Courts, city halls, and state offices drew protective lines this week around ballots in Indiana, after-school programs in Detroit, tribal and rural lands in New Mexico, and veterans leaving military service in North Carolina. Each action was concrete and documented — and in most cases came in direct opposition to federal policy moving the other way.
Indiana Supreme Court Reverses Recount, Restores Anti-Gerrymander Senator’s Primary Win
Indiana Public Media reported Thursday that the Indiana Supreme Court declared incumbent state Sen. Spencer Deery the Republican primary winner over Trump-backed challenger Paula Copenhaver, 6,335 to 6,332, after ruling that six ballots the Recount Commission had thrown out must be counted. The commission’s two Republican members had disqualified the six Deery ballots because they lacked county clerk stamps; the court found those were election-worker errors, and state law bars clerk omissions from invalidating a ballot. WFYI reports that Deery is now one of only two Republican senators targeted by Trump for opposing his mid-decade redistricting push to survive their primaries.
Detroit Commits $2.2 Million to Expand Free After-School Programs to All Seven City Districts
Chalkbeat Detroit reported Thursday that seven new after-school sites will open across Detroit this school year, funded by $2.2 million in city money committed by Mayor Mary Sheffield. The expansion extends the GOAL Line Detroit program — free enrichment for K-8 students including robotics, tutoring, and financial literacy — from 33 to 40 sites, reaching approximately 1,000 more children. For the first time in the program’s history, sites will be located in each of the city’s seven City Council districts; the program also provides free transportation from school to the sites, a barrier Sheffield named directly at Thursday’s press conference.
New Mexico Bars New Uranium Mining on 13 Million Acres of State Trust Land
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard signed an executive order September 4 prohibiting new uranium mining on state trust land, citing contamination that has persisted in Indigenous and rural communities across the state. The order covers more than 13 million mineral acres; the State Land Office’s announcement lists more than 1,000 former uranium mining and milling sites in New Mexico, at least 250 of them abandoned with no responsible party identified. KRWG Public Media reported the action came as the Trump administration presses to fast-track new uranium permits on federal land — what Garcia Richard called “a low blow to these communities.”
North Carolina Funds Veterans’ Farm to Bridge the Gap Between Discharge and VA Mental Health Care
North Carolina’s 2026 state budget includes a $250,000 grant for The Veteran’s Farm of North Carolina, a nonprofit that has trained military veterans in agriculture since 2015 as a route into civilian life. NC Health News reports the organization plans to use part of the funds to pay local providers to treat veterans in crisis while they wait for VA benefits to activate — a process that can take eight to nine months. In 2023, 6,398 veterans died by suicide nationally, with 61 percent having received no VA health care in their final year, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported.