FEMA’s blizzard aid denial blasted and more news from the states

Good evening. Tonight we begin with the latest fight over federal aid: this time over the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s denial of aid to Northeast states after a historic February blizzard. And Stateline reports that, even if state leaders are breathing a sigh of relief that the Trump administration’s threats to eliminate the agency have subsided, disaster aid is still a guessing game.

In North Dakota, new kratom regulations are now law — even if lawmakers didn’t agree to the full ban sought by the governor. 

Our D.C. Bureau reports on the future of the Temporary Protected Status program, with coverage for roughly 170,000 recipients from El Salvador set to expire next week. 

And as more communities push back on data center development, tribal communities are grappling with the fact that more developers are eyeing their land for future projects.

If you’re traveling for the Labor Day weekend, bring us along with you: subscribe to our Stories from the States podcast, or invite folks you meet to check out our newsletters from the states. 

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and the state’s congressional delegation are blasting the Trump administration after the Federal Emergency Management Agency again rejected a request for $19 million in aid following a hurricane-strength blizzard, Rhode Island Current reports. 

McKee’s office appealed FEMA’s initial denial of the state’s request for funding relief on July 15. The law allows governors to either request support for disasters caused by severe weather or if “the situation is beyond the capability of the state.”

FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton’s denial letter did not explain why Rhode Island failed to meet the criteria for federal aid. On X, he wrote: “Winter weather is not new to the Northeast. Federal disaster aid is not a backstop for routine state & local budgeting.”

The denial also applied to similar requests from New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

McKee called the latest aid denial “a new low” for the Trump administration.

A Politico analysis in March found Trump’s administration has been far more willing to grant disaster declarations for Republican-led states, approving 89% of requests compared to only 23% of requests from Democratic-led states.

Related: (Stateline) FEMA is off the chopping block. But disaster aid is still a guessing game.

North Dakota’s Legislature passed a bill Friday to allow but regulate natural kratom and ban synthetic products, North Dakota Monitor reports. 

Lawmakers stopped short of completely banning all kratom, but state officials said it will remain unavailable in North Dakota until the new regulations are implemented.

The votes ended a three-day special session Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong called last month to address kratom, which he said is unregulated and unsafe. He signed the bill Friday afternoon. 

The governor has tied overdoses and deaths to kratom and synthetic products, which state officials have said were readily available at gas stations and smoke shops. Armstrong said he might try again for a total ban in legislation in the regular session which begins in January. 

The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday morning denied a request from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to pause its order requiring the Nov. 3 congressional election to be conducted using the districts in place for the 2024 election, Missouri Independent reports. 

Hoskins, a Republican, asked for a decision by noon to allow for an “emergency appeal” to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

His request did not ask the court to block its decision placing a referendum on the gerrymandered congressional map passed by Republican lawmakers in 2025 on the November ballot.

Related: Missouri voters will decide limits on lawmakers rewriting ballot measures 

Minnesota: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro, who is accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the closed door of a Minneapolis home in January, turned himself in to federal authorities.

Nebraska: The state Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state’s two voter-approved medical cannabis laws following a legal challenge to the 2024 petition effort.

Kentucky: Former Gov. Matt Bevin — who was arrested while working as an extra on a Christmas movie — will spend 60 days in jail for contempt of court related to a child support case. 

North Carolina: Republicans on the state board of elections passed new directives that could disqualify additional mail ballots in November. 

New Mexico: The state Supreme Court blocked two Democrats from appearing on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, paving the way for Republicans to gain control of a rural district in the state House of Representatives.

New Hampshire: A spate of cyberattacks on water systems in at least 12 states this July, which the U.S. government tentatively attributed to Iran, brought renewed attention to a growing concern for water operators across the country. 

Washington: When power lines are blamed for starting a wildfire, costs to utilities can stretch into the billions and trickle down to consumers.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks Sept. 3, at the state Capitol in Atlanta to an audience of community members affected by the deadly 2024 Apalachee High School shooting. (Photo by Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder) 

Kemp, a Republican, issued a proclamation marking Sept. 4, 2026, as Apalachee Remembrance Day. The Sept. 4, 2024, shooting in the Winder high school left two students and two teachers dead and nine other students injured.

“Two years on, the pain of Sept. 4 is still here, and it will continue to be for quite some time. But the people of Winder and Barrow County are also still here, showing up every day, working to help each other and putting one foot in front of the other as we all move forward while never forgetting,” Kemp said. 

Layla Contreras, whose sister and mother were inside the school building during the attack, now leads Change for Chee, a community group advocating for preventative safety laws. She said she was grateful for Kemp’s proclamation but said that state leaders need to accompany the ceremonial day with legislative action. 

