National park maintenance work sidelined as Trump's Freedom 250 takes precedence

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The 250th anniversary of U.S. independence was just months away when National Park Service employees received a surprising directive from Washington: Maintenance projects approved for this year at sites across the nation were being relegated to a new “low priority” list.

Work wanted by the White House was taking precedence, including repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and three officials from the park service and Interior Department who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The reflecting pool repairs and other projects tied to President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative landed on a separate list for White House priorities, the documents show. Many of the administration-backed projects have advanced, though the reflecting pool repairs were botched.

Meanwhile, almost all of about 1,500 maintenance and other projects on the low priority list as of last month are expected to go undone, the officials said. That will worsen a repair backlog at national parks that doubled over the last decade to more than $24 billion even as visitor numbers surged.

The shelved projects, many already approved, span more than 200 sites and range from roof repairs at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, to computer upgrades at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and bulk purchases of toilet paper and garbage bags at Yellowstone National Park.

Because of their low priority designation and with the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, it's unknown when they will move forward unless park staff can find a workaround, two of the officials said.

Park service employees “were told to not expect anything on the low priority list to be contracted,” one of the officials said.

“The first priority was White House priorities," the official said. “Anywhere that is 250th-related they would have been diverting resources, some it probably planned but a lot of it pushed by the administration."

The Interior Department said many entries on the low priority list had been “mis-prioritized and were corrected.” It declined to say how many or which ones, or how much parks are spending on projects outside Washington. Agency officials declined to answer questions about the reflecting pool.

The park service has a third list for “high priority" projects that includes more than 2,000 items, many with contracts awarded or in process, the documents show.

“In any year, the National Park Service must prioritize projects most in need,” Interior spokesperson Katie Martin wrote in a statement. “The National Park Service has not only been focused on beautifying the district for the 250th celebrations in our nation’s capital but has also been working on many deferred maintenance projects throughout the country."

The 1,500 low priority projects had a combined cost estimate of more than $400 million.

Maine Independent Sen. Angus King, the ranking member of the Senate's National Parks Subcommittee, said the administration’s pursuits around Washington “are more aesthetic than strictly necessary,” even as they siphon resources from sites elsewhere in the U.S.

“I don’t object to setting priorities,” King said in an interview. “I object to the White House priority list being tacked onto the top of that pyramid.”

He added it could lead to “the deterioration of America’s gems” as things like sanitation upgrades and basic maintenance don't happen.

Congress during both Democratic and Republican presidencies has pushed to address the backlog. The bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act in 2020 included $6.5 billion for maintenance and repairs through 2025. A legislative extension is pending.

The priority designations came from park service headquarters in Washington, according to documents obtained by AP and one of the unnamed officials.

The park service appears to be moving forward on at least $80 million in White House priorities, including $52 million awarded, the documents indicate. Much of that work was championed by Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, such as the reflecting pool repairs and the rehabilitation of other parks in the capital with an eye toward the 250th celebrations.

Trump announced his plans to paint the Reflecting Pool blue in April, aiming to address longstanding problems at the site before July 4. But the $16 million initiative faced immediate problems, including peeling sealant and a fierce return of green algae.

Not all of the administration's priorities advanced: A $70 million line item for “turf maintenance” over five years at parks in the Washington, D.C., area is among more than $80 million in work marked as “canceled” in the Interior Department data.

The park service’s mission has been tested under Trump as its employees navigate new realities. It lost at least one-quarter of its permanent workforce under Trump.

Remaining employees have been ordered to revise exhibits that Trump said advanced “improper ideology,” and demolish the East Wing of the White House, which is under park stewardship, for the creation of a ballroom. Trump also reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah as Republicans reshape public lands management.

Pressure to deliver on administration demands for Freedom 250 was compounded by staffing cuts that made it harder to execute contracts, the unnamed officials said.

Prior to Trump’s second term, the parks had 275 contracting officers. They've since been consolidated into the Interior Department, which nevertheless saw its contracting workforce drop more than 20%, public records show.

About $140 million has been obligated or spent by the park service in Washington, D.C., this year, according to public data. That includes the reflecting pool work and the rehabilitation of fountains across the district.

Interior spokesperson Martin said the Trump administration is eyeing different revenue sources for maintenance including endowments and park pass sales.

Those sales rose more than $2 million, to $16.7 million, in the first quarter of 2026 compared to a year earlier, she said.

FILE - A bear walks between a viewing stand and an angler fisherman at Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska on July 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

FILE - Tourists walk along a boardwalk in Upper Geyser Basin on June 22, 2022, in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump holds a poster as Energy Secretary Chris Wright, from left, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin, obstructed, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., listen, June 4, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - People look at and photograph the Golden Gate Bridge while visiting Marin Headlands, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Oct. 1, 2025, in Mill Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)

Work continues on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

PHOENIX (AP) — State prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs over allegations that she took part in a pay-to-play scheme with a group home company that received a rate increase from the state after contributing $100,000 to her inaugural celebration, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Friday.

The Democratic governor has been accused of giving preferential treatment to Sunshine Residential Homes after the Arizona Republic revealed the private company contributed to the inaugural fund and Arizona Democratic Party and later received a 30% payment increase. Only Sunshine and one other company were given increases during the 2022-2023 contracting period.

