Resources for cold cases and more news from the states

Welcome to Wednesday! Late last night, another appeal was filed in the redistricting fight in Missouri.

Backers of a redistricting referendum there asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene for a third time in three weeks in the fight over which congressional map must be used for the Nov. 3 elections. The latest appeal comes as the first votes are being cast and state election officials face conflicting state and federal court orders.

In North Carolina, a Chatham County data center project will move forward despite the county’s moratorium, following a court decision. County commissioners enacted a yearlong moratorium on new data centers earlier this year, which remains in effect until Feb. 11, 2027, or until new zoning regulations are adopted.

And in Washington, D.C., education experts and advocates urged Congress to repeal an incoming national school voucher program over concerns that it will divert critical funds from public schools to private institutions, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.  

Keep reading for more news on immigration enforcement, data centers, election rules, politics and policy from across the country.

Texas: A California couple will maintain custody over the biological child they had through a surrogate in Texas after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan rejected a request to intervene in the high-profile case. The Alaskan surrogate had sought conservatorship over the child, which would have given her a say in the child’s medical treatment.

Florida: Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Angie Nixon will pay a $250 fine and provide 15 hours of community service to settle her case with Leon County after she was charged with two misdemeanors for holding a sit-in at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in the Florida Capitol on May 15.

Tennessee: Immigrant advocates went to federal court seeking an immediate order blocking the state Highway Patrol from conducting traffic stops in tandem with federal immigration agents.

Delaware: The state Supreme Court knocked down a challenge to current absentee voting protocols, rejecting Republican Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker’s claim that the system is unconstitutional. 

Wisconsin: Following President Donald Trump’s executive order to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list, the state’s gubernatorial election will determine the direction of future management of the wolf population in the state. There are currently about 4,000 wolves across Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Colorado: Residents who vote with a mail ballot must sign the ballot envelope. If voters approve a proposed constitutional amendment in November, they would also need to include an ID number on the envelope. 

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.

Family members of homicide victims called on Arizona lawmakers and law enforcement to shift funding away from heavy sentences and capital punishment to cold-case investigations, violence prevention and survivor support, Arizona Mirror reports.

At a news conference, members of Arizonans for Effective Public Safety recounted the still-unsolved murders of their daughter, son, husband and cousin, crimes that date as far back as 1988.

Each survivor made the call for dedicated cold-case units and detectives, citing the need for sustained attention to unsolved homicides.

From 1965 to 2025, there were 18,826 homicides in Arizona, according to the Murder Accountability Project. Law enforcement “cleared,” or solved, 12,039 cases, leaving 6,787 unresolved, or cold. As of July 2026, the state reported 1,099 missing persons cases, as well as 153 unidentified and 183 unclaimed people.

Arizonans for Effective Public Safety, a project of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, went public this year with a policy push to see the state and law enforcement agencies move away from funding capital cases and felony murder prosecutions.

Instead, advocates want to see more money invested into cold-case and missing persons investigations, modernized crime labs, and programs for violence prevention and survivor support.

The Bulwark, a media organization made up largely of former Republicans who oppose Trump, is holding a live event in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday. Proceeds will benefit the Haitian Support Center in nearby Springfield, Ohio Capital Journal reports.

That city’s Haitian community has grown rapidly in recent years as people have fled chaos and hunger in their home country. Many came to the U.S. under temporary protected status following a devastating earthquake in 2010. Conditions in Haiti have only grown worse since. 

The influx of as many as 15,000 Haitians came with growing pains, but it was also credited with reviving a local economy that had been waning for years.

Now, Trump is forcing Haitians to go back to their home country despite the fact that nearly half the people there can’t get enough to eat, murder and kidnapping are rampant, and gangs are raping children as a way to project their power into new areas.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, reported a 1,000% increase in child rape in Haiti between 2024 and 2025.

The Bulwark benefit for the Haitian Support Center will feature “good faith commentary, signature banter, and fellowship.” Participants will include Bulwark publisher and political consultant Sarah Longwell; Bill Kristol, a neoconservative writer and founder of The Weekly Standard; Tim Miller, a political commentator and former Republican consultant; writer and author Jonathan V. Last; and journalist Sam Stein.