News from around the nation.

A federal judge halts Trump’s Triumphal Arch for 14 days, a North Dakota professor offers perspective on record-low voter turnout, and Tennessee elects the first woman governor and backs 3 constitutional amendments.

Transcript

The Public News Service Friday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A federal judge slammed on the brakes for Trump's triumphal arch, at least for now.

The ruling temporarily stalled progress on one of the president's favorite projects, which Democrats have threatened to kill when they take control of the Congress in January.

The New York Times knows the federal panel's decision to go ahead with Trump's plan would have allowed construction to begin as soon as Friday morning.

But the ruling by Judge Tanya Shutkin halted construction for 14 days, while legal challenges make their way through the court system.

Meantime, this week, North Dakota saw its lowest voter turnout in a general election in 50 years.

That is a sharp contrast to the national attention surrounding this year's midterms.

North Dakota's Secretary of State reports just under 40 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in this year's election.

University of North Dakota political science professor Michelle Buhlman thinks the lack of competitive, high-profile races likely contributed to the decline.

She says the low turnout is important when interpreting the state's ballot measure results.

People normally turn out for elections over the candidates, not ballot measures.

So there just wasn't a big draw.

Voters rejected both statewide constitutional measures.

The first would have raised the threshold for passing future constitutional amendments, and Measure 2 sought to guarantee free breakfast and lunch to all K-12 students.

It failed by fewer than 3,000 votes.

I'm Judith Rooey's branch reporting.

And women across the country made history in the midterm elections, including in Tennessee, where Republican U.S.

Senator Marsha Blackburn became the first woman to be elected governor.

Blackburn received 45 percent of the vote to Democrat Jerry Green's nearly 43 percent, making the race closer than many political observers expected.

Andrew Bush with the University of Tennessee's Institute of American Civics says Republicans still have a strong advantage in Tennessee, and the close race may have been influenced by a third-party candidate who got nearly 10 percent of the vote.

Bush predicts Blackburn won't be the same as Governor Bill Lee, but he doesn't expect major changes under her leadership.

I think that is going to continue meaning, you know, probably lower spending and lower taxes than you have in a lot of other states.

If you like the way things are in Tennessee, they're probably going to stay mostly the same.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Meantime, on Monday, the Davidson County Planning Board will decide whether to rezone hundreds of acres along the Yadkin River for a new Duke Energy Project.

Epona's contend it will harm surrounding communities and the environment.

Nicole Eastman is with Yadkin River Keep.

Really doesn't make sense for two massive power plants that would draw a lot of water from the Yadkin River and also would be discharging back into the river and contributing to air pollution.

She argues it's not a public utility and says this kind of project should only be built in area zone for heavy industrial use.

This is Public News Service.

Grassroots leaders are celebrating historic victories for Native American candidates in Tuesday's election.

They hope that Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan will bring Minnesota and the nation a specific type of leadership, allies say, is sorely needed.

Flanagan will be the first Native woman to serve in the U.S.

Senate following her run as Minnesota's lieutenant governor.

Elsewhere, former U.S.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was elected governor of New Mexico, the first American Indian woman to lead a state government.

Wazipan Garriott of the advocacy group NDN Collective says he thinks these two bring a unique skill set.

Indigenous women have always been protectors, caregivers of not only Native Americans, but of the country.

And it's hard to imagine two people who are more qualified.

Flanagan and fellow Democrats have said they would like to restore funding to federal food assistance and Medicaid that was cut in last year's tax and policy law.

I'm Mike Moen.

New Mexico Democrats expanded their majority in the legislature Tuesday by electing David Mooney to the House District 38.

He isn't shy about saying why he jumped into the race.

Mooney told a meeting of the Sierra Club Rio Grande chapter he was alarmed at how quickly the massive AI data center known as Project Jupiter was pushed through in southern New Mexico.

Currently under construction, it spans roughly 1,400 acres, larger than New York City's Central Park.

Mooney has publicly criticized a lack of transparency ahead of the project's approval by Doña Ana County commissioners.

It was front of mind for a lot of the constituents that I talked to and my main reason for running.

So environmental issues, the threat of data centers being pushed through out of the view of the public as well.

I'm Roz Brown.

Electricity prices are up 18 percent nationwide since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

And advocates for people behind bars in Connecticut say they want swift changes to the state's prison health care system An office of the Correction Ombuds Report from earlier this year found nearly 1,600 people in prison awaiting appointments for off-site medical treatment.

And the latest report shows the office received around 2,000 complaints about the Department of Corrections Health Services.

Barbara Fair with the group Stop Solitary CT says this has been a long-standing problem.

People have waited for years to get specialty services.

People reportedly have died waiting for services, and many have gone home with so many diseases and chronic illnesses as a result of medical neglect.

The state has enacted a new law to improve prison health care.

It takes a multifaceted approach, requiring the state to provide medically necessary procedures at on-site or off-site facilities and to keep electronic health records.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Mike Clifford from Public News Service.

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