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Colorado environmental leaders approved landmark water protections in reaction to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that they believed weakened regulations in Western states.
The bipartisan Water Quality Control Commission convened to pass stream and wetland protections that come as the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency pushes for further federal deregulations.
“These rules create a robust program for protecting Colorado waters – including wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, the role that waters play in flood mitigation, cleaning water and actually increasing water supplies,” said Joro Walker, senior attorney at Western Resource Advocates. She also represented wildlife hunting and angling groups in the WQCC process.
“All those values that Colorado waters bring to the citizens of the state are essentially being protected by this program,” Walker told The Center Square.
The WQCC meeting comes in the middle of a years-long scramble to address critical threats to the Colorado River’s supply. The river provides water to an estimated 40 million people between Colorado, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Mexico and tribal nations. The water is used primarily for agriculture, as well as municipal needs.
The nine-person WQCC summit was organized by a 2024 state law, House Bill 1379, which passed the Arizona Senate unanimously with two excused votes and the House with 80% approval. The bipartisan mandate nearly fell apart after nearly 16 months of meetings and public hearings with industry leaders, water providers, farmers and environmental advocacy groups. Just days before the Dec. 8-10 meeting, industry leaders argued the environmentalists were trying to manipulate the law.
The new water regulations came in reaction to a landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. EPA. It found that the 53-year-old Clean Water Act, foundational to water protections across the U.S., only applied to streams or wetlands that flowed year-round.
The specifically worded rule had huge impacts in Western states, such as Colorado, where most water flows seasonally, largely due to snowmelt.
“That understanding of the Clean Water Act promises to have a significantly profound effect on particularly western states, or let’s say states in the interior West, like Nevada,” said Walker.
Under Trump’s second term, the EPA has pushed to dissolve environmental regulations, putting Western water under further pressure. Walker told The Center Square that an estimated 97% of Colorado wetlands and 68% of stream miles will no longer be protected under the updated Clean Water Act.
But Colorado’s new state-level regulations would almost entirely cover what the federal government dropped.
“The Colorado legislature recognized how important it is to protect waters of the state,” Walker said.
Regulation exceptions for waters related to farming and industry, similar to existing regulations before the Sackett decision, will remain.
“By ‘protect,’ it does not mean that there’s no development allowed in these waters,” said Walker.
Despite the threat to states across the interior West, Walker said she was not too confident most states would follow Colorado’s lead.
“Some states won’t expand their permitting programs,” said Walker. “Some states don’t have the resources or the expertise to do that.”
New Mexico has begun the process to adopt similar state-level water regulations, with rule-making set for summer 2026.
“I hope that other states will follow suit when they recognize just how important this level of regulation is to the interests of its citizenry,” said Walker. “I mean, what kind of economic activity or quality of life can you have without water?”
While sometimes only seasonal, waterways connect. In Colorado, many find their way to the Colorado River.
“One of the things that this Colorado program is helping to secure is that the water that eventually makes its way into the Colorado River will be cleaner,” said Walker. She added later, “Wetlands also improve flows, not just water quality – but also water quantity. Colorado is doing its part to protect the Colorado River with this program.”
The Colorado River, as the region’s main water source, currently faces an historic 25-year drought that threatens many major Western cities. Roughly half of Denver’s water comes from Colorado River tributaries, according to Denver Water.
The drought has been characterized by low river flows – 30% lower than a century ago – and excessive water consumption by the seven states and Mexico that the river runs through.
One month prior to Colorado’s WQCC summit, the seven Colorado River states missed a federal deadline in November to submit a first draft plan for new, reduced water usage guidelines. The federal government has told the Colorado River parties they must now reach a preliminary decision by Feb. 14.
“We will find a way forward; long-term partners always do, but the path ahead may require us to evolve,” said Gene Shawcroft, president of the Colorado River Water Users Association.
Colorado River states met at the annual CRWUA conference this week in Las Vegas to work on the soon-approaching deadline. Again, no decision was made on the Colorado River’s future.

The U.S. Justice Department released thousands of documents on Friday related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. However, many documents were heavily redacted, causing outspoken frustration and calls for impeachment proceedings among lawmakers.
The release follows passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act by Congress in November requiring the Justice Department to make publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California and a co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said the Department of Justice’s document release did not comply with his legislation. He called for the release of a draft indictment that implicates other powerful individuals associated with Epstein.
