore America’s Estuaries.

Missouri

St. Louis: City leaders on Thursday announced plans for a new institute designed to make the region a major player in geospatial technology. Andy Taylor, executive chairman of the rental car company Enterprise Holdings, is providing financing for the Taylor Geospatial Institute, along with eight St. Louis-area research institutions. The institute will provide funding for research and program development and expects to attract leading scientists to St. Louis, organizers said. Taylor said in a statement that he hopes the institute “will cement St. Louis as the world’s true center for geospatial excellence.” A news release says research and training will focus on topics such as food security, improving health care systems, and national security. Officials did not disclose how much money the Taylor family is investing, but the family has funded more than $1 billion in St. Louis civic initiatives and cultural institutions through the years.

Montana

Helena: Lawmakers have rejected an attempt to call a special legislative session to investigate the state’s election processes amid continued false claims by ex-President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen. A poll of 149 lawmakers found just 44 approving a special session by Tuesday’s deadline, short of the 75 needed. The secretary of state’s tally showed 60 lawmakers rejected the special session, and another 45 didn’t return their ballots, which counts as a “no” vote. One legislative seat is vacant. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers tried to reach an agreement to ask Gov. Greg Gianforte to call a special session to create new voting districts for the Public Service Commission before three federal judges had to decide how to even out the populations in the five districts. However, GOP leaders were unable to get a commitment from all Republicans to limit the special session to addressing just the voting districts. Gianforte said he would not call a special session without such an agreement. After the court set the PSC districts for the 2022 elections, 10 lawmakers asked for the poll on whether lawmakers wanted to hold a special session on election integrity.

Nebraska

Lincoln: Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson endorsed state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks on Thursday in her campaign for the state’s 1st Congressional District. Pansing Brooks, a Democrat, is looking to replace former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican who resigned after he was convicted on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal campaign contribution. Nelson, a Democrat, said Pansing Brooks has worked with both parties while in the Nebraska Legislature and passed more than 60 bills. Pansing Brooks will face state Sen. Mike Flood, a Republican, in a June 28 special election to determine who will serve the remainder of Fortenberry’s term in Congress. She’s also expected to face Flood again in November, assuming that they both win their parties’ May 10 primary nomination as expected. Nelson is the most recent Democrat to have served as Nebraska’s governor, with a tenure from 1991 to 1999. He was a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2013. Pansing Brooks has served in the Legislature since 2015 and is leaving office in January due to term limits.

Nevada

Las Vegas: Most of the five leading Republican candidates for governor who gathered Wednesday for a campaign forum offered dire assessments of the state’s tourism-dependent economy, rising crime and struggling schools – and asked for votes for their visions to fix them. Several also blamed Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the consensus GOP front-runner, for skipping the event. “We want to have the best, well-run, state in the country,” said Guy Nohra, a Reno venture capitalist, drawing applause from among about 100 people at a Republican women’s club luncheon in Las Vegas. “But we don’t. We’re 50th in everything,” said Nora, who called his foray into politics the culmination of an American dream after his own teenage experience fighting a war in his home country, Lebanon, and his business ventures in the U.S. The event also featured North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, Gardnerville surgeon Fred Simon, former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and firebrand northern Nevada lawyer Joey Gilbert.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state House approved a resolution Thursday in support of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary before advancing a bill opponents said would threaten it. The nonbinding resolution came a week after the Democratic National Committee approved a plan to revoke the guaranteed first-place spots in the presidential nominating calendar long held by the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. Noting New Hampshire has withstood previous challenges, lawmakers affirmed their commitment to the tradition and said candidates are well-served by campaigning in a state with an engaged citizenry and “well-run, free and fair elections.” But a supporter of a bill to create a provisional ballot system later called the current system “laughable,” claiming it allows people to cast fraudulent ballots with virtually no consequences. Under current law, voters who arrive at the polls without the necessary identification fill out affidavits promising to provide documentation within 10 days; those who don’t can be investigated and charged with fraud. The votes themselves remain valid, but under a bill sent to the House Finance Committee on Thursday, the state would create a new type of “affidavit ballots” that would be thrown out if voters fail to follow up. Opponents called it an expensive and complicated solution to a problem that doesn’t exist and said creating a system that would delay the final results for more than a week would threaten the state’s ability to hold the first primary.

New Jersey

Bloomfield: The flowers were finally on full display Thurday as recreational marijuana sales began in the Garden State. Michael Barrows wore his Grateful Dead T-shirt and Jerry Garcia face mask for opening day of legal cannabis sales and was one of dozens of people who lined up before dawn to join the celebratory scene. “It’s pretty amazing, exciting, and if I get pulled over on the way home, and I’m ever asked if I have any drugs in the car, now I’m allowed to say ‘only this,’ ” Barrows said, holding up the canister of marijuana flower he had just purchased. Possession of cannabis is legal now in New Jersey, though driving under the influence is still prohibited. Barrows, 60, joined a steady stream of other novelty-seekers, longtime marijuana users and medical patients at RISE in Bloomfield, near the state’s biggest city, Newark, and not far from New York City. With soul music blaring, free doughnuts in the parking lot, a steel drum and a balloon arch at the entrance, New Jersey’s cannabis kickoff for people 21 and older had the feel of a fair more than a store opening. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who has long backed recreational marijuana legalization and signed the bill that set up the new marketplace kicking off at 13 existing medical marijuana facilities across the state, appeared at ZenLeaf in Elizabeth for its first day of recreational sales. The governor said he wouldn’t be trying any pot; earlier this week he said it’s not his “thing,” and he prefers scotch.

New Mexico

Carlsbad: Habitat for about a million bats will be protected from human impacts through a deal between a nonprofit and the federal government. About 315,000 acres of southern New Mexico land owned by billionaire media tycoon Ted Turner were protected from development in a partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and New Mexico Land Conservancy. The deal saw a conservation easement added to Armendaris Ranch, owned by Turner, due to perceived cultural significance and biological diversity on the land in Sierra and Socorro counties. The ranch land supports more than 500 vertebrate species, according to a report from the Land Conservancy, including multiple listed for federal and state protections. It also contains the Fra Cristobal Mountain Range, home to 230 desert bighorn sheep, and lava fields that include the Jornada cave system that houses bats of multiple species. “This land is laden with important and unique natural and cultural resources, and the opportunity to permanently protect a property with conservation values of this magnitude was at the heart of our organization’s decision to tackle this landscape-scale project,” said Ron Troy, southern New Mexico program manager with the Land Conservancy.

New York

Olive: As western regions contend with drier conditions, New York City is under fire for sometimes releasing hundreds of millions of gallons of water a day from a key reservoir in the Catskill Mountains. The occasional releases, often around storms, have been used to manage water levels in the Ashokan Reservoir and to keep the water clear. But residents downstream say the periodic surges cause ecological harm along the lower Esopus Creek. They say the high flows churn up the water so much it turns the scenic Hudson River tributary the color of chocolate milk. “These people can afford to offer New York City cheap, clean, beautiful water by destroying ours,” said Michael Vallarella, who lives on the creek in Saugerties. Standing on his back deck recently, he swiped through pictures on his phone of the water looking like “Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory river.” The tensions between upstate residents and the city of 8.8 million people to the south touch on how the largest unfiltered water supply in the country will operate in an expected stormier future. Opponents pushing for changes to the water releases got a boost recently when state regulators told the city to take a deeper look at their effects. City officials say they’re trying to strike the difficult balance of responding to downstream concerns while delivering quality water.

North Carolina

Asheville: The fight over a downtown Confederate marker is not over, according to the attorney challenging the city’s removal of Vance Monument, and documents filed Wednesday attempt to take the issue to North Carolina’s highest court. Despite an April 5 ruling from the N.C. Court of Appeals in favor of the city, affirming a lower court judgment to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing removal of the monument, the city finds itself again in limbo. Nearing midnight Wednesday, Edward Phillips, lawyer for the Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops, which brought the challenge against the city, filed a petition for discretionary review with the N.C. Supreme Court. This document is a request for the Supreme Court to review the decision by the Court of Appeals. It does not ensure the high court will hear an appeal, said City Attorney Brad Branham. “I am not going to cede the point until I’m told there’s just no path forward,” Phillips said. The filings add to an already lengthy process to determine the fate of the obelisk that was built to honor racist Civil War-era Gov. Zebulon Vance. The 75-foot-tall granite Vance Monument stood in Pack Square Plaza in the heart of downtown Asheville. All but its base was taken down as of June 2021 after the City Council voted to remove it. The historical preservation group is seeking to stop and potentially reconstruct the monument to Vance.

North Dakota

Bismarck: A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that dismisses a lawsuit brought by the state and several western counties that could have resulted in the construction of additional roads in parts of the Badlands. The Badlands Conservation Alliance says the ruling protects some of the most pristine areas of the Badlands from traffic and potential oil development. “I think it’s a really serious win for the Badlands, for the long-term integrity of those areas that are still roadless and considered suitable for wilderness,” said Connie Triplett, president of the alliance. A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found the state’s and counties’ claim is barred by a 12-year statute of limitations that was passed years ago. Their ruling upholds an earlier decision by U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland, who dismissed the matter in 2017, the Bismarck Tribune reports. The case began a decade ago when Billings, Golden Valley, McKenzie and Slope counties sued the federal government. The state followed with its own lawsuit, and the court consolidated the two cases. The plaintiffs sought to claim rights to section lines used in land surveying and mapping in the Little Missouri National Grassland and other areas that make up the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.

Ohio

Columbus: A lawsuit has been filed targeting legal protections granted to health care providers that allow them to deny treatment they oppose on the basis of their conscience or religious beliefs. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein on Wednesday sued the state over the measure known as the “conscience clause.” According to the law, a medical provider can be “excused from participating” whenever a treatment conflicts with a provider’s “moral, ethical, or religious beliefs or convictions.” Opponents of the law say it could limit abortions or other medical care. The city also argues the measure violates Ohio’s Constitution and the federal Affordable Care Act. If nurses employed by the city are opposed to a medical procedure, “they can refuse it, and we as a city can’t do anything about it,” Klein said. He also said insurance companies could refuse to pay for certain procedures, and “that obviously causes significant problems for our employees.” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine kept the language of the law in place when he signed the 2021 budget. DeWine said the provision merely sets into state law what’s already being practiced. In a statement, Attorney General Dave Yost called the lawsuit “meritless, anti-democracy and authoritarian.”

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Plans to fully legalize marijuana can proceed to the signature-gathering stage, the state Supreme Court ruled, paving the way for two more cannabis plans seeking voter approval. The high court’s ruling late Tuesday comes amid a marijuana boom in the Sooner State after voters in 2018 approved the most liberal medical marijuana program in the nation. Nearly 10% of Oklahoma’s 4 million residents have qualified for a medical-use card – by far the highest percentage in the country. Supporters of the two separate proposals still need to gather enough signatures to put the plans on the ballot for voters. The plans approved Tuesday, State Question 819 and a companion State Question 818, would amend the Oklahoma Constitution to protect the right of residents age 21 and older to use marijuana. It’s part of a nationwide push to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults, which 18 states and the District of Columbia have already approved. Because the two proposals seek to amend the constitution, supporters will have to gather more signatures, about 178,000 in 90 days, for them to qualify for the ballot. “Whether we’ll get on the November ballot this year remains to be seen,” said Jed Green, a longtime Oklahoma cannabis activist behind the plans. “We’re going to push, push and push to get it done.”

Oregon

Portland: A Native American tribe in the state said it is assessing its legal options after learning the U.S. government plans to release water from a federally operated reservoir to downstream farmers along the Oregon-California border amid a historic drought. Even limited irrigation for the farmers who use Klamath River water on about 300 square miles of crops puts two critically endangered fish species in peril of extinction because the water withdrawals come at the height of spawning season, the Klamath Tribes said. Last year, critically endangered sucker fish central to the Klamath Tribes culture and religion didn’t have enough water to spawn, and thousands of downstream juvenile salmon died without reservoir releases to support the Klamath River’s health. The tribes said in a statement that the decision to release any water to about 1,000 farmers in the massive, federal agricultural project was “perhaps the saddest chapter yet in a long history of treaty violations” and placed the blame for the current water crisis on “120 years of ecosystem mismanagement at the hands of settler society.” The fish are important to the inland tribes’ cultural and religious practices and were once a dietary staple. The Klamath stopped fishing for the sucker fish in the 1980s as numbers dwindled. They now run a captive breeding program to ensure the species’ survival and note that no juvenile sucker fish have survived in the wild in recent years. “We have nothing left with which to ‘compromise,’ ” the Klamath Tribes said in a statement. “Global warming is certainly a global problem, but thus far its local consequences appear to be exacerbating existing and systematic inequalities between ourselves and the larger society.”

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: Prosecutors said Thursday that they will not re-try a Philadelphia man whose 2012 murder conviction was overturned earlier this month, citing weak evidence and the involvement of a disgraced former detective now charged with sexually assaulting witnesses in other cases. Rafiq Dixon, 40, had been serving a life sentence in the 2011 fatal shooting of Joseph Pinkney. The 40-year-old was expected to be released from prison Thursday afternoon, hours after a Common Pleas Court judge granted the motion to withdraw charges, his attorney said. The initial case relied heavily on testimony from three witnesses who gave inconsistent accounts. All three were interviewed by former homicide detective Philip Nordo, who has been charged with various crimes including stalking, intimidating, and sexually assaulting male suspects and witnesses during his career. In June, a judge reversed the 2015 conviction of Arkel Garcia, who confessed to murder during an interrogation in which, his lawyer said, Nordo asked the teenager to view pornography with him. The ruling came after both sides presented evidence that Nordo had sexually groomed witnesses in the case and trial prosecutors had suppressed his misconduct. Garcia was also serving a life sentence.

Rhode Island

Providence: Democratic former state lawmaker David Segal has joined the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, a fellow Democrat who’s retiring after more than two decades in office. Segal announced his decision Wednesday, saying that many voters are fed up with federal politics and that “government should be able to do more to address the concerns of our neighbors.” Segal served on the Providence City Council before winning a seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He served for two terms, from 2007 to 2011. In 2010 he lost a bid for Congress and founded a national liberal advocacy organization known as Demand Progress. He’s the latest entry in a crowded Democratic field that also includes state Treasurer Seth Magaziner; Joy Fox, a former top aide to Langevin; Biden administration official Sarah Morgenthau; Omar Bah, executive director of the Refugee Dream Center in Providence; and former political strategist Michael Neary. “We have the people power to reach the voters, we have the money to compete, and we have the urgent case to make that we deserve leaders who can bring people together and ensure their voices are heard,” Segal said in his campaign announcement.

South Carolina

Columbia: The state’s highest court on Wednesday issued a temporary stay blocking the state from carrying out what was set to be its first-ever firing squad execution. The order by the state Supreme Court puts on hold at least temporarily the planned April 29 execution of Richard Bernard Moore, who drew the death sentence for the 1999 killing of convenience store clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg. The court said in issuing the temporary stay that it would release a more detailed order later. Attorneys for the 57-year-old inmate had sought a stay, citing pending litigation in another court challenging the constitutionality of South Carolina’s execution methods, which also include the electric chair. Moore’s lawyers also wanted time to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether Moore’s sentence was proportionate to his crime. It has been more than a decade since the last firing squad execution in the U.S. The state of Utah carried out all three such executions in the nation since 1976, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. The most recent was in 2010. The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday also set a May 13 execution date for Brad Sigmon, 64, convicted in 2002 of the double murder of his ex-girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: A leadership shake-up and shorter wait times for service are welcomed changes for disgruntled military veterans who say the federal health care system is failing them, but that’s still not enough to appease the dozens of former soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines, as well as a handful of elected officials, who showed up at the South Dakota Veterans Council’s quarterly meeting Wednesday. Praises of this week’s removal of the now-former Sioux Falls Veterans Affairs director were tempered by caution for a need for more systematic improvements. “If you walked the halls on Tuesday, there were more smiles in the Sioux Falls VA Hospital than there have been in 14 months,” said Hawk Mayor, a Vietnam combat veteran, referring to the departure of now former Sioux Falls VA director Lisa Simoneau. “But we’ve been shut out.” Simoneau was removed from the position as of Monday after growing pressure for a regime change from both veterans, VA employees and South Dakota’s congressional delegation. Since at least October, members of the South Dakota Veterans Council have voiced concerns about a lack of responsiveness from Simoneau regarding what’s described as an inadequate level of care being provided to veterans entitled to medical services through the veterans’ health care system. Some employees at the VA have also blown the whistle in recent weeks on poor management practices and a hostile work environment under Simoneau.

Tennessee

Nashville: The state would become the latest to impose harsh penalties on doctors who violate new, strict regulations dictating the dispensing of abortion pills under a proposal headed to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. It’s part of a coordinated nationwide effort spearheaded by anti-abortion groups upset over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to remove a rule that required women to pick up the abortion medication in person. After Tennessee’s GOP-controlled House approved the measure last week, Senate Republicans on Thursday signed off on sending the proposal to the governor. Lee hasn’t publicly weighed in on the measure, but he has yet to veto a bill while in office and frequently stresses his opposition to abortion. According to the bill, delivery of abortion pills by mail would be outlawed, and anyone who wanted to use abortion pills would be required to visit a doctor in advance and then return to pick up the pills. The drugs may be dispensed only by qualified physicians – effectively barring pharmacists from doing so. Violators would face a Class E felony and up to a $50,000 fine. The in-person requirement had long been opposed by medical societies, including the American Medical Association, which said the restriction offers no clear benefit to patients.

Texas

Houston: A prominent conservative activist has been charged with unlawful restraint and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon over an October incident involving a contractor the activist hired, his attorneys said Wednesday. Jared Woodfill and Gary Polland, attorneys for Dr. Steven Hotze, said the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told them Wednesday that Hotze was indicted over allegations against a former police officer, Mark Aguirre, who worked for Hotze. Aguirre had been retained to pursue a voter fraud investigation on behalf of Houston-based Liberty Center for God and Country, a nonprofit organization Hotze runs. Aguirre was charged Dec. 14 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a man accused him of running him off the road and holding him at gunpoint in an effort to prove what authorities have called a bogus voter fraud scheme. Aguirre claimed an air conditioner repairman was the mastermind. He said the man’s truck was filled with fraudulent ballots when he ran his SUV into it Oct. 19, according to authorities. Aguirre told police he and some friends set up a “command post” at a Marriott hotel in suburban Houston that conducted 24-hour surveillance on the repairman for four days, according to a police affidavit.

Utah

St. George: Faced with continuing drought and one of the fastest-growing populations in the U.S., the Washington County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to apply new water restrictions to every new residential and commercial development. The new rules won’t apply to any existing homes or commercial buildings, but they could hopefully provide a better balance between what water is available and the continued demand for new construction, said Adam Snow, a member of the three-member commission, which regulates buildings requirements for all of the unincorporated areas of the county. “We want to have beautiful communities and a beautiful place to live and maintain our quality of life,” Snow said. “We’re doing it as effectively and efficiently as possible with our water, which is a very sacred resource right now.” The changes will be written into Title 10, Chapter 27 of the county code. They will only apply to projects on unincorporated county land that still need approval from the county to go forward, although they resemble similar measures being passed by cities and towns in the area. Snow said about 5% of the county’s population lives on unincorporated land.

Vermont

Montpelier: Property owned by Vermont-recognized Native American tribes will be exempt from property taxes under a new law that takes effect in July. The legislation, signed by Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday, recognizes that Vermont lands “are the historic and current territories of the Western Abenaki people.” “I sign it out of respect for the heritage of our Native American communities and traditions,” Scott wrote in a letter to the Legislature. “Further, the associated costs to the Education Fund and the General Fund borne by all Vermonters are forecast to be negligible.” To be exempt from the state and municipal property taxes, the property must be used for the purposes of the tribe and not leased or rented. Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, has said the tax exemption allows the tribes, which rely on grants and donations, to be able to use those resources “to help uplift our people” with food security and other needs. The legislation states that “stewardship of these lands was removed from the Abenaki by European governments and settlers” and acknowledges “the Abenaki people as the traditional land caretakers of Ndakinna, which includes parts of Vermont, New England, and Quebec.”

