New Mexico land commissioner again rejects pipeline request for Project Jupiter 

KVIA on July 16, 2026

Paul Schulz

DONA ANA COUNTY, N.M. (KVIA) — New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has again denied a request to allow a portion of a natural gas pipeline to cross state trust land for the proposed Project Jupiter data center in southern New Mexico.

The State Land Office announced Wednesday that Garcia Richard rejected Energy Transfer’s request to reconsider her March 2026 decision denying two rights of way applications and one business lease for a 0.6 mile section of a proposed 17 mile natural gas pipeline.

According to a letter dated July 14, Garcia Richard said approving the request would not be in the best interest of the state trust, citing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions associated with Project Jupiter, as well as the project’s expected impact on New Mexico’s water supply and natural resources.

“In New Mexico, we truly mean it when we say water is life. We can’t live without it and we know how precious and rare it is in our dry climate,” New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said. “Massive AI data centers like Project Jupiter can rapidly deplete critical natural resources like water and threaten ecosystems by generating shocking levels of emissions to power their operations. I am once again rejecting Energy Transfer’s request because the proposed natural gas pipeline appears to offer very little benefit to the State Land Office’s beneficiary institutions, the local community, or New Mexico as a whole. It’s my duty to protect state trust lands and New Mexicans from proposals that appear to offer more obvious risks than benefits.”

Oracle, which is building Project Jupiter, said the project remains on schedule and will bring significant economic benefits to New Mexico.

“Project Jupiter is being built for and by New Mexicans and will dramatically change the economic trajectory across the state,” an Oracle spokesperson said. “We’re creating 4,000 construction jobs, with more than 440 New Mexican residents already working on site today, 1,500 ongoing project supported jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the community, including $50 million to improve and repair Doña Ana County’s water system.”

The spokesperson also said the company’s cooling and fuel cell energy systems use less water annually than nine average U.S. households and that its new power strategy significantly reduces emissions compared with its original plan.

Oracle said it aims to power 100 percent of the electricity used by its AI data centers with carbon free energy by 2035, which is 10 years ahead of the net zero goals outlined in New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act. The company said it will continue working with its partners and state officials to move Project Jupiter forward.

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Guns vs. Hoses: Local first responders hit the diamond Friday for Make-A-Wish Idaho

KIFI on July 16, 2026

Seth Ratliff

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Local law enforcement and first responders are trading their badges and gear for bats and gloves this week, all for a great cause.

This Friday marks the 15th annual Guns vs. Hoses Charity Softball Game. Deputies from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8 will face off against the Idaho Falls Firefighters in a friendly game at Melaleuca Field.

All proceeds will support Make-A-Wish Idaho, helping grant life-changing wishes for local children.

Gates open Friday, July 17th, at 6 PM, and “play ball” begins at 7 PM. Admission only costs a donation at the door. BCSO suggests a contribution of $5 per person or $20 per family.

“This is a fantastic event where all proceeds support Make A Wish here in Idaho and fun for the whole family,” said BCSO Sgt. Bryan Lovell in a news release.

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Ask the Mayor: Redmond’s Ed Fitch responds to questions regarding cannabis dispensaries, firework usage, and more

KTVZ on July 16, 2026

Kelsey Merison

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — From questions regarding the amount of cannabis dispensaries allowed within city limits to reports of illegal firework usage over the 4th of July weekend, Mayor Ed Fitch answers viewer-submitted questions for this month’s Ask the Mayor.

Viewers can submit questions for Mayor Fitch at any time as part of our monthly segment – just click here.

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Life after war: A veteran’s journey to find relief in ketamine therapy as program faces cuts

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Michael Paluska

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    TAMPA, Florida (WFTS) — As the United States marks 250 years of independence, some veterans say the battles they face after military service can be just as difficult as those fought overseas.

Army veteran Travis Horn is among those participating in a Florida-funded study examining ketamine therapy as a treatment for mental health challenges facing veterans. Horn recently underwent his fifth infusion at Complete Ketamine Solutions Tampa, a local clinic participating in the research.

Horn, a veteran of the first Gulf War and a member of the 82nd Airborne, described the treatment as transformative.

“It’s a near religious experience,” Horn told Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska as Paluska watched him receive his fifth ketamine treatment.

Horn told Paluska that it helped him process grief and reconnect with memories of loved ones. In family photographs, Horn is now the sole surviving brother after losing his two siblings to cancer.

“You feel like you’re in the presence of sometimes the people that you’ve loved, and/or that you’re near them somehow,” Horn said.

Before receiving treatment, Horn explained what he believes makes the experience different from traditional therapies.

