The year of the independent US Senate candidates and more news from the states

Good evening. We begin tonight in Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho and Montana, where independent candidates are seeking to capitalize on dissatisfaction among voters in efforts to unseat incumbent Republicans.

In West Virginia, where parents of a young girl have been charged with child neglect, lawmakers say they want to evaluate gaps in communication that allow students enrolled in the state’s voucher program to go unmonitored. Across the country, a new report found that birth centers have been shown to correlate with positive health outcomes, but 10 states don’t have any.

In Alaska, a town of 250 people is one of the country’s first American World War II Heritage Cities, a new designation by the National Park Service.

Dan Osborn, a former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the first independent U.S. senator from Nebraska since World War II by defeating Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Osborn, who has the backing of the state’s top Democrats, is one of four independent candidates for U.S. Senate this year who are main opponents of incumbent Republicans, the D.C. Bureau reports.

All of the independent U.S. Senate candidates hail from states Trump won easily and where Democrats struggle in statewide elections: Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota. Their campaigns come at an opportune moment. The president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections, but Trump’s popularity has fallen to new lows, driven by frustrations with inflation and the war with Iran. A national Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday found Trump’s approval stands at just 33%.

The independent candidates are betting that broad dissatisfaction among voters and economic anxiety, combined with their distance from the national Democratic brand, will be enough to create breathing room for voters — including Trump voters — to seriously consider them. 

More elections coverage: 

A West Virginia child abuse case involving students using the state’s voucher program poses questions about how public schools can follow up on thousands of students enrolled in the Hope Scholarship program, including children missing school and in potentially dangerous situations, West Virginia Watch reports.

Public schools in the state are currently tasked with handling records and reporting for Hope Scholarship students learning elsewhere. Hope Scholarship is the state’s education voucher program that provides around $5,400 per student for private school tuition, homeschooling and more.

A malnourished 12-year-old girl was found alone last week in Charleston, more than a mile from her home, after wandering the neighborhood for several hours. According to a criminal complaint, the girl weighed 40 pounds, less than half the average weight of a 12-year-old girl. Five children found in the girl’s home were enrolled in the Hope Scholarship program.

Two state lawmakers said communication between public school officials and the Hope Scholarship program should be addressed to close gaps that exist.

During a discussion focused on water and saving Utah’s shrinking Great Salt Lake, U.S. Sen. John Curtis said he’s trying to drum up the political will in Congress to help President Donald Trump’s $1 billion proposal for the lake materialize, Utah News Dispatch reports.

The president’s budget request is just that — a request, which needs approval from Congress.

“Now we, as legislators, have to figure out where that money’s going to come from,” the Utah Republican said at the University of Utah’s Hinkley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City during a speaking event Monday. 

Utah’s federal delegation is now working to convince their colleagues the effort “is worth $1 billion.”

Curtis argued the shrinking Great Salt Lake is a “regional issue,” with ecological and economic threats that could hurt not just Utah, but the West. He also said it could have global implications, if state and federal leaders figure out a way to save the saline lake — which hasn’t been done before, ever.

Indiana: The mother of two children murdered in 2013 urged the state’s parole board to reject Jeffrey Weisheit’s plea for mercy and uphold his death sentence. Hours earlier, Weisheit’s family and attorneys asked the board to recommend sparing his life.

Arizona: Community advocates and city leaders are sounding the alarm over a federal proposal by the Census Bureau to count only citizens and lawful permanent residents when the census is next collected in 2030. The plan will likely face a legal challenge if the Trump administration moves forward with it.

Virginia: Closing the state’s child care affordability gap would require up to $4.5 billion annually over the next decade, according to the Virginia Department of Education — an investment that, under one scenario, would also raise annual pay for 43,000 educators by an average of $17,000. 

Maryland: For the eighth straight year, Maryland scientists found well below average numbers of young rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay. The survey of juvenile striped bass showed the best results since 2018, but scientists warn that the continued law numbers may be “the new normal.”

Iowa: The day after President Donald Trump announced that farmers would be eligible to receive one-time payments from an $8 billion fund created to provide relief for high fuel and input costs, farm groups have expressed appreciation, but they also said they hope to see long-term policy solutions that will support the farm economy. 

