Monday, June 22: Pollutants increase from Columbia coal plant, Democrats try to stop troops at polls, registering teen voters who don’t drive, Dems grow hopeful about Senate flip
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Coal makes us sick, coal kills people, coal poisons our water, coal causes so much harm that is so well documented that it is almost unthinkable that in 2026 our government would use our taxpayer dollars to continue with this technology.”
– Brittany Keyes, clean air policy manager for Healthy Climate Wisconsin
The Columbia Energy Center in Pardeeville is expected to receive $19 million from the Trump administration to “modernize” despite initial plans for the plant to be retired in 2024. (Photos courtesy of Alliant Energy Center, John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout | Illustration by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
A Columbia County coal plant previously slated for retirement that is expected to receive millions of dollars from the Trump administration to “modernize” its operations dramatically increased its pollutant emissions in 2025. Henry Redman has the story.
U.S. Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to require Congress to sign off on any deployment of federal troops to the polls, as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to rule out the idea. Jonathan Shorman reports.
American teens are driving less than in previous decades, prompting civic advocates to warn that fewer young people may register to vote. Jonathan Shorman covers efforts by civic groups to ensure young people can register, as well as the challenges that remain.
Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings, Jacob Fischler and Shorman report. But they still need nearly everything to break their way against a map that put them at a starting disadvantage, analysts and campaign officials say.
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ICYMI
Voters fill out their ballots at a Sioux Falls polling place during the South Dakota primary election on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
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