Author: PolitCens

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NEW YORK — As students return to colleges across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence in activism against the war in Gaza, and some schools are adopting rules to limit the kind of protests that swept campuses last spring. 

While the summer break provided a respite in student demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war, it also gave both student protesters and higher education officials a chance to regroup and strategize for the fall semester. 

The stakes remain high. At Columbia University, President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after coming under heavy scrutiny for her handling of the demonstrations at the campus in New York City, where the wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments began last spring. 

Some of the new rules imposed by universities include banning encampments, limiting the duration of demonstrations, allowing protests only in designated spaces and restricting campus access to those with university identification. Critics say some of the measures will curtail free speech. 

The American Association of University Professors issued a statement Wednesday condemning “overly restrictive policies” that could discourage free expression. Many of the new policies require protesters to register well in advance and strictly limit the locations where gatherings can be held, as well as setting new limits on the use of amplified sound and signage.

“Our colleges and universities should encourage, not suppress, open and vigorous dialogue and debate even on the most deeply held beliefs,” said the statement, adding that many policies were imposed without faculty input. 

The University of Pennsylvania has outlined new “temporary guidelines” for student protests that include bans on encampments, overnight demonstrations, and the use of bullhorns and speakers until after 5 p.m. on class days. Penn also requires that posters and banners be removed within two weeks of going up. The university says it remains committed to freedom of speech and lawful assembly. 

At Indiana University, protests after 11 p.m. are forbidden under a new “expressive activities policy” that took effect August 1. The policy says “camping” and erecting any type of shelter are prohibited on campus, and signs cannot be displayed on university property without prior approval. 

The University of South Florida now requires approval for tents, canopies, banners, signs and amplifiers. The school’s “speech, expression and assembly” rules stipulate that no “activity,” including protests or demonstrations, is allowed after 5 p.m. on weekdays or during weekends and not allowed at all during the last two weeks of a semester. 

A draft document obtained over the summer by the student newspaper at Harvard University showed the college was considering prohibitions on overnight camping, chalk messages and unapproved signs. 

“I think right now we are seeing a resurgence of repression on campuses that we haven’t seen since the late 1960s,” said Risa Lieberwitz, a Cornell University professor of labor and employment law who serves as general counsel for the AAUP. 

Universities say they encourage free speech as long as it doesn’t interfere with learning, and they insist they are simply updating existing rules for demonstrations to protect campus safety. 

Tensions have run high on college campuses since the October 7 Hamas terror attack in southern Israel killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. 

Many student protesters in the U.S. vow to continue their activism, which has been fueled by Gaza’s rising death toll, which surpassed 40,000 on Thursday, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. 

About 50 Columbia students still face discipline over last spring’s demonstrations after a mediation process that began earlier in the summer stalled, according to Mahmoud Khalil, a lead negotiator working on behalf of Columbia student protesters. He blamed the impasse on Columbia administrators. 

“The university loves to appear that they’re in dialogue with the students. But these are all fake steps meant to assure the donor community and their political class,” said Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. 

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. 

The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan was roiled earlier this year by student demonstrations, culminating in scenes of police officers with zip ties and riot shields storming a building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. 

Similar protests swept college campuses nationwide, with many leading to violent clashes with police and more than 3,000 arrests. Many of the students who were arrested during police crackdowns have had their charges dismissed, but some are still waiting to learn what prosecutors decide. Many have faced fallout in their academic careers, including suspensions, withheld diplomas and other forms of discipline. 

Shafik was among the university leaders who were called for questioning before Congress. She was heavily criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about antisemitism on the Columbia campus. 

She announced her resignation in an emailed letter to the university community just weeks before the start of classes on September 3. The university on Monday began restricting campus access to people with Columbia IDs and registered guests, saying it wanted to curb “potential disruptions” as the new semester draws near. 

“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in the community,” Shafik wrote in her letter. “Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.” 

Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tent encampments on Columbia’s campus during Shafik’s congressional testimony in mid-April, when she denounced antisemitism but faced criticism for how she responded to faculty and students accused of bias. 

