The nation's highest court has declined to hear a case about Montana voting laws which would have disproportionately affected Native people.
Last year, Montana's Supreme Court decided two laws passed in 2021 to ban same-day voter registration and paid absentee ballot collection were unconstitutional.
Alex Rate, deputy director and legal director of the ACLU of Montana, said people who face too many costs to voting often do not. For those who already face barriers like long distances to elections offices or no residential mail delivery, the laws could have tipped the scales. Rate argued it was the intention of the bill's backers.
"That's what we saw with these laws, was a very deliberate attempt to make it so difficult for people to vote that they would stay home," Rate asserted.
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week opted not to hear it. Rate noted the high court does not have jurisdiction to pick up a case on state voting laws.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, states passed almost 80 restrictive voting laws between 2021 and 2024, nearly three times the number passed in the previous few years. So far in Montana's 2025 legislative session, a half-dozen voting-related bills have been introduced by lawmakers, all Republicans.
"We have repeatedly seen Montana courts strike down bills that the Legislature has passed as unconstitutional," Rate pointed out. "And yet they continue to advance things that are patently unlawful."
Rate described the citizens' rights written in the Montana Constitution as "ironclad," including the right to vote.
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The Trump administration this week reversed a decision to freeze federal loans and grants -- but only after it led to mass confusion among organizations and schools around the country, and a backlash from states, including Nevada.
The White House said the pause is needed to verify whether federal spending is in line with President Donald Trump's priorities.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said she's been swamped with questions from nonprofits, service providers and community stakeholders, who depend on federal dollars to support a wide range of programs that help Nevadans. She called the president's action "reckless."
"My office has received hundreds of calls and emails from Nevadans who are rightfully concerned just about what this would mean for them, for their families, for their jobs," she said.
The National Council of Nonprofits filed a lawsuit against freezing federal funds. A federal judge also blocked the directive until a hearing this coming Monday. There's still some confusion about exactly what was rescinded -- the funding freeze, or the original memo from the Office of Management and Budget that outlined the freeze.
Rosen alleged that a decision to stop the flow of federal dollars, even temporarily, would have a direct impact on public safety by keeping funds from reaching law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders. She said these folks and others depend on this money for the tools they need to do "their jobs safely and protect communities effectively."
"Equipment like the emergency vehicles they travel in, the protective suits they put on, the helmets they were, the oxygen tanks that they carry so they can breathe fresh air while they save someone's life," she said.
Rosen is among those calling on Trump to permanently and fully rescind the executive order to freeze those federal funds.
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As President Donald Trump makes good on his promises for mass deportation, some Colorado lawmakers are standing up to protect immigrant families now living in fear.
Rep. Naquetta Ricks, D-Aurora, came to the U.S. with her parents during the First Liberian Civil War.
She said the daily contributions made by immigrants are deeply woven into the fabric of the communities in which they live and work.
"Immigrants are six times more likely to start their own businesses," Ricks pointed out. "Immigrant workers here in Colorado make up about 30% of the construction workers that are building homes and businesses. They are doctors, they are lawyers, they are contributors to every aspect of American society."
The Trump administration has threatened to prosecute state or local officials if they interfere with plans to stop what they call an invasion of criminals, even though studies show immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S.
Colorado law bars local law enforcement from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents without a court order. Constitutional scholars have noted local law enforcement is not obligated to assist federal agents on any issue, even bank robberies.
Rep. Junie Joseph, D-Boulder, who came to the U.S. from Haiti when she was 14, said the financial struggles experienced by many Coloradans are very real. She argued immigrants are just a convenient scapegoat. American tax dollars are not going to support immigrants; they are supporting health care and food assistance for people forced to work multiple jobs just to survive.
"We subsidize so many things because corporations are not paying people," Joseph pointed out. "You need to point fingers at Congress, because they are the group that allow corporations to not pay people a living wage."
More than 570,000 foreign-born people were living in Colorado in 2021, according to state estimates. Joseph noted for centuries, people have come to the U.S. from all corners of the globe seeking a better life for themselves and their families, including first lady Melania Trump.
"That's what makes it great, all of us together, we are unique," Joseph explained. "We are not a melting pot, we are a salad bowl. We have different ingredients, unique flavors and we all are needed."
