“Otero County Commission is flaunting that process by appeasing unfounded conspiracy theories and potentially nullifying the votes of every Otero County voter who participated in the primary.”

Carolyn Kust, an American Red Cross account manager who oversees blood drives across Oregon, describing why Latino donors, who are more likely than white donors to have Type O blood, the type doctors reach for first in emergencies, have been staying away from donation sites amid fears that giving blood could expose them to immigration enforcement. Kust said Oregon's blood supply is running dangerously thin as a result, noting that the Red Cross typically keeps only about a two-day supply on its shelves and that a single trauma patient can require 50 or more units of blood, while a typical regional blood drive brings in just 30. (OregonLive)

Larry Hogan, the two-term former Republican governor of Maryland who sought an open U.S. Senate seat in 2024 and lost to Democrat Angela Alsobrooks by nearly 12 percentage points. Vowing to never run for office again, Hogan is instead launching the nonpartisan Hogan Institute at a small liberal arts college on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, saying he’s focused on teaching leadership skills to undergraduates who he hopes can fix a “broken” two-party system. (Washington Post)

Alaska state Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, making the case on the House floor last week for a bill establishing gold and silver as legal tender in the state — which passed the Legislature nearly unanimously and now awaits Gov. Mike Dunleavy's signature. The bill exempts gold and silver specie from sales taxes when used as currency, though it does not require any store or business to accept it. The lone no vote, Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, offered his own pointed summary: "We don't do this for Pokémon cards — they've gained value." (Anchorage Daily News)

Cohutta, Ga., Mayor Ron Shinnick, explaining his decision this week to dissolve his town's entire police department — all 10 officers — by posting a sign on the department's door reading "The PD has been dissolved, and all personnel have been terminated." The firing came a week after Shinnick had publicly declared a dispute between officers and his wife, the former town clerk, resolved through "open dialogue and good-faith mediation." The town council voted two days later to void his order and reinstate the department. (Daily Beast)