Louisiana: Two major coastal restoration projects got the final go-ahead from Trustees of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement dollars to begin construction. Together, they will restore up to 1,700 acres of coastal shoreline and wetland habitat at a total cost of $265 million.

Nevada: Approval for the first-ever commercial data center on U.S. public lands was formally rejected on Thursday after a federal appeals board affirmed the Bureau of Land Management must conduct a separate environmental review, which in turn would have to be approved, before proceeding with the project.

New Mexico: President Donald Trump took to social media this week to renew his call for New Mexico to be renamed New America. His post on Truth Social followed his initial call for the name change in early September, which prompted denunciations by state and federal officials and candidates. 

Rhode Island: The state’s Democratic Party chair has resigned in the wake of her husband’s indictment by an Ohio grand jury on felony fraud and racketeering charges. Liz Beretta-Perik said her husband’s indictment had “nothing to do” with her or her role as party leader, but she faced public calls for her resignation.

Washington: Canada’s economic pivot away from the U.S. includes fast-tracking a new oil pipeline from Alberta to a proposed marine terminal in British Columbia, practically on the border with Washington state. The proposal has environmentalists, tribes and Democratic politicians concerned about increased tanker traffic and oil spill risk.

Boats line the harbor at Whittier, Alaska, on Oct. 1. A new National Park Service designation honors the town for its role as a supply and support center for the World War II effort in Alaska. Whittier continues to serve as a major transportation hub for Alaska, though now in the civilian sphere. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

The Prince William Sound town of Whittier, Alaska, population 250, has been designated by the National Park Service as one of the nation’s American World War II Heritage Cities.

The designation is part of the Park Service’s American World War II Heritage City Program. One city in each state or territory can receive the designation.

Whittier’s designation stems from its service as a supply and support center for the war effort in Alaska, providing sea, rail and road connections.

Aside from its handy location as a transportation hub — a function the city continues to serve — Whittier had another attribute that attracted the military. Shrouded by tall mountains and near-constant cloud cover, it was well-hidden from enemy eyes.

Read more from Alaska Beacon.

Birth centers are an option for those with low-risk pregnancies and are correlated with more positive health outcomes, but 10 states do not have any birth centers at all, and more could be built with certain state policy solutions and different models of care, according to a new report, Stateline reports.

Birth centers can be an attractive option for pregnant patients seeking fewer medical interventions and a more “home-like” childbirth experience that is still attended by professionals. Centers are often chosen by Black, Indigenous and Hispanic patients, who experience negative maternal and infant health outcomes at disproportionately higher rates than white patients, research shows.

Using data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Association of Birth Centers and other state-level data, the report from The Commonwealth Fund found 10 states — Arkansas, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont — have zero birth centers, and eight other states have only one birth center.

For decades, manufactured home builders have been working to shed the old image of boxy trailer homes reserved for the outskirts of cities and suburbia. Now, a small change in federal regulations could open the door for architecture welcomed in more neighborhoods, Stateline reports.

This summer’s sweeping housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, removed a 1974 mandate that required every manufactured home to be built on a nonremovable steel frame, known as a chassis. Experts and home producers think the change could help unlock thousands more affordable housing options around the country.

But first, experts say, states have to examine outdated regulations that are blocking the manufactured home industry’s potential. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ housing initiative estimates that 30 states might need to change their regulations to align with the new federal law.

A Nebraska father is suing the state’s Department of Health and Human Services after the agency told him his request for email records would cost nearly $1 million and take 50 years to complete, Nebraska Examiner reports.

Curt Safranek, whose son has an intellectual disability and autism, requested copies of communications between DHHS employees and the firm Alvarez & Marsal after the department tapped the firm to independently review Nebraska’s use of its interRAI tool in a no-bid contract.

Since July 2025, the tool has helped calculate funding for Nebraska families receiving Home and Community-Based Waivers through Medicaid. Twenty-five other states also use the tool.

DHHS estimated the cost of compiling the records requested at $976,263.77. The expected completion: Sept. 29, 2076, at which time Safranek would be 105 years old.

Safranek, a founder of Disability Alliance of Nebraska, is asking a Lancaster County District Court judge to force DHHS to issue a new public records estimate “reflecting the actual added cost of making the copies available.”

The department declined to comment on pending litigation.