Virginia

Westlake: Officials at Booker T. Washington National Monument are asking the public for help in unraveling one of its biggest mysteries. Hidden away in a section of the park just off its Jack O’ Lantern Trail rests a cemetery that predates much of the known history of the former plantation where Booker T. Washington was born a slave and later freed. The cemetery has few markings to provide context to who was buried there or when they were buried. “It’s definitely one of the biggest mysteries at the park,” said Tim Sims, senior park ranger. Archaeologist with New South Associates recently began taking a deeper look into the cemetery, commonly referred to as the Sparks Cemetery named after a person who once lived nearby. Some of the Black families who have lived near the cemetery include the Brown, Holland, Divers, Burroughs, Ferguson, Taylor, Green, Harris, English, Edwards, Starkey, Swain, Saunders, Childress and Dudley families. Sims said the names of the families were found looking through property deeds, slave records and federal census records. People with information on those possibly buried in the Sparks Cemetery are asked to contact Velma Fann, historian, at New South Associates at 770-498-4155, x126 or vfann@newsouthassoc.com.

Washington

Olympia: The state Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that an Edmonds city ordinance requiring that guns be locked up and kept out of unauthorized hands is preempted by state law. The ruling affirmed a three-judge state of appeals ruling last year in the case sparked by a lawsuit filed by three residents against the city of Edmonds after it approved an ordinance in July 2018 requiring residents to lock up their guns or else face fines. “Under our system of divided government, many elected bodies hold legislative power, including elected city councils. These councils, however, must legislate within constitutional constraints,” Chief Justice Steven González wrote, joined by the eight other justices on the high court. “One of those constraints is that city ordinances must not ‘conflict with general laws’ that have been enacted by the people of our state by initiative or by our state legislature.” A statewide ballot measure that passed later that same year on gun safety doesn’t mandate that a firearm be stored in a particular way or place, but it created criminal penalties for when a gun isn’t properly stored and accessed by someone who is prohibited from possessing a firearm – such as a child – and used to injure or kill, displayed in public in an intimidating manner or used during a crime.

West Virginia

Morgantown: A health care system has partnered with a junior college on a program aimed at addressing the shortage of nurses in the state. Mon Health System and West Virginia Junior College signed a letter of intent to launch a nursing education program that will put students at the school on an accelerated path to becoming nurses, officials said during a signing ceremony Monday. Mon Health nurses will serve as faculty, and the students will have digital coursework as well as learning through work at the hospital – what Mon Health System President and CEO David Goldberg called patient-side, The Dominion Post reports. The program plans to open enrollment in September and start its first class next April. The collaboration, Goldberg said, will serve “to bring not only the best nurses to patient-side through Mon Health, but keep people in this community, grow our own, take care of our own neighbors, family members and friends, so we continue to be the best health care location in north-central West Virginia and improve our health care outcomes.” West Virginia Junior College CEO Chad Callen said nursing shortages are at near crisis levels in some areas of the state. “Such challenges require bold thinking and innovative, out-of-the-box approaches,” he said.

Wisconsin

Madison: The work of an investigator looking into the 2020 presidential election generated fresh criticism Thursday after newly posted documents included a memo describing one elections worker in the state as “probably” a Democrat in part because she loves snakes and “has a weird nose ring.” Also on Thursday, a judge ordered Michael Gableman to stop deleting records, the latest legal defeat for the former state Supreme Court justice. Gableman has released two interim reports on the election won by President Joe Biden and has suggested the GOP-controlled Legislature look into decertifying his victory. Republican leaders including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who hired Gableman, have repeatedly said they have no intention of trying to decertify the win. Gableman’s reports have not included evidence to back up the false claims that Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020. A recently posted unsigned document on Gableman’s website, titled “cross pollinators,” details his probe into public employees who work in elections. That memo contends that a geographic information system analyst for Milwaukee is “probably” a Democrat because she plays video games, “has a weird nose ring,” sometimes colors her hair, “loves nature and snakes” and lives with a boyfriend but is not married to him.

Wyoming

Casper: The state’s senior population grew at the nation’s second-fastest rate in the second decade of the millennium, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Citing research from online resource hub AgingInPlace.org, the newspaper points to a 40% increase in the proportion of Wyoming residents who are 65 or older between 2010 and 2020, with the level sitting at 17.8% in the latest census. Only Alaska was found to have a faster-growing senior population when comparing U.S. Census Bureau data.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Arizona's top news stories of 2019

In 2019, there was no shortage of stories to keep Arizonans talking — and no shortage of stories that got the nation talking about us.

There were scandals at the state Legislature and in the adoption industry. There were crises at state prisons, in sweltering homes and along the border. And there were incidents, such as a 2 a.m. rant involving a Nike shoe, that defied categorization.

These are the top Arizona news stories, as selected and ranked by editors at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com.

19. Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill dies

After spending nearly all his life with the team, longtime Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill died in October. He was 88.

Bidwill began as a ball boy when the team, then owned by his father, was based in Chicago. He later followed the Cardinals to St. Louis, where he and his brother inherited the team after their mother’s death. In 1988, he brought the Cardinals to Arizona as the team’s sole owner.

Bidwill spent much of his professional career pursuing a stadium that would make the team economically competitive. Today, the Cardinals are on sound financial footing largely thanks to revenue produced by games at State Farm Stadium.

The stadium also appears to have helped the team on the field: From 2006 through 2018, the team finished .500 or better seven times — a striking departure from the abysmal record that plagued their early Arizona years.

As an individual, Bidwill wasn't interested in courting celebrity: He rarely spoke with reporters on the record, and often made generous community donations quietly. But he maintained a consistent sense of humor, often asking for autographed prints when The Republic poked fun at him in editorial cartoons.

Bidwill's son, Michael, succeeded him as the team's principal owner.

18. Terrorist who held Arizona woman captive killed

Terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the reported captor and rapist of Arizonan Kayla Mueller, was killed during an October special forces raid in Syria. He’d been one of the most-hunted terrorists in the fight against ISIS for years.

Mueller, who was taken hostage in 2013, grew up in Prescott and went to Northern Arizona University before traveling the world as an aid worker. She was kidnapped after crossing from Turkey into northern Syria to visit a hospital.

Mueller was held for 18 months before her death was announced in early 2015, and her body has never been recovered. Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, told The Republic about a 20-minute phone call they received from the president after the raid.

Marsha Mueller said her daughter would be glad that al-Baghdadi was killed.

“She wants us to get them,” Marsha said. “I’ve felt that with all my heart.”

17. McCain Institute leader embroiled in impeachment inquiry

Kurt Volker, who led the McCain Institute for International Leadership since 2012, stepped down in October after his ties to a federal whistleblower scandal presented a distraction from the think tank’s work.

The former special envoy to Ukraine was the first witness to testify privately before Congress in the inquiry into whether President Donald Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, a top Democratic 2020 presidential rival and former vice president.

Volker provided lawmakers with text messages that showed U.S. diplomats discussed tying financial aid and face-to-face engagement with the president to investigations that could help Trump’s 2020 re-election efforts.

Volker also told Congress he tried to warn Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that some of the Ukrainian sources giving him information about alleged wrongdoing by Biden or his son were not credible, according to the Washington Post.

“Kurt is a good man. A good man,” Cindy McCain said in a CNN interview after Volker resigned. “But this was overshadowing the Institute, and it was overshadowing what we do and what we work for. So, it was time.”

16. Phoenix voters turn out to support light rail — again

Phoenix voters in August overwhelmingly rejected a ballot proposition that would've halted funding for light-rail expansions, supporting the transportation option at the polls for the fourth time since 2000.

All but two of the city's 125 precincts voted down Proposition 105. But those two precincts stood to be affected most by a planned rail expansion into south Phoenix, which would extend the current line to Baseline Road via Central Avenue.

Residents and business owners in those areas told The Republic they opposed light rail due to concerns about disruption during construction and the long-term impacts on traffic. Councilman Sal DiCiccio promised to divert the local portion of light-rail money to fixing roads if the measure passed.

Nearly every other member of the Phoenix City Council opposed the initiative, alongside congressmen Greg Stanton and Ruben Gallego, business organizations and most local union groups.

Voters rejected the proposal with 63% voting against it.

15. Kate Gallego elected as Phoenix mayor after drawn-out campaign

Former Phoenix City Councilwoman Kate Gallego became the second woman elected to lead the city in August, capping a hard-fought, 18-month campaign that began after former Mayor Greg Stanton resigned to run for Congress.

Gallego, a policy wonk with economic-development experience, defeated former council colleague Daniel Valenzuela. The pair had nearly identical voting records as council members, but Valenzuela's campaign swerved to the right in the final weeks of the campaign in an effort to court undecided Republican voters.

Gallego inherited a cash-strapped city budget and an often querulous council upon taking office. She has vowed to make a recession-proof Phoenix her top priority.

She is expected to run for a full term in November 2020.

Gallego is the first mother with a small child to serve as Phoenix mayor, a characteristic she highlighted throughout her campaign.

14. Short-term rental fight escalates

In late May, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a new law aimed at cracking down on "party houses" rented through websites such as Airbnb and VRBO. Residents across Arizona had complained about increased noise, trash and traffic in their neighborhoods after a prior law expanded protections for short-term rentals.

The new, narrowly crafted legislation allowed municipalities to restrict rentals to overnight stays and prohibited events that otherwise would've required a permit, such as weddings. In his signing letter, the governor said he was "hopeful that additional legislation regulating short-term rentals will not be needed."

But just three months later, the governor changed his tune, saying lawmakers would revisit the restrictions in 2020. Residents of small towns like Sedona, as well as big-city neighborhoods like downtown Phoenix, had made their dissatisfaction with the 2019 law known.

They argued affordable housing was becoming difficult to find given the concentration of short-term rentals. Data backs up an explosion in the state's Airbnb market over the past five years.

In late 2014, Phoenix only had 687 properties for rent listed on Airbnb, and only 245 of them were rented even one night in December of that year, according to Denver-based research firm AirDNA. By March of this year, that number had boomed to 4,224 listed properties.

In Sedona, short-term rentals represent 20% of the housing stock.

13. Wildfires force evacuations, threaten homes

On July 21 at about 11 a.m., a fire lookout spotted flames just north of Flagstaff. Within hours, 200 firefighters were assigned to the Museum Fire, which had sparked when construction equipment struck a rock.

The fire started exactly where officials said they didn't want the forest to burn, at the exact time of year that could’ve spelled disaster. The blaze prompted evacuations as it spread across nearly 2,000 acres, threatening nearby homes.

It was only one of many dangerous fires that ignited during the state's 2019 wildfire season. The Woodbury Fire, which began in June in the Superstition Wilderness and burned more than 123,800 acres, also spurred evacuations and endangered wildlife habitat.

Going forward, many other Arizona communities remain susceptible to fires.

An Arizona Republic analysis of small communities across the West in mid-2019 found more than 500 places with potential for wildfire even higher than that of Paradise, California, the scene of the deadly 2018 Camp Fire. Pine, Arizona, for example, scored far higher on the Wildfire Hazard Potential scale. Its 1950s-era warning siren wasn't working. And it had no consistent fire-safe zoning to clear brush that could fuel a deadly blaze.

12. Ducey's Supreme Court picks cement conservative majority

Ducey’s decision to place controversial Republican prosecutor and former Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery on the state Supreme Court in September capped off a years-long string of changes to the bench.

Ducey has appointed more top justices than any Arizona governor in history, starting with a 2016 expansion that added two seats to the court. This year, in addition to Montgomery, he appointed former Appeals Court Judge James Beene.

The governor's selections cemented a white, male, conservative majority that will endure long after Ducey leaves the Governor’s Office: The oldest of his appointees won't hit the mandatory retirement age for nearly a decade.

Some worry the bench's conservative tilt could jeopardize the high court’s reputation as impartial.

The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, which vets judicial candidates and sends short lists to the governor, faces the same risk after a series of appointments Ducey made in April. Those selections changed the makeup of the commission, leaving it without a single Democrat.

11. Wedding calligraphers victorious in anti-discrimination case

In a highly anticipated decision, the Arizona Supreme Court in September issued a narrow ruling that a Phoenix ordinance protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination couldn't be used to force artists to create custom wedding invitations for same-sex couples.

The legal battle had begun in 2016, when Brush & Nib Studio owners Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski sued Phoenix on the grounds that its anti-discrimination ordinance violated their rights to free speech and religion.

The Supreme Court ruling overturned multiple lower-court decisions that protected the portion of Phoenix's nondiscrimination ordinance that applies to the LGBTQ community, which was added in 2013. An attorney for Phoenix insisted the decision was narrow and did not strike down the city's law. But LGBTQ community advocates said they feared the decision left room for broader lawsuits.

Following the ruling, Democratic state Rep. Daniel Hernández and Republican Sen. Kate Brophy-McGee penned a joint column in The Republic about the need for a statewide anti discrimination law.

“Will health-care providers now have a claim to deny health care to LGBTQ people? Will hotels now have a claim to refuse bookings to an LGBTQ couple?” they wrote. “We value freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of religion … But that freedom does not give any of us the right to harm other people, to impose our beliefs on others, or to discriminate in the public square.”

10. Governor slams Nike in 2 a.m. screed

In the wee hours of July 2, Ducey — outraged over Nike's decision to pull a shoe featuring an early version of the American flag — announced the company would lose up to $1 million in state economic-development funding after "bow(ing) to the current onslaught of political correctness."

Nike had canceled the release of its "Betsy Ross flag" shoe after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick told the company he and others found the flag offensive.

"I've ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the state was providing for the company to locate here," Ducey wrote in a series of 2 a.m. Twitter posts, which made international news. "Arizona's economy is doing just fine without Nike."

But the circumstances surrounding Ducey’s “order” were, and remain, unclear. For starters, the governor doesn't have the power to force the Commerce Authority to do anything; like other board members, he has one vote — a structure meant to depoliticize economic-development decisions.

The Commerce Authority doesn't even vote as a board to approve or deny awards from the Arizona Competes Fund, which would've paid for the Nike incentive. The authority's CEO, Sandra Watson, decides how to administer that funding, and she doesn't answer to the governor.

At any rate, Nike was undeterred: It decided to move forward with its Goodyear plant, expected to create some 500 full-time jobs, and will still receive millions in city incentives.

As for the governor, he was spotted wearing his own Nike sneakers at a Fourth of July barbecue two days after his Twitter diatribe. And he extended a warm welcome to Nike after it confirmed it would still open a plant here.

9. Sex scandal takes down lawmaker

Former state Rep. David Stringer was no stranger to public backlash: He’d faced outrage and calls for his resignation more than once over racist comments about immigrants and African Americans.

But the Prescott Republican couldn’t survive the explosive police report obtained and released by the House Ethics Committee in March, which showed Stringer had been arrested on allegations of repeatedly paying children for sex in the 1980s.

Stringer insisted he was innocent and had taken a plea deal to avoid risking conviction. He resigned nonetheless, an hour before the deadline the committee had set for him to respond to a subpoena related to the charges.

Steve Pierce, a former Arizona Senate president, was swiftly appointed to fill Stringer’s seat. But the cloud of controversy surrounding Stringer stymied some efforts to overhaul sentencing laws at the Legislature, since Stringer was one of few Republicans pushing for justice reform.

Lawmakers did successfully close the loophole that had allowed Stringer to work in classrooms despite past sex charges, however, expanding background check requirements for non-certified teachers and others who work directly with students in public schools.

8. APS customer death prompts shutoff moratorium

In June, Arizona Public Service Co. halted power shut-offs for residential customers who were late on their bills. It emerged soon after that Phoenix New Times reporters had been digging into the heat-related death of Stephanie Pullman, a 72-year-old Sun City West woman whose electricity was disconnected over a $51 debt.

State regulators said APS was unable to provide documentation showing it followed state rules for power shut-offs in Pullman’s case, including a requirement to tell customers about available assistance from the government or charities.

And her case was not the first of its kind: The Republic in 2017 documented the heat-related death of Henry Venzor Magos, a 61-year-old Salt River Project customer in south Phoenix. And in July, APS disclosed the deaths of two other customers.

The APS moratorium ended in October, with the company enrolling customers with utility debt in a four-month payoff plan. But new shut-off rules remain under consideration by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Initially, staff proposed banning all shutoffs when the outside temperature exceeded 95 degrees. After utilities provided feedback, the minimum changed to 105 degrees.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has said he would support a legislative solution to the issue. State Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, who introduced a shut-off bill that went nowhere in 2018, has indicated he may try again.

In the meantime, APS's woes have continued, with the utility more recently facing backlash over an online rate-comparison tool offered on its website. APS confirmed the tool was providing bad information — in some cases, encouraging customers to move to plans that would actually cost them hundreds of dollars more a year — and announced plans to repay about 10,000 customers.

7. Faulty prison locks threaten safety of officers, prisoners

Subpar health care, crumbling infrastructure and limited supplies continued to plague Arizona’s correctional system this year. But the biggest controversy involved one of the most basic function of state prisons: keeping inmates behind bars.

An ABC15 report published in April showed broken cell door locks at Lewis Prison had contributed to the death of at least one inmate. Subsequent reporting by The Republic found that faulty-lock problems were more widespread, dating back to at least 1988 and resulting in several assaults — despite officials claiming they hadn't known of the problem.

In May, a legislative panel approved a request to spend at least $17.7 million on safety and security at Lewis Prison, estimating it would take until late 2020 to implement fixes.

This month, an assistant deputy warden at Lewis filed a whistleblower complaint stating prison workers were falsifying records to make it look like broken cell locks were fixed. Shaun Holland, a 14-year veteran of the department, said corrections leaders were showing "deliberate and intentional indifference."

Ducey has said he trusts the updates he’s getting from corrections leaders. The whistleblower complaint remains under review by both the Governor’s Office and the Department of Corrections.

6. Hacienda HealthCare rape prompts arrest, legal changes

The fallout that followed the rape of an incapacitated woman at a Phoenix care facility late last year continued through much of 2019, with the case attracting international attention.

The public learned of the assault after the woman, who had severe physical and cognitive disabilities, gave birth at Hacienda HealthCare on Dec. 29. Staffers at the intermediate care facility said they hadn't known she was pregnant.

After the woman’s family removed her and the baby from the facility, they filed a multimillion-dollar notice of claim against the state, saying Arizona did an "abysmal job" monitoring the facility. In response, the state Legislature passed a law requiring state licensing of intermediate care facilities.

Authorities also arrested 37-year-old Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who was one of the woman's caregivers at the facility, in connection with the rape. He has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and vulnerable adult abuse.

A physician who treated the woman less than four months before she gave birth, Phillip Gear, voluntarily surrendered his medical license.

In November, a task force created by the governor to develop preventive guidelines recommended improved reporting requirements, better training for workers and a statewide campaign urging people to report abuse. Those recommendations are under review.

In the meantime, a group of Hacienda parents has been fighting to keep the facility, which now has a state license, open.

5. Largest coal plant in the West closes

The Navajo Generating Station — a coal-fired power plant near Page — burned the last of its coal in November, marking the end of its 45-year run.

Officials described the closure as a difficult but necessary decision, as prices for natural gas and renewables such as solar became much more competitive.

The mine supplying the plant closed in August. Together, the coal facilities employed 750 people, most of them Native American, before operations started winding down two years ago.

Both projects will continue to employ area residents for a few years, but with far fewer jobs than the facilities provided while operating. Without the royalties from the mine, the Navajo and Hopi tribes also will have to plug significant holes in their budgets.

Decommissioning the plant, which could produce 2,250 megawatts of power at full capacity, is expected to take years and about $170 million. The mine will require another $188 million in reclamation.

4. County assessor implicated in international adoption scandal

Maricopa County Paul Petersen was arrested in October on a series of human-smuggling charges in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas. Prosecutors allege Petersen, who operated an adoption firm out of Mesa, for years made his living flying pregnant Marshallese women to the United States to give birth — a direct violation of U.S. and Marshallese laws.

