NPR News: 05-03-2026 10AM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.
What recent legislative changes are being proposed in Alabama?
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey is calling for a special legislative session on Monday to redraw congressional maps. The move follows a Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana's map for racial gerrymandering. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.
Alabama is asking the Supreme Court to lift restrictions in voting rights cases that prevent it from redistricting until the 2030 census. Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall says it's time for Alabama to be treated like most other states when it comes to redistricting.
The current state of affairs in our state is not what was existing at the time the Voting Rights Act came to fruition.
Hard-fought civil rights games are at risk, says Shalala Dowdy, a voter from Mobile who sued to get a second black member of Congress.
This is about taking power away from black people. It's taking representation away from black people.
How are Supreme Court rulings affecting redistricting in Alabama and Louisiana?
It's taking a voice away from black people. It's pulling us out of the room.
Louisiana is also drawing new congressional districts after its high court victory. Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
The drug industry is fighting a controversial ruling on the abortion pill. The companies that produce Mifepristone are asking the Supreme Court to lift a lower federal appeals court ruling prohibiting health providers from prescribing the medication by mail. Ushma Opedia is a professor at UC San Francisco.
It's not just states that have abortion bans, but states like California, where we have huge swaths of the state that are rural. It makes it really hard for many people living in communities where there is no abortion provider to access this care.
An estimated one-quarter of abortions in the U.S. each year are prescribed through telehealth. The manufacturers of the drug say the change could disrupt access to time-sensitive care and create confusion for patients and providers. Indigenous activists say a pipeline that gained President Trump's permission to cross the U.S.-Canada border sounds a lot like Keystone XL. The Biden administration effectively ended that project soon after taking office. Kayla DeRoche from Yellowstone Public Radio reports.
The Bridger pipeline would start in Phillips County in north-central Montana and carry Alberta oil sands down through eastern Montana. Fort Peck Assiniboine tribal member and Wolf Point City Councilman Lance Forstar says he fought for years against the Keystone XL pipeline.
This was all kind of new to me. I was hoping that It wasn't real and that this was just a rumor.
Indigenous activists and environmental groups have been rallying around the public comment period for the Bridger Pipeline's environmental analysis. A spokesperson with developer Bridger Pipeline says construction is slated to begin next fall. The pipeline still needs several permits to go ahead. For NPR News, I'm Kayla Drosh in Billings.
This is NPR News in Washington. FEMA is now offering new appointments to disaster workers whose contracts were not renewed in January. This reverses the decision that had been challenged in a lawsuit by labor unions, scientific groups, and local governments. It also comes after FEMA reinstated 14 employees who had been on paid administrative leave. A statue that was erected mysteriously in central London early Wednesday has been confirmed as the work of the mischievous, often politically-oriented artist Banksy. As NPR's Anastasia Salukis reports, the statue portrays a man in a suit proudly hoisting a flag, but the flag is blinding him.
The flag's cloth covers the man's face, and his proud march appears to be courting disaster as he steps off the plinth with no ground beneath him. The statue was installed overnight Wednesday in Waterloo Place near heroic statues of King Edward VII and Florence Nightingale. By Thursday, a video about the statue had been published on Banksy's Instagram account, confirming it as his work. The statue appeared in public just as King Charles III made a state visit to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Virginia.
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