River negotiations still winding and more news from the states

Good evening. Tonight we begin with the continued consternation over Colorado River water allocations in the West. After the federal government released its own plan to divvy up the scarce resource, lower-basin states are still pushing for changes. 

In Minnesota, new court documents reveal federal surveillance of labor unions and progressive groups as part of the immigration crackdown there. Across the country, as the Trump administration targets immigrant-friendly state laws, Democratic lawmakers are introducing bills to expand protections. 

As more state GOP party platforms include anti-IVF language, advocates wonder if efforts to restrict surrogacy are coming next. 

And, an apology. In yesterday’s newsletter, I misstated a Minnesota election outcome: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the Democratic nominee for governor and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is the nominee for U.S. Senate. Read all the latest from Minnesota here.

Nevada’s top Colorado River negotiator said lower-basin states are still pressing for adjustments and attempting to forge consensus-based alternatives before federally mandated water cuts are finalized, Nevada Current reports.

Last month, the Bureau of Reclamation released its long-awaited 10-year plan to manage worsening water shortages along the Colorado River, including deep cuts to Nevada’s allocation of the drought-stricken river. 

Arizona and Nevada criticized the framework for placing a disproportionate burden on the lower basin while sparing upper-basin states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico — from mandatory water cuts.

At the center of the rift is whether upstream states will agree to evenly share mandatory water cuts and accept long-term conservation plans in order to spare downstream states from taking steeper cuts.

John Entsminger, Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager and Nevada’s lead negotiator on the Colorado River, provided limited details on the status of negotiations Wednesday during Nevada Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee’s fourth annual Southern Nevada Water Summit.

“I’ve been on four or five phone calls this morning already. Negotiations are ongoing,”  Entsminger said. “I think there’s a short-term solution.”

Homeland Security investigators secretly recorded conversations, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records for labor unions and progressive groups as part of a wide-ranging surveillance effort during Operation Metro Surge, according to court documents filed Thursday morning, Minnesota Reformer reports.

The documents, first reported by The New York Times, were filed by defense attorneys in the federal case against 15 Minnesotans accused of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal agent.

The feds’ surveillance programs, dubbed “Operation Puppet Master” and “Operation Whipple Shield,” go far beyond the 15 people indicted. 

Homeland Security agents used administrative subpoenas — subpoenas issued by the federal agency rather than a judge — to obtain financial records from organizations including the labor unions Service Employees International Union and Communications Workers of America; Voices for Racial Justice, a longstanding racial justice training organization; and Sunrise Movement, an environmental justice organization that organized noise protests outside of immigration agents’ hotels during Operation Metro Surge.

“This broad collection of financial records of labor and social justice advocacy organizations, done in secret and with no articulable criminal predicate, violates both the First Amendment and these organizations’ right to financial privacy,” the attorneys wrote.

Hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma children returned to school this week for their first academic year under strict new literacy laws. It will be their final school year before reading scores carry even higher stakes, Oklahoma Voice reports. 

More than 21,100 Oklahoma third graders, or 44%, scored below a basic level on statewide reading tests this past spring, according to state Department of Education data. Future third graders, starting in the 2027-28 school year, would risk being held back a year for scoring below basic, which the state defines as failing to demonstrate even partial mastery of grade-level expectations.

State leaders enacted more rigorous reading laws this year in hopes of emulating Mississippi, which progressively rose in national academic rankings after implementing similar regulations. Mississippi retained 6% of its third graders in the 2024-25 school year, according to the most recent data available. The Magnolia State held back 8% of its third graders, or 3,000 students, in its first year of retentions in 2014-15.

Utah: Firefighting crews are getting a hand from the Utah National Guard aerial units as wildfires across the state and nation continue to stretch resources thin.  

Alaska: State capital Juneau has issued an evacuation advisory for the densely-populated Mendenhall Valley area this week as the annual glacial outburst flooding begins. 

New Mexico: Food bank leaders say recent changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as well as rising grocery costs, have dramatically increased demand at community food distribution centers across the state. 

Louisiana: Social media giant Meta gets to keep records for its projected $50 billion data center secret after state utility regulators overturned a judge’s order to make them public. 

Oklahoma: The state executed by lethal injection a man convicted for the 2003 shooting death of Olimpia Fisher, 43, the mother of two daughters. Tennessee and Alabama also had scheduled executions on Thursday.  

