The Utah Republican pushing back against Trump voting changes and more news from the states

Good evening. Tonight we begin in Utah, where the state’s top election official — a Republican — says Trump administration attempts to change voting policies keep her up at night.

At the U.S. Supreme Court today, justices appeared skeptical about allowing a climate lawsuit to proceed against fossil fuel companies, which could mark a turning point in efforts by state and local governments to hold the industry accountable.

As the period for public comment winds down on the proposed rollback of the federal Roadless Rule, some conservationists want Congress to do more.

In Indiana, a new license plate design is helping to fund improvements at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. 

The top election official in the red state of Utah has been loud and clear — on and off social media — about her concerns with the Trump administration when it comes to voting rights, Utah News Dispatch reports. 

Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has refused to release private voter data despite threats of criminal prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice. Last month, she learned the DOJ was investigating her as a result of her refusal. 

She’s also pushed hard against President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to change how the U.S. Postal Service processes mail-in ballots. That rule would have mandated states collect information from voters and send that information to the federal government while also banning the Postal Service from delivering or collecting mail-in ballots from people who haven’t been confirmed as eligible voters. 

That rule has since been tied up in the courts — but had it been allowed to take effect so close to this year’s election, Henderson has said it would be an “unmitigated disaster.” 

As the political winds have changed, Henderson has remained a firm advocate for voting by mail, defending Utah’s system as one that’s highly secure — and accessible — while also supporting efforts to improve wherever possible. 

She also said the Trump administration’s “gamesmanship” with voting rights for political gain is what keeps her up at night. 

“It is hard because there are so many forces — forces much greater than me, greater than the Legislature, greater than our state — that are trying to muck things up for our voters,” Henderson said. “And I take Utahns’ voting rights very, very seriously. They are sacred, and they ought to be protected, and they ought to be preserved, and they shouldn’t be mucked around with for political purposes.”

A Tennessee law that makes it a felony to “harbor” immigrants without legal status remains enforceable after a federal judge dismissed a legal challenge brought by Lutheran churches, Tennessee Lookout reports.

Days before the law took effect in July 2025, the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, along with a Nashville landlord and a father whose son-in-law is an asylum seeker living in his household, filed suit. 

They contended the law was an unconstitutional usurpation of federal powers to exclusively enforce immigration law and violated the First Amendment’s rights of the Synod congregations, which provide shelter and services to immigrants regardless of immigration status, often paid for by charitable contributions. The plaintiffs also argued the law was overly vague.

In dismissing the lawsuit last week, U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell, Jr., nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2017, ruled that the churches, landlord and father-in-law lacked legal standing to challenge the law, because they could not show an immediate threat they would be prosecuted under its language. 

More immigration coverage: 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority Monday appeared broadly sympathetic to fossil fuel companies’ argument that allowing two Colorado local governments to sue them over climate change in state court would be a “recipe for chaos,” Colorado Newsline reports. 

Attorneys for both sides in Suncor v. Boulder, along with the Trump administration, presented oral arguments in a two-hour hearing, the first of the Supreme Court’s 2026-27 term. The case originated in Colorado in 2018, when Boulder’s city and county governments sued Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy, seeking monetary damages under state tort law for their role in contributing to climate change.

Despite being filed eight years ago, the case has yet to proceed to trial, as the fossil fuel companies have repeatedly tried to have it dismissed or moved to federal court by arguing that the Constitution and federal clean-air laws preempt such state-level proceedings.

With more than 30 similar lawsuits already filed by state and local governments across the country, environmental advocates say the outcome in Suncor v. Boulder could be a turning point in efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate change.

Alabama: A state representative and the former president of the Satsuma City Schools Board of Education were arrested on charges of attempted human trafficking. 

Tennessee: Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will step down, Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday — three days after a botched execution attempt left Christa Pike on a ventilator in critical condition.

Michigan: Every 16 years state voters are presented with a ballot question on whether to call a constitutional convention. The debate over how to vote boils down to two differing perspectives: opportunity versus uncertainty. 

New Mexico: Two Republican state lawmakers seeking reelection continued to employ a campaign canvasser accused of harassing their Democratic colleague even after another GOP candidate fired the man over his behavior, campaign finance records show.

Pennsylvania: The commonwealth’s Environmental Rights Amendment is at the center of a new lawsuit over a data center dispute in Lycoming County.

North Dakota: Lawmakers and state officials unveiled a proposal that would award yearly bonuses to teachers to boost recruitment and retention.

Virginia: Forty-seven communities will ask voters next month to decide whether to adopt a 1% sales tax and allow those revenues to support school construction and modernization costs. 