The school sent in police to clear the tents the following day, only for the students to return and inspire a wave of similar protests at campuses across the country as students called for schools to cut financial ties with Israel and companies supporting the war. 

The campus was mostly quiet this summer, but a conservative news outlet in June published images of what it said were text messages exchanged by administrators while attending a May 31 panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.” 

The officials were removed from their posts, with Shafik saying in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.” 

Other prominent Ivy League leaders have stepped down in recent months, largely because of their response to the volatile protests on campus. 

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December after less than two years on the job. She faced pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy. 

And in January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid plagiarism accusations and similar criticism over her testimony before Congress. 

 
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HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Massachusetts — Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard accused of leaking classified U.S. national security documents online, was arraigned Friday on charges brought by the U.S. Air Force that he violated military laws. 

During a brief appearance before a military judge at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, 22-year-old Teixeira deferred entering a plea to charges that he obstructed justice and failed to obey a lawful order until closer to when his court-martial trial is scheduled to begin on March 10. 

The Air Force announced in May it was pursuing charges that he violated military laws after Teixeira had already pleaded guilty in March to separate charges in federal court brought by the U.S. Justice Department. 

Air Force prosecutors say Teixeira ignored an order to cease accessing classified information unrelated to his duties and obstructed justice by disposing of an iPad, computer hard drive and iPhone after the leaks were uncovered and instructing someone to delete online messages Teixeira had sent. 

Military Judge Colonel Vicki Marcus at Friday’s hearing said she would hold hearings in November and January where she would address any pre-trial motions from defense lawyers. They have argued the charges were brought in violation of Teixeira’s constitutional right to not be prosecuted twice for the same offense. 

Teixeira was arrested in April 2013 after authorities said he carried out one of the most serious U.S. national security breaches in years while working as a cyber defense operations journeyman, or information technology support specialist. 

Despite being a low-level airman, Teixeira held a top-secret security clearance, and starting in January 2022 began accessing hundreds of classified documents related to topics including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to prosecutors. 

Teixeira shared classified information on the messaging app Discord in private servers — a kind of chat room — while bragging that he had access to “stuff for Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iran and China,” according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Justice Department plans to seek a sentence of more than 16 years when Teixeira is sentenced on November 12.
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Access to nature isn’t just good for your mental health. A long-term study suggests that spending time in green spaces, or by water, can help prevent heart disease. VOA’s Dora Mekouar has more.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Ernesto strengthened into a Category 2 storm Thursday night as it barreled toward Bermuda after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power or water. Sweltering heat enveloped the U.S. territory, raising concerns about people’s health.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, with Ernesto expected to pass near or over the island Saturday.

The storm was centered about 660 kilometers south-southwest of Bermuda late Thursday. Its maximum sustained winds had risen to 155 kph, and the storm was moving north-northeast at 22 kph over open waters.

“I cannot stress enough how important it is for every resident to use this time to prepare. We have seen in the past the devastating effects of complacency,” said National Security Minister Michael Weeks.

Ernesto was forecast to possibly reach Category 3 strength Friday and then weaken as it approaches Bermuda, where it was forecast to drop 15 to 30 centimeters of rain, with up to 38 centimeters in isolated areas.

“All of the guidance show this system as a large hurricane near Bermuda,” said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Ernesto was then expected to pass near or east of Atlantic Canada on Monday.

Meanwhile, the spinning storm on Thursday was generating southern winds in Puerto Rico, which have a heating effect as opposed to the typical cooling trade winds that blow from the east.

“We know a lot of people don’t have power,” said Ernesto Morales with the National Weather Service as he warned of extreme heat and urged people to stay hydrated.

More than 290,000 of 1.4 million customers remained in the dark Thursday evening, more than a day after Ernesto swiped past Puerto Rico late Tuesday as a tropical storm before strengthening into a hurricane. A maximum of 735,000 clients had been without power Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands also were without water as many questioned the widespread power outage given that Ernesto was only a tropical storm when it spun past the island.