They said he fraudulently enrolled the mothers in Medicaid and adopted their children to American families for up to $40,000 each. Some Marshallese women did not fully understand the terms of their adoption, according to officials, with several believing their children would return to them after being educated in the U.S.

Petersen pleaded not guilty to the charges in Arizona and Arkansas and is awaiting trial. He has not yet entered a plea in Utah. Petersen also appealed a suspension instituted by the Board of Supervisors, which ordered the county attorney to conduct an investigation into Petersen's work performance.

That report, released in early December, concluded Petersen had fulfilled all obligations required of a county assessor since taking office. At the same time, it showed he'd used significant county time and resources to conduct the adoptions.

3. Excessive-force cases spur police protests, resignations

In Tempe, an officer shot and killed 14-year-old Antonio Arce as he ran away from police, clutching a nonlethal airsoft gun.

In Glendale, police released body-camera footage showing two officers using a Taser on Johnny Wheatcroft at least 11 times while his frightened children watched.

In Phoenix, officers pointed guns and yelled expletives at 22-year old Dravon Ames, his pregnant fiancee and their two young daughters after the family said their 4-year-old daughter took a doll from a Family Dollar store.

These and many other high-profile police incidents rattled the Valley in 2019, making local and national headlines and prompting heated demonstrations.

After Arce's death, protesters swarmed Tempe City Hall to pressure City Council members to fire both the officer who shot Arce and the head of the department. In Phoenix, residents packed the City Council chambers to the gills, demanding officials withhold police funding until action was taken against the officers in the Ames video.

The officers in the Tempe and Glendale cases resigned, and the Phoenix officer was fired. But departures were largely contained to the rank-and-file.

There was one exception: Former Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista abruptly resigned in November after a contentious tenure marked by a high-profile murder trial, a vote of no confidence from the police union and numerous excessive force cases.

2. Arizona starts to get serious about water

After 19 years of drought and rising temperatures, Arizona state lawmakers from both parties cooperated to pass a historic Colorado River drought deal in January, clearing the way for Arizona to join a multistate Drought Contingency Plan.

Arizona gets nearly 40% of its water from the Colorado River, which has long supplied cities and farmland throughout the West. The Drought Contingency Plan aims to prevent the worst-case scenario of continued declines in man-made Lake Mead: a "dead pool" situation where water no longer flows past the Hoover Dam.

Despite the bipartisan win, the drought deal is a temporary fix. If the West wants to keep growing and maintain enough water to flourish, officials say, states must address and accept the reality of climate change and create a meaningful culture of conservation.

Hotter temperatures have reduced the average flow in streams and increased the amount of Colorado River Basin water that evaporates. And lax pumping rules in rural Arizona have led corporate farms and investment funds to gobble up groundwater that took thousands of years to accumulate.

If this year's negotiations are any indication, reaching a long-term deal will be a testy and time-consuming process.

1. Migrants released in border communities

The flow of migrant families arriving at the border had been building for nearly two years by late March, when an overextended U.S. Border Patrol began releasing migrant families directly into Arizona and Texas communities. At one point, Yuma Sector officials had 2,000 migrants in custody and space to hold only 400 of them.

But cities weren’t prepared to handle the influx, either — especially not with Border Patrol releasing as many as 350 people each day. In April, the Yuma mayor issued an emergency declaration that described the situation as an "imminent threat" to life and property in the area.

Nonprofits set up emergency shelters so families wouldn't end up on the streets.

Arrivals peaked in May, with Yuma agents registering nearly 14,000 apprehensions. The following month, the federal government finally provided the sector with a collection of large tents to help relieve overcrowding.

By then, though, apprehensions had begun to decrease, and the agency no longer faced capacity issues.

Officials attributed the drop to a number of measures including the "Remain in Mexico" program, which allows border officials to send asylum seekers back to certain areas of Mexico to await the outcome of their proceedings. Mexico also deployed more than 20,000 National Guard members to crack down on the unauthorized flow of migrants through the country.

As of November, border officials said the situation remained precarious and could collapse if the Mexican government stopped cooperating.

Republic reporters Lily Altavena, Karina Bland, Jessica Boehm, Bree Burkitt, Rafael Carranza, Lauren Castle, Daniel González, Uriel Garcia, Ron Hansen, Stephanie Innes, Ian James, Pamela Ren Larson, Lorraine Longhi, Andrew Oxford, Ryan Randazzo, Shondiin Silversmith and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807. Follow her on Twitter @mpolletta.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

The new climate rallying cry: keep it in the ground

Story by Sammy Roth and photographs by Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun | April 13, 2016

Nobody said a word as the auctioneer took his place at the lectern, but the tension was deafening. Nearly 100 protesters had packed the room at Utah's Salt Palace Convention Center, mad as hell that the federal government was about to sell oil and gas leases for up to 45,000 acres of public land. Some of the activists held signs: "Our lands, our future," or, "Don't auction our climate."

"OK, let's start the sale, ladies and gentlemen. The first parcel on there is No. 1266, it's up there in the upper corner if you want to follow along. It consists of 162-plus acres of it, located out in Juab County. And who will give me an opening bid of $2 to start? Two-dollar bid?"

The protesters hadn't planned to disrupt the auction. But once the bidding got underway, they couldn’t help themselves. A few of them started chanting, and soon everyone joined in. Their voices got louder and louder: "People gonna rise like the water, gonna calm this crisis down. I hear the voice of my great-granddaughter, saying, 'Keep it in the ground!'"

A federal official told the activists that if they didn't quiet down, Salt Lake City police would escort them out. He gave them 60 seconds to stop chanting; police officers stood, ready to act.

They stopped chanting — but only for a few minutes, unable to sit silently as oil and gas leases were auctioned off for as little as $2 an acre. This time, they didn't get another chance. As police moved in and ordered them to leave, one of the protesters, Tim Ream, shouted at the bidders, "Show this to your grandkids! Show it to them and explain what’s happening with the climate!"

What's happening with the climate isn't complicated: For every ton of carbon humanity emits by burning fossil fuels, the world is getting hotter.

The Salt Lake City protesters had a simple demand for President Barack Obama: Stop making public land and water available for oil and natural gas drilling. It's a message that's taking hold across the country. In recent months, activists associated with the “keep it in the ground” movement have protested federal auctions in Denver, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Reno and elsewhere. They've got supporters in Congress, including a presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

THE CURRENT: Sign up for The Desert Sun's energy and water newsletter

Any serious plan to deal with climate change, these activists say, requires the United States to start limiting the extraction of fossil fuels — immediately. They point to studies showing that if the world doesn't keep the vast majority of its coal, oil and gas in the ground, global warming will almost certainly exceed 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, the target adopted by 195 nations in Paris last year. Scientists once believed that 2 degrees of warming would be relatively safe, but recent studies have found that even less warming could be catastrophic for people, animals and the natural systems that underpin human civilization.

The world is already 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.

"Nobody is saying we want to stop burning fossil fuels today, or that we have the ability to stop burning fossil fuels today," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, the country's largest environmental group. "What we're saying is that the challenge of climate change is a severe one. The need to act has never been more urgent."

Critics of "keep it in the ground" say cutting back on drilling would do nothing to limit demand for fossil fuels, which still generate two-thirds of the country's electricity. They believe policymakers should limit their focus to reducing demand for coal, oil and gas, either by taxing carbon or by providing incentives for clean energy. "Keep it in the ground" supporters favor those steps, but say they aren't enough to confront climate change.

Other critics point to the economic pain that transitioning to clean energy could inflict. While scientists and economists generally agree that the long-term benefits of fighting climate change far outweigh the short-term costs, there's little question that abandoning fossil fuels would lead to job losses in regions where coal, oil or gas development is a significant economic force.

A lot is riding on this year's presidential election.

If Americans elect Donald Trump or Ted Cruz — both of whom reject the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming — international efforts to curb climate change could unravel. Cruz has written bills designed to boost oil and gas production, and has promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. Trump, true to form, has released few specifics about his energy policy, although he's criticized Obama's carbon regulations. Hillary Clinton has pledged to limit oil and gas production, although she has a long history of supporting fossil fuels and fracking, including during her tenure as secretary of state. Only Sanders has consistently opposed fossil fuel development.

Whoever wins the Democratic and Republican nominations, most climate advocates say they'll have an easy choice in November.

"I wish it didn't boil down to a partisan political issue," said Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University climatologist who has researched long-term temperature changes. "Unfortunately, we've now arrived at a point where there really is this remarkable contrast between the two parties…with one party, we will move backward. With the other party, we will move forward."

Climate change is already happening: Massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are melting faster than expected, causing the oceans to rise. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense, with Hurricane Sandy and the California drought offering a preview of what the future might hold. Infectious diseases are expanding outside their old geographic comfort zones, with scientists saying rising temperatures could help Zika virus spread in North America.

Meanwhile, plants and animals are dying — and so are people, although it's hard to calculate an exact number. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, climate change will be responsible for about 240,000 deaths per year. Some of those deaths will be caused by heat and disease, but researchers say the biggest contributor will be childhood undernutrition, as a result of reduced crop production across much of the planet.

Limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius is still within the realm of possibility — barely.

The math is simple: If humanity wants good odds of staying under 2 degrees Celsius, between two-thirds and four-fifths of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground, according to calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Carbon Tracker Initiative. By century's end if not sooner, the planet will need to be powered almost entirely by zero-carbon energy sources like solar, wind, hydropower and maybe nuclear, climate advocates say.

READ MORE: Why fighting climate change won't destroy the economy

Climate change isn't like other political issues, said Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who co-founded 350.org and led the opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. With most debates between Democrats and Republicans, he said, "the best response is usually to figure out a compromise in the middle," and then revisit the problem as needed. But with climate change, such a strategy could be catastrophic, he said. At current rates of fossil fuel consumption, the world has a few decades at most before it burns its way past 2 degrees Celsius.

"Our problem here is that the two sides, fundamentally, are not industry and environmentalists, or Republicans and Democrats," McKibben said. "At the very bottom, the two sides are physics and human beings. And that's an extremely tough negotiation, because physics doesn't care. We have no leverage on physics."

Climate scientists reported in February that just 2.5 degrees of warming would probably cause sea-level rise of 80 feet over a few thousand years, forcing the abandonment of New York, London and Shanghai. The impacts are already being felt: Rising seas regularly flood South Florida, and a football field's worth of Louisiana coastline is disappearing every 48 minutes, largely due to global warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is known for its conservative estimates, projects between one and three feet of global sea-level rise by the end of the century. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is less optimistic, saying the United States could experience 6.6 feet of sea-level rise by 2100. If the oceans rise just six feet, 13.1 million people in the United States would be displaced, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Georgia.

"It's our actions that we're doing now that are committing us to this very long-term future," said Peter Clark, an Oregon State University climate scientist, who led the study predicting long-term sea-level rise of 80 feet. "Do we want to be responsible for that type of Earth for the citizens at that time?"

The "keep it in the ground" activists don't want to be responsible. In Salt Lake City, the movement is led by Elders Rising, a group of seniors who hope to leave a livable planet for their grandchildren. They're old-school environmentalists, some of whom have been arrested for civil disobedience.

One of the group's founders, Jill Merritt, isn't optimistic about the future. Ask her what she sees on the horizon, and she'll tell you human beings are going to drive themselves to extinction.

Then why bother fighting, she was asked? Why work so hard to keep fossil fuels in the ground?

"What's the alternative for somebody who is serious about the immorality of all this?" she said. "If I'm alive, I have to do something."

President Obama has made climate change a top priority. It might not be enough.

At the Paris summit, Obama promised America would cut its carbon emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025. His administration has rolled out stricter fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, tens of billions of dollars in funding for renewable energy, and rules designed to limit methane leaks from oil and gas production. The centerpiece of his climate policy, the Clean Power Plan, would cut power-plant emissions by a third if it's upheld by the Supreme Court.

READ MORE: At Paris climate talks, nations looked to California

But while experts praise those efforts, they say the next president must do more — much more.

Even if every country meets its Paris commitments, global warming will still reach 3.6 degrees Celsius, one recent study found. Another analysis was more optimistic, projecting a best-case scenario of 2.7 degrees of warming — still significantly above the 2-degree threshold.

And the United States isn't even on track to meet its modest Paris commitment. A recent analysis by the Rhodium Group, a global research firm, found that even under the most optimistic assumptions — including faster-than-expected technological improvement — America will fall short.

"The gap is pretty wide, because we really need to limit warming to 1.5 degrees in order to give many countries and wildlife species and ecosystems a chance to survive," said Brune, the Sierra Club executive director. "We have a long way to go. And what the U.S. has committed to certainly won't get us there."

There's only so much a president can do on climate without action from Congress. Many climate experts have called for a carbon tax, or a market-based cap-and-trade system to give polluters a financial incentive to cut back. But those steps would require legislation, which would require 60 votes to clear a filibuster in the Senate. Even if Congress comes around in five or 10 years, it might be too late.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute and an adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is confident the world will transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. But he's not sure it will happen fast enough to avoid warming of 2 degrees Celsius.

"Will we do this? Absolutely. But will we do it in time? It's a very close call," he said. "I have no doubt that as the climate continues to become more unstable — as people begin to experience more shocks and disruptions all over the world — there will be a turn to decarbonization."

The transition is happening, fueled by the falling cost of solar panels and by government support for clean energy. For the first time, the world built more clean energy capacity than it did fossil fuel capacity in 2015, according to a United Nations report. Global investment in clean energy grew to $286 billion, more than double the investment in coal and natural gas, the report found.

READ MORE: How the solar industry scored big wins in California, Congress

It wasn't enough. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels skyrocketed past 400 parts per million last year, increasing faster than at any point during the last 66 million years, according to one study. The numbers are still rising, and they'll probably keep rising so long as power plants, cars, farms, residential and commercial buildings, and other sources keep spewing planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

"Every country needs to make a plan to decarbonize. Every country's going to have to do that as fast as possible, and the only exceptions should be the very, very poor countries," Sachs said. "They should be given the leg up, that those fossil fuels are ones that will continue to be used."

The "keep it in the ground" movement has its roots in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried high-polluting tar sands oil from Canada to Nebraska. When Obama rejected the pipeline in November, he borrowed the movement's language, saying, "If we’re going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground."

Even before Obama killed Keystone XL, the movement had started shining a spotlight on federal fossil fuels. In September, more than 400 groups and individuals sent a letter to the president, urging him to stop issuing new leases for coal, oil and gas on federal land and offshore waters.

"If we were serious about a world that was only going to be 1.5 or 2 degrees warmer — which would already be a disaster; 1 degree has already melted the Arctic — we can't build any new fossil fuel infrastructure at all," said McKibben, who helped launch the movement. "We've got to stop building pipelines. We've got to stop building coal transport facilities. We've got to stop here and around the world doing any of this stuff immediately."

About 32.2 million acres of federal land are already under lease for oil and gas exploration, with an additional 475,000 acres under lease for possible coal mining, according the most recent data from the federal Bureau of Land Management, which administers about 250 million acres of public land. Offshore, about 26 million acres of water are under lease for oil and gas development.

Critics say the federal fossil fuel program's biggest climate impacts could be yet to come. A report commissioned by two environmental groups — the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth — found last year that federal fossil fuels in areas that haven't yet been leased contain up to 450 gigatons of carbon pollution.

The impact of those emissions would be staggering. Researchers with the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a financial think tank, calculated in 2011 that to maintain an 80 percent chance of keeping global warming to 2 degrees, the world could emit just 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide — and that number has continued to shrink since then.

READ MORE: Climate change far more than an environmental issue

The 565-gigaton figure is just one estimate of the world's remaining "carbon budget." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculated in 2013 that humanity could emit another 1,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide, although that would give us just a two-thirds chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees.

Whatever the exact number, the situation is dire: Earth’s proven fossil fuel reserves contain at least 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide, according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative. That means companies can’t be allowed to burn the vast majority of the fossil fuels in their arsenals, let alone go looking for new reserves in places like the Arctic, said Sachs, the adviser to Ban Ki-moon.

"It's just arithmetic. If you measure all of the carbon dioxide that would be released if we burned all the coal, oil and gas in our reserves, we'd blow our carbon budget many, many times over," he said. "The companies, basically, cannot go on doing what they’re doing. Of course they don't like that message. It’s a blow to their capitalization. It strands their assets."

Obama gave the "keep it in the ground" movement a major victory in January, halting new coal leases while federal officials review the coal program's climate impacts. His administration also announced last month that it wouldn't open the southeast Atlantic coast to offshore oil and gas development, reversing an earlier decision that would have brought drilling to the region for the first time.

But Obama's Bureau of Land Management is still issuing onshore oil and gas leases, and his Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is moving forward with plans to lease offshore areas in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico.

Through a spokesperson, Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze declined to be interviewed for this story. In an emailed statement, he defended the Obama administration's record on climate change, pointing to the president's goal of approving 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity on public land by 2020. Federal officials have already approved 35 solar farms, 11 wind farms and 12 geothermal facilities, although it's not clear all of those projects will be built.

Obama has also set a goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. That initiative targets planet-warming methane gas that leaks or is intentionally released during the drilling and transport of oil and gas — not the carbon dioxide emitted when the gas is eventually burned.

SCORCHED EARTH: How climate change is altering the deserts of the Southwest

Kornze declined to answer a question about whether promoting oil and gas drilling is consistent with limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. In response to that question, Interior Department spokesperson Amanda DeGroff listed some of the administration's climate change successes, including cutting energy use and promoting the development of clean energy.

"The Department of the Interior is committed to safely and responsibly managing the development of oil and gas on public lands in a way that continues to meet our nation's energy needs while advancing renewable forms of energy," DeGroff said in an emailed statement. "Since the President took office, wind energy has tripled and solar has increased twenty-fold. Actions at home to facilitate this type of development show that we are serious about taking on the challenge of climate change and demonstrating leadership on the global stage."

Vaughn Lovejoy would probably have a lot to say to Kornze and Obama.

As president of the Salt Lake City chapter of the Audubon Society in the 1980s, Lovejoy worked to protect forests from development. He later went on a "vision quest" at Great Basin National Park, he said, which inspired him to leave the pharmaceuticals industry and spend 20 years as a volunteer coordinator for TreeUtah, which plants and cares for trees. He likes to talk about the importance of "transforming human consciousness" to encourage harmony with the natural world.

But Lovejoy said that until recently, he was in denial about the environmental degradation his generation has caused. That changed on Sept. 14, 2015, when his grandson Johnathon was born — incidentally, the day before the 400-signature "keep it in the ground" letter landed on Obama’s desk.

As he looked into his grandson's eyes, Lovejoy later wrote, "The last vestiges of my denial about the future of our world, the world he had just entered, shattered."

"Humanity is not coming close to making the fundamental changes necessary to save Earth from rising temperatures, melting glaciers, dying forests, rampaging wildfires, extreme weather events and the extinction of countless species," he wrote in November for Catalyst Magazine.

LOSING SNOW: What global warming means for water supplies

Sitting in his Salt Lake City living room on an overcast morning in February — the day before the auction he helped disrupt — Lovejoy explained why he helped found Elders Rising.

“My generation…we were the ones who came of age in the '60s. There was, for this period of time, this sense that we had of optimism — a vision that, number one, the world needed changing, and number two, by golly, we were going to do it," he said. "And now here we are, 40 years later. And during the course of our professional careers here on the planet, there's been more decimation done in the last 40 years than in all of human history."

Elders Rising made plans to protest the federal oil and gas auction, which was originally scheduled for November. But the Bureau of Land Management postponed the event at the last minute, saying its auction room wasn't big enough for all the activists who planned to attend. The agency rescheduled the auction for the Salt Palace Convention Center in February.

By February, Elders Rising had joined with a dozen other local and national groups to organize a protest. The morning of the auction, activists gathered outside the convention center in Salt Lake City, where they sang, raised signs and chatted with local TV reporters. Eventually, they unfurled a huge "KEEP IT IN THE GROUND" banner and marched into the auction room, chanting the whole way.