“The reality is, Pam Bondi has obfuscated for months,” Khanna said. “It is an incomplete release with too many redactions.”
Khanna said he and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie R-Ky., another sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, are considering impeachments for individuals working at the Justice Department.
“It can be the impeachment of those at [the Justice Department], inherent contempt, or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice, we will work with the survivors to demand the full release of these files,” Khanna said.
While the law calls for a wide swath of documents to be released, it gives several notable exceptions. The attorney general is allowed to withhold or redact portions of records containing child sexual abuse material, personally identifiable information of victims, and documents that would interfere with active federal investigations or ongoing prosecutions.
President Donald Trump called for a probe into several top political figures and institutions before the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by Congress. He called for a probe into former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and J.P. Morgan Chase.
It appears ongoing investigations, possibly including Trump’s probe, led to more redactions in the released files. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the full release of the files would be delayed until the end of the year.
The Justice Department said it included its own redactions in addition to information already redacted from the document.
“The redaction of victim names and other identifying information has been added by the Department prior to this production, as indicated by markings that read ‘DOJ Redaction,'” the DOJ’s website reads.
A 119-page grand jury document released with the public exposure of the Epstein files was entirely redacted. Additionally, six pages from documents provided by the FBI have no information, instead displaying “deleted page information.”
Massie said the DOJ’s document release “grossly fails” to “comply with both the spirit and letter” of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
In a letter to Congress, Blanche said more than 1,200 people were identified as victims of Epstein. However, the names of these victims were redacted in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“In view of the Congressional deadline, all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims, other private individuals, and protect sensitive materials from disclosure,” the Justice Department’s website reads.

An additional nine of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have agreed to offer many of their most popular drugs at most-favored-nation pricing in the U.S.
This means that the U.S. will pay the lowest price for many prescription drugs among its economic peers. The initiative has been a major priority for President Donald Trump, according to top Health and Human Services officials, as he has sought to reduce prescription drug prices for Americans.
“We got a lot of calls from the president, and at one point in this negotiation, we just stopped answering our phones late at night because we couldn’t take it anymore,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The nine companies that joined the president and others from the Oval Office on Friday were the latest of a handful of pharmaceutical manufacturers that have done so over the past several months to announce similar deals with the administration. Fourteen of the 17 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have now agreed to offer at least some of their drugs at most-favored-nation pricing in the U.S., according to Trump. Kennedy said it amounts to “95% of drugs” sold in the U.S.
For years, Americans have paid higher drug prices than their counterparts in other wealthy nations. Those higher prices help pharmaceutical companies fund their research and development, fueling innovation. Trump has argued that those companies have taken advantage of the U.S. and that America has essentially paid for innovation the whole world benefits from.
The companies present Friday were Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech (a part of Roche), Gilead Sciences, GSK, Novartis, Merck & Co. and Sanofi.

U.S. lawmakers have left town for the holidays without making any actionable progress on the long-delayed fiscal year 2026 government funding bills.
That means when Congress returns Jan. 6, lawmakers will have less than a month to pass the remaining nine out of 12 massive appropriations bills.
“The government runs out of funding on January 30th,” House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., warned Friday. “There is no plan to meet the January 30th deadline … Time is running out.”
Most of the delay since November has stemmed from a few Republican holdouts haggling over earmarks with head appropriators and chamber leaders. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., finally secured support for a five-bill minibus.
The bipartisan minibus includes fiscal year 2026 funding for federal agencies that handle Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; Defense; Labor and Health and Human Services; Commerce, and Justice, Science; and Interior.
Thune was unable to bring it to the floor for a vote Thursday, however, because two Democrats held up the package.
“I am disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight,” Thune told lawmakers. “Republicans were ready to go. But unfortunately, my Democrat colleagues are not there yet.”
Thune added that he “remain[s] committed to funding the government through the regular order process,” when Congress reconvenes.
But given the incredibly tight deadline and lawmakers’ strong aversion to another government shutdown, lawmakers likely will resort yet again to passing a Continuing Resolutions for at least some federal agencies.
Most federal government agencies are still running off of appropriations levels from fiscal year 2024. Congress never passed a real budget in fiscal year 2025, instead punting forward the shutdown deadline via three consecutive CRs.
The government then shut down Oct. 1, when Democrats refused to vote for a fourth CR due to Republicans’ refusal to extend the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
After a record long 43-day shutdown, enough Democrats voted to reopen the government by passing a CR. Congress also passed a three-bill minibus that same day.