“I haven’t slept at all,” said Ramón Mercedes Paredes, a 41-year-old construction worker who planned to sleep outdoors on Thursday night to beat the heat. “I haven’t even been able to take a shower.”

At a small park in the Santurce neighborhood of the San Juan capital, Alexander Reyna, a 32-year-old construction worker, sipped on a bright red sports drink that friends provided as roosters crowed nearby above the slap of dominoes.

He had no water or power and planned to spend all day at the park as he lamented the lack of breeze, a slight film of sweat already forming on his forehead: “I have to come here because I cannot stand to be at home.”

The situation worried many who lived through Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 storm that hit Puerto Rico in September 2017 and was blamed for at least 2,975 deaths in its sweltering aftermath. It also razed the island’s power grid, which is still being rebuilt.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory on Thursday warning of “dangerously hot and humid conditions.”

Faustino Peguero, 50, said he was concerned about his wife, who has fibromyalgia, heart failure and other health conditions and needs electricity. He has a small generator at home, but he is running out of gasoline and cannot afford to buy more because he hasn’t found work.

“It’s chaos,” he said.

Officials said they don’t know when power will be fully restored as concerns grow about the health of many in Puerto Rico who cannot afford generators or solar panels on the island of 3.2 million people with a more than 40% poverty rate.

Crews have flown more than 870 kilometers across Puerto Rico and identified 400 power line failures, with 150 of them already fixed, said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico. The remaining failures will take more time to fix because they involve fallen trees, he added.

“We haven’t seen anything catastrophic,” he said.

When pressed for an estimate of when power would be restored, Alejandro González, Luma’s operations director, declined to say.

“It would be irresponsible to provide an exact date,” he said.

At least 250,000 customers across Puerto Rico also were without water given the power outages, down from a maximum of 350,000. Among them was 65-year-old Gisela Pérez, who was starting to sweat as she cooked sweet plantains, pork, chicken and spaghetti at a street-side diner. After her shift, she planned to buy gallons of water, since she was especially concerned about her two small dogs: Mini and Lazy.

“They cannot go without it,” she said. “They come first.”
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Washington — The United States welcomed Thursday’s announcement by Sudan’s sovereign council to allow the use of the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months, while continuing efforts to bring both sides of Sudan’s warring military factions to the negotiating table.

The opening of the Adre border crossing is a long-awaited move by aid organizations aiming to deliver humanitarian assistance to famine-threatened areas of the Darfur region. The war-torn country faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

We “welcome the news as it relates to this border crossing with Chad,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told VOA during a briefing on Thursday. “We are continuing to call on the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] and RSF [Rapid Support Forces] to facilitate unrestricted humanitarian access through any and all available channels.”

The United States has invited leaders from both warring factions to Geneva, Switzerland, for talks aimed at negotiating a potential cease-fire to end the 16-month civil war.

The SAF had already rejected the talks several days earlier, while the RSF delegation, though in Switzerland, was absent from Wednesday’s open session.

“We’re still very focused on getting both sides in Sudan back to the table and to come to meaningful agreements about laying their arms down and doing the right thing for the people of Sudan,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

“You certainly need both military actors to be part of” the conversation on a cessation of violence, Patel told reporters on Thursday.

Diplomats from the African Union, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations were at the U.S.-mediated talks, which opened on Wednesday.

“Day 2 of our diplomatic talks on Sudan is under way. We continue our relentless work with international partners to save lives and ensure we achieve tangible results that build upon the Jeddah Process and implement the Jeddah Declaration,” U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello wrote on X.

The Jeddah Declaration, reached in May 2023, calls for full aid access by land and air to all populations regardless of who controls the area.

More than a year of fighting between SAF and RSF troops has displaced nearly 10 million people across the greater Horn of Africa country and left 26 million facing crisis-level hunger.  

“The medical system in Sudan is at a breaking point. Hospitals designed to serve tens of thousands are overwhelmed with over half a million displaced people, while the international community’s pledged aid remains largely undelivered,” Adil Al-Mahi, humanitarian organization MedGlobal’s country director in Sudan, told VOA on Thursday.

