Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reduces sentence of former election clerk Tina Peters, says she will be released June 1

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis reduced Tina Peters’ sentence by half on Friday, ignoring months of pleas against such an action by many other Colorado elected officials and the prosecutor who won the former county clerk’s conviction in an election data-breach scheme.

In a letter to Peters, Polis wrote that she will “be released on parole effective June 1, 2026” — in just more than two weeks.

The commutation, which was announced in a group of 44 clemency actions Friday afternoon, reduced Peters’ original sentence of nearly nine years, which was thrown out last month, to about 4.5 years. Polis’ action, coming after more than a year of pressure from President Donald Trump — and several actions taken targeting the state — risked the appearance that he was bending to Trump’s demands. But in an interview with The Denver Post ahead of the announcement, the governor was resolute.

Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, has been a public supporter of election conspiracies rooted in Trump’s reelection loss in 2020. But Polis said that “just because somebody believes the Earth is flat — just because somebody believes in conspiracy theories — does not mean that they should receive a harsher sentence for a very specific crime.”

Polis’ action drew swift reaction from other elected Democrats. Attorney General Phil Weiser, in an interview, called the commutation “an insult,” “mind-boggling” and “a threat to the rule of law.” And Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Polis’ decision “an affront to democracy” and accused the governor of “selling out our state justice system to cave to a vengeful president.”

—The Denver Post

Trump administration readying a plan to impose Colorado River water cuts on Western states

LOS ANGELES — After months of pressing Western states to come to their own agreement, the Trump administration told their leaders it’s drawing up a 10-year plan for dealing with water shortages on the Colorado River.

The river is a major water source for Southern California and much of the Southwest, but its largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are severely depleted and their levels continue to drop.

News of the federal government’s preliminary plan surfaced this week during a meeting in Phoenix. Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said federal officials informed state water managers they are developing a “10-year framework” with specific rules requiring water reductions that would be reassessed every two years.

So far, negotiators for California, Arizona and Nevada have offered to use roughly 1.6 million acre-feet less annually over the next two years. But Buschatzke said the Trump administration’s plan would allow for mandatory cutbacks of up to 3 million acre-feet per year in the three states — as much as 40% of their combined allotments.

That’s nearly as much as all the water that flowed from 19 million people’s taps across Southern California last year.

Buschatzke called such large mandatory cuts a sobering possibility for Arizona.

The offer from California, Arizona and Nevada this month was a water-saving proposal for the next two years. It would help the low levels of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir.

Buschatzke said the idea is that the proposal can govern water sharing for 2027 and 2028. After that there would be new rounds of negotiations to readjust cuts every two years.

—Los Angeles Times

Remains identified as missing Texas 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, DA says

FORT WORTH, Texas — The human remains that were found this week in the backyard of the Everman home where missing 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez lived have been positively identified as belonging to the child, District Attorney Phil Sorrells said.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office used dental records to identify Noel, who hadn’t been seen alive since October 2022, Sorrells said. The medical examiner’s office has not yet announced a determination on Noel’s cause and manner of death.

Human remains found this week in Everman, Texas, have been identified as 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who hadn’t been seen since 2022, authorities said. Courtesy: Everman Police Department

The child’s mother, 41-year-old Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, was arrested last summer in India after a global manhunt put her on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list. Last month, Rodriguez-Singh was found incompetent to stand trial on a capital murder charge in the death of her son, and she will be remanded to a state mental health facility until her competency can be restored.

The boy’s identification comes after FBI agents and local authorities spent three days digging this week in a coordinated investigative excavation in the backyard of the home in Everman.

“This case has weighed heavily on our community from the beginning,” Sorrells said. “Noel was a child whose life mattered. He deserved protection, care, and love. Instead, he became the victim of an unthinkable crime.”

—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Indictment of Raul Castro for 1996 shoot-down expected to be unsealed in Miami next week

MIAMI — A federal indictment charging Raúl Castro for the murders of four people in the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 is expected to be unsealed Wednesday, to coincide with a symbolic event at Miami’s Freedom Tower on Cuba’s independence day.

Two sources familiar with the investigation in Miami told the Miami Herald the grand jury indictment is expected to be presented at a May 20 event organized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida to honor the four victims, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales.

The indictment of Castro, who is Cuba’s ultimate authority who is turning 95 next month, comes amid unprecedented pressure from the Trump administration on the Cuban government to make major reforms and heightened expectations among Cubans in Miami about regime change on the island. News of the impending indictment was first reported by CBS News on Thursday, the same day the director of the CIA traveled to the island to deliver a warning to Cuban officials, including Raúl Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, that the time to make fundamental changes is now.

“The indictment is symbolic, the symbolism of indicting one of the arch enemies of the Cuban American community and the architect of the Cuban revolution, which failed,” said Brian Fonseca, vice provost for defense and national security research and director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University.

The indictment also may serve to “unlock new instruments of American power, like enhanced U.S. law enforcement operations” in Cuba, and is all part of a pressure campaign on Cuban leaders to make changes, Fonseca added.

The shooting marked one of the moments of highest tension between the two countries.

—Miami Herald