The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security has released an updated report highlighting terrorism threats to Americans.
It did so after holding a hearing on Tuesday during which Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent testified that the NCTC had identified at least 18,000 known or suspected terrorists who were released into the U.S. during the Biden administration, The Center Square reported. The NCTC has also added roughly 35,000 narco-terrorists to the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset since he’s been in office.
The unprecedented 18,000 KSTs exclude the 6,525 KSTs the NCTC helped prevent from entering the country as of October, The Center Square reported.
The committee’s “Terror Threat Snapshot” highlights recent examples of terrorist acts that have occurred in the U.S. over the past six months. It also notes that more than 60 cases were reported between April 2021 and December 2025 related to individuals linked to or inspired by foreign terrorist organizations. This includes those who’ve provided material support to ISIS, Hezbollah and al Queda, who received military level training from Hezbollah and al Queda, and who claimed to commit attacks because they were inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.
It cites terrorist cases that have been prosecuted in at least 25 states.
Examples of recent terrorist attacks include two National Guard soldiers from Iowa and an interpreter killed by an ISIS gunman in Syria and Afghan nationals released into the U.S. through a failed Biden administration parole program.
Afghans continue to be arrested for committing crimes in the U.S. Recent examples include three Afghan men charged in one week with terrorism-related crimes. One shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., killing one; another was apprehended by Texas Department of Public Safety officers in Fort Worth accused of plotting a 9/11 style terrorist attack; another was arrested in Virginia accused of supporting ISIS.
Last month, three Muslim men were arrested in Dearborn, Michigan, charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and possessing firearms to commit a terrorist act on behalf of ISIS. The FBI also arrested two teenagers in New Jersey last month for their role in the alleged plot, the report notes.
In October, a Palestinian man was arrested in Lafayette, Louisiana, for his alleged role in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. He’s a member of a Palestinian National Resistance Brigade, known as the Martyr Umar al-Qasim Forces, the Department of Justice said. He entered the U.S. on Sept. 12, 2024, providing “false information in his U.S. visa application relating to his involvement with a paramilitary organization, connection to Hamas, participation in a terrorist attack, and military training,” the Department of Homeland Security said. Under the Trump administration, a DOJ Joint Task Force found him and arrested him.
In September, a Pakistani man was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, including planning to attack New Yorkers on pedestrian bridges in Queens.
Also in September, two Muslim men were arrested in Salt Lake City, charged with aggravated arson, threat of terrorism and possessing weapons of mass destruction, in connection to an attempt to blow up a Fox 13 vehicle, which failed.
In June, an Afghan national living in Oklahoma City pleaded guilty to two terrorism offenses, including providing material support to ISIS and receiving firearms and ammunition to commit an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS.
“Twenty-four years after 9/11, what we heard from Director [of the National Counterterrorism Center Joseph] Kent in our annual Worldwide Threats hearing last week should disturb every American,” Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-New York, said. He pointed to Biden administration vetting failures, open-border policies and the deadly withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, as well as the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks for exacerbating terrorism threats.
Under the Biden administration, Islamic terrorist incidents increased in the U.S. and worldwide with a majority of Americans polled expressing concerns about terrorism, The Center Square reported.
The response is a “whole-of-government approach,” including continued congressional oversight and legislative action, Garbarino said. “Congress has an immense responsibility to ensure our local, state, and federal agencies have the resources and tools to succeed in this no-fail mission.”
The report also includes examples of domestic terrorism, including Americans who attacked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, increasing antisemitic and terrorist attacks worldwide.

The Department of Justice has posted thousands of court recordsand other documents from the Epstein files online in a searchable and downloadable format in response to a mandate from Congress demanding the files’ public release.
“In view of the Congressional deadline, all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims, other private individuals, and protect sensitive materials from disclosure,” the Justice Department website reads.
The released documents contained court records from 51 court proceedings against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. The Justice Department said it included its own redactions in addition to information already redacted from the document.
“The redaction of victim names and other identifying information has been added by the Department prior to this production, as indicated by markings that read ‘DOJ Redaction,'” the DOJ’s website reads.
Though a significant cache, it still represents only a fraction of the total files and part of what the department was required to deliver.
After months of back-and-forth with the administration, Congress passed a law with near unanimous support mandating the files’ full public release by Friday.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., one of the bill’s sponsors, warned that anyone causing the department not to comply with the law could be subject to prosecution – whether that’s Attorney General Pam Bondi or someone else.