The investigation has turned into a political millstone for Hobbs as she seeks a second term as governor. Her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, has run an ad underscoring the investigation into Hobbs.

Hobbs denies wrongdoing, saying she wasn’t involved in the decision to grant the increase.

“The investigation has not uncovered any evidence of the necessary quid pro quo to support a bribery charge,” Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement. Her investigators concluded the rate increase was the result of Sunshine's leverage as the largest provider of beds for children in foster care, not political pressure.

While the situation did not meet the standard for criminal charges, Mayes said her investigation “shows there is a need for legislative reform" around the transparency of political donations made by state contractors. She urged Hobbs and the GOP-controlled Legislature to adopt improvements.

A separate investigation by Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and the state auditor general is continuing. It’s unclear when the latter investigation will be completed, or whether its scope differs from the attorney general's focus on bribery-related crimes. A spokesperson for Mitchell, Erin Pellett, said she had no estimate for when the the investigation would conclude. She declined to comment on the attorney general's announcement, citing the open investigation.

“As has been publicly reported multiple times and the Attorney General’s report now confirms: Governor Hobbs was not involved in, did not direct, and did not instruct any member of her administration regarding the rate increases the Department of Child Services approved,” Christian Slater, a spokesperson for Hobbs, said in a statement.

As Democrats in a Republican-leaning state, Hobbs and Mayes both face tough fights for reelection in November. Biggs, who has made the scandal a centerpiece of his campaign for governor, said Mayes was “whitewashing obvious corruption” by clearing her fellow Democrat.

The company gave $200,000 to the state Democratic party in the months leading up Hobbs’ November 2022 showdown against Republican Kari Lake. After her narrow victory, Sunshine gave another $100,000 to Hobbs’ inaugural fund weeks before she took office in 2023 and another $100,000 to the party in August 2023, according to records.

Sunshine also gave $150,000 to a legal defense fund for Hobbs between November 2023 and the following May, according to records released by Mayes. Those contributions had not previously been disclosed.

The company's founder, Simon Kottoor, and his wife, Elizabeth Kottoor, each contributed a total of $10,400 to Hobbs’ two gubernatorial campaigns.

Sunshine sought an increase in 2022, but it was denied about a month after Hobbs took office. The company tried again and was approved in May 2023, raising its rate from $149 to $195 per bed.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety said Sunshine told the state it would reduce its bed capacity if it didn’t get a rate increase and instead would use such beds to house unaccompanied immigrant children for the federal government.

The ultimatum came as the federal government was reimbursing group homes at nearly twice the rate paid by the state, which had already seen some providers moving beds to the federal program that serves unaccompanied immigrant children, the agency said.

Sunshine is the state's largest provider of beds for children without developmental disabilities, with about 290 beds across 28 homes. It also provides 70% of beds for siblings in foster care in metropolitan Phoenix. Losing Sunshine’s beds would significantly affect the state’s ability to place children in homes and would likely lead to siblings in foster care being split up and sent to different homes, the agency said earlier this month.

“The potential loss of approximately 290 beds was a serious capacity concern that required careful consideration of the consequences for children and the broader child welfare system,” the agency said in a statement.

The agency said then-DCS Director David Lujan approved the increase and that the governor and her staff weren’t involved.

All providers that previously had contracts with the agency received rate increases during a new round of contracts in 2024, when Sunshine also saw its rate increase to $234 per bed.

Hobbs declined to be interviewed by investigators but submitted two statements through her attorneys on Monday, according to a memo from Nick Klingerman, chief of the attorney general’s criminal division. Her statements said she did not discuss contract rates with anyone from Sunshine, nor did she “order or authorize” others to do so on her behalf, and didn’t even know there were discussions about rates until after the increase was approved.

“Rather than the result of a bribe, the investigation has found that Sunshine’s rate increases appear as the result of its outsized leverage over DCS’ congregate care program,” Klingerman wrote.

Furthermore, he wrote, political contributions are protected speech, and any charges filed against Hobbs or Sunshine executives would likely be tossed on First Amendment grounds.

In seeking the investigations, Republican state Sen. T.J. Shope pointed out the group-home company was under scrutiny for its care of Jakob Blodgett, a 9-year-old who stayed at a Sunshine home in Glendale in December 2022 after his father was arrested on a drug charge. He died days later at a hospital from complications of Type 1 diabetes, including the serious complication known as ketoacidosis.

A lawsuit alleges poor management of the boy’s diabetes while in the foster care system and that child welfare authorities and Sunshine were negligent in exposing the boy to harm that resulted in his death. While the state has denied the negligence allegations, two Sunshine employees responsible for providing direct care for Blodgett during a crucial stretch of his decline in health testified they didn’t have the necessary training or knowledge to manage a Type 1 diabetic.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office interviewed several Sunshine employees as part of its criminal investigation into Blodgett’s death. No one has been charged. The county agency said the investigation remains open.

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this story.

FILE - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes speaks at the Arizona State Prison, March 19, 2025, in Florence, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb, File)

FILE - Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs gives her State of the State address in the House of Representatives at the Capitol, Jan. 12, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)