“Here’s where you know you are able to divorce yourself from the pain and focus on what’s on your mind,” Horn said.

Researchers and veteran advocates are increasingly studying ketamine as a potential treatment option for conditions including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year.

The growing interest in treatments such as ketamine recently received national attention when President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing barriers to accessing certain alternative therapies, including ketamine.

Michael Hartford, a Navy veteran and program adviser with the Mac Parkman Foundation, a nonprofit focused on preventing veteran suicide, said the treatment remains under study but believes current approaches have not significantly reduced veteran suicide rates.

“So the ketamine therapy, although it’s not evidence-based at this point in time, it’s evidence-informed,” Hartford said.

Hartford pointed to decades of persistently high suicide rates among veterans.

“And if we look at the veteran population over the last 20 years, veteran suicide rates have not changed,” Hartford said.

“We’re celebrating 250 years, and our soldiers have been sacrificing their lives to protect us for 250 years from the very beginning. How can we celebrate if we don’t give them a chance to live out their lives after they serve?” Paluska asked.

“Spot on, Michael. And one of the things that we, as a nation, have done is take care of our veterans as much as we possibly can. My position, and I think Mac Parkman’s position, is that I believe that we are treating the symptoms, not the underlying cause of why veterans have mental health challenges, why they have suicidal ideation,” Hartford said.

Hartford argues that conditions such as traumatic brain injuries and other combat-related trauma deserve greater attention as part of veteran mental health treatment.

He also emphasized what he sees as a national responsibility to care for veterans after their service ends.

Horn believes ketamine therapy could help many veterans who have struggled to find relief through conventional treatments.

“This therapy helps you kind of open up your mind, and they’re in fact saying things like it helps your brain create new pathways and regenerates the brain in some regard, and that’s research that’s ongoing right now,” Horn said. “We’ve done the conventional therapies to sit around in a, in a kumbaya, hold hands kind of setting, and I’m not saying that that’s not part of it; it shouldn’t continue to take place, but this is really, from my perspective, a more substantive way to help the brain heal itself.”

After his latest treatment session, Horn recorded a video message describing the experience.

“Post-therapy session, just collecting your thoughts, and it is really difficult to convey to someone what the experience is like unless you try it for yourself,” Horn recorded on his cell phone.

Despite growing interest in the therapy, the future of the study remains uncertain. Funding for the program is secured for only one more year.

Hartford said organizers have been notified that the program was not approved for funding in the next fiscal year.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been informed that we have not been approved for the next fiscal year. We have submitted a request for bridge funding for the next fiscal year, and we continue to work on exploring ways that we can get funding through either the state of Florida or other philanthropic organizations that are passionate about taking care of our veterans.”

For participants such as Horn, the stakes extend beyond the fate of a single program. They involve finding new ways to address the invisible wounds many veterans continue to carry long after their military service has ended.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Missouri 19-year-old uses toy drive to help Missourians impacted by historic floods

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Lily O’Shea Becker

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    LOUISBURG, Kansas (KSHB) — After historic floods hit south central Missouri last week, 19-year-old Sammie Magee of Louisburg, Kansas, is using her toy drive to once again step up and help those in need.

Magee founded Sammie’s Toy Drive four years ago in response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed. She has hosted several toy drives since and was awarded SevenDays’ Ripple of Kindness Award in 2025.

“Kids are often forgotten when something like this happens, especially natural disasters or just mass tragedies, because it’s handled in such a sterile way,” Magee said.

Officials said a 23-year-old woman was killed and hundreds of others — including 202 children and counselors of a summer camp — were rescued when up to 12 inches of rain fell in Missouri’s Crawford, Iron, Madison, Reynolds and Wayne counties between July 9 and 10.

The National Weather Service said the eight-inch to 12-inch rainfall totals within a 24-hour time frame is a 1-in-a-1,000-year event.

“We helped out in Kerrville, Texas, last year after their flooding,” Magee said. “So, as soon as we saw this in Missouri, I was kinda like if we helped all the way there, we have to help here. This is too close to home.”

People were rescued from floodwaters, trees, rooftops and stranded vehicles, according to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The Huzzah Creek and Black River saw historic flash flooding. The waterways are popular spots for float trips and campsites.

“Floods are just vicious, you lose everything,” Magee said.

Magee said she is giving those impacted by the flood a week to breathe, then she will begin reaching out to libraries in the area to form partnerships for her toy drive.

In the meantime, she is beginning to collect funds through Amazon to ship toys directly to the area. Once she gets a better idea of the age range of impacted children, she will curate a specific wish list of toys.