South Dakota: Republican Attorney General Marty Jackley plans to propose state legislation limiting the use of automatic license plate readers, such as Flock cameras, to “legitimate law enforcement purposes.”

Oregon: The state reported 45 confirmed measles cases since the start of 2026, surpassing the number of cases it had during its peak outbreak year two years ago.

Washington: Jaelynn Scott is set to become the state’s first openly transgender legislator after sailing through last week’s primary. She also would be one of only two members of the Democratic Socialists of America in the Legislature. 

New Hampshire: Republican and Democratic lawmakers are hoping to overturn Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s veto of the state’s 10-year transportation improvement plan, which includes a proposal to raise tolls for out-of-state drivers.

Georgia: A legislative panel is investigating the rising cost of foster care, as the Division of Family and Children Services faces budget shortfalls. 

Ohio: A new law criminalizes out-of-state cannabis, as the state’s legal market for adult-use marijuana charges significantly more than surrounding states. The cheapest ounce of marijuana in Ohio is $112, compared to $6.99 in Michigan, according to one index.

Idaho Democratic state Rep. Brooke Green, her toddler Bridger Byington, and her baby Bryson Byington play at the Boise River in Boise, Idaho, on August 6. (Photo by Otto Kitsinger for Stateline)

Across the country, opposition to the two ways that Green had her children, IVF and surrogacy, is rising.

In the past two years, Republicans in Idaho and four other states have added specific anti-IVF language to their state party platforms, and some anti-abortion groups, including Students for Life of America and Live Action, have become increasingly outspoken in their opposition to both IVF and surrogacy. 

In Washington, D.C., Republicans in Congress have blocked legislation that would directly protect IVF as a fertility treatment.

IVF and surrogacy as fertility treatments make up a small percentage of total births nationwide, but the number is increasing gradually every year. In March, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reported that for the first time, more than 100,000 babies were born with the help of IVF.

Green tried to pass a bill protecting IVF access in Idaho in 2024, but it failed. However, another bill that would have established personhood from the moment of conception also failed after Green’s fertility doctor told lawmakers it would threaten her clinic’s ability to continue to offer IVF treatments.

The lawmaker thinks surrogacy is next on the list for legislators to try to limit in the 2027 session.

Read more from Stateline.

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued New York, Connecticut and Vermont over laws that allow immigrants in the country without permanent legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The suits are part of a larger push from the Trump administration to go after states with such policies, as the administration seeks to curb any benefits that could be extended to people without permanent legal status.  

Since President Donald Trump returned to office, the DOJ has sued 17 states over laws that allow noncitizen students who meet certain requirements access to in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. 

In five of those lawsuits the DOJ filed — targeting Texas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Illinois — courts have already struck down the laws. Cases remain pending in California, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers proposed nearly 250 bills in state capitols this year seeking to limit federal immigration efforts as they sought to push back against what they view as federal government overreach, Stateline reports. 

In a new report tallying 2026 action, State Futures, a nonprofit coordinating hundreds of Democratic lawmakers across the states, tracked 242 pieces of such legislation introduced across 32 states. About a fifth of them passed. Most of the measures address the ramped up immigration enforcement efforts that have defined Trump’s second term. 

More immigration coverage:

In Idaho, a community fund is helping farmworkers as they fight heat and wildfire smoke during long days at work in the fields, Idaho Capital Sun reports. 

The mission of the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils is to provide rural immigrant workers with supplies needed for their day-to-day activities. 

On a recent hot, smoky weekday, Idaho Organization of Resource Councils members carried crates of Gatorade, N95 masks, protective gloves, eyewear and more to a group of farmworkers combing through a corn cob field.

The organization channels aid through the JJ Saldaña Heat and Smoke fund, a community-based program that collects donations, supplies and other items for distribution to farmworkers. The fund began in 2020 in an effort to help farmworkers with COVID-19 related expenses.

“(Aid) is very important, especially here in Idaho,” Idaho Organization of Resource Councils member Julia Santiago said of supply distributions. “In other states like Oregon and Washington, there are stricter regulations when it comes to workers getting breaks. But here in Idaho, there is not, and we want to support farmworkers as much as possible.”

The distribution, and others like it, embodied what Santiago said the fund aimed to accomplish: give visibility to farmworkers.

“We just want to let farmworkers know that they’re not alone,” she said.