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Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, interviews Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox during the summer meeting of the National Governors Association in Oklahoma City. Governors called for a rebalancing of state and federal power sharing. (Photo by Kevin Hardy/Stateline) OKLAHOMA CITY —  State leaders of both parties say the federal government — including the president — wields too much power, and they want to see more authority returned to the states. Bipartisan groups of governors and state lawmakers held major gatherings in recent days where issues of state authority became a major focus. They agreed the federal government had grown too powerful and pushed for states to maintain control over elections, energy, education and other issues.  During President Donald Trump’s second term, state leaders have heightened focus on federalism, the uniquely American system created by the framers of the Constitution to share power between Washingto...

Migrants wait through the night on May 10, 2023, in a dust storm, on land between the Rio Grande and the U.S.-Mexico border wall, hoping they will be processed by immigration authorities before the expiration of Title 42, a public health order used to expel migrants. (Photo by Corrie Boudreaux/Source NM) WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services plans to award a $150 million contract to a small Texas firm — with no specialty in immigration law and run by a former Trump official — to provide legal services to tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children, according to a Wednesday pre-published notice in the Federal Register.  The notice , which HHS is scheduled to officially publish Thursday, comes after the department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for unaccompanied children, let a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice for such services expire. The center has a network of roughly 100 organizations it works with that provided legal aid and r...

Pedestrians walk through the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami on June 6, 2025. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — A federal judge lifted a stay Wednesday on the termination of temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in order to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for the Trump administration to remove their legal status and open them up for deportations.  The  order from U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes means that between 330,000 to 350,000 Haitians living in the United States have lost their Temporary Protected Status, even while legal arguments on a racial discrimination claim continue.  Reyes’ order, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, brought the case into compliance with a 6-3 Supreme Court  decision that Haitians and Syrians were not entitled to postponements of their status while litigation continues. The June Supreme Court ruling also said courts could not review the Homeland Security secretary’s...

The Big Four Bridge over the Ohio River, connecting Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern) WASHINGTON — The stopgap spending bill supported by an overwhelming majority of U.S. senators does not address tens of billions in expiring transportation funding, leaving states facing a massive effective budget cut starting Oct. 1. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which authorized highway and transit programs for five years, expires Sept. 30. Roughly $38.6 billion per year in extra federal transportation funding is set to expire with it, even if the continuing resolution  the Senate advanced 89-4 Monday becomes law. The stopgap measure, a version of which has also passed the House, would keep the government funded mostly at current levels, and reauthorize highway and transit programs through Dec. 11.  But it would not renew the advance appropriations that provided $184 billion over five years for a host of transportation pro...

The logo for Alabama Power, as seen on January 24, 2023. The Alabama Public Service Commission Tuesday approved a solar facility proposal from Alabama Power that will support a data center in Montgomery. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Public Service Commission Tuesday approved a solar project aimed at supporting a Montgomery data center. Members unanimously approved a certificate of convenience and necessity for Alabama Power’s  “Clearview Ranch Project,” allowing the investor-owned utility to construct a 1,400 acre, 200-megawatt solar photovoltaic generating facility and a 200-megawatt, two-hour duration battery energy storage system in Macon and Bullock counties. The commission also approved an agreement that allows Alabama Power to pass the costs of the solar project to Dotier, a subsidiary of Meta, for a 20-year term. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE ...

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche walks by reporters at the U.S. Capitol on May 21, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — U.S. acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was one step closer to permanently leading the Justice Department Tuesday, after two skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans voted to advance his nomination given Blanche’s signed promise that President Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is dead. Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had been withholding support for Blanche, voted with other members of the committee along party lines, 12-10, to send Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate. It is unclear how soon the Senate will vote on the confirmation. Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, issued a brief signed statement on social media Sunday night  promising the fund is “rescinded,” and an attached unsigned memo stated the tax immunity deal for Trump, his sons...