Before they went inside, Tim Ream — a San Francisco-based activist with the group WildEarth Guardians — made a speech to rally the troops. He noted that the United States has emitted more climate pollution than any other country. He said it's America’s responsibility to start limiting fossil fuel extraction, even if other countries don't follow suit right way.

"On our public lands — the coal, oil and gas that we own, the carbon that is ours, that we have political power over — we need to make that an example for the world by keeping it in the ground," Ream said, to cheers and applause. "Half of all the carbon in the United States is actually owned by us. We can actually shut it down."

The drama continued after the auction ended. In an unprecedented tactic for climate activists, Utah environmental writer Terry Tempest Williams submitted late bids for three pieces of land that hadn't drawn any interest from bidders at the auction, just in case a company later changed its mind and decided to lease them. The Bureau of Land Management still hasn't finalized the results of the auction, so it's unclear if anyone matched her late bids.

"It has deeply shaken my core as an American citizen to watch these beautiful, powerful public lands that are all of ours, and our inheritance, being sold for $2 an acre, $3 an acre," Tempest Williams said after the auction. "Two dollars an acre? That doesn't buy us a cup of coffee, and yet that's what we’re being told that America's lands are worth."

Critics of "keep it in the ground" say limiting fossil fuel extraction could cause energy prices to spike, or else force the United States to import more coal, oil and gas from overseas. The best and only way to curb climate change, they say, is a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, which would reduce demand for fossil fuels by making them more expensive than clean energy.

"If you don't address the demand side, the supply side won't come," said economist Frank Wolak, director of Stanford University's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development. "Everything we use, you name it, it has fossil fuels in it. That's the absurdity of this argument."

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, called those kinds of arguments "nonsense." The United States has more than enough fossil fuels at its disposal to keep the lights on as the country transitions to clean energy, he said, without the federal government opening up more leases.

"We are awash in oil and gas. Coal is dying. There's simply no reason to continue to let these extractive industries call the shots on public resources," Huffman said. "These fossil fuel deposits are under our federal lands and off our shores — they belong to the American people. They don't belong to Exxon or Shell or whatever extractive industry wants to profit from them."

EXTINCTION CRISIS: How climate change is intensifying threats to nature

Huffman introduced the Keep It in the Ground Act in the House of Representatives earlier this year, building on a similar bill that Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced in the Senate last year. Both bills would end new federal fossil fuel leases, and terminate existing leases that are not currently producing coal, oil or gas.

Huffman knows his legislation won’t pass, but he hopes to move the national conversation forward.

"This is an important way to tell members of Congress and the administration that a growing movement across the country wants to see them do the right thing," he said.

Sanders has promised he would end federal fossil fuel leasing. He has also called for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the drilling technique commonly known as fracking. Largely because of a fracking boom over the last decade, America has become the world's top oil and gas producer.

"To my mind, global climate change is the greatest threat facing the planet, and there is no question that this will be among my top priorities as president," Sanders said in a statement. "I believe we must aggressively move away from fossil fuels and toward a sustainable energy future by making huge new investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy."

Clinton told an activist earlier this year that ending fossil fuel extraction on federal land is "a done deal," although she didn't explain what exactly that means. Campaign spokesperson Jesse Ferguson told The Desert Sun that Clinton "will begin phasing down fossil fuel production on federal lands," and will "reform our current leasing program to ensure taxpayers get a fair deal and oppose offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean."

Clinton also wants the United States to generate enough renewable energy to power every home in the country by 2027, and to cut oil consumption by one-third over that time period.

The Desert Sun reached out to all three Republican presidential candidates to ask for their views on fossil fuel extraction. None of their campaigns responded to multiple requests for comment.

PUBLIC OPINION: Most Americans say climate is changing, humans to blame

Cruz’s views are the easiest to pin down. The Texas senator denies the world is getting warmer, and has called climate change a liberal plot to control "the economy, the energy sector and every aspect of our lives." He's introduced bills that would approve the Keystone XL pipeline, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and prohibit the federal government from regulating carbon emissions and fracking. He voted against a bipartisan compromise bill last year that ended the ban on crude oil exports, since it also extended tax credits for solar and wind energy.

Trump is more of a wild card. Like Cruz, he rejects the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, and he's criticized Obama's carbon regulations as economically disastrous. He's also slammed Obama for funding clean energy development. He once tweeted that Palm Springs had been "destroyed — absolutely destroyed — by the world's ugliest wind farm."

But the fossil fuel industry is wary of Trump, whose policy proposals are few and far between. The real estate mogul supported the extension of the wind tax credit last year, and he's criticized Cruz for receiving so much campaign funding from oil companies. The American Energy Alliance — a pro-fossil fuel lobby group with ties to the billionaire Koch brothers — says on its website that it would be "difficult at this time to determine if (Trump) would be a strong advocate for American families in the White House on this policy area."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich — who has little chance of winning the Republican nomination — acknowledges that the climate is changing, but says he isn't sure how big a role humans play. He criticized the Paris climate talks, saying Secretary of State John Kerry "should have gone (to Paris) to get our allies together to fight ISIS instead." He also signed a bill temporarily freezing Ohio’s clean energy mandate, although he later criticized state lawmakers for recommending the freeze be extended indefinitely.

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Asked which presidential candidate they prefer on climate, most "keep it in the ground" activists interviewed for this article chose Sanders. They pointed to his early opposition to Keystone XL, his aversion to corporate interests, and his willingness to talk about the ways that capitalism and income inequality could worsen the impacts of climate change on poor communities.

Clinton, on the other hand, had received $300,000 from oil and gas interests this election cycle as of late March, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. That was far less than Cruz's $1 million haul, but nearly three times as much as Kasich had received and 29 times as much as Trump had received. As secretary of state, Clinton aggressively promoted fracking overseas, urging governments to allow U.S. firms to drill for natural gas, even in the face of intense public opposition in some of those countries.

Another sticking point for climate activists: As secretary of state, Clinton said the Obama administration was "inclined" to approve Keystone XL. Later, as a presidential candidate, she came out against the pipeline. Similarly, she spent much of her tenure in the Cabinet negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that environmental groups say could undermine global climate efforts. As a presidential candidate, she announced her opposition to the final version of the deal.

"She could have easily said that the Keystone pipeline is not in our best interest, and so we shouldn't let them do that. And she didn't. In fact, she was really wish-washy about it," said Kathy Albury, who along with Lovejoy and Merritt co-founded Elders Rising in Salt Lake City.

Others climate advocates have taken Clinton's side. Huffman — the California congressperson who introduced the Keep It In the Ground Act — endorsed Clinton, saying she's gotten better on climate change during the presidential campaign.

"Secretary Clinton has been refreshingly strong on climate and clean energy. You can speculate that maybe Sen. Sanders — maybe the activism that he has brought to the race has helped move her," Huffman said. "Whatever the case, I like what she’s saying."

INTERACTIVE: Where the presidential candidates stand on climate

Even if the federal government were to stop issuing new oil and gas leases, the next steps for the "keep it in the ground" movement would be harder. Ending new leases is one thing; ending existing leases, not to mention fossil fuel extraction on private land, is another thing.

Ream, from WildEarth Guardians, has a few ideas for how to make that all happen. Federal officials could start by revoking existing leases that are not currently producing coal, oil or gas, he said. Then they could raise royalty rates on producing leases, so that the costs of drilling reflect the climate impacts of burning those fuels. Higher royalty rates would force companies to shut down a lot of wells and mines, Ream predicted.

"Fossil fuels are harming the public financially, and as soon as we do a proper accounting on them, everybody will realize that," he said. "We’re confident that will shut down the program."

Ream thinks that if the United States limits fossil fuel extraction, investors around the world will increasingly wonder whether coal, oil and gas are smart investments. Investors are already getting nervous: More than 500 institutions have collectively pledged to divest $3.4 trillion from fossil fuel companies, according to 350.org, an advocacy group. Some of those companies could face legal action, too: Several state attorneys general are investigating whether oil giant ExxonMobil deliberately misled investors and the public about the risks posed by climate change, by funding campaigns to raise doubts about climate science.

Limiting extraction is far from the only thing the next president can do to reduce emissions, experts say. Other steps could include continuing to tighten fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, cracking down on "short-lived climate pollutants" like methane and hydrofluorocarbons, and issuing new regulations to prompt more energy-efficient homes, businesses and appliances.

Mann, the Penn State climate scientist, said government support for clean energy is key. While solar power is getting cheaper every year, lobbyists backed by the fossil fuel industry continue to do "everything they can to subvert incentives for renewable energy at the state level," Mann said. Some of those lobbyists are funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who owe much of their fortune to fossil fuels.

"There are very powerful interests that are fighting this effort to transition to a renewable energy economy tooth and nail," Mann said. "It's going to be an ongoing battle, and the next president has to be vigilant, and has to be committed to fighting this battle."

"Keep it in the ground" supporter Kaitlin Butler, a Salt Lake City-based researcher with the Science and Environmental Health Network, thinks climate advocates can win that battle if they promote an "empowering" message. Her message of choice: that if we make good decisions today, we can improve the lives of our children, grandchildren and thousands more generations.

"Isn’t that what everyone wants to hear?" Butler asked. "That their life today, the decisions that they make, will matter."

Sammy Roth writes about energy and the environment for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.

Boarding school stories, underwater festival: News from around our ...

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Decatur: Abnormally dry weather in north Alabama may have ruined corn plantings and is damaging other crops. “The hot, dry weather has just hit the corn at the absolute worst time,” said Brady Peek, who farms approximately 1,800 acres in western Limestone County. “We’ll be lucky if we even have a corn crop. Yields are going to be significantly below average.” Ashley Ravenscraft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Huntsville, said portions of Lawrence and Morgan counties have been characterized as “abnormally dry” since June 21. In Limestone County, 60% of the county has been in a moderate drought since June 28. From June 21 through last Monday, Decatur received only 0.24 inch of rainfall, and Moulton had 0.53 inch, Ravenscraft said. Athens, she said, had 1.78 inches of rain in that span, but she attributed the higher number to pop-up showers the past several days. Ravenscraft said the average rainfall in July is 4.49 inches. “Typically, around this time of year you’re getting some kind of rainfall from either tropical systems or your summertime storms or a weaker disturbance that will come through and produce some rain. This is typically one of our wettest months out of the year,” she said.

Alaska

Sitka: A family had given up hope of finding their blind, elderly golden retriever who wandered away from their home three weeks ago, but a construction crew found Lulu in salmonberry bushes after initially confusing her for a bear. Lulu was barely alive after being found Tuesday, but she is being nursed back to health at home with her family, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reports. “She means everything,” owner Ted Kubacki said. “I have five daughters, and they’re 4 to 13 years old, so they’ve spent every day of their life with that dog.” The Kubacki family searched for weeks after Lulu wandered off June 18. “She’s just so helpless, and you kind of imagined that she can’t get real far because she can’t see,” he said. It didn’t help when the family was the subject of a terrible joke when someone claimed they found Lulu a few days into the search. “We put the kids to bed and got a text saying, ‘We found your dog,’ or ‘I have your dog,’ and we’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is incredible,’ ” he said. “Then the person texted me, ‘Just kidding.’ This happened, yeah; that was all part of this terrible story.” Once Lulu did make it back, Kubacki, a grocery store employee and sole provider for his family of seven, then worried about the veterinarian’s bill. But his fears were unfounded, as Sitka residents donated hundreds of dollars to cover Lulu’s recuperation bills.

Arizona

Phoenix: An attorney with the state attorney general’s office told a judge Friday that a 2021 “personhood” law that gives all legal rights to unborn children can’t be used to bring criminal charges against abortion providers. The comment from Assistant Solicitor General Kate Sawyer came during a hearing where attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and an abortion rights group representing abortion providers were seeking an injunction blocking the law. They said abortion providers are worried that prosecutors will bring charges for crimes like assault and child abuse under the law, which U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes declined to block last year. That decision came before the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that said women have a right to seek an abortion. The battle over Arizona’s “personhood” law – one of several in Republican-led states that aim to grant all rights to fetuses – is playing out despite all abortions being halted in the state. Arizona providers stopped providing the procedure because of concerns that a pre-1901 law that bans all abortions may now be enforceable, as Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich declared June 29. That law has been blocked since 1973, but Brnovich has vowed to go to court to remove that injunction.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Supporters of initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana and scale back casino gambling submitted thousands of signatures Friday in the hopes of getting their proposals on the Arkansas ballot. Friday was the deadline for groups to turn in the signatures needed to qualify for the November election. Proposed constitutional amendments need at least 89,151 valid signatures from registered voters. The proposal’s ballot title and popular name will also need to be approved by the state Board of Election Commissioners. More than 192,000 signatures were submitted for the recreational marijuana proposal to allow people age 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis. Arkansas voters in 2016 voted to legalize medical marijuana in the state. More than 103,000 signatures were submitted for the other proposed amendment to repeal part of a casino gambling amendment voters approved in 2018. The proposal would remove Pope County as one of the counties where a casino is allowed. Casinos have already been set up in the three other counties spelled out in the 2018 measure. State officials will check the petitions to determine whether enough valid signatures were submitted or if the groups qualify for an additional 30 days to collect signatures.

California

Yosemite National Park: A wildfire threatening the largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park more than doubled in size in a day, and firefighters were working in difficult terrain Sunday to protect the iconic trees and a small mountain town. Campers and residents near the blaze were evacuated, but the rest of the sprawling park in California remained open, though heavy smoke obscured scenic vistas and created unhealthy air quality. “Today it’s actually the smokiest that we’ve seen,” Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokesperson, said Sunday. “Up until this morning, the park has not been in that unhealthy category, but that is where we are now.” More than 500 mature sequoias were threatened in the famed Mariposa Grove, but there were no reports of severe damage to any named trees, including the 3,000-year-old Grizzly Giant. A sprinkler system set up within the grove kept the tree trunks moist, and officials were hopeful that the steady spray of water along with previous prescribed burns would be enough to keep flames at bay, Phillipe said. The cause of the Washburn Fire was under investigation. It had grown to nearly 2.5 square miles by Sunday morning, with no containment. Beyond the trees, the community of Wawona, which is surrounded by parkland, was under threat, with people ordered to leave late Friday.

Colorado

Denver: Gov. Jared Polis barred state agencies Wednesday from arresting or extraditing anyone seeking or providing reproductive care in Colorado, where the right to abortion was codified in state law this year. Polis issued an executive order that prohibits state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state civil or criminal investigations related to seeking, obtaining or providing reproductive health care – unless the alleged activity would be illegal in Colorado. The Democratic governor also ordered the Department of Regulatory Agencies to develop rules designed to protect licensed professional workers who could face disciplinary action or the loss of a professional license due to potential sanctions imposed by another state. Polis’ order comes as other liberal governors vow to fight out-of-state law enforcement actions following the Supreme Court’s June decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion. Polis also directed state agencies to work to “protect people and entities who are providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining reproductive health care in Colorado.” Colorado was the first U.S. state to decriminalize abortion in 1967, and Polis this year signed into law a bill codifying that right.

Connecticut

New Haven: The family of a Black man paralyzed when a police van without seat belts braked suddenly asked federal authorities Friday to file civil rights charges against the officers involved. The driver was taking Randy Cox, 36, to a police station in New Haven on June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when he braked hard to avoid a collision, police said, causing Cox to fly headfirst into the wall of the van. His family said he remains paralyzed from the chest down. Cox’s mother, two sisters and civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke before meeting with U.S. Department of Justice officials in New Haven on Friday, arguing that Cox’s constitutional rights were violated. “You ask yourself, was it cruel and unusual punishment to put him in the back of that police transportation van with no seat belt, knowing that if you’re speeding, if you slam on the brakes, that somebody is going to be seriously injured?” Crump said. Cox’s supporters say the police mocked his cries for help and accused him of being drunk. Video shows the officers dragged him by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell at the police department before paramedics finally took him to a hospital. Cox remains hospitalized and unable to speak because of his breathing tube. Hundreds of protesters led by Crump, members of Cox’s family and the local NAACP staged a march Friday evening in New Haven to the city’s police headquarters.

Delaware

Wilmington: A man convicted earlier this year of a felony hate crime for what authorities say was the persistent harassment of a Black female employee in Gov. John Carney’s office has been sentenced to four months in prison. Matthew Gregg will also be required to complete community service, anger management, and mental health and substance abuse counseling. The 27-year-old Hockessin man was arrested Dec. 10, 2020, on charges of harassment and terroristic threatening. According to court documents, Gregg called the receptionist in Carney’s office 160 times between Nov. 20 and Dec. 10, 2020. In those calls, Gregg targeted the woman with racist and sexist slurs, according to court documents. Gregg also threatened to kill the receptionist and throw a brick at the governor’s head, according to the Department of Justice’s sentencing memorandum. Deputy Attorney General Nicole Mozee wrote that Gregg was upset about COVID-19 mandates Carney put in place but that none of his calls to the governor’s secretary actually protested those mandates. The Department of Justice argued that not sentencing Gregg to time in prison would unduly depreciate “the severity of the offense.”

District of Columbia

Washington: Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that $2 million will be invested in order to improve the quality of school breakfast in D.C., WUSA-TV reports. Additionally, there will be an expansion of schools participating in the school breakfast program with 104 public and public charter schools across the district, according to a press release. State Superintendent Christina Grant said not every eligible food-insecure student participates in the program. “We are excited to support schools in increasing student participation in the school breakfast program, leading to increases in health and academic outcomes,” Grant said. Nearly 18 local education agencies that serve students from pre-K through 12th grade and have a population where at least 75% have eligibility for free or reduced-price meals were awarded school breakfast grant funds from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. “With this investment, we can support more families, get more students connected to the student breakfast program and build healthier classrooms and communities,” Bowser said.

Florida

Big Pine Key: They weren’t in a “Yellow Submarine,” but hundreds of people spent time below the waves Saturday for a music festival off the Florida Keys. The Beatles hit and other ocean-themed songs like the theme to “The Little Mermaid” were part of the entertainment during the Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival. The divers and snorkelers, many dressed as mermaids and sea creatures, enjoyed music played through waterproof speakers dangling from boats floating above the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The festival took place at Looe Key Reef, about 6 miles from Big Pine Key. The event at the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef raised awareness on how divers can protect the reef by not touching corals or leaving litter underwater, using mooring buoys instead of anchoring when boating, respecting dive flags, and other ways of minimizing environmental impacts. Participants swam among marine life and coral formations and described the music as ethereal, a bit muted, but emanating from all directions.

Georgia

Atlanta: The state could have more than $5 billion in surplus revenue after the just-concluded budget year, following another big month for tax collections in June. The state Revenue Department announced Friday that it collected more than $33 billion in taxes in the year ended June 30, up 23% from about $27 billion the year before. Georgia planned to spend more than $54 billion in the just-ended budget year, including federal money, lottery proceeds, and other fees and taxes that state agencies collect. Lawmakers boosted that number by $4.5 billion during a midyear budget revision that included bonus payments and pay raises for state employees and teachers but will still substantially undershoot total revenue for the year. Final numbers won’t be clear until the state closes it books on the budget year, which usually happens around Labor Day. The bulging bank account could allow the state to further cut taxes or expand services. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has already extended a temporary waiver on gas taxes through the middle of August, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has been calling on Kemp to extend the gas tax holiday through the end of the year. Kemp can make that move as long as lawmakers later ratify it.

Hawaii

Honolulu: The governor ordered the U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff to honor former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, calling the assassinated ex-leader a friend of the islands. Because flags were already at half-staff honoring victims of an Independence Day parade shooting near Chicago, Hawaii Gov. David Ige said the flags would be lowered in Abe’s memory from sunrise to sunset Sunday. Abe, 67, was assassinated on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech – an attack in a nation with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. Police at the shooting scene arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan’s navy, on suspicion of murder. “This senseless act of violence has taken the life of a true friend of Hawaii,” Ige said in a statement. “In our multiple meetings, we shared stories of our past, embraced our common culture, and continued the quest for reconciliation and partnership that has developed between the United States and Japan.” Ige’s flag order applies to the Hawaii State Capitol, state offices and agencies, and the Hawaii National Guard.

