This story was originally published by The 19th.

This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Former Rep. Mary Peltola is challenging GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska, potentially putting a tough race in reach for Democrats.

Peltola, a Democrat who served one term as Alaska’s at-large U.S. House representative from 2022 to 2025, was widely seen as a prized top recruit for the race and for national Democrats, who have an uphill battle to reclaim control of the U.S. Senate in 2026.

Peltola, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress, focused on supporting Alaska’s fisheries while in office.

“My agenda for Alaska will always be fish, family and freedom,” Peltola said in her announcement video Monday. “But our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in D.C. that’s shutting down Alaska while politicians feather their own nest.”

“It’s about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska first and really, America first, looks like,” she added.

A 2025 survey by progressive pollster Data for Progress, which regularly polls Alaska voters, found that Peltola has the highest approval rating of any elected official in the state. She narrowly lost reelection to Republican Rep. Nick Begich in 2024.

Elections in Alaska are conducted with top-four nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections. In the Data for Progress poll, 46 percent of voters said they would rank Sullivan first and 45 percent said they would rank Peltola first in a matchup for U.S. Senate. Sullivan won reelection by a margin of 13 points in 2020.

Republicans control the Senate by a three-seat majority, 53 to 47, and senators serve six-year terms, meaning a third of the Senate is up every election cycle. For Democrats to win back the chamber in 2026, they’d need to hold competitive seats in states like Georgia and Michigan while flipping four GOP-held seats in Maine, North Carolina and even more Republican-leaning states like Alaska, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas.

• Arizona is creating a new active management area in the Ranegras groundwater basin to more tightly monitor water use.
• The new rules require annual water use reports and conservation goals for high-capacity wells.
• Saudi-owned Fondomonte and other large farms will face new reporting requirements and conservation goals.

Farmers, municipalities and industry in southeastern La Paz County, where Saudi-owned Fondomonte grows alfalfa for export, will face new requirements on groundwater use and reporting.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources designated an active management area in the Ranegras groundwater basin on Jan. 9, the agency said. With it, the area will become the eighth AMA in the state and the second one initiated by state mandate during Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration. Hobbs also announced the designation in her Jan. 12 State of the State address.

The agency held an informational public meeting in Salome in October, and a formal hearing in December, ahead of its final decision. From the 400 oral and written comments it received from the public, the “vast majority” supported the AMA, the agency wrote in a press release.

“The future of residents and businesses depends upon protecting the finite groundwater resources,” Director Tom Buschatzke said in a statement.

According to the agency, agricultural water use in Ranegras is estimated at nearly 40,000 acre-feet a year; recharge, or what is returned to the aquifer, is an estimated 2,000 acre-feet per year. There are no exact numbers because, until now, individuals could pump unlimited amounts of groundwater without reporting how much they were using. That’s still the case in most of rural Arizona, where there are no groundwater regulations in place.

La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin celebrated the announcement.

Lake Shasta and California’s other lakes and reservoirs got a big boost from wet holiday storms. Nearly two weeks into 2026, all of the state’s 17 major reservoirs are brimming above their 30-year average after atmospheric rivers dumped heavy rain on much of the state starting the week before Christmas, lasting into Wednesday, Jan. 7.

Both the rain and the rainwater draining from the ground into lakes helped raise reservoir levels, the National Weather Service said.

Lake Shasta waters lapped just short of 29 feet from the top on Jan. 11, after rising about 45 feet since Dec. 18 — the day before the first heavy winter storm of the season rolled over Shasta County, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Two other major Southern California supply reservoirs were full or near full as of Jan. 11, according to state data.

• Lake Cachuma is 101% full. The reservoir contained 58% more water than its 30-year historic average.
• Lake Casitas is 98% full, 27% more than its average.

Lakes continue to fill for days after storms pass as the heavily saturated soil continues to drain into waterways, said meteorologist Bill Rasch at the weather service’s Sacramento branch.

Based on state water resources department reports, here’s how much water other major reservoirs held on Jan. 11, starting with the three biggest.

How full is Lake Shasta?

Lake Shasta, the biggest state-owned reservoir, was 82% full, according to the state’s latest data. With several months left to go in the area’s rainy season, the lake was 35% more full than its historic average over the past 30 years.

However, Lake Shasta started the water year 4% higher than average on Oct. 1, 2025, after Northern California’s super wet spring.

How full is Lake Oroville?

The state’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Oroville — located 80 miles north of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada foothills — was 78% full and held 39% more water than usual on Jan. 11.