The Daily Rundown - April 1, 2026
⚖️Supreme Court justices heard arguments this morning in a case that will almost certainly result in a historic ruling. At issue is President Trump's challenge to a constitutional provision that has long been interpreted to guarantee American citizenship to every child born in the United States. Trump has long maintained that the Constitution does not guarantee birthright citizenship.
So, on Day 1 of his second term, he issued an executive order barring automatic citizenship for any baby born in the U.S. whose parents entered the country illegally or who were here legally, but on a temporary or even a long-term visa.
“We are the only country in the world that does this with birthright,” Trump said as he signed the executive order. “And it's absolutely ridiculous.” That actually is not true. There are nearly 33 countries, mainly in North and South America, that have birthright citizenship — including, among others, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
But Trump has long been determined to rid this country of its longstanding protection for birthright citizenship. Wednesday is D-Day in that effort, and to understand the issues, it’s worth taking a stroll through American history. Hear NPR’s full coverage of the hearing here.
⛏️ A federal judge in Nevada has ruled against conservationists who wanted to stop a lithium-boron mine they said would harm an endangered wildflower. The ruling marks a major legal victory for the 11-square-mile (28.49-square-kilometer) Rhyolite Ridge Lithium/Boron Mine Project in Esmeralda County, located between Reno and Las Vegas. The land holds the largest lithium and boron deposit in the world outside of Turkey, said Bernard Rowe, managing director of Ioneer, the Australia-based company behind the project.
U.S. District Judge Cristina Silva ruled Friday that the federal government properly approved the project and sufficiently examined the impacts the project will have on the rare wildflower called Tiehm’s buckwheat, whose entire population grows within 10 acres (4.05 hectares) of land in the project area. Environmental groups behind the lawsuit say they may appeal.
Lithium is an essential component of electric vehicle batteries. Rhyolite Ridge would be Nevada’s third lithium mine, and one of few mines that will process the materials on-site, Rowe said. “Rhyolite Ridge will create hundreds of new American jobs, reduce reliance on foreign materials and processing, and provide a domestic source of two critical minerals,” Chad Yeftich, vice president of corporate development and external affairs at Ioneer, said in a statement.
🏢 A prominent Las Vegas-based technology company is expanding its footprint in North Las Vegas. Switch recently closed on roughly 140 acres of property in Apex Industrial Park, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. In December, Switch bought 176 acres in the park, giving the data-center owner more than 300 acres total. According to the city’s website, the park encompasses 18,000 acres, 5,000 of which are developable.
🗳️ Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford appear virtually tied in this year’s race for governor. A survey of 845 registered Nevada voters taken earlier this month, March 10-13, by Noble Predictive Insights shows Lombardo with a 1-point lead over Ford, 39% to 38%. Seventeen percent of those participating in the poll were undecided, while 6% voiced support for a third-party candidate.
🏠 Renters are feeling some relief as rental costs across the Mountain West are dropping. That’s thanks, in part, to a building boom. Yet, at the same time, homeownership remains out of reach for many. The median price for a new lease is down 1.5% from a year ago across the country. But in some Mountain West states, the decline in costs to renters is much greater, up to 5% in some places.
Rob Warnock is a lead economic researcher with Apartment List, which is behind the study. “Five percent year-over-year declines in Denver, we’ve got around 4-5 percent in a lot of Arizona, Salt Lake City prices are down 2.5 percent, Las Vegas 3.5, Boise — prices are down there about a percentage point year over year,” said Warnock.
While this is good news for renters, Warnock said rents are still higher than they were before the COVID pandemic six years ago. See the full story by the Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez here.
🚀 As early as Wednesday at 6:24 p.m., an Orion capsule seated atop a 322-foot rocket will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes according to plan, the capsule will carry four astronauts around the moon and back — sending humans the farthest they’ve ever been from our home planet. The mission will be the first launch in the Artemis moon program to include a crew.
It follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022, which sent an empty Orion capsule on a three-week ride around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. This time, the Artemis II astronauts will first orbit Earth to check out key systems on the spacecraft, and then trace a figure-eight path around our lunar neighbor and back. The entire journey is expected to take just under 10 days. Read the full story by NPR’s Amina Khan and Nell Greenfieldboyce here.
Part of these stories are taken from KNPR's daily newscast segment. To hear more daily updates like these, tune in to 88.9 KNPR FM.
