Around the country, individual voters have filed complaints with state election officials and lawsuits in federal and state courts to keep Cruz off the presidential ballot. Most of these challenges have gone nowhere. One major obstacle to challenging Cruz's eligibility is that ordinary citizens don't have standing to bring suit over the issue. To have standing to sue, the party bringing the case must have a particular injury that can be remedied by the outcome of the case. Many courts, particularly federal courts, have found that citizens are not sufficiently injured by Cruz appearing on the ballot.

Enter Williams. Though ordinary citizens generally do not have standing, rival candidates might. In two previous cases from 2008, federal courts recognized the theory of "competitive standing," the idea that a competitor could be injured by an ineligible candidate siphoning off votes that could come to the plaintiff. So Williams decided to become a competitor. To do so, he has notified nine states of his intention to run as a write-in candidate.

This won't automatically give him standing. Federal and state courts could decide that a write-in challenger running solely to get standing is more like a citizen than an actual competitor. But Williams has researched the issue and found a smattering of state court cases that treat write-in candidates as genuine opposition. Moreover, he says, some states require write-in candidates to jump through a number of hoops in order to run—signaling, he believes, that they are considered serious candidates. "So that's what I'm hanging my hat on," he says.

The Constitution states that only a "natural born citizen" can be president. Cruz and his lawyers argue that anyone who is a citizen at birth, who does not have to go through a naturalization process in order to become a citizen, is natural born. Under this definition, Cruz, who was a citizen at birth because his mother was a citizen, is natural born. But a handful of scholars believe that natural born status applies only to citizens who are born on US soil, and the Supreme Court has never ruled definitively on the issue.

In April, Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), spoke to the tea party of Hood County, which is southwest of Fort Worth, and made a bold declaration: The United States is a "Christian nation." The septuagenarian businessman turned evangelical pastor did not choose to use the more inclusive formulation "Judeo-Christian nation." Insisting that the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution "were signed on the knees of the framers" and were a "divine revelation from God," he went on to say, "yet our president has the gall to tell us that this is not a Christian nation…The United States of America was formed to honor the word of God." Seven months earlier, Rafael Cruz, speaking to the North Texas Tea Party on behalf of his son, who was then running for Senate, called President Barack Obama an "outright Marxist" who "seeks to destroy all concept of God," and he urged the crowd to send Obama "back to Kenya."

"Here we are in April and we're still on diversion," Evelyn Espinoza, Rosebud Sioux tribal health administrator, said of the Rosebud emergency room that has been closed for four months. "We have these people losing their lives. We have these children losing their parents."

The Rosebud hospital closed its emergency room in December after CMS reports revealed employees at the facility hand washed surgical instruments for six months while a sterilizer was broken, didn't communicate that a patient had an untreated case of Tuberculosis and failed to monitor a patient who delivered a baby prematurely on a bathroom floor.

Staffing shortages also contributed to the temporary diversion of patients to the nearest emergency departments 45 and 55 miles away.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A troubled government-run hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has been given a one-month extension to reach a significant improvement agreement with federal officials to avoid losing its Medicare and Medicaid funds.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday notified the hospital's administration of the funding cutoff extension.

The hospital administered by the Indian Health Service must reach the agreement by April 29 to enter a last-chance remediation program. If the agencies fail to reach an agreement, the hospital won't be allowed to bill the government for services provided to Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible patients after May 16.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the administration of the hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation about the extension a little more than a month after the hospital on the Rosebud Indian Reservation received the same extension. The latest notification comes days after the top officials at the Indian Health Service, which administers the hospitals, met with tribal leaders and pledged to improve the services provided at the facilities.

Both hospitals have an April 29 deadline to reach an agreement to enter what constitutes a last-chance remediation program. If not, the facilities won't be allowed to bill the government for services provided to Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible patients after May 16.

The purpose of the agreement for the Pine Ridge hospital would be "to effectively safeguard patient health and safety ... and effectively address underlying systemic problems" that have kept the hospital from achieving or sustaining compliance with regulations, according to the letter from CMS addressed to IHS's top leader, Mary Smith, and Sophia Conroy, the hospital's acting administrator.

The funding cutoff warning for the 45-bed Pine Ridge hospital comes after federal inspectors found serious deficiencies during an unannounced visit in October, including records from three of six sampled medical staffers who lacked appropriate permission to practice at that hospital; unlocked cupboards with syringes, needles and other equipment; and unsecured drugs and medical records.

Optimists and skeptics sat down Tuesday with the new head of the Indian Health Service to hash out plans for improving care for Native Americans in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

At a tense two-and-a-half-hour meeting, IHS Principal Deputy Director Mary Smith outlined plans for short and long-term changes at IHS hospitals and clinics in the Great Plains region.

The visit follows a federal investigation into IHS hospitals in South Dakota that found poor sanitation and improper record-keeping and lead to the closure of the emergency room in Rosebud.

"Here we are in April and we're still on diversion," Evelyn Espinoza, Rosebud Sioux tribal health administrator, said of the Rosebud emergency room that has been closed for four months. "We have these people losing their lives. We have these children losing their parents."

It was wonderful to see Hillary in Wisconsin last night. I remember in 2008 when we started realizing how close my election was going to be. Hillary called and said she'd do anything to help. She ripped up her schedule and came to Minnesota in the last few months of the campaign. Twice. She never wavered in her support, and I know as President she won't waver in furthering our progressive values. She stood by me when I ran for the U.S. Senate, and I'm proud to be standing with her today. We need someone who can get the job done, and Hillary Clinton is the woman for the job.