He added that the last operational hospital in El Fasher may be forced to close due to intense shelling. El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, is the battleground for intense conflict between the SAF and RSF.

“The Saudi Hospital, the last public hospital in North Darfur, is barely functioning after continued bombardments. With each attack, it becomes increasingly clear that there is no regard for the protection of health facilities or the civilians within them. The international community must urgently intervene to protect these vital lifelines before it’s too late,” Al-Mahi said.
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white house — President Joe Biden said Thursday he supports new elections in Venezuela, giving a VOA reporter a two-word response — “I do” — when asked “do you support new elections in Venezuela?”

Brazil’s leader had proposed a rerun of the July 28 election, which the White House says opposition challenger Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won. Protests have bubbled up in the wake of President Nicolas Maduro’s victory claim, and the leader of the opposition is calling for massive protests this Saturday.  

But the administration told VOA hours later that Biden understood VOA’s question differently, leaving it unclear whether this represents a shift in Washington’s position on Venezuela’s political crisis.  

A National Security Council spokesperson reiterated the administration’s stance, telling VOA in an email that Biden “was speaking to the absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 elections.” 

“It is abundantly clear to the majority of the Venezuelan people, the United States, and a growing number of countries that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes on July 28. The United States again calls for the will of the Venezuelan people to be respected and for discussions to begin on a transition back to democratic norms.” 

The spokesperson did not say definitively where Biden stands on whether the election should be repeated.  

Earlier Thursday, an NSC spokesperson told VOA that the Biden administration is “considering a range of options to incentivize and pressure Maduro to recognize the election results and will continue to do so.” 

White House seeks vote data

Separately, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told reporters: “We want to see the actual vote tallies, the data, and we haven’t seen that yet. So, we still need to see that.” 

Kirby also added, “it is not true that there’s been amnesty offered to Mr. Maduro” as part of any deal to resolve the crisis.  

Shortly after the election, Maduro began cracking down on political opponents, prompting rights groups to sound the alarm.

Strained ties 

Washington has long had strained ties with Caracas, Venezuela, caused by ideological differences with the left-leaning country, doubts about the validity of previous elections, U.S. sanctions on officials over human rights abuses, and crippling American economic sanctions on the oil-rich nation. 

Venezuela’s situation has led to a northward exodus of millions of Venezuelans, leaving both American authorities and those migrants in a delicate position.

Celia Mendoza, Carolina Valladares and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this story.
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NEW YORK — Donald Trump is asking the judge in his New York hush money criminal case to delay his sentencing until after the November presidential election.

In a letter made public Thursday, a lawyer for the former president and current Republican nominee suggested that sentencing Trump as scheduled on September 18 — about seven weeks before Election Day — would amount to election interference.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche wrote that a delay would also allow Trump time to weigh next steps after the trial judge, Juan Merchan, is expected to rule September 16 on the defense’s request to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling.

“There is no basis for continuing to rush,” Blanche wrote.

Blanche sent the letter to Merchan on Wednesday after the judge rejected the defense’s latest request that he step aside from the case.

In the letter, Blanche reiterated the defense argument that the judge has a conflict of interest because his daughter works as a Democratic political consultant, including for Kamala Harris when she sought the 2020 presidential nomination. Harris is now running against Trump.

By adjourning the sentencing until after that election, “the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings,” Blanche wrote.

Merchan, who has said he is confident in his ability to remain fair and impartial, did not immediately rule on the delay request.

A message seeking comment was left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s case.

Trump was convicted in May of falsifying his business’ records to conceal a 2016 deal to pay off porn actor Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with him. Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first campaign.

Trump says all the stories were false, the business records were not and the case was a political maneuver meant to damage his current campaign. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a Democrat.

Trump’s defense argued that the payments were indeed for legal work and so were correctly categorized.

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.

Trump has pledged to appeal, but that cannot happen until he is sentenced.

In a previous letter, Merchan set September 18 for “the imposition of sentence or other proceedings as appropriate.”