Idaho

Boise: A site targeted with antisemitic vandalism last month is now slated to get a mural supporting human rights. Boise Parks and Recreation Director said the city’s Department of Arts & History would be tasked with handling the mural in a tunnel next to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, the Idaho Press reports. The graffiti left on the site in December was part of a string of antisemitic incidents in the city in recent years, according to the newspaper.

Illinois

Wheaton: A former suburban Chicago man sought for 22 years after fleeing the country to avoid trial on a charge of concealing a homicide has been captured and returned to DuPage County, prosecutors said Friday. Romulo Mendoza, 46, was arrested last month trying to reenter the U.S. on the southern border, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said without specifying the location. He appeared Thursday before a judge, who set his bond at $1 million. On Feb. 4, 2000, Mendoza and two roommates, Carmelino Gomez and Pedro Garcia, were allegedly drinking alcohol in their Bensenville home and began arguing over an electricity bill. Gomez grabbed Garcia from behind and put his arm around his neck, killing him, authorities said at the time. Gomez and Mendoza allegedly then loaded the body in a car and dumped it at a rural location, where a passerby discovered it the next day. The two were arrested two days later. After posting $2,000 bond on May 31, 2000, Mendoza failed to appear for his next court date. Gomez pleaded guilty in September 2000 to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Indiana

Indianapolis: A federal judge has allowed an Indiana law largely banning a second-trimester abortion procedure to take effect following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Judge Sarah Evans Barker’s order signed Thursday lifted the injunction she issued in 2019 blocking the state law against the dilation and evacuation abortions. The law took effect immediately, according to the state attorney general’s office, and is the first tightening of Indiana’s anti-abortion laws since the Supreme Court decision. Indiana could have more sweeping abortion restrictions by next month, as the Republican-dominated Legislature is scheduled to begin a special legislative session on July 25. Barker granted a request from the Indiana attorney general’s office to lift her order, writing that the Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning the 1973 landmark ruling that made abortion legal nationwide removed the “linchpin holdings” for her analysis. The Republican-backed legislation prohibits doctors from performing what it calls “dismemberment abortion” except to prevent serious health risk or save the woman’s life. A doctor violating the law could face a felony charge, punishable by up to six years in prison.

Iowa

Des Moines: Two police officers are taking the unusual move of suing six people who participated in a 2020 protest in Des Moines after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, accusing them of assault. All six people were arrested during the July 1, 2020, protest, and five already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of assault on a police officer and/or interference with official acts. One of them, Indira Sheumaker, was later elected to the Des Moines City Council. The lawsuit, first reported by Axios Des Moines, was filed by Peter Wilson and Jeffrey George as individuals and not as representatives of the Des Moines Police Department. They are seeking an unspecified amount for actual and punitive damages. It will likely be met with skepticism by the court, said Robert Bloom, a professor at Boston College Law School, who noted that the claims of assault and battery appear to be applying criminal complaints to a civil action. Experts also note that Iowa is among several states that have adopted what’s known as the “fireman’s rule,” which holds that firefighting and policing are inherently dangerous jobs and generally bars emergency responders from suing or collecting damages for injuries that occur in the course of their duties.

Kansas

Topeka: A gubernatorial drought declaration covers the entire state, and for the first time, the 2022 annual Kansas Water Authority report acknowledged the role of climate change while recommending mitigation and adaptation strategies. Internationally, climate scientists warn of a “code red for humanity.” As farmers harvest a drought-ravaged wheat crop after a heat wave killed cattle, discussion of what governments can do to help remain divided over the role of climate change. Bipartisan support exists for adapting to persistent droughts, water shortages and wildfires, but there is less appetite to make mitigating climate change central to the government response. In Topeka, the Legislature authorized a special water committee to meet in the coming months. The move comes after an overhaul of the state government’s approach to water issues was watered down. The Kansas wheat harvest is more than halfway done, USDA reports show, putting it ahead of schedule. Wheat farmers expect a largely drought-induced drop in yield of 100 million bushels, equating to more than $1 billion in lost production. An abnormally dry winter and spring meant much of the state’s what crop did not get the precipitation it needed. More recent rains in May and June came too late for most fields to make a difference.

Kentucky

Barbourville: A school district has banned middle and high school students from using backpacks, saying the move is meant to address safety concerns. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Knox County Schools will implement the policy when students return to school in August. School spokesperson Frank Shelton says the policy will prevent students from using a bag to conceal items. “That is one less method that a student has to bring something into the building,” Shelton said. “With school safety on the minds of many due to recent school and public gathering shootings, we hope that our students and families see this as one more measure we are taking to protect students.” The policy will not apply to elementary school students.

Louisiana

New Orleans: The state can now enforce its ban on almost all abortions under a judge’s order issued Friday amid a flurry of court challenges to state “trigger” laws crafted to take effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The decision came the same day President Joe Biden issued an executive order to protect access to abortion in states where it is still legal and mitigate the potential penalties women seeking the procedure may face after the high court’s ruling June 24. Days after the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana District Judge Robin Giarrusso issued a temporary restraining order banning enforcement of the state legislation in response to a lawsuit filed by a north Louisiana abortion clinic and others. State District Judge Ethel Julien said Friday that she did not have the authority to extend the restraining order because she had concluded the suit should not have been filed in her court. She said the suit’s claims that provisions in the law are unconstitutionally vague and inconsistent are matters involving legislation and therefore should be heard in state court in the capital, Baton Rouge. The ruling was a victory for Attorney General Jeff Landry and lawyers for the state, who argued that the lawsuit had been improperly filed in New Orleans.

Maine

Portland: The federal government hasn’t done enough to protect a rare species of whale from lethal entanglement in lobster fishing gear, and new rules are needed to protect the species from extinction, a judge has ruled. The government has violated both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act by failing to protect the North Atlantic right whale, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Friday. The whales number less than 340 in the world and have been declining rapidly in population in recent years. Boasberg’s ruling was a victory for conservation groups that have long sought to save the whale and a new challenge for lobster fishermen who have fought back against tightening restrictions on where and how they can fish. Boasberg ruled that the court’s findings “do not dictate that it must immediately shutter the American lobster fishery” but instead said the parties must propose potential remedies to the threat faced by whales. The ruling “may seem a severe result for the lobster industry” and the government, but no one “operates free from the strict requirements imposed by the MMPA and ESA,” Boasberg wrote. Environmental groups celebrated the ruling, while some members of the fishing industry took a more measured approach.

Maryland

Frederick: The U.S. Army says it is making progress in the long-running effort to address groundwater contamination at part of Fort Detrick that was used as a test site for the Army’s biological warfare program. The Army has been studying the groundwater problems on and around the “Area B” portion of the Maryland base for over a decade. Joseph Gortva, chief of Fort Detrick’s Environmental Management Division, recently told the Frederick News-Post he is “cautiously optimistic” the Army will complete field work at the site within the next two years. It will likely take another year or two beyond that for officials to finish a report summarizing what they’ve learned, the newspaper reports. Then the Army would move to the “feasibility study” phase of the cleanup. That would involve evaluating potential methods of addressing the contamination. The cleanup process for the site’s groundwater has been in the “remedial investigation” phase since 2010, the newspaper reports. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Area B groundwater as a Superfund site. Most drinking water wells near Fort Detrick have been closed, according to the newspaper.

Massachusetts

Nantucket: A fire ripped through a historic landmark on Nantucket on Saturday morning, leaving the centuries-old structure heavily damaged. Firefighters battled the blaze that tore through the Veranda House inn, which dates back to the late 17th century. The inn is located in downtown Nantucket. Multiple firefighters from around the Cape Cod area headed to the island to help battle the flames, the Yarmouth Fire Department said on Facebook. Firefighters were still working to suppress the fire as of noon Saturday, Nantucket police tweeted. People were urged to avoid the area. Massachusetts State Police sent troopers to assist Nantucket authorities with the investigation, David Procopio, a state police spokesperson, told The Boston Globe. Photos and videos posted online showed smoke billowing into the sky above the downtown area. About 185 customers were without power because of the fire at about 8:45 a.m., according to National Grid. All but seven had their power restored by 11 a.m. The inn, which was built in the late 1600s, boasts 18 rooms and suites, according to its website.

Michigan

Sturgis: Production of baby formula has resumed at the Abbott Nutrition factory whose February shutdown over contamination contributed to a national shortage, a company spokesman said. Damage from severe thunderstorms including flooding had forced the Sturgis plant to halt operations in mid-June, just two weeks after restarting production with additional sanitizing and safety protocols. Production of EleCare, a specialty formula for infants with severe food allergies and digestive problems, was restored at Sturgis following a July 1 reboot, said Abbott spokesman John Koval. “We are working to restart Similac production as soon as we can. We’ll provide more information when we have it,” he said via email. Abbott recalled several leading brands of formula in February, including Similac. That squeezed supplies already been strained by supply chain disruptions and stockpiling during COVID-19 shutdowns. The shortage was most dire for children with allergies, digestive problems and metabolic disorders who rely on specialty formulas. President Joe Biden’s administration has since eased import rules for foreign manufacturers, airlifted formula from Europe and invoked federal emergency rules to prioritize U.S. production.

Minnesota

Duluth: A program that allows people to cross into remote areas of Canada without reporting to border officials is expected to resume in the coming days. The Canada Border Services Agency told Minnesota Public Radio News that it has notified stakeholders that the program will restart soon and that the reopening date will be posted on its website once it has been confirmed. Resuming the program that was suspended in May 2020 as COVID-19 took hold will provide an economic boost to resorts and businesses in northern Minnesota, including those that offer canoe trips into Quetico Provincial Park. The park’s website said that the program was set to resume Friday and that the Canadian border agency would begin to accept applications in the coming weeks. The suspension of the remote permits for more than two years has had “a huge impact on us and the Boundary Waters,” said Mike Prom, co-owner of Voyageur Canoe Outfitters at the end of the Gunflint Trail. It will likely be a few weeks before canoeists begin crossing the border into Quetico, Prom said, since it typically takes about three weeks to receive the permits in the mail. He said travelers may also be able to drive to the border to get permits.

Mississippi

Jackson: A man has been indicted on a murder charge a year after a former legislator was shot to death while she was doing yard work in a rural area where her sister-in-law had died. Republican former state Rep. Ashley Henley, 40, was killed in June 2021 outside the burned-out mobile home where her sister-in-law, Kristina Michelle Jones, was found dead in December 2020. Henley and other relatives contended Yalobusha County authorities were doing too little to examine possible criminal charges in Jones’ death. Relatives erected a homemade sign at the site with photos of Jones under the phrase “I was murdered.” Yalobusha County coroner Ronnie Stark said Henley had been mowing grass at the home site before she was killed. A man who had lived near Jones, Billy Lamar Brooks, was indicted in February on a charge of maliciously setting fire to the home of Jones and Terry Henley. Court records show that on June 30, a grand jury filed a new indictment against Brooks to add a murder charge in the death of Ashley Henley. The Associated Press reached Brooks’ attorney, Bradley Peeples, by phone Saturday, and he declined to comment on the case. Court records show Brooks made a court appearance Thursday, and Circuit Judge Smith Murphey set his bond at $250,000.

Missouri

St. Louis: The city’s Board of Aldermen has given initial approval to creating a $1 million fund to help St. Louis women get abortions in other states in the wake of a near-total state abortion ban that went into effect June 24. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the measure passed Friday would allocate federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for transportation, child care and other logistical help for women who travel to states where abortion remains legal. A vote on final passage is set for this week. Alderman Joe Vaccaro opposed the plan and called it a political stunt that will tie up some of the city’s pandemic aid funds in a lengthy court fight. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt already has said he will sue to try to block the measure and one proposed in Kansas City to use city employee health insurance to help with employee travel for out-of-state abortions. Schmitt, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Roy Blunt, said the St. Louis ordinance would violate a state law barring public money from being used to perform or assist an abortion not needed to save the life of the mother. Supporters say the money would only be used to provide access to abortion.

Montana

Yellowstone National Park: It could take three to five years to replace roads damaged by flooding last month in Yellowstone National Park, but temporary fixes are expected to be in place within months, park Superintendent Cam Sholly said Friday. Sholly spoke after surveying damaged areas of the nation’s first national park with U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The flooding prompted the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from the park and prompted its temporary closure. Parts of Yellowstone and two of its five entrances remain closed. Haaland also met with Gov. Greg Gianforte to tour flood damage in Gardiner, Montana. The town is a gateway to Yellowstone and dependent on its tourism but was cut off when the road into the park washed out in flooding that began June 12. A temporary road from Gardiner to the park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs has been built for essential travel and some guided tours. It potentially could be opened to visitors before winter, park officials said. A similar temporary fix is planned for washed out roadway at the park’s northeast gate near Cooke City, Montana. Federal officials have offered $50 million in emergency funding for the work.

Nebraska

Kearney: Republicans fired their longtime party chairman at a tumultuous state convention that highlighted divisions within the party driven by activists who support ex-President Donald Trump and want to take the party further to the right. After convention delegates voted to remove Chairman Dan Welch on Saturday, most of the other state party leaders resigned, including Executive Director Taylor Gage, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Republicans were sharply divided during this spring’s gubernatorial primary battle between two conservative candidates: the eventual winner, Jim Pillen, and businessman Charles Herbster, who was endorsed by Trump. The race to replace Gov. Pete Ricketts, who couldn’t run because of term limits, became more controversial after eight young women accused Herbster of groping them. Herbster denied the allegations, describing them as a politically motivated attack. He filed a defamation lawsuit against one of his accusers, state Sen. Julie Slama, who responded with a lawsuit of her own accusing Herbster of sexual battery. Herbster has refused to endorse Pillen, who is still expected to win in November over Democratic state Sen. Carol Blood because the state strongly favors Republicans.

Nevada

Carson City: A couple was found secretly keeping a cache of weapons and living with their two kids at a children’s museum where they worked, authorities said. A janitor at the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada was arrested late last week, KRNV-TV in Reno reports. The 41-year-old man has been charged with child neglect and endangerment and possession of a suppressor and a short-barrel rifle. Authorities discovered the arsenal in a storage room, they said. A police report listed an AK-47 rifle, three handguns, a pistol, ammunition, knives and a Taser that could have been reached by a child. The stash also included drug paraphernalia like a bong and a used marijuana joint. Officials realized the family was living in the museum after the man’s 2-year-old child was spotted walking nearby unsupervised, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office said. It was not the first time police interacted with the man over his child being left alone. But this time, the toddler’s older sister gave deputies the museum as their address. Authorities, along with a museum board member, then walked through the property and saw signs people had been living there. Sleeping bags, mattresses, clothes and food were among the items found in areas off-limits to visitors, the sheriff’s office said.

New Hampshire

Portsmouth: Joseph Raymond Goulet, a veteran who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on D-Day, has died. The New Hampshire resident died July 4. He was 99. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to parents who emigrated from Canada, Goulet voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, according to an obituary. His math and organizational skills led him to the Army Service Forces – now the Army Quartermaster Corps. When Army officials realized that Goulet spoke and read French fluently, he was sent to the Army’s 1st Infantry Division to use those language skills to connect with local French leaders and help open routes to the Army’s objectives inland following the invasion. On June 6, 1944, he landed with the first wave of the 1st Infantry Division at Omaha Beach but never ended up having to use his French language skills. During the rapid advance toward Germany, Goulet drove trucks loaded with fuel, ammunition and other needed supplies to the advancing front lines. He became part of what became known as the “Red-Ball Express,” which ran truck convoys nonstop regardless of the enemy, the weather or other obstacles. After the war, he worked at several jobs in the electrical supply industry before retiring and relocating permanently to New Hampshire.

New Jersey

Trenton: The New Jersey Economic Developmental Authority announced Friday that it will allocate $17.5million in grants to 30 nonprofits across the state to support restaurants and families through the latest phase of its Sustain and Serve NJ program. The program, launched in December 2020, offers grant funding to nonprofit organizations who purchase meals from New Jersey restaurants that have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organizations then distribute these meals at no cost to those in need to help address food insecurity across the state. The program has allocated $52.5 million over three phases to eligible organizations that have purchased more than 3.5 million meals from more than 400 restaurants from every county in New Jersey, according to the press release. Gov. Phil Murphy allocated $10 million from the federal American Rescue Plan and about $7.5 million from the state to fund Phase 3 of the program. To be eligible for the Phase 3 grant, applicants must be a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(19) nonprofit organization that demonstrates the capacity to purchase at least 1,500 meals meals in bulk costing at least $25,000 from New Jersey restaurants. They also must demonstrate increased costs during the pandemic, among other criteria to be eligible for the funding.

New Mexico

Farmington: Months after the withdrawal of legislation that proposed the Navajo Nation recognize marriage equality through repealing and amending tribal laws, a new bill is bringing back that recommendation. The legislation seeks to end the ban on same-sex marriage under the Diné Marriage Act and repeal the section of the Navajo Nation Council resolution from 2005 that forbids couples of the same gender from marrying on tribal land or having their marriage recognized. The bill also proposes to amend other provisions in tribal law to conform with the repeal, including those that address spousal rights to property and employee benefits under the tribal government. Delegate Eugene Tso recently introduced the legislation. It is now eligible for consideration by four standing committees, then the Navajo Nation Council. Tso sponsored the previous bill but abruptly withdrew his sponsorship in April, citing the need to retool the legislation amid mixed reaction from delegates and the public. In an interview July 1, Tso said he wants the bill to go to the council at the summer session.

New York

Albany: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo improperly used state resources for a book he received $5.1 million to write, according to a report by a law firm. New York’s soon-to-be-disbanded ethics commission, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, voted Thursday to make the report public. It had sought the investigation by the law firm to learn more about how the book deal was approved and the role played by the commission itself. The report says the ethics commission failed to assert itself as a watchdog agency against the governor and should have asked for more information from Cuomo’s office. Cuomo had already written 70,000 words of what was expected to be an 80,000-word book before he submitted a request seeking approval by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics for the book in 2020. That meant Cuomo wrote and publicized the book at a time when it interfered with his responsibilities as a governor leading the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said. In December, the commission ordered Cuomo to turn over money from his book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Cuomo has filed a lawsuit accusing the commission of violating his rights and showing bias against him.

North Carolina

Raleigh: The state Supreme Court will accelerate appeals over the constitutionality of a law that gave adults with child sexual abuse claims another two years to seek civil damages. A majority of justices agreed last week to hear the case of three former Gaston County student-athletes who are suing a coach who was convicted of crimes against team members, as well as the county school board, rather than let the intermediate-level Court of Appeals rule first. A divided panel of three trial judges dismissed the lawsuit last December, ruling unconstitutional a portion of the law that revived for two years only – 2020 and 2021 – the ability of someone otherwise too late to sue for child sexual abuse claims. Before the 2019 law called the SAFE Act, such abuse victims effectively had until age 21 to file such a lawsuit. The plaintiffs appealed. In a 4-3 decision announced Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided the case should bypass the Court of Appeals. The court’s registered Democrats composed the majority. Chief Justice Paul Newby, writing a dissent for the three Republican justices, said they would have allowed Court of Appeals review first and lamented that multiple bypass motions have been allowed by the court over the past few months in other cases.

North Dakota

Bismarck: Dozens of teachers from around the state got a cultural education from American Indian tribes last week. More than 250 educators attended the North Dakota Indian Education Summit on Thursday and Friday at the Capitol in Bismarck, where they participated in breakout sessions and took in cultural presentations, such as Native American dancing in traditional regalia. Some of the breakout sessions included teaching Indigenous culture successfully in today’s schools and implementing Native American topics into schools’ curriculum. “I think it’s important that we learn about the diversity of our students and have a better understanding of where they’re coming from and gain the knowledge they have so much to give back to us as educators,” said teacher Tami Hauglie. One of the summit’s objectives is to unify the education system in North Dakota to bring different cultures together, organizers said. Courtney Davis Souvannasacd, an outreach coordinator with the National Resource Center on Native American Aging at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, told KFYR-TV it wasn’t until later in her life that she was exposed to cultural ceremonies. “And so I still I have a lot to learn,” she said. “And I’m just happy that my children are able to experience that new environment that is open, welcoming, and inclusive of that where I try to chip away at obstacles or barriers that might be in the way, and it’s not always easy.”