“Anyone who tampers with these documents or conceals documents or engages in excessive redaction will be prosecuted because of obstruction of justice, we will prosecute individuals regardless of whether they’re the attorney general or a career or political appointee,” Khanna said in a video posted to X ahead of the release.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News that the reason for the delay is redacting information that could disclose victims’ identity.
“The most important thing … is that we protect victims,” Blanche said. “We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act does allow for redactions or the withholding of records that contain identifiable information on victims, images of child sexual abuse or the “death, physical abuse, or injury of any person.” Officials can also withhold any information that would jeopardize an ongoing federal investigation or national security.
However, the law requires a report from the department by Jan. 3 summarizing the files’ release, including which documents were withheld or redacted and why, as well as the legal basis for doing so. The report must also include “a list of all government officials and politically exposed persons named or referenced in the released materials” and names cannot be protected on “the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Blanche said he expects “several hundred thousand more” documents will be released in the coming weeks. Khanna told CBS News that the department must provide a “clear timeline for the full release” on Friday, after Blanche said not all documents would be released that day.
Epstein died in jail by suicide awaiting trial in 2019. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The Trump administration said it plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is based in Colorado.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced the decision this week.
“This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country,” Vought said in a post on social media. “A comprehensive review is underway & any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”
Founded in 1960, NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. It is a federally-funded research and development center headquartered in Boulder.
Colorado lawmakers are expressing concern with the decision. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, called the center “a global leader in earth system science.”
“Science is being attacked,” Polis said. “Climate change is real, but the work of NCAR goes far beyond climate science. NCAR delivers data around severe weather events like fires and floods that help our country save lives and property, and prevent devastation for families.”
The foundation provided approximately $123 million in core funding to NCAR in fiscal year 2025. That was roughly half of its total budget.
Currently NCAR employs about 830 staff.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the Trump administration does not have the authority to dismantle the center.
“We will not be swayed by his efforts to threaten, intimidate, or punish our state,” Weiser said. “We are already in court defending Colorado and will continue to do so, including, as appropriate, in the face of these latest actions.”
Others have applauded the move as one of the Trump administration’s latest budget cuts.
“OMB Director Russ Vought announces the National Center for Atmospheric Research will be dismantled. Good,” said Larry Schweikart, a historian and former professor. “Didn’t happen under Reagan.”
This is just the latest hit to Colorado’s federal workforce.
In September, President Donald Trump announced plans to move the U.S. Space Command Headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala. Colorado is suing over that decision.

A Phoenix jury Thursday sentenced serial killer Cleophus Cooksey Jr. to death for committing six murders over a three-week period in 2017.
Cooksey, 43, was convicted in September of first-degree murder for eight killings in the Phoenix area. The Maricopa County Superior Court jury decided the death penalty would be the punishment in six of the killings, but couldn’t reach a unanimous decision concerning the murders of Cooksey’s mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn.
Cooksey was found guilty of shooting and killing Parker Smith and Andrew Remillard while they sat in a car. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said that started a killing spree that culminated in the murders of Cooksey’s mother and stepfather. In addition to Smith, Remillard, Renee Cooksey and Nunn, Cleophus Cooksey was convicted of killing Salim Richards, Latorrie Beckford, Kristopher Cameron and Maria Villanueva.
The murders took place in 2017 between Nov. 27 and Dec. 17 in Phoenix and its suburb, Glendale, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Erin Pellett told The Center Square Friday.
“Anyone who questions why we need the death penalty needs to look no further than this case,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “It takes a special kind of evil to prey upon the vulnerable and needlessly take the lives of eight innocent people. Death is the only just punishment for him, and we will do everything in our power to see it carried through.”
Under Arizona law, Cooksey’s murder convictions are under automatic appeal to the state Supreme Court, Pellett told The Center Square.
No date is currently set for the case to be heard in the court, Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the Arizona attorney general’s office, told The Center Square Friday.
According to Mitchell’s office, Cooksey was connected to the murders through evidence tying the crime scenes together. The evidence included DNA, firearms and casings. Cooksey was also found to possess items belonging to the murder victims, the office said, pointing to Cooksey wearing a gold necklace stolen from Richards when he was arrested. The office added that Villanueva’s car keys were found in Cooksey’s apartment.
In addition to the murders, Cooksey was found guilty of other felonies: two counts of kidnapping, three counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted sexual assault. Cooksey was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for the non-capital charges.