US Supreme Court allows Trump mail-ballot order and more news from the states

Good morning. Welcome back to another jam-packed edition of Daybreak. 

With just over two months until the November midterms, the U.S. Supreme Court gave way for President Donald Trump to have a hand in regulating mail-in ballots nationwide, a voting method he has falsely claimed is rife with corruption since he lost the 2020 presidential election, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.

Following the release of the Trump administration’s 10-year management plan for the Colorado River, Nevada officials filed the first lawsuit challenging the plan, which would require the state to cut water use by about 17% over the next two years and authorize even larger cuts during dry years. 

Today, voters in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District will go to the polls to decide who will finish the late Congressman David Scott’s term. Voters in Oklahoma will also cast ballots in a primary runoff election.

Before you go, read about Maryland’s newest state park at the end of today’s newsletter in celebration of the National Park Service’s birthday. Have a great Tuesday.

National: Diabetes patients in Mississippi who had been getting routine care over the past few years through subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance plans lost that when Congress allowed the so-called enhanced subsidies to expire at the end of last year.

National: New research shows that at least 37 states are facing billions in reduced federal payments for hospital services because of Medicaid funding changes included in the tax and spending law passed by Congress and signed into law last year.

Alabama: Death row inmate Jeffery Lee, who successfully challenged the state’s nitrogen gas protocol, filed a lawsuit earlier this month to prevent his execution by lethal injection. His attorneys argued that state law does not allow officials to use lethal injection if he chose to die by nitrogen gas.

Utah: A preliminary federal report about the deaths of four members of a wildland firefighting crew in June lays out the basics of what happened, but the firefighters’ families and the public are still waiting for full details.

Minnesota: Two utility ratepayer advocates urged state regulators to reconsider a June order allowing Xcel Energy to raise its Minnesota electric customers’ rates by about $210 million over the next two years. The average residential customer would see their bill increase by about $5.60 per month.

South Dakota: A nonprofit organization and a Sioux Falls voter filed a lawsuit in federal court over the implementation of the state’s new proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration. The legislation, signed into law by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden in March, requires documentary proof of citizenship from people registering to vote.

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.

Irving Alonso Acosta wants to become a barber to support his family, but according to a court filing, he was arrested in Sidney, Montana, kicked while in custody, and threatened with being kept in jail if he talked to an attorney, Daily Montanan reports.

Acosta, held at the Cascade County Detention Center, is a possible class member in a lawsuit filed against Cascade County, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal officials by Upper Seven Law.

In signed declarations, a couple of other potential class members said they passed out while in custody, including one who was held in the back of a hot truck. One said he was threatened by a Customs and Border Patrol agent.

“A CBP agent put me in his car and told me that he wanted me to run so that he could use his gun on me. … I was terrified,” Jonny Hernandez Antunez said in court records.

The lawsuit alleges that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are arresting people without warrants and detaining them without evidence they are a flight risk or danger to their communities, contrary to the U.S. Constitution or laws of the country.

The U.S. attorney’s office acknowledges government agents made arrests without warrants, but it argues the government issued warrants after the arrests, and in one court filing, it argues the plaintiffs are in the United States without legal permission.

This Friday, the gates will officially open at Maryland’s newest state park, Savage Highlands, unlocking some 55,000 acres of Western Maryland woodlands outside of Frostburg for public use, free of charge, Maryland Matters reports.

But already, online bookings are open for overnight stays at four small but luxurious yurts — at a cost of about $200 per night — as well as $20-a-night primitive campsites along the property’s hiking trails, complete with fire rings, picnic tables and bear-proof storage containers.

Once a privately held vacation resort called Savage River Lodge, anchored by a rustic ski lodge with its own restaurant, the facility used to be geared toward adults, advertising romantic getaways for couples and even charging added fees for children to tag along.

But the state park service is determined to welcome families. In other words, out with the loveseats and in with the sofa beds.