Those interested can look at other ways to contribute to Sammie’s Toy Drive by clicking here.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

One Utah community will keep its fireworks ban even if the rest of the state doesn’t

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Ben Winslow

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    MOAB, Utah (KSTU) — With Utah’s emergency order banning fireworks set to expire next week, at least one city has decided it will continue a fireworks ban.

Moab’s City Council voted to declare a state of emergency and ban fireworks before Governor Spencer Cox decided to issue his own emergency order that led to a statewide ban. It was for the entire month of July.

“You could see the smoke coming in from the Babylon Fire,” Moab Fire Chief TJ Brewer told FOX 13 News. “We were getting concern from the community.”

The Babylon Fire, burning about an hour south of Moab, is the nation’s largest wildfire, having torched more than 106,000 acres. As of Wednesday, it is only 54% contained. It is one of many wildfires still burning across the state that has destroyed property and forced entire communities to evacuate.

Utah is in drought and wildfire conditions are extreme. Grasses and trees are dry, allowing fires to spread. So far, more than 382,000 acres have burned and the majority of fires are human-caused. Firefighters have pleaded with Utahns to do what they can to avoid sparking more wildfires.

When Moab declared a state of emergency and enacted a ban, it was testing state laws that blocked cities and towns from enacting all-out fireworks bans except in limited circumstances (such as when a community is entirely in a wildland area).

“It’s a little creative, I think. It was a way for us to really come up with some legislative backing to allow us to do that and we just really believe that fire is a huge issue,” Moab Mayor Joette Langianese said in an interview with FOX 13 News last month.

Then, Gov. Cox declared a state of emergency because of extreme wildfire risk and suspended the laws. It allowed the Utah State Forester to issue an order declaring a statewide fireworks ban — but giving cities the power to allow fireworks with restrictions. It also gave communities like Moab some political backing for enacting fireworks bans.

Utah State Forester Jamie Barnes told FOX 13 News last week that she is still evaluating whether to seek a new emergency order for the upcoming Pioneer Day holiday, but wildfire conditions had not improved. Gov. Cox’s office said Wednesday he was still reviewing things and no decision has been made.

Under laws passed by the Utah State Legislature during the COVID pandemic, a governor’s emergency order is only good for 30 days. Then the legislature has to meet in special session to vote on extending the ban. Gov. Cox could issue a brand new emergency order.

But if Gov. Cox opts not to issue a new order to cover the Pioneer Day holiday, Moab’s ban would remain in effect. Brewer said residents were supportive of the ban over the Fourth of July.

“The community has stood behind it. We thought we might have some complaints. We’ve had zero complaints that I’ve heard of,” he said. “We had zero firework incidents on the Fourth of July, which is outstanding. We usually have at least a dozen or so, but there was zero. We ended up having a structure fire that day but it had nothing to do with fireworks.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Colorado Springs repairs over 16,000 potholes in five-week citywide repair surge

KRDO on July 16, 2026

Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Potholes have been a big priority for Mayor Yemi Mobalade since he took office three years ago.

And now, in the final year of his first term in office, he’s making good on his campaign promise to reduce the number of potholes on city streets.

Late Thursday morning, the city held a media briefing to release results of a pothole saturation patrol, or “surge,” that was announced in May.

Mobolade, who rode with The Road Warrior to a neighborhood pothole event earlier in the day, said that the surge resulted in 16,000 potholes filled.

“10,000 of them were in neighborhoods,” he revealed.

Mobolade went to Haverhill Place in the Pinecliff neighborhood where a longtime resident, Carl Peterson, regularly reports potholes to the city.

“Our streets are scheduled for repaving over the next few years, Peterson explained, “So pothole repairs will help a lot. “I think the response rate is better. You need to report a pothole, rather than curse it. Cursing potholes doesn’t fix them. I walk the neighborhood almost every day, I have a cell phone, and I report potholes.”

The mayor patched a pothole while he was there.

The five-week operation devoted more time and resources to patching potholes.

Included in the effort was the purchase of two pothole repair trucks to replace the two oldest trucks in the fleet; officials said that some of the 13-truck fleet breaks down occasionally because of frequent use.

The surge had three objectives.

One was to place two pothole-repair trucks in each of the city’s four public works districts to conduct “search and destroy” missions on any potholes they found.

The second was to perform maintenance paving: temporarily repaving streets with numerous potholes in a concentrated area, saving the time and effort of filling each pothole.

Streets chosen for maintenance paving are not part of this year’s 2C expanded paving program.

The surge’s third objective was gathering data to learn more specifics about the average response time for pothole complaints, as well as developing a “heat map” to show areas that are “hot spots” for potholes. 

