Data centers on federal lands and more news from the states

Welcome back, readers. For this morning’s edition of Daybreak, we’re taking a look at how states are handling rising gas prices as a result of the war with Iran.

In Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp suspended the state’s motor fuel tax as gas prices continued to surge. Kemp issued an executive order Monday, declaring a state of emergency for gas supply disruptions. The suspension will run through Oct. 29.

A statewide emergency was also declared in Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a 30-day disaster declaration that allows the governor to lift some restrictions on commercial transportation, which he said will alleviate some of the elevated costs.

In Rhode Island, record-high diesel prices are straining the statewide bus system. The financial woes facing the bus agency from skyrocketing fuel prices are just beginning, with the cost of diesel now more than 2 ½ times what was budgeted for this year.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, we’re celebrating National Coffee Day. For the price of one cup of coffee, you can support the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Find out how at our website.

National: A measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law after passing the U.S. Senate. The bill would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation, provide certain antitrust protections to the NCAA and more.

Georgia: Members of the State Election Board have advanced a resolution calling on the secretary of state’s office to update the state’s voting machines and urging the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to step in.

New Hampshire: A group of disability rights advocates, families and care agency professionals want to see reform in the state’s disability care system, following an investigation by the New Hampshire Bulletin that uncovered evidence of hundreds of abuse and neglect incidents.

Idaho: A judge dismissed a lawsuit from a Boise daycare and parents that sought to block enforcement of a state law that bans daycares from requiring vaccines or medical treatment. 

Utah: Douglas Stewart Carter, who spent more than 40 years behind bars, was granted bail in light of new analysis of crime scene DNA evidence that was not a match to him. 

Washington: Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson asked President Donald Trump for tens of millions of dollars in federal aid to help communities recover from wildfires that destroyed 649 primary residences and damaged more than 2,500, with the financial toll exceeding $188 million.

Tennessee: A Democratic state senator has sued the chamber leader over her committee reassignment and travel reimbursement restrictions implemented after she protested from the Senate Floor during a recent special session to redraw the state’s U.S. House map.

Arizona: The U.S. attorney for Arizona responded to concerns raised by the state’s top lawyer and election chief about how the Trump administration is using state data to identify noncitizen voters by telling them that the federal government will not back down. 

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

A new data center campus could soon be coming to federal land near Hermiston in eastern Oregon, Oregon Capital Chronicle reports.

It would be the first in Oregon sited on federal public land, and one of at least 12 proposed for more than 17,500 Bureau of Land Management acres across Western states under Trump’s July 2025 executive order to hasten data center development.

The proposals on federal land in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming were first reported last week by The Washington Sun, whose reporters reviewed difficult-to-find right-of-way requests via the agency’s Mineral and Land Records System. The bulk of federally managed land in the U.S. is in the West, including in Oregon, where half the state’s land is owned and managed by the federal government. Oregon is among the top 10 markets for data centers in the U.S., according to Pew Research.

Under the executive order, Trump mandated that federally owned land and resources be used for “the expeditious and orderly development of data centers (…) to be used in service of the prosperity and security of the American people.” It’s the first time the Bureau of Land Management, tasked with managing more than 245 million public acres for uses that include animal grazing, timber harvesting and recreation, has been ordered to include data centers in its portfolio.

West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey is hoping to finally get the state’s Military Hall of Fame up and running, but his administration’s draft rules for its operation face legal scrutiny, West Virginia Watch reports.

Four years after lawmakers created the special hall of fame, Morrisey wants to see it come to fruition under his administration. But Republican state Sen. Ryan Weld, a veteran and chair of the Senate’s Military Committee, has raised several “conflicts and inconsistencies” between Military Hall of Fame rules submitted by the governor versus what lawmakers outlined in their 2022 legislation.  

An agency’s proposed rules have to align with the code lawmakers passed.

Weld added that the Military Hall of Fame’s creation should be focused on veterans and their service, and “not on the politics that may be behind any sort of effort involving veterans.”

Morrisey’s proposed draft rules will govern how the Military Hall of Fame operates, including eligibility rules and how a board evaluates prospective honorees.

Former West Virginia Veterans Assistance Secretary Ted Diaz, who served in the role until early 2025, said the Hall of Fame should belong to veterans and citizens — not to a political party or governor. He doesn’t want to see the project delayed by rules issues, but he wants it done correctly to honor veterans for years to come.