Blanche argued in his letter seeking a delay that the quick turnaround from the scheduled immunity ruling on September 16 to sentencing two days later is unfair to Trump.

To prepare for sentencing, Blanche argued, prosecutors will be submitting their punishment recommendation while Merchan is still weighing whether to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. If Merchan rules against Trump on the dismissal request, he will need “adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options,” Blanche said.

The Supreme Court’s immunity decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal. Trump’s lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.
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As thousands of migrants continue to make their way to the United States, and stricter immigration policies make legal entry increasingly difficult, a Mexican border center south of Arizona has become a crucial source of humanitarian aid to migrants. Veronica Villafañe narrates the story reported by Paula Díaz.
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TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Ernesto dropped torrential rain on Puerto Rico and knocked out power for nearly half of all customers in the U.S. territory Wednesday as it threatened to grow into a major hurricane en route to Bermuda.

The storm was over open water about 1,110 kilometers south-southwest of Bermuda late Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 kph and moving northwest at 26 kph.

A hurricane watch was issued for Bermuda, while tropical storm warnings were discontinued for Puerto Rico and its outlying islands of Vieques and Culebra and for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

“I know it was a long night listening to that wind howl,” U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said at a news conference.

An islandwide blackout was reported on St. Croix, and at least six cellphone towers were offline across the U.S. territory, said Daryl Jaschen, emergency management director.

Schools and government agencies were closed in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where heavy flooding was reported in several areas, forcing officials to block roads, some of which were strewn with trees. More than 140 flights were canceled to and from Puerto Rico.

“A lot of rain, a lot of rain,” Culebra Mayor Edilberto Romero said in a phone interview. “We have trees that have fallen on public roads. There are some roofs that are blown off.”

Flash flood warnings remained up because of continuing rain.

In the north coastal town of Toa Baja, which is prone to flooding, dozens of residents moved their cars to higher areas.

“Everyone is worried,” Víctor Báez said as he sipped beer with friends and watched the rain fall. He only briefly celebrated that he had power. “It’s going to go out again,” he predicted.

Ernesto, a Category 1 hurricane, was forecast to gain power in the coming days and possibly reach the strength of a major Category 3 hurricane by Friday, and its center was expected to pass near Bermuda on Saturday.

“Residents need to prepare now before conditions worsen,” Bermuda’s National Security Minister Michael Weeks said. “Now is not the time for complacency.”

Forecasters also warned of heavy swells along the U.S. East Coast.

“That means that anybody who goes to the beach, even if the weather is beautiful and nice, it could be dangerous … with those rip currents,” said Robbie Berg, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.

Between 10 and 15 centimeters of rain had been forecast for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and 15 to 20 centimeters in Puerto Rico, with up to 25 centimeters in isolated areas.

More than 640,000 customers lost power in Puerto Rico, and 23 hospitals were operating on generators, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Wednesday. He added that crews were assessing damage and it was too early to tell when electricity would be restored.

“We are trying to get the system up and running as soon as we can,” said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, the company that operates transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico.

Luma Energy said earlier Wednesday that its priority was to restore power to hospitals, the island’s water and sewer company and other essential services. More than 300,000 customers were without water as a result of power outages, Pierluisi said.

Puerto Rico’s power grid was razed by Hurricane Maria in 2017 as a Category 4 storm, and it remains frail as crews continue to rebuild the system.

“It’s just frustrating that this many years later, we continue to see something like a storm cause such widespread outages in Puerto Rico, particularly given the risk that these outages can cause for vulnerable households in Puerto Rico,” said Charlotte Gossett Navarro, the Hispanic Federation’s chief director for Puerto Rico.

Not everyone can afford generators on the island of 3.2 million people with a more than 40% poverty rate.

“People already prepared themselves with candles,” said Lucía Rodríguez, a 31-year-old street vendor.

