Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Aug 30, 2026· Updated

Trump Signs an Executive Order Creating a "U.S. Space Academy" on Par With West Point — and Colorado's Senator Answers That the Country Already Has One, "It's Called the U.S. Air Force Academy"

On August 28, 2026, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, President Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the Artemis II crew and then signed an executive order establishing a U.S. Space Academy — a service academy he said would rank alongside West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, feeding graduates into the Space Force, NASA and the commercial space industry. The order does not actually create an academy. It creates a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, chaired by the NASA administrator, with 120 days to recommend a governance structure, a curriculum, a location and the congressional action that would be required to stand the institution up. Trump said a site would be chosen "very shortly," and noted lawmakers were already lobbying for their own states. The reaction split along predictable lines but with an unusual geographic overlay. Rep. Brian Babin, whose Texas district includes Johnson Space Center, pitched Houston. Sen. John Hickenlooper — whose state hosts the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the institution that already commissions Space Force officers — called the plan "duplicative, costly, and unserious." Rep. George Whitesides, the former Virgin Galactic CEO, took the proposal seriously enough to itemize what is missing from it: no congressional representation on the commission, no stated purpose distinct from existing universities, and no answer on where roughly $1 billion a year would come from. A congressionally mandated oversight body, the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, had already recommended against a standalone institution earlier in 2026, suggesting a dedicated Space Force facility on the existing Colorado Springs campus instead.

“Another bold step by @POTUS to ensure America leads in space for generations to come. Let’s bring it to Texas!”
Brian Babin (R-TX) · Aug 30, 2026

A 3 A.M. White House Email Summoning Five Agencies to a "Brainstorm Call" on Colorado Surfaces in Court — Days After the State Refused to Free Tina Peters, and Weeks Before Hundreds of Millions in Grants Were Cut

An email written at roughly 3 a.m. on December 15, 2025 by Emily Underwood, a deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist, went to officials at the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Interior and Agriculture and at the Office of Management and Budget under the subject line "brainstorm call." Recipients were told to be "prepared to discuss immediate actions that your department or agency can take with respect to Colorado," and to "prioritize Colorado for the purposes of ensuring grants and federal support are in line with administration priorities." The email was sent a month after Colorado refused to move Trump ally Tina Peters — the Mesa County clerk convicted in state court over the 2020 election-equipment breach — to federal custody, and days after the state declined to give effect to Trump's clemency declaration for her. Hours after the email went out, Trump called Gov. Jared Polis "weak and pathetic" on live television. In the weeks that followed, federal agencies froze hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Colorado, denied disaster aid for fires and flooding, cut more than $600 million from 38 Colorado-affiliated energy projects, and announced plans to disband the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. The email surfaced publicly at an August 11, 2026 hearing in Colorado's lawsuit against the administration and was first reported by the Denver Post on August 13-14. Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said from the bench that he had "never seen anything like it." Attorney General Phil Weiser called it proof of "an unconstitutional scheme"; Colorado's two senators and its House Democrats called it weaponization of the federal government. A White House spokeswoman denied the call had anything to do with Peters and said the president was using "lawful and discretionary authority."

“The shocking White House email discussed in court earlier this week proves what we have long suspected: the White House orchestrated an unconstitutional scheme to weaponize the federal government to attack and punish Colorado for its lawful decisions over elections and our criminal justice system.”
Phil Weiser (D-CO) · Aug 14, 2026

Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Unseats 15-Term Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado 1st District Primary

On June 30, 2026, 29-year-old democratic socialist and first-time candidate Melat Kiros defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for Colorado's Denver-based 1st Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race at 10:03 p.m., with Kiros leading roughly 49.3% to DeGette's 43.5%, a margin of about six points, with Wanda James third. Kiros, a lawyer who immigrated from Ethiopia as an infant, was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Justice Democrats, and built her campaign from viral Instagram videos into a volunteer operation that knocked on roughly 100,000 doors. The upset ended DeGette's nearly three-decade career in Congress and marked one of the biggest wins to date for the DSA-aligned left. Kiros is now heavily favored in the solidly Democratic district's November general election.

“Coloradoans have once again made their voices clear. We are not going to accept Trump's broken promises and cost of living emergency, or his constant corruption.”
John Hickenlooper (D-CO) · Jul 1, 2026