Private gas plants to power data centers would skirt Nevada’s renewable energy law and more news from the states

Good evening. Tonight we begin with a story about the proliferation of gas-burning power plants to keep up with data center construction — and how that affects the state’s renewable energy goals in Nevada. 

In Louisiana, more details are emerging about the state’s multi-billion-dollar agreement with SpaceX. 

A new Virginia law to limit cooperation between local police and immigration officials is on hold, following a judge’s ruling. 

In Washington, Congress passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government open, while a whistleblower raised alarms about the U.S. Postal Service effort to implement a presidential order that would change how mail ballots are handled. 

Across the country, the loss of SNAP benefits by more than 1 million children could have a sweeping effect on school meal programs. 

A major data center developer is looking to build two private gas power plants in Nevada as data center growth outpaces the electric utility’s ability to supply power for the surge of new developments, Nevada Current reports. 

If approved, the Peru Ridge and South Valley gas power plants would generate more than 360 megawatts of electricity using methane gas-fired engines, or enough power to serve about 396,000 homes, according to filings.

Critics of the gas-burning plants say the case could effectively defeat the purpose of the state’s renewable portfolio standard, which mandates power providers utilize 50% renewable energy by 2030.

Since January, gas-fired power generation for data centers in the U.S. has doubled, driving a 50% increase in the amount of gas-powered electricity under development, according to a new report by Global Energy Monitor.

Related coverage: 

Louisiana officials offered SpaceX what might be one of the largest single-project tax breaks in U.S. history to clinch a $100 billion deal to build its largest launch facility yet in coastal Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Illuminator reports. 

State and local governments are giving SpaceX a tax incentive package valued at an estimated $27.5 billion, according to documents obtained in a public records request from Louisiana Economic Development. They outline the state’s negotiations for what’s referred to as “Project Osprey” without using the company’s name or the proposed facility unveiled last week as Starbase Louisiana. 

SpaceX, which had a market value as of Friday in excess of $1.8 trillion, is owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person with a net worth of $865 billion, according to Forbes. 

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Virginia from enforcing key provisions of a new law restricting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, Virginia Mercury reports. 

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond issued a preliminary injunction Monday, allowing existing partnerships with U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement to continue while the legal challenge plays out. 

Those agreements allow ICE to authorize state and local officers to perform certain federal immigration enforcement duties. 

Virginia’s law required existing agreements to be rewritten by Sept. 1 to include a dozen conditions governing how federal immigration operations could be conducted around the state. Agreements that were not modified would have been considered void and unenforceable. 

More immigration coverage: 

Nebraska: The state Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a ballot measure that would let voters decide whether to constitutionally limit sports participation in public schools based on biological sex. 

Missouri: The state Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear three cases on ballot measures, two over efforts to force a referendum on the gerrymandered congressional districts passed by Republican lawmakers. 

Ohio: A federal judge blocked a voter registration provision slipped into the state’s latest transportation budget, which would have required Ohioans registering to vote at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to present proof of citizenship.

Wisconsin: Recent election errors in the state’s three largest cities have triggered scrutiny as Republicans cast doubt on the security of election systems. 

Alaska: The November ballot deadline prompted several changes Monday, including the wife of a disqualified candidate substituting into the governor’s race. And the U.S. Senate ballot will still have two Dan Sullivans. 

New Hampshire: Twenty-one people were sexually, physically, or emotionally abused in the state-run disability care system in the first half of 2026. 

Iowa: Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds called for a “total ban” on kratom and synthetic variants during an event with law enforcement and public health officials warning about risks associated with the substances. 

Maryland: The agency that oversees the state’s toll roads and bridges has failed to collect more than $818 million in tolls and fees it was owed, according to a new audit.

With contract negotiations nearing a critical deadline, hundreds of Washington state workers walked off the job for an hour Monday to highlight their demands for wage hikes in their next two-year deal. (Photo by Aspen Ford/Washington State Standard)

Roughly 100 employees lined Capitol Way in Olympia, most facing the domed Legislative Building where Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office is located. They waved signs, shook cowbells and chanted throughout the noon hour, periodically interrupted by honks from passing vehicles.

