Recovering from disasters and more news from the states

Good evening. As recovery continues following Hurricane Isaias, Florida has requested assistance from the federal government, which has produced mixed results for states during the second Trump administration. 

In Alaska, communities destroyed following damage from ex-Typhoon Halong are facing daunting questions in their efforts to move away from ravaged coastlines — including who should pay. 

Another round of Temporary Protected Status designations is set to expire, leading to uncertain immigration protections for Ukrainian and Sudanese residents. 

As the elections draw nearer, the Trump administration’s fight with California over voters’ qualifications is raising alarms. And political forecasters have moved more federal — and state legislative — races to favoring Democrats.

Florida has asked for a major disaster declaration from the White House a week after Hurricane Isaias tore through a swath of the Panhandle and was blamed for six deaths, Florida Phoenix reports. 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that state officials had made the request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency the night before — a step the governor noted would “unlock support” for federal reimbursements to local governments as well as aid to individuals dealing with damaged or destroyed homes and businesses.

“Look, you got to jump through bureaucratic hoops with this process. It’s just is what it is. And our folks did that very, very well. And so, that was submitted last night. They have it and we expect a decision on that very, very, quickly,” DeSantis said.

In Colorado, where recent disaster relief requests had been mired in political disagreements between the Democratic governor and the Trump administration, the U.S. Small Business Administration approved a request for funding to support businesses harmed by a 100,000-acre wildfire this summer. 

In Illinois, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker is appealing the federal agency's denial for assistance following damage from flooding and tornadoes in August. 

A year after the remnants of Typhoon Halong unleashed a historic fury across Alaska’s Lower Kuskokwim Delta, few of the estimated 1,500 evacuees have returned, Alaska Beacon reports. The storm, which struck Oct. 11 and 12, 2025, claimed at least three lives, destroyed more than 150 homes and affected 45 other communities across Western Alaska. 

It all but upended the Native village of Kipnuk and neighboring Kwigillingok, two Yup’ik villages. Across Alaska, the two tight-knit communities have scattered like marbles to cities where costs are high and traditional subsistence is next to impossible. Voting has been disrupted, and children struggle to adjust to unfamiliar schools. 

In February and March, tribal members voted to move their wetland villages entirely.

For decades, Alaska’s frontline climate communities have grappled with two questions: Where to move? And who pays? 

In August, Kwigillingok took a bold approach, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that Big Oil should be the one to foot the bill. 

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday that a package containing a threatening letter and an unidentified white powder was intercepted before reaching his office, as federal investigations continue into similar packages mailed to election administrators and congressional offices across the U.S. amid midterm campaigning, Minnesota Reformer reports. 

The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors issued a joint statement expressing concern over the incidents, saying that threats against election officials “have no place in our democracy.”

Nebraska: The state Supreme Court upheld a state law that allows some overseas voters to cast ballots in Nebraska, which was challenged by the Republican National Committee and two state voters. 

Kansas: A federal appeals court upheld a state law that bars organizations from filling out applications for mail-in ballots before the applications are sent to voters.

Rhode Island: The state’s two-month pause on new automated license plate reader installations is set to expire Monday, the same day State Police may be ready to announce new policies governing the technology. Opponents say they were left out of the process. 

Maryland: Democratic Gov. Wes Moore is asking an independent state agency to take a closer look at sexual assault policies on college campuses in the state amid a national reckoning caused by allegations of a gang rape at Cornell University.

New Mexico: The American Civil Liberties Union announced it had filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency over outstanding public records requests related to detention contracts in the state.

Montana: A coalition of 17 groups filed a lawsuit, urging the courts to determine that the state Public Service Commission has a constitutional obligation to account for climate risks in its decisions.

Alaska: More buses and cars will be allowed to travel on the sole road through Denali National Park, under a rule announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.

Michigan: An engineer who helped to uncover the Flint water crisis suing to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reinstate her to a position on the National Drinking Water Advisory Council and end the policy that led to her dismissal.

Utah: Legal challenges first filed against President Donald Trump’s cuts to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments almost a decade ago can move forward after he downsized them once again and more sharply this summer, a federal judge ruled.

The sheer size of investment in data centers is drawing concern as it surpasses all other historical booms and crowds out other more job-creating ventures. 