Rooftop solar systems are scarce but keep growing in Puerto Rico, where fossil fuels generate 94% of the island’s electricity. At the time María hit, there were 8,000 rooftop installations, compared with more than 117,000 currently, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Ernesto is the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. Since 1966, only four other years have had three or more hurricanes in the Atlantic by mid-August, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures. It forecast 17 to 25 named storms, with four to seven major hurricanes.
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WASHINGTON — The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River, the powerhouse of the U.S. West. The Interior Department announces water availability for the coming year months in advance so Western cities, farmers and others can plan.

Behind the scenes, however, more elusive plans are being hashed out: how the basin will share water from the diminishing 2,334-kilometer river after 2026, when many current guidelines that govern it expire.

The Colorado River supplies water to seven Western states, more than two dozen Native American tribes, and two states in Mexico. It also irrigates millions of acres of farmland in the American West and generates hydropower used across the region. Years of overuse combined with rising temperatures and drought have meant less water flows in the Colorado today than in decades past.

That’s made the fraught politics of water in the West particularly deadlocked at times. Here’s what you need to know about the negotiations surrounding the river.

What are states discussing?

Plans for how to distribute the Colorado River’s water after 2026. A series of overlapping agreements, court decisions and contracts determine how the river is shared, some of which expire at the end of 2025.

In 2007, following years of drought, the seven U.S. states in the basin — Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and the federal government adopted rules to better respond to lower water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Those are the river’s two main reservoirs that transfer and store Colorado River water, produce hydropower and serve as barometers of its health.

The 2007 rules determine when some states face water cuts based on levels at Lake Mead. That’s why states, Native American tribes, and others are drafting new plans, which anticipate even deeper water cuts after 2026 based on projections of the river’s flow and climate modeling of future warming in the West.

“The ultimate problem is that watershed runoff is decreasing due to an ever-warming climate,” said Jack Schmidt, professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University, and director of the Center for Colorado River studies. “The proximate problem is we’ve got to decrease our use.”

How are these talks different from expected cuts this month?

Sometime this month, the federal government will announce water cuts for 2025 based on levels at Lake Mead. The cuts may simply maintain the restrictions already in place. Reclamation considers factors like precipitation, runoff, and water use to model what levels at the two reservoirs will look like over the following two years. If Lake Mead drops below a certain level, Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico are subject to cuts, though California has so far been spared because of its senior water rights.

In recent years, Arizona has faced the bulk of these cuts, while Mexico and Nevada also saw reductions. But these are short-term plans, and the guidelines surrounding them are being renegotiated for the future.

What are states already doing to conserve water?

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico faced federal water cuts from the river in 2022. Those deepened in 2023 and returned to 2022 levels this year. As the crisis on the river worsened, Arizona, California and Nevada last year agreed to conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water until 2026, with the U.S. government paying water districts and other users for much of that conservation.

Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — the state’s so-called Upper Basin — don’t use their full 7.5 million acre-foot allocation from the river, and get a percentage of the water that’s available each year.

An acre-foot is enough water to serve roughly two to three U.S. households in a year.

Have these efforts worked?

Yes, for now. A wet 2023 plus conservation efforts by Lower Basin states improved the short-term outlook for both reservoirs. Lake Powell is at roughly 39% capacity while Mead is at about 33%.

Climate scientists and hydrologists say that higher temperatures driven by climate change will continue to reduce runoff to the Colorado River in coming years, and cause more water to be lost to evaporation, so future plans should prepare for less water in the system. Brad Udall, a senior water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said predicting precipitation levels is harder to do.

The short-term recovery in the Colorado River basin should be viewed in the context of a more challenging future, he added.

“I would push back heartily against any idea that our rebound over the last couple of years here is some permanent shift,” Udall said.

What can’t states agree on?

What to do after 2026. In March, Upper and Lower Basin states, tribes and environmental groups released plans for how the river and its reservoirs should be managed in the future.

Arizona, California and Nevada asked the federal government to take a more expansive view of the river management and factor water levels in seven reservoirs instead of just Lake Powell and Lake Mead to determine the extent of water cuts. If the whole system drops below 38% capacity, their plan said, deeper cuts should be shared evenly with the Upper Basin and Mexico.