Ohio

Cincinnati: A former Cincinnati City Council member was convicted Friday of federal charges of bribery and attempted extortion but was acquitted on four other counts. Democrat P.G. Sittenfeld, 37, had maintained his innocence against allegations that he agreed to accept $40,000 in payments to his political action committee to “deliver the votes” in the City Council for a proposed downtown real estate development. He had been considered a top contender to run for mayor before he was indicted in November 2020. “We’re obviously very disappointed; that’s about all I can say right now,” Charlie Rittgers, Sittenfeld’s attorney, said as he left the courthouse. “P.G., well he’s crushed. He’s crushed.” It’s not yet known if Sittenfeld will appeal the verdict or what type of sentence he’s facing. The jury got the case Wednesday afternoon and deliberated more than 12 hours over three days before reaching its mixed verdict. Sittenfeld was found guilty of single counts of bribery and attempted extortion but was acquitted of two counts of honest services wire fraud and single counts of attempted bribery and extortion. Sittenfeld dipped his head and slumped forward in his seat after hearing the verdict, while his wife and at least one other woman in the packed courtroom started to cry.

Oklahoma

Anadarko: Native American tribal elders who were once students at federal Indian boarding schools testified Saturday about the hardships they endured, including beatings, whippings, sexual assaults, forced haircuts and painful nicknames. “I still feel that pain,” said 84-year-old Donald Neconie, a former U.S. Marine and member of the Kiowa Tribe who once attended the Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. “I will never, ever forgive this school for what they did to me. It may be good now. But it wasn’t back then.” As the elders spoke, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, herself a Laguna Pueblo from New Mexico and the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, listened quietly. The event at the Riverside Indian School, which still operates today but with a vastly different mission, was the first stop on a yearlong nationwide tour to hear about the painful experiences of Native Americans who were sent to the government-backed boarding schools. Although most closed their doors long ago, and none still exist to strip students of their identities, some still function as schools, albeit with drastically different missions that celebrate the cultural backgrounds of their Native students. Among them is Riverside, one of oldest, which opened in 1871.

Oregon

Salem: Backers of a proposed initiative that would require people to secure permits to buy firearms say concern about recent mass shootings have buoyed their effort, and they have enough signatures to place it on the November ballot. The Rev. Mark Knutson, a chief petitioner of the initiative, delivered signatures Friday afternoon to the Oregon secretary of state’s office in Salem, accompanied by students and other volunteers. Election officials, who work under Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, will verify that the signatures are from registered voters. Proponents of the measure say they’ve seen surging interest in the possible November ballot question following recent mass shootings, and they hope the move to put the gun issue before voters catches fire in other states. “Let’s go across the nation and go from grief and despair and mourning,” Knutson said. “We just need to take action. If people are afraid, if neighbors are being shot, if our children are in fear – if we don’t take action, what are we doing?” The initiative supporters needed to deliver at least 112,080 registered voters’ signatures by the Friday deadline to get on the ballot, Knutson said. Proponents say they delivered 161,545 signatures. It would ban large-capacity magazines over 10 rounds – except for current owners, law enforcement and the military – and require a permit to purchase any gun. The state police would create a firearms database.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday rejected three bills passed by the Republican-majority Legislature, vetoing measures regarding transgender athletes in school sports and poll watchers. He also struck down the Human Services Code, blowing a hole in the state budget as lawmakers were trying to finish the annual flurry of votes that accompany the annual spending plan. Wolf had previously warned he would strike down the bill to prohibit transgender athletes from playing sports that align with their gender identity. In his veto message, he said the bill would have “a devastating impact on a vulnerable population already at greater risk of bullying and depression.” He also vetoed a bill – sponsored by Franklin County Sen. Doug Mastriano, the GOP’s nominee for governor – to let all registered voters of Pennsylvania serve as poll watchers in any precinct in the state. “This bill does nothing to increase access to voting,” he wrote. “Instead, this bill undermines the integrity of our election process and encourages voter intimidation.” Wolf’s third veto was based on a provision in the Human Service Code that would have prohibited a state agency from contracting with a vendor of financial management services.

Rhode Island

Providence: A national women’s rights organization is fighting back against the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling through federal court in the state. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust has filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to recognize the Equal Rights Amendment as a valid and enforceable 28th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, thus affirming women’s equal rights under the law. “We hope that the little state of Rhode Island will make the biggest decision in the history of women’s rights. The timing has never been more urgent,” said Wendy Murphy, a longtime ERA strategist who works with the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust. The lawsuit is one of three the organization filed after the Supreme Court’s draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked. The group, named for Stanton, a leading women’s rights activist in the 1800s, filed similar lawsuits in Michigan and New York, all with the aim of getting the courts to establish equal protection under the law regardless of sex. “The goal of the lawsuit is to get the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution,” said Murphy, a co-director of the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Project at New England Law.

South Carolina

Greenville: Pastor John Gray of Relentless Church was hospitalized Thursday night with a saddle pulmonary embolism, according an Instagram post by Gray’s wife, Aventer Gray. “My family and I stand in need of a miracle,” Aventer Gray wrote in her post. A saddle pulmonary embolism is a rare type of blockage of an artery in the lungs that can be life-threatening, according to the National Library of Medicine. “To place this in perspective,” Aventer Gray posted, “the doctor said that people have come into the hospital dead with this exact scenario (John) walked in with.” Along with the embolism, Aventer Gray wrote that more blood clots were also found in her husband’s lungs. She wrote that he will need to undergo two types of surgery due to the pressure on his heart. John Gray came to Greenville in 2018 from Houston, Texas, where he served as an associate pastor under megachurch leader Joel Osteen. Gray took over the Redemption Church congregation and buildings and rebranded the church as Relentless Church when Redemption pastor Ron Carpenter announced he was moving his ministry to California. The post sparked an outpouring of support from members of Gray’s congregation, other faith leaders and celebrities alike.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Skateboarders and their fans dropped into downtown Sioux Falls for the national skateboard festival Innoskate over the weekend. Innoskate, created in 2013 by USA Skateboarding and the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, celebrates the intersection of invention and creativity in skate culture, according to the Smithsonian. Crowdgoers were treated to panels during Saturday’s activities on Native American skateboarding culture on the Pine Ridge Reservation, what diversity and inclusion looks like in skateboarding, and discussions about skateboarding in the Olympics. There were also trick competitions and skateboard workshops. “Pine Ridge is literally the mecca of skateboarding,” said Kyle Mesteth, 36, who founded the Ground Control Skate Park on the reservation. “You could just travel within an hour and hit four skate parks.” Mesteth spoke about how important skateboarding has become on the reservation and how he has watched it grow since he started skateboarding in the mid-1990s. One of the first skateparks on the reservation, the Toby Eagle Bull Memorial Wounded Knee Skate Park, opened in 2011. “We see a very bright future for our skaters because of the skate park,” he said. “We see results because of it.”

Tennessee

Memphis: The city’s hospitality and tourism industry experienced a bounce-back last year, with the hotel occupancy rate and total visitors returning to near pre-pandemic figures, according to Memphis Tourism’s annual report. The nonprofit organization often touts 2019 as a record year for the local industry. Then in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered that promising trajectory for hospitality and tourism due to restrictions that decreased national and international visitation. In addition to the usual tourist draws like Graceland and the National Civil Rights Museum, 2021 also saw the return of a scaled-back Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. While COVID-19 restrictions remained in place for large parts of 2021, the availability of vaccines and loosening of local restrictions, along with other factors, saw the optimism from the end of 2019 return for those in hospitality and tourism. “Everybody saw the dramatic impact and how important the visitor economy is to a community,” Memphis Tourism CEO Kevin Kane said. “Everybody is really anxious to get that back as soon as they can.” More than 4.1 million hotel rooms were sold in Shelby County, or about 93% of the total hotel demand from 2019. Memphis outpaced the national average by about 5%.

Texas

Uvalde: The mayor on Friday disputed a new report that alleges authorities missed chances to quickly end the massacre at an elementary school, again reflecting the lack of definitive answers about the slow law enforcement response to one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history. Mayor Don McLaughlin said that no Uvalde police officer saw the gunman outside Robb Elementary School before he went inside and that none of them had an opportunity to fire on the shooter. His comments contradict a critique of the decision-making by law enforcement that was released last week by tactical response experts at Texas State University. The differing accounts and public rebuke of the report reiterated how, more than six weeks after the May 24 shooting, questions remain about how and why police armed with rifles and bulletproof shields waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman in a fourth grade classroom where 21 people were killed, including 19 children. It also widened a rift between Uvalde officials and the state, particularly the Texas Department of Public Safety, which had troopers on the scene and has directed much of the blame to the local school district police chief.

Utah

St. George: The city, already a draw for outdoors enthusiasts, is opening a new trail this week, and officials say they expect it could help fight crime, too. The Temple Springs Trail, which will connect 700 East to Red Hills Parkway along the cliffside on the north end of the central part of the city, is set for an official opening Wednesday. The trail is open to pedestrians and cyclists and adds to the city’s growing network of multiuse trails. This particular trail was not initially in the city master plan but was later approved by the City Council after it was picked as a potential location, said Joe Nelson, the city’s parks and planning landscape architect. The project was brought to the city’s attention by the St. George Police Department, which had dealt with crime and homelessness in the area, Nelson said. “It was a kind of magnet for homeless camps and just kind of crime,” Nelson said. “It was a kind of a hot spot for that. The police had a really hard time getting into the site to surveil it, and so they were the ones that actually said, ‘Hey, we need to clean up this site and put a trail through it so we can have eyes on the site.’ ” A grand opening will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Parking will be available east of the water tank in two parking lots, and biking is also encouraged.

Vermont

Burlington: A 21-year-old man died after he was shot in the head, police said Friday, as the city contends with an increase in gun violence in recent years. The shooting took place about 7:40 p.m. Thursday in the Old North End neighborhood. No suspects were in custody, but police said they believed that the parties knew each other and that the shooting was not random. Police identified the victim as Hussein Mubarak, of Burlington. After the shooting, police were told the suspect may have fled north into a wooded area. A search by police that included dogs and a drone was unsuccessful. In a statement, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said the shooting death was the first homicide in the city in more than two years. “Yet it is one of many recent gunfire incidents, part of a very disturbing trend that has dramatically increased since 2020,” Weinberger said. Last month, Weinberger, city police and the county prosecutor said reducing gunfire episodes in Vermont’s largest city was a top priority. At the time, city officials said there had been nearly 40 instances of gunfire in the city since the beginning of 2020. Previously, the city averaged about two a year.

Virginia

Bristol: The state’s first casino has opened for business in a temporary space inside a former shopping mall. The Bristol Casino will be open 24/7, offering 870 slots, 21 tables and a sportsbook. A line of customers wrapped around the building as they waited for Friday’s grand opening, TV station WDBJ reports. “We had to come and save my sister from spending all her money,” Christiansburg resident Cheryl Hubbard told the station. “And spend all of his,” she joked, pointing to her husband. In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly approved legislation to allow developers to build large casino resorts in five cities – Norfolk, Bristol, Portsmouth, Danville and Richmond – in what supporters billed as a way to boost struggling economies. Potential operators had to first clear a voter referendum. That happened in every city but Richmond, which rejected the initiative last year. But city officials have mounted an effort to bring the issue back a second time. Bristol voters overwhelmingly approved their referendum, and the project got its license earlier this year. Developers eventually plan to open a $400 million resort and Hard Rock casino, with a hotel, restaurants, bars and lounges, and a concert venue. The full-scale project is expected to open in 2024 and employ 1,200 people.

Washington

Seattle: The state Commission on Judicial Conduct has admonished a King County District Court judge for implying in court that a defendant would be raped in prison if he didn’t change his behavior. The Seattle Times reports Judge Virginia Amato, who was elected in November 2018, presided over the arraignment of a man charged with misdemeanor domestic violence assault and resisting arrest last August, according to the stipulation, agreement and order of admonishment signed June 24 by the commission’s executive director, J. Reiko Callner. Before imposing conditions of release, Amato noted the man’s alleged crimes happened while he was on probation, the order says. The man had no felony convictions and could not be sent to prison for misdemeanors, yet Amato is quoted in the order as telling him he was setting himself up “to be Bubba’s new best girlfriend at the state penitentiary.” “That may hopefully give you a graphic image to think about … and if you think I’m kidding, I’m not,” she reportedly said. A confidential complaint was filed in October with the commission, which is responsible for reviewing and acting on complaints of judicial misconduct, and Amato was served with a statement of allegations in December, the order says.

West Virginia

Huntington: Recovery Point West Virginia held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for the Point Cafe, Huntington’s newest community resource center. The Point Cafe opened after a few years of planning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reginald Jones, Recovery Point’s executive director, said officials originally applied for a grant in 2019 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to fund the cafe at a different location, but a “year of unavailability” led to the project coming to fruition later than expected. Now that the cafe is open, Jones said the location will be a safe space and a free, therapeutic environment for anyone seeking recovery to find resources, make connections and join support groups. The cafe will offer a variety of workshops and classes, including art and yoga. He said the cafe will also be a resource for the greater community of Huntington by holding cooking, financial literacy and computer courses; conducting barista training; and offering resume-building assistance, among other services. “The idea came to us as an organization, Recovery Point, from looking at what the needs are of the community and trying to find a niche to fill those gaps,” Jones said.

Wisconsin

Madison: A divided state Supreme Court ruled Friday that parents suing the Madison School District over its gender identity policies must disclose their names to opposing attorneys, but they don’t have to be revealed to the district or be made public. The 4-3 ruling comes after a Dane County Circuit Court judge in 2020 temporarily suspended portions of the district’s guidance on gender identity that a group of unnamed parents and a conservative law firm sued to overturn. The case centers on a policy the district adopted in 2018 that calls for district personnel to call students by their preferred names and pronouns but not to disclose students’ gender identities to anyone outside, including their parents. Some parents sued in 2020, alleging the policy violates their right to parent their children as they see fit and their right to religious freedom. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, both conservative law firms, are representing the parents. The firm’s attorneys asked Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington to allow them to proceed without revealing the parents’ names out of fear they would be subject to retaliation and harassment.

Wyoming

Cheyenne: Energy companies bid more than $22 million to secure drilling rights on about 110 square miles of public lands in the West late last month, during the first onshore oil and natural gas lease sales since President Joe Biden took office. Leases on about 90 square miles went unsold in the U.S. Bureau Land Management online auctions that included parcels of federal lands in seven states. Oil and gas produced from the leases will be subject to a royalty rate of 18.75%. That’s up from 12.5% and the first royalty increase since the 1920s. Most of those sold were in Wyoming, where companies paid more than $13 million for parcels totaling about 105 square miles. The auctions came as federal officials try to balance efforts to fight climate change against pressure to bring down high gas prices. Critics of the leasing program pointed to unsold parcels in Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Nevada as further evidence oil companies have enough leases and drilling permits already stockpiled to last them for years. But with several prior lease sales still tied up in court challenges from environmentalists, some companies had concerns going into the sale that they might not be able to drill on leases they acquired, said Ryan McConnaughey, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Farmworker fairness, nasal spray fix, even more lottos: News from ...

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday signed legislation banning so-called vaccine passports, making Alabama the latest state to try to prohibit requiring proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to enter a business, school or event. The legislation by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would prohibit government entities from issuing “vaccine or immunization passports” or other “standardized documentation for the purpose of certifying immunization status.” The bill makes exemptions for child immunization forms and “other applicable state law.” It would also prevent people from being denied entry to businesses, universities and state agencies if not vaccinated against COVID-19. The legislation does not specify a penalty for violations. The state House stripped language that would have exempted health offices and nursing homes and added that universities cannot require students to have vaccines developed after Jan. 1, 2021. “I am supportive of a voluntary vaccine and by signing this bill into law, I am only further solidifying that conviction,” Ivey said in a statement released by her office. “I made the choice to get the COVID-19 vaccine and glad for the peace of mind it brings. I encourage any Alabamian who has not gotten their shot to roll up their sleeves, and if you have questions, consult with your health care provider.”

Alaska

Anchorage: The state’s largest ski area in Girdwood ended its winter season over the weekend – the latest the season has run in a decade, resort managers say. Alyeska Resort on Sunday ended a winter ski season that had been extended due to a large amount of snow, Alaska’s News Source reports. The resort marked the last day of the season by hosting a COVID-19 vaccine clinic and offering a lift ticket as a prize for those who received a shot. Steve Kruse, an avid skier, said this was one of the best ski seasons “in maybe eight or nine years.” The resort plans to offer downhill mountain biking during the summer season, set to begin June 11.

Arizona

Phoenix: A Native American nation says a lack of direct outreach and trust kept it from participating in COVID-19 vaccine trials. Moderna asked the Hualapai Tribe by email about participating in its vaccine trial. Tribal officials asked the company to go through its media team, meet face-to-face or arrange an online video meeting, Hualapai Chairman Damon Clarke said. The small community of 2,300 registered members was fearful of becoming mere test subjects in a larger experiment. In the end, Moderna representatives did nothing outside of email, and with so little information and no trusted relationship with the company, Clarke said Hualapai leaders declined to participate. Even if the Hualapai Tribe, nestled along the southwest corner of the Grand Canyon, had wanted to participate in COVID-19 research trials, Clarke said it would not have had the resources to do so. “The federal government, they only appropriate so much money to the Indian Health Services … our expectations are high, and yet we get the lowest medical treatments in the country,” he said. Only two of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes – the Navajo Nation and the White Mountain Apache Tribe – participated in COVID-19 vaccine trials, according to David Wilson, director of the Tribal Health Research Office at the National Institutes of Health.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The state will begin giving lottery tickets and gift certificates for hunting and fishing licenses to people who get COVID-19 vaccines, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday. He said $20 scratch-off lottery tickets or $20 Game and Fish gift certificates will be offered to residents who get their first dose starting Tuesday. The incentives will be available starting June 1 at local health units and at special events around the state. Arkansas has maintained one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. About 39% of the state’s population has gotten at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The announcement follows efforts in other states to offer incentives for people to get vaccinated, including special lottery prizes. Hutchinson said Arkansas couldn’t legally offer a similar statewide drawing. The state is spending $2 million to buy 50,000 scratch-off tickets and 50,000 gift certificates for the promotion. The state on Tuesday announced 329 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total since the pandemic began to 340,515. The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by five to 200, and deaths rose by four to 5,824.

California

Livingston: The state has cited and fined a Foster Farms chicken processing plant that saw a deadly coronavirus outbreak last year, saying the company failed to protect its workers. The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s penalty of $181,500 is one of the steepest citations issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sacramento Bee reports. A representative for Foster Farms told the paper the company “does not have a comment” on the citations. Cal/OSHA alleged Foster Farms failed to “establish, implement and maintain” an effective system for communicating with its employees and contract employees on COVID-19 in the workplace. It also failed to effectively communicate with its own management about outbreaks and to communicate measures it was taking to prevent exposure to the virus, according to Cal/OSHA. The agency opened an investigation after receiving notification that an employee died of COVID-19 complications, the newspaper reports. Following its probe, the agency alleged Foster Farms and one of its staffing agencies failed to immediately report at least four employee deaths at the company’s processing plant in Merced County last summer. The Livingston facility was temporarily shut down in August after at least 358 employees tested positive for the virus, and at least eight employees died.

Colorado

Denver: Gov. Jared Polis has announced a weekly state lottery for five residents to win $1million to incentive COVID-19 vaccinations, amid other state bids to overcome public vaccine hesitancy. “Rather than gamble on getting COVID, let’s take a chance on winning a million dollars,” Polis said Tuesday. Colorado is setting aside $5 million of federal coronavirus relief funds that would have gone toward vaccine advertising for five residents to win $1 million each. The drawings will take place every week starting June 4 until July 7. Every adult resident who has been vaccinated by the end of May will be entered in the first drawing. To be eligible, residents need to be 18 years old and have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 3 million residents, about half of the state’s population, have received their first dose – slightly higher than the U.S. average of 49.5%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over 40% of Coloradans are fully vaccinated, compared to the U.S. average of about 39.5%. The state will also announce scholarship awards for 12- to 17-year-olds who get vaccinated, Polis said.

