Kevin Hardy, Stateline

President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada is creating headaches for Republicans ahead of November’s midterms as high prices remain a top concern among voters.

Responding to Trump’s increased tariffs, Canadian officials have said they’re deliberately targeting goods from states where there are close elections. And GOP candidates in Kansas, Maine and Ohio, among others, have been forced to balance supporting Trump with defending local manufacturers.

Trump has repeatedly targeted Canada, traditionally a close American ally, since returning to the White House last year. But his August move to impose 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian imports has heightened tensions, pushing Canada to retaliate with its own tariffs on hundreds of American-made products that went into effect Tuesday....

Communities fight ICE detention centers, but have few tools to stop them

by Kevin Hardy, Daily Montanan
February 17, 2026

Outrage erupted last month when Oklahoma City residents learned of plans to convert a vacant warehouse into an immigration processing facility....

Half of American states do not have enough funds to pay their bills, according to a new analysis released Thursday.

The nonprofit Truth in Accounting, which advocates for more transparency in public finance, released its Financial State of the States report. It concluded that 25 states were unable to cover all their financial obligations at the end of fiscal year 2024, which for most states ended June 30.

While every state but Vermont mandates a balanced budget, the report says elected officials often exclude certain costs such as future pension obligations and deferred maintenance from their budget calculations....

People in Marsha Keene’s community are already struggling to cover the basics.

Most of the clients Keene serves at the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center in southeast Missouri are working but still rely on federal food assistance to keep up with ever-increasing costs.

The center provides a domestic violence shelter, parenting education and summer camps to struggling families stretched thin by living expenses. Keene, the center’s CEO, worries about how her clients can absorb significant cuts to food stamps, officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. ...

Red states are echoing President Donald Trump’s quest to slash the size and cost of the federal government with their own initiatives aimed at making government smaller and more efficient.

In the first hours of his second term, Trump signed an executive order creating a temporary commission he dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency. He first announced DOGE, named after a viral meme and a cryptocurrency, in November as an effort led by billionaire Elon Musk to find billions in federal cuts.

In recent weeks, GOP governors and lawmakers have set up their own government efficiency task forces and committees to find ways to cut state spending. ...