“We are trying to find the right, equitable outcome in which the Upper Basin doesn’t have to take all of the pain from the long-term reduction of the river, but we also can’t be the only ones protecting Lake Powell,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of Arizona’s Department of Water Resources and the state’s lead negotiator in the talks.

Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming called for addressing shortages based on the combined capacity of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, as opposed to just Lake Mead. It proposed more aggressive cuts that would affect California, Arizona and Nevada sooner when the major reservoir levels fall. Their plan doesn’t call for reductions in how much water is delivered to Upper Basin states.

Becky Mitchell, the lead negotiator for the state of Colorado, said the Upper Basin’s plan focuses more on making policy with an eye on the river’s supply, rather than the demands for its water.

“It’s important we start acknowledging that there’s not as much water available as folks would like,” Mitchell said.

Where does it go from here?

The federal government is expected to issue draft regulations by December that factor in the different plans and propose a way forward. Until then, states, tribes and other negotiators will continue talking and trying to reach agreement.
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DALLAS — The State Fair of Texas is laying down a new rule before millions of visitors flock through the gates for corn dogs, deep-fried delights and a friendly wave from a five-story cowboy named Big Tex: No guns allowed.

But that decision by fair organizers — which comes after a shooting last year on the 112-hectare fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas — has drawn outrage from Republican lawmakers, who in recent years have proudly expanded gun rights in Texas. On Wednesday, the state’s attorney general threatened a lawsuit unless the fair reversed course.

“Dallas has 15 days to fix the issue,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, “otherwise I will see them in court.”

Tensions over where and how gun owners can carry firearms in public are frequent in Texas, but the standoff with one of the state’s most beloved institutions has moved the fight onto unusual turf. The fair has not backed down since cowboy hat-wearing organizers announced the new policy at a news conference last week.

The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma. And after Big Tex, the towering cowboy that greets fairgoers, went up in flames in 2012 due to an electrical short, the fair mascot was met with great fanfare upon its return.

But a shooting near the rows of food booths last year dampened the revelry.

Investigators said one man opened fire on another, injuring three people and resulting in police clearing the fairgrounds. Videos posted on social media showed groups of people running along sidewalks and climbing barriers as they fled.

Defending the new policy Wednesday, fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis acknowledged it has attracted “both criticism and praise.” She noted that the fair previously allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons “even after virtually all other public events ceased to allow the same.”

“This is the right decision moving forward to ensure a safe environment and family-friendly atmosphere,” Condoianis said.

Republican lawmakers urged the fair to reconsider in a letter signed by more than 70 legislators, arguing that the ban made the fairgrounds less safe and was “anything but a celebration of Texas.”

In a separate letter to the City of Dallas, Paxton argued that the ban infringes on the rights of Texas gun owners. The city owns Fair Park, where the annual fair takes place; Paxton argued that gun owners can carry on property owned or leased by the government unless otherwise prohibited by state law.

A city spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that they were reviewing Paxton’s letter “and will respond accordingly.”

Condoianis said Wednesday that the fair, which is a private, not-for-profit organization, “is not a government entity nor is it controlled by a government entity.” She said they are aware of Paxton’s letter to the city, and that it appears he’s “seeking clarification” on the city’s relationship with the fair and its use of Fair Park under the long-term lease agreement between the two parties.

Condoianis also disagreed that the ban makes the fair less safe, saying the policy is similar to rules at large community gatherings such as sporting events and concerts. She also noted that 200 uniformed and armed Dallas police officers and fair safety team members will be patrolling the fairgrounds. The fair said on its website that attendees go through a screening process before entering.

The fair is a “microcosm of the kind of mystique that comes with Texas,” said Brian Franklin, associate director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The fair, he said, speaks to Texans’ desire to emphasize the state’s rural cowboy heritage and being on the cutting edge of technology.

“You can go to the hall where it’s all the most amazing new cars and maybe other exhibits about technology,” he said, “and then you can also go and see the show cows.”
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