By Amy Dalrymple | Editor
Jared Hagert, right, deputy administrator for farm programs for the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, speaks Sept. 15, 2026, at the Big Iron farm show in West Fargo, North Dakota, with Don Wick of the Red River Farm Network. (Photo by Jeff Beach / North Dakota Monitor)
By Jeff Beach
Jared Hagert said his main message to farmers at the Big Iron farm show was: If you haven’t set up an account at login.gov, get it done.
Hagert is the North Dakota farmer and former lawmaker now overseeing federal farm programs who was back in his home state Tuesday to speak at the opening day of the ag show.
A key part of his job as deputy administrator for farm programs for the Farm Service Agency is modernizing the systems for disaster aid, price supports and loan programs.
Two children help their mother pick up food from a food bank in Wilmington, Ohio. Some experts cautioned that Tuesday’s census data on poverty doesn’t reflect the effects of new federal policy changes that will be hitting households hard this year. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Shalina Chatlani
The official poverty rate in the United States dipped slightly by half a percentage point last year to a historic low of 10.2%, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday.
The median household income for 2025 rose 2.6% from the previous year to $87,460, the highest on record, according to the bureau’s annual income report.
Some experts cautioned that the data doesn’t reflect the effects of new federal policy changes that will be hitting households hard this year, and that the United States should expect grimmer statistics in next September’s report.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks about the administration’s crackdown on fraud during a Sept. 14, 2026, news conference at the FBI field office in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
By Jacob Fischler
The Trump administration will comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order this week blocking new restrictions on mail voting for this year’s elections, but President Donald Trump was right to attack the ruling, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a wide-ranging White House press conference Tuesday.
Concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence are overstated, military action in Iran is not a war and the justices wrongly decided the case in which the Justice Department argued in defense of a U.S. Postal Service rule overhauling vote-by-mail requirements before the election, Blanche told reporters during a roughly half-hour briefing in the White House Rose Garden.
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FROM STATES NEWSROOM
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
By Jennifer Shutt
The cost of U.S. military operations in Iran has exceeded $40 billion and the war will continue to cost taxpayers between $2 billion and $3 billion per month, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The ongoing bombing campaign, which President Donald Trump launched alongside the Israeli government in February, has also significantly reduced American military weapons stockpiles, according to the analysis.
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December trial date set for South Dakota lawmaker facing election-related felony charges | South Dakota Searchlight
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