Connecticut

Hartford: A judge has upheld the state’s requirement that children wear masks in schools, rejecting a challenge by some parents who said that mask-wearing can be harmful and that education officials exceeded their authority. The ruling released Monday affirms the legitimacy of mask requirements in schools this academic year but does not address any guidance on masks that may be issued for the next school year. The state Department of Education has not yet decided whether to require mask in schools for the 2021-22 academic year. Officials said they will be monitoring updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The decision by Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher in Hartford upheld Gov. Ned Lamont’s coronavirus-related emergency orders that granted the state Department of Education authority to require masks. Moukawsher cited decisions earlier this year by the Legislature and the state Supreme Court upholding the governor’s right under the state constitution to issue emergency orders in response to COVID-19. The ruling came in an August lawsuit filed by the CT Freedom Alliance and several parents and their children that challenged the requirement. Brian Festa, co-founder of the CT Freedom Alliance, said his group plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Delaware

Dover: The state is jumping on the trend of offering cash and other incentives to entice children and adults to get COVID-19 vaccines. State officials said Tuesday that Delawareans 12 and older who are vaccinated between now and June 29 will be entered to win $5,000 in cash and additional prizes in twice-weekly drawings conducted by the Delaware Lottery. The eligibility extends to all children between ages 12 and 17 who have already received vaccines. The drawings will be held on Mondays and Fridays from May 31 through June 30. Other prizes include a four-day vacation, a full scholarship to a Delaware public university, state parks passes, and tickets to the Firefly Music Festival and minor-league baseball games. State officials also will reimburse small businesses including restaurants, bars and gyms that provide vaccine incentives to customers. The incentive campaign will culminate June 30, when any state resident who has received the vaccine in Delaware will be entered to win a $302,000 cash prize and two low-number state license plates, which are coveted by some Delawareans. In the meantime, Delawareans vaccinated at locations managed by state officials between now and June 29 will receive a $10 gift card.

District of Columbia

Washington: Data on how COVID-19 vaccines affect people with chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases is lacking, but a local woman has an app for that, WUSA-TV reports. D.C. area-based founder Elizabeth Tikoyan originally launched the Healp app in January 2020, after being diagnosed with Lyme disease and suffering long-term effects. When she struggled to find anyone with a similar experience to connect with, she developed the app to connect people all across the world with chronic illnesses. It looks like a dating app, but each user shares their illness and what information they’re hoping to learn. Then they swipe accordingly. Now, it’s sharing anecdotes from users who got a COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s nice to see – oh, she has ulcerative colitis. And she was nervous, but she didn’t have a reaction or whatever it might be,” said Chloe Colvard, who also has ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune conditions. People like Colvard and Tikoyan are at a higher risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19. “There was a lot of fears among the chronic illness and autoimmune disease communities around answers regarding the vaccine,” Tikoyan said. “Like are people responding well? If not, what are some of the reactions? Is it different than people who don’t have my condition?”

Florida

Orlando: The state is joining a growing list of Republican-led states that plan to end participation in a federal program that gave an extra $300 per week in benefits to the unemployed during the pandemic. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced Monday that the state will withdraw from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program effective June 26. State labor officials said private-sector employment increased by 18,800 jobs last month, and more than 460,000 online job postings were made throughout the state for job-seekers. “Florida’s employers are also seeing employment growth, as more Floridians, including some who completely left the workforce, are now eagerly reentering the workforce,” said Dane Eagle, secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. “Transitioning away from this benefit will help meet the demands of small and large businesses who are ready to hire and expand their workforce.” Florida will continue to participate in other federal pandemic-related unemployment programs aimed at the self-employed, people who already have exhausted their unemployment benefits and gig workers. These federal benefit programs also are set to expire in early September.

Georgia

Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp says public agencies in the state can’t require people to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a step his administration says ultimately means no agency can require anyone to get a shot. The Republican governor issued an executive order Tuesday banning so-called vaccine passports and saying state immunization records can’t be shared with any private company aiming to create such a record. “While I continue to urge all Georgians to get vaccinated so we continue our momentum in putting the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview, vaccination is a personal decision between each citizen and a medical professional – not state government,” Kemp said in a statement. Georgia has the eighth-lowest rate among states for COVID-19 vaccinations among residents 12 and older, according to data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kemp is running for reelection in 2022 and has been taking steps to shore up support among Republican voters still restive over claims that Kemp didn’t do enough to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. Opposition to vaccine passports, even though they’re not in widespread use, may be driven in part by reluctance among many conservatives to get inoculated against COVID-19.

Hawaii

Kailua-Kona: Some Big Island officials question the need to pump money into tourism promotion, with the pandemic highlighting the economic downside of reliance on visitor spending, but a measure to reallocate budget funds was voted down. The issue came up at a county council budget meeting last week, West Hawaii Today reports. North Kona Councilman Holeka Inaba was concerned that other areas of Hawaii County’s $609.1 million budget were being neglected. Inaba proposed removing $359,000 from the Department of Research and Development’s $459,000 line item for tourism promotion contract services. “I feel that this money could be better used elsewhere,” Inaba said. “We have goals that state that tourism is compatible with historic and natural resources. That it’s not intrusive on our local communities, that it helps to strengthen private, public and international partnerships and makes us a resilient community,” Inaba said. “And I don’t believe that to be true, as we’ve seen over the last year. With tourism gone, we were in the hole.” Inaba’s measure died on a 3-5 vote. Those voting against the measure said the funds focus on the importance of responsible tourism. “We want our tourists when they come to come and be pono and responsible tourists. And when we take away this money, we are not going to be able to articulate that message,” said Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz.

Idaho

Boise: Education officials said Monday that the state’s primary challenge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is helping students make up lost ground. The State Department of Education identified that as a top priority in its draft plan for spending $440 million Idaho is receiving in federal rescue money for more than 300,000 students in grades K-12. The U.S. Department of Education requires the plan to receive money from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund that’s part of the American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in March. State officials face a tight timeline. They’re taking comments on the plan through June 1, then will send it to the Idaho State Board of Education for approval. The plan must be submitted to the U.S. Education Department by June 7. Mike Keckler, a spokesman for the board, noted its eight members had a role in coming up with the draft plan. One of them, Linda Clark, coined the term “unfinished learning” in describing what the pandemic has caused among Idaho students. State officials said last fall’s early reading assessment showed a 5% drop from the previous year in K-3 students reading at grade level. Students from low-income families fell further behind than their peers.

Illinois

Springfield: The state reported fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases Monday – the first time it has seen consecutive days of fewer than 1,000 cases since July 2020. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 933 new cases Monday, following 943 reported Sunday. Testing combined with fewer cases means a lower positivity rate, with IDPH reporting a 2.7% positivity rate Monday and the rate as a percentage of tests staying steady at 2.2%. The state saw a peak Nov. 6, 2020, with 18,049 new cases reported that day. Since then, daily cases have declined 95%, and the positivity rate has dropped from 11% to less than 3%. IDPH also announced Monday that it would be implementing a new program allowing officials to monitor early warning signs for the coronavirus and its variants in wastewater. The program, started in association with the Discovery Partners Institute of Chicago, will begin in 10 counties at the outset and eventually expand to 35 counties by the summer, with all counties across the state having some form of the system by the end of the year in a $5.5 million implementation. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of IDPH, said the new system would provide for a better warning system for possible outbreaks, as the virus is visible in fecal matter almost immediately after infection.

Indiana

Indianapolis: The state’s attorney general argues in new legal filings that the governor is wrongly trying to use the courts to expand his powers with a lawsuit challenging the authority legislators have given themselves to intervene during public emergencies. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb asked a judge last month to block the new law passed by the GOP-dominated Legislature following criticism from many conservatives over a statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions that Holcomb imposed by executive orders. Attorney General Todd Rokita, also a Republican and past Holcomb rival, claims in court documents filed late Monday that he is within his legal authority to turn down Holcomb’s request to take the dispute to court after the Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the new law. His office’s court filing repeatedly calls Holcomb’s lawyers “unauthorized counsel” in asking for them to be removed from the case. “A lawsuit by the Governor against legislators to invalidate a law enacted over the Governor’s veto amounts to a demand for a ‘super’ veto via the judiciary,” the filing says. “It is no small thing for one branch of government to drag another branch of government to account before the third branch of government. No constitutional provision secures to officials of any branch such extraordinary power.”

Iowa

Des Moines: The state has paid $29million to $30million in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the head of the state’s workforce agency says. During a quarterly board meeting, Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend said the agency has increased its fraud detection efforts since March 2020 but still has seen a large uptick in claims from applicants lying about their qualifications for benefits. Some organized crime rings have targeted state workforce agencies with fraudulent claims during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. Congress increased the amount of money unemployed workers could receive, making jobless benefits more attractive. Plus, as millions of people filed claims, busy state employees had less time to weed out suspicious applications. According to an inspector general’s report in February, California and New York each disclosed that they been hit with at least $1 billion in fraudulent claims. “We were very fortunate in Iowa because we have practices and programs and safety mechanisms in place pre-pandemic that certainly helped us prevent most of the fraud that a lot of other bigger states were seeing,” Townsend told the board. “We have enhanced those as the pandemic has gone on.”

Kansas

Topeka: The Kansas Statehouse and the state Museum of History will reopen to visitors next month. The reopenings were announced by the State Historical Society, which provides tours in the Statehouse near downtown Topeka and operates the museum in west Topeka. Both had been closed to the general public because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Statehouse visitor center will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday starting June 1. While groups can request guided tours of the building, tours of the dome won’t be offered. The Museum of History will reopen June 2, with visitors allowed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Sixteen state historic sites across Kansas also are open.

Kentucky

Louisville: Black residents now account for about half of all new COVID-19 cases in the city, officials said Tuesday – a development Mayor Greg Fischer called “alarming.” In Jefferson County, about 22% of residents are Black and, until recently, had been showing proportionate rates of death and infection, Fischer said at a news briefing with health officials. Louisville reported 592 new coronavirus cases and 55 deaths last week. Though cases overall have begun a gradual decline, younger people, particularly Black residents, are now accounting for more of the new cases, said Dr. Sarah Moyer, director of Louisville Metro Health and Wellness. Moyer cited lower rates of vaccination as a key factor. Rates are high among both Black and white residents 60 or older, Moyer said, but “a greater percentage of our younger Black Louisvillians have not been vaccinated yet.” Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of Louisville’s Urban League, said she is well aware of the lower rates of vaccination against COVID-19 among younger, Black Louisvillians and is working with Moyer and other city health officials to improve outreach to those individuals. She said she’s heard frequent comments from younger people involved in job training, education and other programs that they do not fully trust the COVID-19 vaccines first introduced in December.

Louisiana

Lafayette: It could take until 2023 for the state to regain all the jobs lost amid the pandemic, one report says. Still, even though most of Louisiana’s major metropolitan areas fell short of their job projections for the first quarter of 2021, the forecast shows reason to be optimistic for future growth. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s B.I. Moody III College of Business released its economic forecast for the second quarter of 2021 on Friday, showing job growth slowed across the state in the first three months of the year. The report’s author, economics professor Gary Wagner, noted that future projections have improved. But it will take most of the state’s metro areas more than a year to fully return to pre-pandemic job levels in Wagner’s latest forecast. The state added fewer than 8,000 jobs in the first quarter, for a growth rate of about 0.4% – the lowest since the COVID-19-related job losses of the second quarter of 2020. As of March, the state had regained about 45% of the jobs lost due to COVID-19, compared to about 70% nationally. Wagner’s forecast estimates the state will not recover all pandemic job losses until 2023. Louisiana’s unemployment rate continued to fall as the year began, though at a slower rate than previous quarters, going from 7.9% at the end of 2020 to 7.5% in the first quarter of 2021.

Maine

Portland: Catholics can now return to churches with greatly relaxed coronavirus restrictions. The Diocese of Portland changed its guidance for the 141 Catholic churches in Maine just as the state prepared to eliminate mask requirements in most settings. Maine’s indoor mask order went away Monday. Masks will no longer be required for any person at any time, inside or outside churches, the diocese said. Pew seating arrangements that establish 6 or more feet of distance between people are also eliminated. The diocese said it’s restoring distribution of Communion to homebound Catholics, and indoor choir practices can be held without distancing. Many churches will provide space in areas such as parish halls for spread-out seating during services, the diocese said. Livestreaming of services will also continue, the diocese said. “We hope that by continuing to offer a variety of ways to participate in Mass and through updating these protocols, all will feel welcomed to grow in their faith together in Christ,” Bishop Robert Deeley said.

Maryland

Annapolis: The state held its first of 40 consecutive $40,000 lottery drawings Tuesday for people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The Maryland Lottery said the first winner lives in Baltimore County. State law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous. There will be 39 more drawings for $40,000 in the $2 million total promotion, which ends with a $400,000 prize July 4. The drawings are being done with a computer program that randomly selects a number from within the range of numbers provided to the lottery by Maryland’s health department. To be eligible, a participant must be an adult resident who has received a vaccine dose in Maryland. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 68.3% of the state’s adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Gov. Larry Hogan is hoping to reach 70% by Memorial Day. “Congratulations to the first winner of our $40,000 VaxCash lottery drawing!” Hogan wrote on Twitter with a flurry of video balloons and noting a website for people to schedule appointments. The Hogan administration highlighted health metrics Tuesday that continue to improve. The statewide coronavirus positivity rate has dropped below 2% for the first time of the pandemic. The state reported 160 new confirmed cases – the fewest since March 26, 2020.

Massachusetts

Boston: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is boosting some subway and bus service this summer, with ridership continuing to increase as the pandemic wanes. The MBTA carried more riders the week of May 10 than it has in any week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, WBZ radio reports. The changes come as all COVID-19 restrictions in Massachusetts are scheduled to end this Saturday, although passengers will still be required to wear face coverings while on public transportation or in stations. The T will increase the frequency of the Red, Orange and Blue line trains as well as Green line trolleys on the C, D and E branches starting June 20. Buses will run with greater frequency on dozens of routes on the same date, while several previously eliminated routes will be restored, according to the T.

Michigan

Lansing: Republicans on Tuesday advanced a bill that would prohibit state and local health officials from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for children and were also poised to ban governments from mandating vaccine passports. Neither concept is under consideration in the state. But GOP lawmakers said they want to be proactive. “While they might not be mandating something, they’re certainly creating a scenario where mandates are being pushed. I just wanted to ensure that that wasn’t going to happen in this space. Parents should be allowed to make the decision on this,” Sen. Lana Theis, of Brighton, said of her legislation that would prevent the use of a state or local emergency order to require COVID-19 vaccines for minors. It won Senate approval on a 20-16 party-line vote. Democrats called the bill needless and noted that if the COVID-19 vaccine were added to the list of immunizations children need to attend school, the state allows for exemptions. Both bills would need to clear the other chamber before heading to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has said state officials are not looking to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations. About 58% of residents 16 and older have received at least one dose.

Minnesota

St. Paul: The state reported 256 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, the fewest since September, according to a report from the Minnesota Department of Health. Across the state, 11 more Minnesotans died of the disease: one person in their late 40s, two in their 50s, three in their 60s, three in their 70s, one in their 80s and one in their 90s. The total number of people who have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 since the pandemic began reached 599,477 cases Monday, and 7,381 people have died, according to MDH. Since the onset of the pandemic, 31,883 people have required hospitalization for COVID-19 in the state.

Mississippi

Jackson: Neurosurgeon Dr. John Daniel Davis IV has been nominated by Gov. Tate Reeves to serve on a board that governs public health, Department of Health officials announced Tuesday. Davis was tapped to complete the six-year term of Dr. Ed D. “Tad” Barham on the Mississippi State Board of Health. Barham died earlier this year of coronavirus complications. Davis is a graduate of both the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He currently works as a neurosurgeon at NewSouth NeuroSpine in Flowood. “It is truly a special opportunity and unique honor to serve on this Board,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “I am committed to sound, science-based policy with efficient execution, and I look forward to addressing important matters that impact the health and lives of Mississippians.” Before Davis officially joins the board, he must first be confirmed by the state Senate. A native of Jackson, Davis graduated from Jackson Preparatory School as the Star Student in 1984 and received his bachelor’s degree in biological engineering, graduating summa cum laude from Mississippi State University.

Missouri

Kansas City: The city will receive more than $8 million in federal money to address issues related to homelessness, officials said. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver announced the $8.3 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Saturday. Some of the money will help pay for 140 beds in the tiny homes village initiative. That program, announced last month, will provide transitional housing and other services to people experiencing homelessness. Lucas said the city has made progress in addressing housing needs, but more work needs to be done. Officials said the federal money will provide a significant boost to those efforts. “Ensuring all Kansas City families have access to safe and affordable housing must and will remain a priority well into the future – and this funding allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helps providing the funding necessary to do so,” Lucas said.

Montana

Kalispell: Amtrak’s Empire Builder train has resumed daily service from Chicago to Seattle and Portland, including a dozen stops along Montana’s Hi-Line, after cutbacks made due to the pandemic. The Empire Builder stops in Wolf Point, Glasgow, Malta, Havre, Shelby, Cut Bank, Browning, East Glacier Park, Essex, West Glacier, Whitefish and Libby in Montana. Whitefish is the busiest stop, with more than 55,000 passengers boarding or disembarking there in a typical year, the Daily Inter Lake reports. “Whitefish depends on the reliable service – and economic boost – that the Empire Builder route brings, and we are thrilled that service is returning to seven days a week,” Whitefish Mayor John Muhfeld said in a statement. “With travel season right around the corner, this is just the shot in the arm our economy needed as we work to build back after the pandemic.” Amtrak reduced service on most of its long-distance routes to three days a week in October as ridership dropped because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amtrak was provided $166 million in the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill to return to normal operations and reinstate about 1,200 workers.

Nebraska

Lincoln: The Winnebago Tribe – one of two federally recognized tribes of Ho-Chunk Native Americans and one of four tribes in Nebraska – has reached what state officials called a “truly exemplary milestone” with a 71% COVID-19 vaccination rate for those 16 and older and a 64% rate for those 12 and up. The tribe believes in actively maintaining and improving the lives of its members and preserving its rich cultural heritage, the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a release. Dannette R. Smith, CEO of the state agency, said in a Facebook Live briefing that “the Winnebago Tribe has done an exemplary job vaccinating their residents and serve as a valuable model for outreach and care.” The reservation is located in northeastern Nebraska in Thurston County. Tribal Council offices are in the town of Winnebago.

Nevada

Reno: The state’s embattled unemployment office may finally get the technological makeover desperate residents have been hoping for. A bill introduced in the Legislature last week would set aside $54 million in eligible federal funds for major software upgrades at the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. That’s at least $7 million more than top agency administrators estimated they would need to overhaul the “vintage code” now running on its computers. Those systems were overwhelmed by a flood of fake unemployment claims filed at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, leaving thousands of legitimate claims unpaid as the Silver State’s tourism-driven economy collapsed. Gov. Steve Sisolak, who has repeatedly called for changes at DETR, lauded the legislation as a good way to give agency officials the “system they need.” Court- and governor-appointed fixers have spent countless hours puzzling over DETR’s well-documented struggle to pay out credible claims, eventually issuing a pair of dense reports that sought computer upgrades, training improvements and a whole host of other changes meant to reduce the backlog. DETR leaders did not bring forward legislation to implement those changes, a decision that left some agency critics and Republicans fuming at recent hearings.