Idaho: Two political action committees on either side of the proposed abortion rights initiative, Proposition 1, have spent $1.3 million combined, and raised nearly $7.5 million total. The ballot measure’s supporters have outpaced its opponents in both fundraising and spending so far. 

Arizona: Democrats and clean energy advocates are hoping rising electricity bills fuel voter turnout in November and drive voters to reject the two Republicans seeking seats on the state’s utility regulation board. 

Arkansas: President Donald Trump posted on social media a cellphone number he claimed belonged to Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton in a Saturday tirade against the lawmaker for opposing a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent.

New Hampshire has designated roadless areas within the White Mountain National Forest, which draws hikers and tourists from far afield. A signpost welcomes hikers to the Great Gulf Wilderness, in the White Mountain National Forest. (Photo by Molly Rains/New Hampshire Bulletin)

As the period for public comment on the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule draws to a close, some conservationists want Congress to do more. 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which dates to 2001, prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in remote areas of national forests across the country. A proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture would remove those federal limitations on the allowed uses of roadless areas. 

Most roadless areas, which total more than 58.5 million acres, are concentrated in the West, but not all; within New England, New Hampshire hosts the largest amount, with about 235,000 acres in the White Mountain National Forest designated as roadless.

Critics say the move would jeopardize the most pristine wilderness areas remaining in the country, with broad consequences for people and wildlife. 

Read more from New Hampshire Bulletin. 

President Donald Trump wants to sharply curtail mail ballots. He’s called them “inherently corrupt” and baselessly condemned them as a major source of fraud. But with Republicans falling behind in the polls, the president is now urging his supporters to vote in the midterm elections any way they can, including by mail, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.

The White House has also sent emails through a government account promoting voter registration in recent days and Trump is continuing a string of campaign rallies in typically conservative states, including Nebraska on Monday night. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed that members of the military, who tend to support Republicans, have a day off to vote.

“If your state has early voting, do not wait. Go out and vote. Vote early, vote by mail, or vote in person on Election Day, November 3rd, so we can defeat the radical left ‘Dumocrats’ in a midterm victory that is too big to rig,” Trump said in a social media video over the weekend, using a derogatory term for Democrats.

The latest comments — along with the red-state rallies — underscore the political peril that analysts see facing Republicans and Trump. 

Democrats expect they’ll gain a majority of seats in the U.S. House following November’s midterm elections, giving the party a platform to serve as a check on the president’s power, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene said during an interview Monday that curbing the war in Iran and working on legislation to address the costs of healthcare would be at the top of the party’s agenda if it is able to flip that chamber.  

“And of course, act as an independent branch and do our job to hold the administration accountable,” she said. 

The Washington state Democrat said she views Republican super PACs spending millions of dollars in safe GOP districts as a sign that voters are moving toward Democratic candidates.

Lawmakers in a growing number of states are calling on their legislatures to act swiftly against a potentially dangerous kratom derivative known as 7-OH, commonly referred to as “gas station heroin,” Stateline reports.  

For years, kratom has been sold across much of the United States as an herbal supplement, available in powders, capsules and extracts with few of the restrictions applied to controlled substances.

Now with products containing 7-OH and other chemically modified kratom compounds increasingly being sold alongside traditional kratom leaf products, lawmakers are considering new regulation. 

At least 31 states regulate kratom, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some have banned or scheduled kratom, while others have imposed age limits, labeling requirements or restrictions on 7-OH and synthetic compounds. Many cities and towns nationwide have adopted sales restrictions.

Federal regulators are increasingly taking a similar approach, targeting certain high-potency and synthetic compounds while leaving traditional botanical kratom outside the latest federal scheduling actions.

Indiana’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles has sold more than 380,000 “blackout” license plates in the year since the minimalist design launched — generating $12.9 million toward a five-year modernization plan for the agency, Indiana Capital Chronicle reports. 

The blackout plates feature white numerals and letters on an all-black background. The optional design adds $45 to initial registration and annual renewal fees.

“Hoosiers clearly like the blackout plate, and its success is helping us build a better BMV,” Republican Gov. Mike Braun said. “I directed the BMV to modernize, improve customer service and find smarter ways to operate. (The revenue) is now helping us invest in the employees who serve Hoosiers and technology that makes doing business with the BMV faster and easier.”

Sales of the plates began last August. Hoosiers bought nearly 22,000 plates in the first month.

So far this year, the agency has purchased new payment machines that accept tap-to-pay options and digital currency and added more 24/7 BMV Connect kiosks statewide. Pay raises are coming for many customer-facing employees.