Pew Research Center

Arizona Democrats say they are "cautiously optimistic" about flipping the state Legislature, where Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both the Senate (17-13) and House (33-27). House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos points to a cost-of-living backlash against Republican policies as a key factor, while Senate Pro Tempore T.J. Shope says the GOP's candidates and messaging will hold the majority. Every seat in both chambers is up for election, but only a handful of districts are genuinely competitive. If Democrats win both chambers alongside Gov. Katie Hobbs's re-election, it would end years of divided government and Hobbs's record pace of vetoes.

Butler County, Ohio Sheriff Richard Jones, a longtime advocate for stricter immigration enforcement who has partnered with ICE for years, says the Trump administration mishandled the early stages of its second-term immigration crackdown. In a WCPO interview tied to his new book, "They Call Me Jonesy," Jones said the administration "went about it in the wrong way" initially but has since shifted to a "softer approach" after personnel changes, which he called an improvement.

Jones' jail holds federal immigration detainees under a 287(g) agreement with ICE, and he said roughly 450 people were held on immigration matters, with about 6,000 deported from Butler County over the prior 18-19 months. He has faced criticism, including from Ohio lawmakers, over jail conditions, which he disputes. Jones argues the immigration system is "broke," calls for expanded legal immigration paired with tougher enforcement against those in the country illegally, and says bipartisan compromise is needed. He credits immigration as a key factor in Trump's 2024 win.

Tensions between Washington and Seoul have grown after President Trump publicly criticized South Korea for declining to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran standoff, prompting his administration to scale back joint military exercises that have underpinned the decades-old alliance. Trump has said he would "remember" the perceived slight, while the State Department has sought to reassure Seoul the remarks were not meant to single Korea out.

Polling shows the fallout: trust in Trump among Koreans has fallen sharply since his return to office, a majority now hold an unfavorable view of the United States for the first time in two decades of surveys, and large majorities oppose his tariffs and Iran policy. Critics note Korea has funded U.S. troop presence under cost-sharing deals since 1991 and pledged roughly $350 billion in investment under a recent tariff agreement. Despite the friction, most Koreans still call the U.S. their most important ally, underscoring a gap between public frustration with Trump personally and continued support for the alliance itself.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office will distribute 7 million free eggs to residents through at least 17 food banks statewide, in partnership with Feeding Texas. The giveaway stems from settlements reached in June with egg producers Cal-Maine Foods, Centrum/Versova and Hickman's Egg Ranch over antitrust claims alleging the companies conspired to inflate egg prices between 2022 and 2025. The producers also agreed to pay $3.3 million to states that joined Texas in the claim.

The move comes as Paxton campaigns for the US Senate seat held by Sen. John Cornyn, facing Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, who separately organized a food drive across several Texas cities to highlight rising grocery costs. Affordability remains the top concern for voters heading into the 2026 midterms, with polling showing weak approval of the administration's handling of the economy and Democrats gaining an edge on cost-of-living issues. National egg prices have eased to roughly $2.18 per dozen after spiking above $6 earlier in 2025.

Temporary Protected Status designations for Ukraine, El Salvador, Sudan and Lebanon are set to expire between September and November, leaving thousands of immigrants nationwide, including nearly 1,600 in Iowa, uncertain about their futures. Haiti's TPS has already ended, and advocates say conditions in these countries remain dangerous, citing war in Ukraine and Sudan, unrest and due-process concerns in El Salvador, and State Department travel warnings for Haiti. Federal law typically requires a government review roughly 60 days before each deadline, but no official decisions have been announced for the upcoming expirations; without action, TPS automatically renews for six months.

Immigration attorneys say alternative legal pathways, such as employment-based visas, are costly and inaccessible to most TPS holders. A June Supreme Court ruling also limited lower courts' ability to review TPS termination decisions. The impact is already visible in workplaces like an Iowa meatpacking plant that lost dozens of workers after Haiti's status ended. Advocates warn that ending TPS threatens to separate long-settled families and disrupt local economies and communities built over decades.

California lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 2222, which would create refundable tax credits for local news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ, sending it to Governor Gavin Newsom for a decision by September 30. Introduced by Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward, the bill offers a "job retention credit" of $20,000 per journalist for up to five positions and $15,000 for each additional one, plus a $15,000 bonus per new hire, with part-time roles receiving half-credits. The state tax board estimates it would provide more than $40 million annually to newsrooms, making it the largest such relief effort in the U.S. to date.

The bill would be funded by aligning California's tax code with a federal provision eliminating deductions for executive salaries over $1 million. It passed despite opposition from the California Taxpayers Association and California Chamber of Commerce, which object to raising taxes on employers, and Newsom's own finance office, which flagged the lack of a cap on credits. It is backed by the California News Publishers Association and Rebuild Local News amid a broader decline in local journalism jobs and advertising revenue.