Until now, no industry had driven the U.S. economy with such force since the railroad expansion of the late 1800s, when titans battled one another to lay the transcontinental tracks that would connect America from coast to coast.

Railroads in the 19th century consumed about $173 billion in today’s dollars and created more than 2% of the nation’s annual economic output (GDP) over 20 years. 

Today’s data center buildout will dwarf that amount, with $10 trillion in investment, and now have almost twice the economic impact — nearly 4% of GDP, according to a new report by Columbia Business School professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh.

Read more from Stateline. 

Related coverage: 

More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese immigrants are bracing for the possibility they’ll lose their humanitarian protections by Monday, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not indicated if he will renew protections for Ukrainians, who first received Temporary Protected Status after Russia invaded their country in 2022, and for Sudanese nationals, who were granted the designation several times, most recently in 2022, because of an ongoing civil war.

The Trump administration has moved to eliminate legal protections for more than 1 million immigrants that have TPS. Of the 17 countries with the designation at the start of the second Trump administration, the only remaining protections are for Ukraine and Sudan, which are set to end on Monday, and Lebanon, which is set to expire Nov. 27. 

Mullin is supposed to declare his decision at least 60 days before a TPS designation expires. If no decision is made, an automatic six-month extension kicks in. 

Related: Florida Immigrant Coalition supports resolution pressing Congress to tackle immigration policy

After the U.S. Department of Justice sued California over its refusal to remove voters the federal government alleges are noncitizens, voting rights advocates fear the Trump administration is violating a court order blocking it from rooting out noncitizens with states’ voter data, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

The Justice Department’s lawsuit, coming less than three weeks before Election Day and with voting underway in California, amounts to the latest development in President Donald Trump’s efforts to assert authority over elections, which under the U.S. Constitution are administered by the states. Trump faces a deluge of investigations and pushback if Democrats retake one or both chambers of Congress in November.

Democrats and voting rights groups have previously raised alarms about the possibility of the Trump administration attempting to interfere with voting. For some, the legal action against California only exacerbates their concerns. 

Related: California files its 100th lawsuit against Trump, this time over ICE at courthouses

The president has a flurry of travel on deck in the final frantic weeks leading up to the end of the midterm elections, in which the GOP is vying to maintain its control of both the U.S. House and Senate, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

But that outlook looks increasingly less favorable for Republicans, as analysts say Democrats remain heavily favored to win back the majority in the House, and Senate races continue to shift in the Democratic Party’s favor. 

Adding to the trend, the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, an elections forecaster, shifted 11 additional House races in the direction of Democrats on Friday — in congressional districts in Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio and South Carolina.

The political report also currently lists seven Senate toss-up races, including in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. 

Meanwhile, Stateline reports that Democrats could flip some legislative chambers this November, or break GOP supermajorities. 

Party control is up for grabs in 15 state legislative chambers across the country. 

The nonpartisan newsletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics released its final analysis of state legislative races ahead of November. Senior Columnist Louis Jacobson changed projections for 10 chambers — all shifting in favor of Democrats.

The federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been in place since 2001, but is under threat. In August, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her agency’s plans to rescind the rule “in its entirety.”

The roadless rule currently prohibits road construction, logging and mining on about 30% of the nearly 200 million acres of land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The rule mostly applies to forested areas of the West, but a unique area in the White Mountains along the border of Maine and New Hampshire could have its landscape changed.

In Episode 50 of the Stories From The States podcast, a Maine Morning Star reporter discusses the concerns of New England conservationists who think the rollback of the roadless rule would hurt one of the few unbroken stretches of wilderness in the region. 

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

Following a restoration project, Montana’s original governor’s mansion has reopened to the public, Daily Montanan reports. 

Built in 1888, the 21-room mansion will be open for tours every Saturday. The state bought the property in 1913 and it served as the home for nine Montana Governors and their families. The building was closed in 2025 for repairs.

“The restoration gave the mansion’s exterior the care it deserved, and now visitors can see the results firsthand,” Darby Bramble, museum education officer with the Montana Historical Society said in a press release. “Our tours bring the Victorian era to life through artifacts and stories from the families who lived here, and now we have the added dimension of talking about what it takes to preserve a historic home like this one.”