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By Ilana Newman for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration
With rural newsrooms nationwide struggling, a push to fund local news infrastructure comes from Press Forward, a coalition of national funders, including foundations like the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation, coming together to fund journalism through a coordinated effort.
Beyond its nationwide pursuits, Press Forward also supports local chapters aiming to bring together smaller foundations to continue to fund local news.
Announced in 2023, Press Forward pledged more than half a billion dollars to support local newsrooms across the country. Local news is vital for government accountability, fighting misinformation, civic engagement, and strengthening social ties.
According to the State of Local News Report for 2024, three-quarters of news deserts are located in USDA-characterized rural communities. Rural communities also are underserved by publications other than print, despite rising print costs. In the past year, more than 30 publications dropped their print publication entirely, going fully digital.
In the San Luis Valley, in rural southern Colorado, Chris Lopez saw a space for an alternative digital news source, despite the majority of digital-only news sources being housed in urban environments.
Lopez grew up in Alamosa, Colorado -population 9,833- but spent 30 years working for several newspapers, before returning to Alamosa in 2015. Lopez and his wife, MaryAnne Talbott started the Alamosa Citizen - a digital publication with original reporting and feature stories - in 2021, as an experiment.
"We felt that there was an opportunity in the market for something more regular, more robust, and told a different type of story than police blotters and things like that," Lopez said.
The Alamosa Citizen was one of nine Colorado newsrooms, six of which were in rural communities, to receive $100,000 over two years in the first open call for national Press Forward funding in October. While many publications are discontinuing the print side of publication due to increasing costs and fewer printers, Lopez founded the Alamosa Citizen as an online only publication intentionally.
Print publications have continually cut their coverage due to a lack of resources, said Lopez, causing frustration in readers who want real news, not a thin newspaper full of ads. Lopez said that the Alamosa Citizen reaches a wider audience than the local print newspaper because of geographic availability. He also hopes to reach a younger audience and instill a lifelong news habit in young readers.
"We're converting older people to the platforms. Our young audience of 18 to 35 will blow you away in terms of their engagement and activity," Lopez said.
Infrastructure Funding
Press Forward is accepting grant applications to support local news infrastructure until January 15th, 2025. These grants will support audience development, operations, revenue generation, and staff.
Sam Moody, associate director of Colorado Media Project, sees Rocky Mountain Community Radio (RMCR), a coalition of non-commercial radio stations around Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, as a perfect example of the infrastructure-building work that will support rural news in the Mountain West.
"Our real benefit of our increasingly digital age is the way that information can and often needs to be shared across communities, especially rural communities," said Moody in a Daily Yonder interview.
RMCR strengthens the capabilities of each local radio station member, some of which have newsrooms without full-time reporters, or share staff with other outlets. It provides resources, stories, and support, said managing editor Maeve Conran. Conran shares content created by each station for distribution by the entire coalition. RMCR also facilitates collaborative reporting and idea sharing.
"We have an opportunity as a coalition to really leverage infrastructure money because we can share resources and infrastructure resources across an entire coalition. It doesn't just have to go to one station," Conran said.
Conran sees Press Forward funding as valuable because it is general operating funding instead of project-specific funding - something that a small rural radio station doesn't have the capacity to pursue. Rocky Mountain Community Radio plans to apply for infrastructure funding during this round of Press Forward funding.
Press Forward's local chapters offer another opportunity for rural news organizations to get funding. In February 2024, Colorado became one of what is now 31 local Press Forward chapters, including other rural regions like Central Appalachia. Colorado Media Project is the home of the Colorado chapter and is in the process of hiring a director for the program, according to Moody.
Corey Hutchins is a professor of journalism at Colorado College and writes a newsletter called "Inside the News in Colorado". Hutchins said that news in Colorado used to be siloed until organizations like Colorado Media Project (which he advises) came to be.
"It's created a statewide local journalism scene that is collaborative, where partnerships are easily formed, and a place where people involved in local journalism have support in a way I don't think they had in the past," Hutchins said.
With rural newspapers closing all the time, like Flagler News in eastern Colorado closing just before the new year, there is even more need for sustainable funding for local news.
Lopez is confident that the Press Forward funding will get the Alamosa Citizen to their five-year mark, but what happens after that is still unclear. "We have to keep building if we're going to stick around," said Lopez.
Ilana Newman wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.
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