"Lie from NPR News," I'm Lakshmi saying.
The U.S. Supreme Court has weakened the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in redistricting.
“NPR's Hansi Low-Wong reports the ruling comes out of a case about Louisiana's congressional”
map.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has ruled that a second majority black congressional
district that a lower court had ordered Louisiana's legislature to draw to get in line with the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This high court ruling reinterprets long-standing protections under the Voting Rights Act section two that have helped make sure racial minority voters are not shed out during redistricting in places where voting is racially polarized.
In the court's majority opinion, Justice Samuel Lido says that the focus of section two must be banning "intentional" racial discrimination, which many legal experts say will be hard to prove in court. Many redistricting experts now expect Republican-controlled state legislatures in the south to eliminate at least some Democratic-represented house districts that are likely protected under
the Voting Rights Act, though the timing is unclear on Zilawong and PR News.
“Former FBI director James Komi has made a brief appearance in federal court on charges”
stemming from an Instagram post. NPR's Kerry Johnson reports a Justice Department is prosecuting Komi for allegedly threatening the president. Komi did not enter a plea but he previously declared he's innocent and has faith in the Justice system, a magistrate judge released him without bond.
Last year the former FBI director posted and then deleted a photo from the beach of shells spelling out the numbers 86-47, 86 is slang for "get rid of" and 47 is a reference to the 47th president Donald Trump. Trump says Komi was calling for his assassination, but Komi's edited know those numbers
were connected to violence, political speech gets strong first amendment protection.
Even some conservative lawyers say they think this case will be dismissed, Kerry Johnson and PR News. The federal reserves opting to keep interest rates where they are, defying President Trump's pressure to lower them.
“As Fedcher Jerome Powell explains it, quote, "The economic outlook remains highly uncertain”
and the Middle East conflicts added to the uncertainty." During the near term, higher energy prices will push up overall inflation. Beyond that, the scope and duration of potential effects on the economy remain unclear, as does the future course of the conflict itself. Powell's term as Fedcher expires May 15th, but despite months of public attacks while
the president Powell disclosed today, he still plans to remain on the board for a period of time to be determined. He raised concerns about what he called a series of illegal attacks on the Fed's independence. Nikon Comtroller J. Hurst tells lawmakers a cost of the U.S. war with Iran is estimated to beat $25 billion.
This is the first public estimate provided by the Pentagon on the cost of the conflict.
From Washington, this is NPR News. King Charles III and Queen Camilla have paid the respects to victims at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York City. They were accompanied by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was elected less than two months after the terrorist attacks and chairs the board of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
The British monarch's state visit to the U.S. is his first king. New research suggests artificial intelligence may not be the cost-saver that many companies expected, and Piers Windsor Johnson reports the study found global spending is projected to reach about $6.3 trillion this year, driven in part by investment in AI. The study was conducted by Gartner, a firm that tracks global technology spending.
Analyst Whit Andrew says while companies are using AI to improve efficiency, the financial picture is still unclear. What might be true is that a lot of people have spent more on AI than they did on people and that they're asking themselves what they might have gotten if that money had gone towards the towards people, but more thoughtful and deliberate mix.
Andrew says some companies are seeing savings in specific tasks like generating content or testing software. But overall, he says AI is often used more broadly, creating more output and driving new spending, making it difficult to compare directly to human labor. Windsor Johnson and PR news.
The Trump administration celebration of America's 250th anniversary will soon include commemorative past sports bearing president Trump's image that versions optional state departments says they will be available shortly before the 4th of July, its NPR News. Every day NPR reports stories that keep you informed without fear or favor. That's the promise of a free press in a democracy. It's in the first amendment.
I'm Tom Bowman and I cover the Pentagon for NPR. Stand up for independent news coverage today by donating early for public media giving days, coming up on May 1st and 2nd.
