Native nations confront data center development and more news from the states

Good morning. You didn’t think we’d send you off for a long weekend without bringing you a Daybreak chock-full of news, did you?

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that an effort to restrict the Legislature’s ability to rewrite laws and constitutional amendments approved by voters through the initiative process will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

North Dakota lawmakers are hoping to wrap up a special session today, but two bills with different approaches to restricting kratom that cleared their first hurdles appear to conflict and might complicate their plans.

Keep reading for news on congressional maps, immigration, disaster aid and much more.

And looking ahead to next week, we will have coverage of primary elections in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

We’ll see you back here then.

Idaho: A panel of judges has placed on hold a federal court order protecting a fetal medicine doctor from prosecution for abortions performed in specific circumstances. The order means the state’s abortion laws are fully in effect, with only exemptions to protect the life of the mother, or in cases of rape and incest in the first trimester if a police report has been filed. 

Georgia: The state marked the second anniversary of the deadly 2024 Apalachee High School shooting as Apalachee Remembrance Day while drawing calls for state leaders to move beyond commemorations and enact measures to prevent another tragedy.

Florida: Students must be in the United States lawfully to attend the state’s universities, the board that oversees the university system voted. The measure received no debate or discussion, except from members of the public during public comment.

Michigan: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined an application from Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan seeking to appeal a deadlocked decision by the Board of State Canvassers that left a citizens-only voting proposal off the November general election ballot due to a lack of valid petition signatures.

Nebraska: Gov. Jim Pillen and Secretary of State Bob Evnen, both Republicans, and multiple county election officials are calling for changes to petitioning in the state amid multiple investigations of possibly fraudulent signatures statewide.

New Jersey: Federal officials have denied an appeal for a major disaster declaration tied to a February winter storm, leaving the state without $84 million in anticipated federal aid. Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill blasted the decision.

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.

Officials in Page, Arizona, a small city near the Glen Canyon Dam, passed a land sale agreement last fall that establishes a framework for future construction of a data center.

The sale of the 500-acre parcel about a mile away from the Colorado River’s Horseshoe Bend — one of the most visited natural landmarks in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area — to Huntley LLC for $7 million specifies that the company intends to build a 1 gigawatt data center.

Residents have been pushing back and launched a petition earlier this year to stop the planned data center from being built. And about 5 miles south of the city, a group of tribal leaders began to take notice. The proposed data center borders the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation, located in the northwest corner of the Navajo Reservation, States Newsroom reports. 

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. But in addition to concerned residents, some federal, state and local officials are worried about how data centers could drive up utility bills, strain water resources and hurt the environment.

And now, tribal communities are grappling with the fact that more developers are eyeing their land for future data center projects.

Colorado ranchers join fight against fossil fuel companies

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.

Subscribe to Stories From The States on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Juan Miguel Aldape pays his taxes annually, he is a devout Catholic and a caregiver for his youngest son with autism, his relatives say. He has lived with his wife for 22 years in Newberg, Oregon, the wine country town where they chose to raise their family. 

Federal immigration agents detained him on Aug. 24, despite Aldape having no criminal history and the arrest occurring without a warrant, Oregon Capital Chronicle reports.

Aldape’s story, which his relatives and immigration rights advocates shared Thursday, is similar to those of many immigrants who have lived in the state for decades. As the Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts, Aldape, now detained in Louisiana, is one of many individuals transferred thousands of miles away without access to a lawyer or a way to contact their relatives.

Masked immigration agents arrested Aldape in a Lowe’s parking lot in nearby McMinnville while he was buying materials for a construction job. The agents took him to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Portland, where he was able to briefly call his family and let them know he was detained. 

They haven’t been able to speak to him since Aug. 26.