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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 28, 2026· Updated

DHS Told Four States It Found 250,000 Noncitizens on Their Voter Rolls — On a Recorded Call, Its Own Staff Called the Nevada Number "the Ceiling," and the Confirmed Count Nevada Got Was 185

In July 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to the secretaries of state of California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania saying DHS had identified more than 250,000 noncitizens on their voter rolls, and warned officials who did not act that they faced loss of federal election aid, fines and possible prison time. In August, on a call with Nevada election officials that was recorded and later obtained by CNN, DHS staff conceded the state-level figures had not been individually vetted — a USCIS fraud-division official called Nevada's 15,903 "the ceiling" — and a day later the department handed Nevada a list of just 185 registrants it said it was confident were noncitizens, with more than 14,000 cases unresolved. Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said his office "will not risk disenfranchising eligible voters" and called the federal effort unsophisticated and dangerous. DHS election-integrity lead Heather Honey told the state the department was "an open book." The reporting lands 10 weeks before the midterms, with DHS pressing states to purge voters on data it has not shown them.

“We write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts. … The 2026 midterm elections are already underway. [From the letter to Mullin that Fetterman signed with 33 other senators.]”
John Fetterman (D-PA) · Sep 28, 2026

A Panel of Three Trump Appointees Rules That Kalshi’s Sports Contracts Are Gambling, Not Swaps — Handing Nevada the Power to Regulate Prediction Markets, Splitting With the Third Circuit, and Sending the Whole Fight Toward the Supreme Court

On Friday, August 28, 2026, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit — all Trump appointees, ruling without dissent — held that Kalshi's sports event contracts are not "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act, and that federal registration with the CFTC therefore does not preempt state gaming law. The decision upheld a Nevada federal judge's ruling dissolving the injunction that had let Kalshi keep offering sports contracts in the state without a gaming license, and it applies across the Ninth Circuit to platforms including Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood. It is the largest courtroom win to date for the states and tribes that have argued the prediction-market industry built a federal back door around state gambling regulation. It also creates a direct circuit split: the Third Circuit held in April that event contracts are swaps subject to exclusive CFTC jurisdiction. That split is the classic setup for Supreme Court review, and every party to the fight said so within a day. The congressional dimension is a bipartisan Nevada bill. Rep. Steven Horsford (D) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R) introduced the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act in July 2026 to write the state-and-tribal-jurisdiction rule into statute rather than leave it to litigation; Sens. Adam Schiff, John Curtis and Catherine Cortez Masto have a Senate companion, and Rep. Dina Titus has a separate bill, the Fair Markets and Sports Integrity Act. Horsford's response to the ruling was to treat it as leverage rather than a finish line: "the fight is not over," and Congress should pass the bill before the Supreme Court takes the question away. Nevada's Republican governor, Joe Lombardo — a former Clark County sheriff who oversees the state whose gaming regulators brought the case — welcomed the ruling in the same terms, saying sports-event contracts are gambling and must comply with Nevada's licensing regime. Arizona's attorney general, whose criminal case against Kalshi a federal judge had blocked in May, said the decision was a significant win for state authority and that her office was reviewing what it means for that prosecution.

“The Ninth Circuit affirmed what Nevadans have always known: prediction markets are gambling. This is an important victory for States’ and Tribes’ authority to regulate gambling. But the fight is not over.”
Steven Horsford (D-NV) · Aug 28, 2026

Interior Finalizes the Deepest Colorado River Cuts on Record — 1.25 Million Acre-Feet a Year, With Arizona Absorbing 760,000 — as Lake Mead and Lake Powell Fall to Levels Not Seen Since 1963

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the Record of Decision and the 2027–2028 Operating Guidelines for the Colorado River on August 21, 2026, ordering the Lower Basin states to cut 1.25 million acre-feet of water use a year — Arizona 760,000, California 440,000, Nevada 50,000 — and adopting a ten-year decision framework through 2036. Combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is now lower than at any time since Powell began filling in 1963, after a record-low 2025–26 snowpack. Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, who had warned three weeks earlier that the draft framework could place an "unfair burden" on their state, welcomed the final plan and said every basin state now needs to do its part. Gov. Katie Hobbs said the plan saved Arizona from cuts that "would have crippled our economy" while protecting Upper Basin reservoirs at Lake Mead's expense. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it "a necessary step." Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, the only Republican governor among the three Lower Basin states, was the harshest, saying the federal government is "positioning to short Nevada" — the state with just 1.8 percent of the river's allocation.

“These decisions provide a water management strategy for Basin stakeholders to respond to the prolonged drought by incorporating flexible tools and voluntary actions while leaving room for consensus agreements.”
Andrea Travnicek (R) · Aug 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit — Two Trump Appointees Among Them — Rules the Attorney General Cannot Install Unconfirmed U.S. Attorneys by Naming Them "First Assistant" to a Job That Is Already Vacant

On August 17, 2026, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order disqualifying Sigal Chattah from running the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, holding that the Justice Department's workaround for keeping unconfirmed prosecutors in place is unlawful. Writing for the panel, Judge Eric Miller — a Trump appointee, joined by fellow Trump appointee Stanley Blumenfeld and Clinton appointee Sidney Thomas — framed the question directly: "These cases present the question whether the Attorney General can make someone an Acting United States Attorney — bypassing the usual requirement that a U.S. Attorney be confirmed by the Senate — by designating that person as the first assistant to an already-vacant office of U.S. Attorney. We hold that the Attorney General cannot do so." Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the panel held, automatic succession runs only to a first assistant who already held that post when the vacancy arose. Chattah was named interim U.S. attorney in 2025 under 28 U.S.C. § 546 after Jason Frierson resigned, and was never confirmed — Nevada's two Democratic senators blocked her, citing her record as an election denier. When her 120-day interim term ran out, the department designated her first assistant so she could serve as acting U.S. attorney indefinitely. The Ninth Circuit is the second appeals court to reject that maneuver, after the Third Circuit ruled against Alina Habba's tenure in New Jersey. A Justice Department spokesperson said the department disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Sigal Chattah has always been unfit to serve as Nevada's U.S. Attorney, and I'm glad to see the Ninth Circuit agree her appointment is illegal. It's past time for her to vacate the position and leave the U.S. Attorney's office once and for all.”
Jacky Rosen (D-NV) · Aug 17, 2026