Read more from Georgia Recorder.

Within two years under the Trump administration, the bipartisan humanitarian Temporary Protected Status program created by Congress in 1990 and signed into law by former Republican President George H.W. Bush has been nearly obliterated, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The TPS designation for El Salvador — granted to roughly 170,000 people, due to several earthquakes that displaced more than one-sixth of the population and left thousands dead — is set to expire Sept. 9, and the Department of Homeland Security has made no indication if protections will be renewed. 

In the past, the United States renewed the protections, citing continued displacement and ongoing violence.

Before the second Trump administration, 17 countries were in the program. If TPS for El Salvador ends, only 103,000 out of initially 1.3 million recipients from around the globe will have protections: 150 from Lebanon, 1,790 from Sudan and 101,150 from Ukraine.

One of the first countries after TPS was written into law to receive the designation was El Salvador. 

“It's one of those things that is kind of cruel, to have families who are stable and have been stable for decades, to have people who have been doing everything the government asked them to do for 25 years, and suddenly, if the decision is to end TPS, provided only 60 days protection before forcing people to go back to a country they haven't been for decades,” said Jose Palma, the coordinator for the National TPS Alliance, which advocates for Temporary Protected Status recipients across the U.S.

More immigration coverage:

Next week, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will consider Louisiana’s arguments for tightening federal policy around a common abortion and miscarriage drug, Stateline reports. 

The primary target of Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration and similar lawsuits against mifepristone is to end a Biden-era policy allowing abortion pills to be prescribed without an in-person visit with a provider. 

Medication abortion has become the most common form of abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, and telehealth prescriptions have continued to rise. The Biden administration loosened telehealth regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research think tank that supports abortion access, about 91,000 abortions were provided last year via telehealth prescription of abortion medication sent by mail to states with bans, including more than 9,300 in Louisiana.

Data center developments are continuing to spread throughout the country as the demand for digital processing power grows — especially as artificial intelligence systems become more prevalent. And now, tribal communities are grappling with the fact that more developers are eyeing their land for future data center projects, States Newsroom reports. 

Some companies see tribal land as a regulatory dream, said Ashley Leitka, an enrolled member of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the director of the department of sovereignty and self-determination at Honor the Earth. She is also part of the Oglala and Sicangu Lakota nations.

While municipalities are pushing back against data center developers by tightening codes and enforcing stricter regulations, she said some companies are hoping that tribal nations will be more lenient. As sovereign, self-governing nations, tribes are not required to follow all state and local laws.

Related: Concerns swirl over a developer’s push for a Utah data center, but plans are on pause

In Colorado, officials in the city of Boulder and Boulder County have filed a lawsuit against Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil. They are seeking monetary damages for costs incurred responding to wildfires, repairing transportation infrastructure, restoring watersheds and other devastation caused by climate change.

The officials are not seeking to regulate emissions or fossil fuel production, but they want the companies to help pay for harms Boulder contends were caused by their industry.

Some counties, however, have filed court records in support of Suncor and Exxon Mobil at taxpayers’ expense. When one woman learned hers was among them, she rallied her fellow ranchers in support of Boulder’s cause.

In Episode 44, you’ll meet her and another rancher from Rio Blanco County, Colorado. They’ll discuss their firsthand experiences of how climate change is taking a toll on their lands and why they decided to get involved.

Listen to Stories From The States below, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Youtube.

Salt Lake City International Airport is one of 14 airports that will allow approved visitors to send off or greet travelers at airport gates rather than waiting outside security checkpoints, Utah News Dispatch reports. 

Gateside passes are available to those approved by the Transportation Security Administration for TSA PreCheck, according to a TSA webpage about the program. 

The passes are free and require an application one to three days before the visit using a known traveler number, according to the website, and visitors can enter the airport through TSA PreCheck lanes. Children can also be included on the pass.

“As an exclusive benefit for our most trusted travelers, this new program makes it easier to return to the gate for welcomes and send-offs, meet friends during a layover, and enjoy dining and shopping along the way, bringing back the moments that once defined air travel,” the website states. 

Accommodations for non-travelers accompanying a child or elderly passenger or a passenger with accessibility needs to airport gates currently exist through individual airlines, according to the airport.

Salt Lake City’s airport is known for large, emotional gatherings as family and friends greet missionaries from the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when they return home after up to two years of service. The airport’s remodel even includes a greeting room just outside the security exit intended to move large greeting parties out of the walkway, with mixed success.

The Salt Lake airport is the 24th busiest in the U.S. and the 98th busiest in the world.