The negotiations have led to rising friction between union workers and Ferguson, a Democrat heading toward the third year of his first term. 

State law sets an Oct. 1 deadline for unions to ratify agreements to be considered for funding in the next two-year budget. Ferguson proposed state worker furloughs in 2025 but lawmakers shelved the idea after union backlash. 

When lawmakers return to the capital, they and the governor will have to navigate a third consecutive session with a budget shortfall.

Read more from Washington State Standard.

The U.S. House approved a short-term government funding bill Tuesday that would avoid a shutdown this fall once President Donald Trump signs it, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The 370-48 vote showed neither Republicans nor Democrats want a repeat of the funding lapse that took place last year when disagreement over enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits led to a historic 43-day shutdown. 

The stopgap spending bill, which the Senate approved in early August, would provide mostly flat funding for federal departments and agencies to keep up and running from the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1 through Dec. 11. 

The short-term funding patch is supposed to give Congress more time to reach bipartisan agreement on the dozen annual appropriations bills. Absent that, lawmakers can pass a series of stopgap spending bills or force another government shutdown.

A U.S. Postal Service whistleblower alleged that the agency rushed the development of electronic tools to comply with a Trump administration policy placing new restrictions on mail-in voting and defied a court order to stop work on the system, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

The whistleblower predicted “foreseeable catastrophic disruption to our coming nationwide elections based on the reckless pursuit of readying a new, insufficiently tested, poorly planned mail-in ballot screening system.”

The report from the unnamed whistleblower report was published Tuesday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. 

Among the concerns outlined is the “high likelihood” that entire batches of ballots could be rejected based on a faulty barcode on a single ballot, the whistleblower said. 

More from the D.C. Bureau:

Cuts to the nation’s largest food assistance program will likely spill over into schools, causing students to lose access to free breakfast and lunch, Stateline reports. 

More than 1 million American children have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, following a recent federal law. Now, as schools gear up for a new term, a portion of those children could be at risk of losing free meals — viewed as crucial supports for both childhood hunger and classroom learning.  

Many schools offer free meals to all students, based on community rates of SNAP participation. The complicated federal funding formula means even a slight change in SNAP enrollment could jeopardize free meal funding for entire schools and districts. 

A federal judge ruled Monday that New York cannot enforce its landmark “climate Superfund” law, a measure that sought to charge fossil fuel companies $75 billion over 25 years to help the state deal with the costs of climate change, Stateline reports. 

While the legal battle is far from over, the ruling could give pause to lawmakers in many other states who have been considering similar legislation.

Kentucky leaders and writers, in a chorus of grief over the death of Wendell Berry, called the writer and farmer a “literary giant,” “revolutionary” and a “Kentuckian of the highest order” on Tuesday, Kentucky Lantern reports. 

The news broke late Monday that Berry died at 92. He was a farmer, author of dozens of books, former English professor and defender of land. 

Silas House, a bestselling Kentucky author of “A Parchment of Leaves” and other titles, shared a photo on social media with Berry and a dog named Liz. 

“Another great light gone out,” House, former poet laureate of Kentucky, wrote. “There are so many ways he influenced me but most of all what I keep thinking is that he was so good to me. Generous with his time and words. Complex. Brilliant. Revolutionary.” 

The Kentucky Arts Council shared that it’s “both saddened by the passing of Wendell Berry, one of our greatest literary artists, and celebrating a Kentuckian who truly understood that ‘art is a way.’”

“He used his gift to exalt what matters most: the land from which we come, the food that blesses us, and the people who steward both,” the council wrote on social media.

Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said Berry’s writing “reminded us to live simply and to love our neighbors.” 

State Attorney General Russell Coleman, a Republican, said Berry “captured the way so many of us feel about Kentucky.”

“I keep coming back to his stories about love of place and caring for our neighbors,” Coleman wrote.