Mobolade was asked if there will be future pothole surges.

“Definitely next year,” he responded. “Would I like to do a second one this year? Absolutely. I haven’t made that final decision yet. I’m assessing, weighing the risk. But in terms of next year, of course, I think this habit, this practice, feels right.”

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Memorial grows for California DoorDash driver found dead in Tesla trunk

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Felix Cortez

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    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — The California Highway Patrol is investigating the death of Javier Becerril, a 42-year-old Hollister man, whose body was found last Thursday in the trunk of a Tesla off Highway 152 near the San Luis Reservoir.

CHP officials said the case is being treated as a homicide due to suspicious circumstances.

“There are circumstances that are suspicious, and that’s why we’re treating it as such,” a CHP investigator said.

Becerril had been reported missing by his family before his body was discovered. He was positively identified on Tuesday.

“Our detectives are exhausting every possible avenue to hopefully obtain a better understanding of what transpired and hopefully hold whoever was accountable for what happened, hold them accountable,” CHP officer Hector Carias said.

A small memorial has been set up in the Safeway parking lot in Hollister by fellow DoorDash drivers who say Becerril made regular deliveries from there.

CHP detectives are also analyzing the Tesla’s onboard computer system to determine if it can provide any details or video that might help identify the killer or killers.

Authorities said the family is fully cooperating with the investigation but is also desperately seeking answers.

Anyone who may have been driving on Highway 152 at Pacheco Pass last Thursday or in the days prior and noticed anything suspicious is urged to contact 911 or the CHP.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Forgotten bank accounts, baseball cards and a Reds signed ball turned up in Iowa treasure hunt

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Natalia Gomez del Campo

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — From forgotten bank accounts to long-lost memorabilia, the State Treasurer of Iowa’s Office returned a record-breaking $38.2 million in unclaimed property to Iowans during Fiscal Year 2026, with officials saying more people are discovering money and valuables they never knew they had.

In FY26, the state processed 53,194 claims, which is an increase of 8,302 from the previous year. The total value of the claims beat previous records by more than $8.4 million.

“Great Iowa Treasure Hunt is about more than dollars and cents,” said Roby Smith, the state treasurer of Iowa. “Every claim represents a family, a business, or an individual being reunited with money or property they may not have even known that was missing.

When asked what caused such a drastic change, Smith said it’s mainly thanks to efforts in spreading the word, the people helping to get the word out.

The office showed some memorabilia items in safekeeping, including baseball cards, trading cards, autographs and basketball cards, and an unauthenticated signed baseball from the Cincinnati Reds.

“These items belong to real Iowans and their heirs. And we’ve committed to finding the rightful owners and returning these one-of-a-kind keepsakes,” Smith said.

Smith acknowledged that many believe the treasure hunt to be a scam, but reassures Iowans that the best way to verify if you have property items missing is to search your name on the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website.

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Tracking cyclospora outbreak in the Kansas City metro | How can you protect yourself?

CNN Newsource on July 16, 2026

By Andy Alcock

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    JOHNSON COUNTY, Kansas (KMBC) — Concerns are growing around the U.S. and the Kansas City metro due to a spike in a severe stomach bug.

Cyclospora, a microscopic parasite, is causing the issue.

The exact cause is unknown, but the best evidence suggests it’s coming from produce.

On Wednesday, Chef Sergio Lara with the Culinary Center of Kansas City shared his tips and demonstrated how he cleans fruits and vegetables.

There are a couple of ways: Put produce in a mix of one part vinegar to three parts water. Or, use two tablespoons of baking soda in water. Then, let the produce sit for five minutes in those mixes.

“So it’s going to wash off all the chemicals and all the bacteria,” he said.

As of Wednesday, the state of Kansas reported 55 confirmed cases, with 25 of them in Johnson County.

“This infection, generally speaking, is not terribly severe for, for healthy people, but for, for people with compromised immune systems, it can cause a risk for more severe disease,” said Charlie Hunt, Johnson County Health and Environment Department director.

The Missouri Communicable Disease Report, released Sunday by the Department of Health and Senior Services, lists 43 cases of Cyclospora in the state. The report does not break locations down by county. This number also differs from information provided by the CDC, which lists no confirmed cases for Missouri.

The best recommendations from Hunt and Lara include staying away from cut up produce at the grocery store, and washing what you do get thoroughly.

“We do serve a lot of people. Yeah. So that’s something that we actually started doing more often,” Lara said.

The Cyclospora outbreak is also happening across the country. The CDC issued a national alert Tuesday due to a spike in cases.

That federal agency reports there have been no deaths but 141 hospitalizations.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.