Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
The Supreme Court today rejected a bid from Virginia to restore a voter-approved congressional
“map that would have given Democrats the opportunity to pick up more seats in the closely”
divided U.S. House. That decision leaves in place a state Supreme Court ruling on maps that voters narrowly passed last month. Virginia acted after President Trump pushed Republican-led states to redraw their maps to favor GOP candidates ahead of the midterms.
Recently a Supreme Court ruling weakened the voting rights act, saying race can't be the only consideration in designing a map, and high court cited with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana who hoped to redore their congressional maps to reduce more GOP-leaning seats. The state department says Israel will be extending a ceasefire in Lebanon to allow for talks to continue between the two countries, and here's Michelle Kellerman reports and
ambassadors met at the State Department for the past two days. State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggit says the two-day meeting was highly productive and that the ceasefire announced last month will be extended another 45 days to enable further progress.
“The next round of talks will be on June 2nd and 3rd.”
Military delegations from Israel in Lebanon will also meet at the Pentagon later this month with the goal of establishing security along their shared border. In recent weeks, Israel has taken over large parts of southern Lebanon in its fight to push back his beloved, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia that has been firing rockets into Israel.
More than a million Lebanese have been uprooted.
Michelle Kellerman and PR news, the State Department. The death toll from a Russian missile attack on an apartment building in Kewd this week has risen to at least 24, including children. It was one of the deadliest attacks on the capital in Russia's four-year-old war. Ukraine's president Zelensky led an official day of mourning today in Kewd.
A day-long prayer called "Re-Daticate 250" is taking place on the National Mall's Sunday in Washington, DC, and here's Jason DeRos has more.
“The event is built as a rededication of the country as one nation under God.”
Among religious leaders on the DACA at our Franklin Graham, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Paula White Kane, who leads the administration's faith office. Also taking part, Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Secretary of State, Marco
Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth.
Critics of the event say it blurs the line between church and state. It comes at a time when a new study from Pew Research finds a growing number of Americans to say religion is gaining influence in the country, Pew also found that a large majority of Republicans view that influence as a good thing all Democrats view it less favorably. Jason DeRos, NPR News You're listening to NPR News from Washington.
As immigration and birth rates decline, the U.S. population isn't growing the way it used to, but new census data show smaller cities are bucking that trend, and here's Amy Helt has more. Growth in many smaller cities is outpacing big urban centers. Census statisticians say that's in part because of new housing.
The Dallas suburb of Selina is the fastest growing city in the nation. It's population surged by about a quarter last year. Ryan Tubbs is mayor. We have a whole lot of single family housing growth, but our commercial growth is catching up to that.
Different stories playing out in big cities across the U.S., their average growth rates fell by at least half. New York City's population last year shrank by more than 12,000 people. By 2030 the government estimates there will be fewer babies born in the country than there are deaths.
Absent immigration, that means the U.S. population would shrink. Amy Helt and PR News In New York, the biggest commuter rail system in the country, L-I-R-R, could be hit with a strike tomorrow. As the wind of our contract negotiations with union workers, is set to expire at midnight. A strike almost happened last fall, but intervention from the Trump administration got
the two sides to agree to six months of talks to try to get a new contract. But so far, they haven't. The L-I-R-R is the busiest commuter rail in North America with around 250,000 travelers each day. While street lower by the closing bell with the Dowd on 537 points, I'm Janine Herbst and PR News.
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