New Hampshire

Concord: Residents are feeling more comfortable with activities like eating inside a restaurant, going to a state beach and getting their hair cut, according to a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. About half of those polled said they are currently comfortable with attending a wedding with 50 or more people, going to a bar or pub, going to a gym or health club, and going to a movie theater, according to the survey published Wednesday. Even though New Hampshire no longer has a statewide mask mandate, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks in most situations, people responding to the survey said they are wearing masks at only slightly lower rates than in December. The survey said 83% said they always wear a mask while shopping at a grocery store or pharmacy, down from 89% in December, while only 10% said they rarely or never do this. A total of 69% said they wear a mask when getting restaurant takeout food, down from 75% in December. Relatively few people continue to wear a mask when socializing with family or friends with whom they don’t live or while exercising outdoors. Also, nearly 75% surveyed said they are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

New Jersey

Atlantic City: Gross operating profit in the city’s casinos soared in the first quarter of this year to more than $95 million – more than three times the amount they earned in the first quarter of 2020, when the COVID-19 shutdown wiped out half of March. Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show eight of the nine casinos posted increases in their gross operating profit, with only Bally’s posting an operating loss. James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said this year’s figures are not evenly comparable to the first quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus-related shutdown. So he chose to compare this year’s performance to the first quarter of 2019, when all the casinos were operating and the pandemic had not yet occurred. Under that comparison, the casinos’ first quarter earnings this year are 11% higher than they were in he first quarter of 2019, he said. “The strength of internet gaming and the safe return of tourists to Atlantic City are a powerful combination,” he said. “Last week’s lifting of casino capacity restrictions bolsters confidence for a strong recovery this summer.” Internet gambling continued its strong performance in New Jersey in April, even with Atlantic City casinos open for business again and patrons returning to try their luck in person.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: The state probably overpaid unemployment insurance benefits by an estimated $250 million during the coronavirus pandemic amid a backlog of investigations into potentially fraudulent claims, the budget and accountability office of the Legislature announced in a research report. Analysts briefed members of the Legislature’s lead budget-writing committee last week on the trajectory of record-setting unemployment claims during the pandemic. New Mexico has paid out more than $3 billion in unemployment claims through its Workforce Solutions Department since the pandemic was declared in March 2020. That put the state unemployment trust fund into insolvency and in debt to the federal government. The Workforce Solutions Department last year reassigned staff to help keep pace with a tide of claims as jobs and personal income dried up, and the department drafted workers from other state agencies to answer phones from people who lost jobs and were desperate to sign up for unemployment payments. “The surge and staffing reassignments exacerbated already rising rates of improper payments,” financial analysts at the Legislative Finance Committee found. Analysts attribute $133 million of the estimated overpayments to fraud. The remainder was not linked to intentional deception.

New York

New York: In the Far Rockaway section of Queens, nearly 460 residents have died of COVID-19. That’s 1 out of every 146 people who live in the seaside neighborhood, making for one of New York City’s highest death rates. Yet no other place in the city has a lower percentage of vaccinated people. As of Monday, only 29% of people living Far Rockaway’s ZIP code, 11691, had received even one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to data from the New York City Health Department. That compares to a rate of 49% citywide and nationally. The situation in the community of about 67,000 people illustrates the challenges facing health officials in many places as they try to overcome hesitancy fueled by mistrust, misinformation and fear. “We have a good amount of people that still don’t want to get vaccinated, for whatever reason,” said Diana Catalan, a health clinic manager involved in the Far Rockaway inoculation effort whose father, a neighborhood resident, died of the coronavirus in February. Some people want to wait a few months to see how vaccinated friends and family respond to the shots, she said. Some have heard unfounded conspiracy theories that the vaccine is dangerous. Others just feel no urgency, having escaped serious harm so far.

North Carolina

Raleigh: A broad tax cut proposal from Republicans in the state Senate that began its advance in the chamber Tuesday also contains federal COVID-19 relief money to give more aid to businesses that previously received federal or state pandemic assistance. GOP finance leaders unveiled an amended version of their tax plan, some of which was already revealed in March and contained an individual income tax rate reduction and more generous standard deductions. The latest edition also would increase the amount of per-child deductions by $500. If approved, more low-income individuals would pay zero income tax, and all filers would see their monetary tax burdens reduced. Republicans have made rate reductions and deduction increases a cornerstone of their fiscal policy since a landmark overhaul in 2013 consolidated taxes to one flat rate and scaled-back credits. “We are proposing yet another tax cut because we believe people spend their money better than government does,” Sen. Paul Newton, a Cabarrus County Republican and Senate Finance Committee co-chairman, said during a news conference. “Allowing North Carolinians to keep their own money is the best form of stimulus our economy could have.”

North Dakota

Bismarck: The month of May continues to be a slow one for increasing the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations, according to state figures. The North Dakota Department of Health update released over the weekend showed 48.5% of residents have received at least their first dose of vaccine, roughly the same percentage from a week prior. The level has increased by less than 2 percentage points for the month. Health officials say 289,745 residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 268,060 people, or 44.9% of the population, have completed the required series of shots. The COVID Tracking Project reports there were more than 147 new virus cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks in North Dakota, which ranks 17th in the country for new cases per capita. One in every 1,523 people in the state tested positive in the past week. North Dakota ranks 13th-highest per capita in the number of deaths at about 202 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to project researchers.

Ohio

Columbus: October will be a busy month for marathoners, as the state’s three biggest races all hold events within days of each other thanks to rescheduling driven by the coronavirus pandemic. The Columbus marathon announced Tuesday that registration opens June 1 for an in-person event Oct. 17. Race organizers didn’t announce a cap on participants but said they could limit registrations based on guidance from health officials. The race, normally held in October, is the second-largest marathon in Ohio, with 3,594 finishers in 2019. Last fall’s race was canceled by the pandemic. The Cincinnati marathon, the biggest in Ohio with 3,874 finishers in 2019, is normally held in May but is now planned for Oct. 31. The Cleveland marathon, the third-largest in Ohio with 1,397 finishers in 2019, is also normally held in May and is now scheduled for Oct. 24. Both canceled their spring races because of the coronavirus. The resumption of the Columbus race can bring some normalcy back to people’s training regimens, said race director Darris Blackford. “Our race by no means replaces or diminishes the hardship and suffering so many have endured and continue to face as a result of COVID-19, but it does provide a welcome distraction to the stresses of the pandemic,” he said in a statement.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt signed key legislation Monday to implement a $9 billion spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The budget appropriates nearly 8% more funding than the current year’s budget, largely to make up for cuts and decreased spending last year due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The general appropriations bill Stitt signed outlines state funding for various agencies. Stitt and Republican legislative leaders announced an agreement two weeks ago on an $8.3 billion spending plan. Still, Stitt spokeswoman Carly Atchison said the final budget bills approved by the Legislature authorize a total of $9.06 billion in spending for fiscal 2022. Among the key provisions in the agreement is an increase in funding for public schools of $171.6 million, or 6%, from last year’s funding levels, and a diversion of more than $800 million into a state savings account. The Legislature also fully funded an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program approved by voters last year. The budget agreement includes cuts to the corporate and top individual income tax rates and restoration of the refundability of the earned income tax credit, which is designed to help low-income Oklahomans.

Oregon

Portland: As the Portland Trail Blazers continue their run in the NBA Western Conference Playoff, Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday that the Moda Center will debut vaccinated sections this week with increased capacity and fewer physical distancing restrictions. Fans in vaccinated sections who are 16 or older must provide proof they have been fully vaccinated. Fans not eligible will sit in areas where they must continue to physically distance. According to officials, all fans will still be required to wear a mask. “When fans left the Moda Center last March, it was one of the first signs this pandemic was about to change our lives in ways we hadn’t previously imagined,” Brown said. “Vaccines are the key to our return to normal life.” Brown urged residents to get vaccinated right away if they haven’t yet. “Don’t miss your shot to cheer on the Blazers as they make a run at a championship,” the Democratic governor said. In addition, Brown announced that businesses, venues and faith institutions in “lower risk” counties may follow suit with the Moda Center and create vaccinated sections. She said vaccinated sections in businesses would not need to adhere to physical distancing, capacity limits or masking requirements.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: A state House committee voted on party lines Tuesday to keep portions of the governor’s coronavirus disaster emergency in place until October but end fast-track contracting rules and other provisions. The resolution, which requires approval from both legislative chambers but not from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, is designed to stop the use of no-bid contracts, require people on unemployment aid to look for work and end social distancing mitigation rules. The State Government Committee vote came just one day after the proposal was introduced by the Republican House floor leader, Rep. Kerry Benninghoff of Centre County, and exactly a week after state voters passed a pair of constitutional amendments to give lawmakers greater authority over disaster declarations. Republican Rep. Russ Diamond, who has opposed mask-wearing and other virus mitigation efforts, said he hoped to make changes to the legislation before a final vote. Diamond said voters in his Lebanon County district did not want any provisions to remain in place for months to come. All Democrats on the committee voted no. Wolf’s mitigation orders are currently being phased out, and on Monday the governor’s acting labor secretary outlined a schedule for resumption of job-search requirements.

Rhode Island

Providence: When the Rhode Island State House reopens to the public June 1, some coronavirus restrictions will remain in place, Gov. Dan McKee announced Tuesday. Visitors will be allowed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. but will have to sign a log book, have their temperature taken and wear face masks in all common areas. No proof of vaccination will be required. Some areas will remain off limits for health and security reasons, the Democratic governor said. “Any choice to enable remote work, bring employees back in person, or any combination of the two will also be left to the discretion of each office,” he said in a statement. McKee had come under criticism for keeping the State House closed to the public even as most coronavirus restrictions on the economy have been lifted. He had previously announced it would reopen June 1 but without details. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, also a Democrat, last week questioned why the building remained closed. She announced Sunday that she will run for governor.

South Carolina

Clemson: In the wake of Gov. Henry McMaster’s order rendering all local mask mandates non-enforceable, the city is considering passing an “in case of emergency” ordinance that would reinstitute the mask mandate if the community experiences a future resurgence of COVID-19. “You still have the ability to do a mask ordinance. You just can’t reference the governor’s emergency order as the justification for it; it has to be based on your local conditions,” interim City Manager Andy Blondeau said. Clemson may take a cue from Athens, Georgia, where the college town’s mask mandate is only triggered if cases reach 100 per 100,000 people, according to its 2020 ordinance. The Clemson City Council ordered Blondeau to consult local health officials on what that “trigger” would be based on past pandemic data and local population numbers. Meanwhile, Clemson University has lifted certain on-campus mask rules for vaccinated people, according to a campus message sent out Friday. Fully vaccinated people will not have to wear masks – unless in a classroom – and will not have to be tested weekly for the coronavirus, according to the campuswide email. People who have not received a full series of COVID-19 vaccines will still be required to be tested weekly and wear masks on campus.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: A South Dakota State University professor is researching whether antiseptic nasal spray may help reduce the risk of coronavirus infection, after he used it on a trip to his home country of India, which is facing a severe outbreak of COVID-19. The spray isn’t a “magic bullet,” but it may provide another layer of protection if used correctly, said Saikat Basu, an assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering at SDSU. He conducted his research before, during and after his trip to India and published a paper on it by May 1, but the South Dakota Department of Health cautions against the spray’s use. “Given no U.S. studies have been conducted on this, the SDDOH cannot advocate for, or recommend, the use of this nasal spray until further research is done and it receives FDA approval,” spokesman Daniel Bucheli said. “Neither Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon or Dr. Joshua Clayton have spoken about this, given it’s not an approved COVID-19 prevention or treatment tool.” One of Saikat Basu’s collaborators on the project, Dr. Diane Joseph-McCarthy, of Boston University, said people use nasal sprays for asthma and other respiratory diseases, but the protocol they researched for delivering the spray almost-horizontally could potentially be applicable to any respiratory disease.

Tennessee

Memphis: Local elected officials and health leaders spent 2020 begging people to stay home ahead of holiday weekends in an effort to keep COVID-19 case rates and deaths down. This holiday weekend, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is going to the movies. He’s going to Target without his mask. He’s going to travel, the mayor said during a news conference Tuesday. “It’s been a long time since we have been back to movie theaters, and I’ll be going to see whatever is coming out, but I don’t care what it is – I’ll be in the movie theaters seeing it this weekend. I’ll likely take a trip or two to Target because that’s what people do,” he said. After all, he is vaccinated. The tone of Harris and Shelby County Health Department Deputy Director David Sweat reflected the changed circumstances on the ground ahead of Memorial Day weekend. While Shelby County is not close to its goal of 700,000 people vaccinated, it’s about halfway there. “I think that we all deserve to reap the rewards of the hard work that a lot of people have put into bringing us to this point,” Sweat said. “If you’re fully vaccinated with a group of your friends, enjoy the weekend.” Harris and Sweat pressed those who aren’t vaccinated to get their shots. Sweat noted five deaths related to COVID-19 over the weekend, calling them unnecessary.

Texas

Austin: After three-day tickets to the Austin City Limits Music Festival sold out in record time last week, music fans scrambled for a second shot when the festival released single-day tickets Tuesday. Highlighting the appetite for live music experiences as COVID-19 vaccinations rise, single-day tickets also sold out swiftly. The tickets went on sale at noon. According to the festival, there was a six-ticket limit in place for customers. At 1:35 p.m., messages posted to the festival’s official social media channels announced that ACL Fest was sold out, once again in record time. By mid-afternoon, plenty of tickets were available on ticket resale websites, with the $135 fee marked up to $300 or more. ACL Fest takes place Oct. 1-3 and 8-10 at Zilker Park. Country legend George Strait, pop superstar Miley Cyrus and rap breakout Megan Thee Stallion will kick the fest off Friday nights. On Saturdays, teen pop wunderkind Billie Eilish and Australian electro-dance outfit Rufus Du Sol take top billing, with Doja Cat, ’90s rockers Modest Mouse and singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers playing support. Grand dame of rock and roll Stevie Nicks and rap superstar DaBaby will close out the fest on Sundays with female music innovators St. Vincent and Erykah Badu, the latter of whom shifts to Friday on Weekend 2.

Utah

St. George: The Washington County Justice Court reopened for some in-person hearings this week, with yellow phase protocols in place. Courts across the state had been closed for in-person hearings for 14 months since the onset of the pandemic and have held hearings through Webex. With Washington County seeing fewer cases, going from the red phase to yellow, the court administration has been discussing how to proceed for those wanting in-person hearings. Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke said there one in-person hearing roughly a month ago was a test run on court hearings in the yellow phase and required everyone who attended to be tested for the coronavirus and wear a mask. The Administration of Courts is requiring a 10-person limit in any courtroom as part of the Pandemic Response Plan. The Washington County Justice Court will also participate in contact tracing. The Administration of Courts does not have a plan or a standard for opening the District Court yet. “Protocols don’t reflect where the community is,” Clarke said. He said he anticipates the District Court keeping Webex for certain types of hearings and is meeting with administrators this week to find out how remote hearings will be implemented into normal court proceedings.

Vermont

Montpelier: The state is expected to reach 80% of eligible residents vaccinated against COVID-19 in the next week to 10 days, prompting the governor to drop remaining pandemic-related restrictions before July 4, state officials said Tuesday. Gov. Phil Scott and state officials said they have been pleased with progress on vaccinations since the governor on Friday challenged the state to reach the 80% mark. As of Tuesday, 76.9% of Vermonters ages 12 and older had received at least one dose, state officials said, after discovering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had some duplicated numbers. That means another 17,250 residents need to start vaccines to hit the 80% target, they said. “We’re heading toward a time when about 3 out of every 4 Vermonters will be vaccinated, which significantly lowers the chance you’ll encounter someone who is unvaccinated,” Scott said. “The chance someone has COVID is getting lower every single day.” The vaccination rate continues to lead to a decline in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, officials said. Vermont went a week without a COVID-19-related death last week, making it one of the only states to do so, said Mike Pieciak, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation, who has been following the COVID-19 trends for Vermont.

Virginia

Petersburg: Petersburg City Public Schools on Monday became the only district in the state to offer free coronavirus testing for students and staff in the school setting, as part of the Increased Community Access to Testing program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified the district last month that it was selected for the free school testing program. ICATT expanded its testing services in schools to ensure that the school environment is safe for learning, stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep classrooms open. Petersburg is one of 27 school systems nationwide to take part in the program. “School COVID-19 testing is one more layer of protection that helps us attend school in person safely,” said Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, superintendent of Petersburg City Public Schools. Anyone who wants a coronavirus test can ask on the two days per week testing is available at multiple school buildings. Parents of students younger than 18 will have to sign a one-time consent form for students to have access to testing. Students and staff who test positive will be contacted directly. “Regular COVID-19 testing can quickly detract, trace and isolate COVID-19 positive individuals, and that will help us lower the risk of transmission,” Pitre-Martin said.

Washington

Spokane: Some top agriculture groups are upset with Gov. Jay Inslee because farmworkers were not covered in last week’s announcement that fully vaccinated employees do not have to wear a mask or socially distance at work. Washington Farm Labor Association Executive Director Dan Fazio and Washington Farm Bureau Chief Executive John Stuhlmiller issued a joint statement this week saying Inslee failed to disclose that these new rules do not apply to vaccinated farm workers who live in temporary housing. “As the 2021 harvest season launches, this double standard for the agricultural community is not based on current science, is creating widespread confusion and is financially catastrophic,” the executives said, calling that unfair. Thanks to widespread testing and vaccination, farmworker facilities in Washington state are much safer than local communities, achieving a nearly 100% vaccination rate, the ag executives said. They said the emergency regulations will be in place during the heart of the harvest season unless the governor acts. Washington farmers annually employ tens of thousands of migrants to produce the state’s bounty of agricultural products, including apples, cherries, grapes, asparagus and many other perishable crops.

West Virginia

Charleston: The state would pay unemployed people a $500 sign-up bonus for returning to work under a plan expected to be finalized soon. The bonus would be half of what Republican Gov. Jim Justice initially suggested could be offered to workers. He said earlier in May that the bonus would be $1,000, which would require the employer to pay half and the state to cover the rest. On Tuesday he said he didn’t want to “put any additional pain on our small businesses” even though he believed some would “gladly step up and pay the $500 match.” He said he expects the bonus, which “may only be the $500,” to come out of the state’s coffers. The governor said the program could be finalized by the time of his next coronavirus briefing, likely later this week. “We need to encourage people to get back to work,” Justice said. He announced earlier this month that the state will end its additional pandemic-era boost for unemployment benefits June 19, including the additional $300 a week for those without a job. West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.8% in April – the lowest since March 2020, when it was 5.3%.

Wisconsin

Madison: Republicans who control the Legislature convened Tuesday and within seconds ended a special session called by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to expand Medicaid, dashing chances for the state to receive a one-time bonus of $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding. The Senate and Assembly gaveled in and adjourned the special session in mostly empty chambers with only a handful of lawmakers in attendance. The Assembly session lasted all of about 40 seconds, while the Senate was done in less than 10 seconds. There was no debate, let alone any votes taken, on the bill Evers called on the Legislature to pass. It marked the latest in a long line of defeats for Democrats on the issue. Democrats have for years advocated in vain to expand eligibility for the state’s Medicaid program known as BadgerCare Plus. This time, with the $1 billion in federal pandemic aid at play, Democrats said it made no sense not to join 38 other states in accepting expansion. Republicans who have long opposed expansion called the latest attempt a political stunt, saying they don’t want to move people from private insurance to the BadgerCare Plus plan and worry the federal money will dry up, forcing the state to pay a higher share. Evers, in a statement after the vote, called it “breathtaking” that Republicans would turn down $1 billion.

Wyoming

Cheyenne: A new report made public last week has highlighted the potential benefits for workers as state lawmakers consider expanding Medicaid. The Commonwealth Fund and George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health has projected Medicaid expansion would create 1,900 jobs in the state, with two-thirds in the health care industry, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. Leighton Ku, university professor and lead author of the study, said more than $100 million in additional federal funds allotted for the state would create new employment opportunities and go to hospitals, pharmacies and health care providers likely to give the money to their employees. That would generate more spending for the state’s economy, which Ku estimates at about $4 million in the first year. Medicaid expansion would also benefit uninsured workers in the hospitality, food service and retail industries, a separate university report said last week, estimating more than half of the state’s uninsured workers come from the industries, based on 2019 numbers. “This data is pre-pandemic, and when you think about what happened during the pandemic and how hospitality got hit really hard, this data suggests it’s only gotten worse for these low-wage workers,” said Joan Alker, the second report’s co-author.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports