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Chapter 1: What new congressional maps were approved in Tennessee?
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Tennessee has approved new congressional maps as part of President Trump's plan to create more Republican seats in Congress. Mariana Bacchial of member station WPLN reports on the effort. It drew widespread protests.
Hundreds chanted No Jim Crow 2.0 and shame as lawmakers met today to approve new maps splitting Memphis and its majority black voting bloc into three districts, one of which spans nearly 300 miles. The old district was contained to the city of Memphis. Republican supporters of the move say it would give the state a chance to have all its nine House members be from the GOP.
To pass the new maps, the legislature first had to strike down a 50-year-old law that barred mid-decade redistricting. The quick turnaround time could impact voters in the military and overseas. For NPR News, I'm Marianna Bacayau in Nashville.
Chapter 2: How are recent redistricting efforts impacting voters in the South?
Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina also taking steps toward redistricting following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last week that weakens the landmark Voting Rights Act. As many as 9,000 U.S. colleges that use the software Canvas to manage grades and class materials have been hacked.
Stan Jastrzewski of member station KBIA in Columbia, Missouri, reports that hackers have given schools less than a week to respond.
The hacking group Shiny Hunters replaced many Canvas sites with a ransom message, prompting schools to shut the service down as finals approach. Matthew Powell is executive director of the Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence and advises clients who have been hacked. He says Shiny Hunters is known to recruit hackers with specialized knowledge.
I've seen evidence that they were using Telegram and WhatsApp groups and they were actually hacking. putting bounties on different access that they could get into different organizations, for example, like police departments or government entities like the Department of Justice.
Chapter 3: What cybersecurity threats are colleges facing with the Canvas software hack?
The hackers have given schools until May 12th to pay a ransom or see students' sensitive data released publicly. For NPR News, I'm Stan Jastrzewski in Columbia, Missouri.
Cleanup across Mississippi ongoing after strong storms that whipped up tornadoes destroyed hundreds of homes and injured more than a dozen people. This comes as a council of disaster experts appointed by President Trump recommending major changes to FEMA. NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports.
The council was created by President Trump in the early days of his second term. The president has repeatedly called for FEMA to be eliminated. But the council recommends investing in the agency to make it easier for disaster survivors to get help. That includes housing for people whose homes are destroyed in hurricanes, wildfires, and other events.
The council does not recommend cuts to FEMA's workforce.
Chapter 4: What recommendations did the disaster experts make for FEMA after recent storms?
In recent weeks, the agency has reversed Trump administration policies that previously cut thousands of jobs at FEMA. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.
This is NPR News. Health officials say the risk to the general public is low, but they are seeking to prevent the potential spread of hantavirus after an outbreak on a cruise ship killed three people, while several others fallen ill. Authorities across four continents are seeking to trace passengers who disembarked before the outbreak was detected and anyone in close contact with them since.
The ship's operator said Thursday that all 30 passengers who left the ship on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena have been contacted. The Devil's Hole pupfish lives in a single pool in Death Valley National Park. This rare fish almost went extinct in the wild last year.
But as NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce reports, officials took a drastic step to help it survive, and they say the species is now doing much better.
Chapter 5: What measures are being taken to prevent the spread of hantavirus after a cruise outbreak?
After two earthquakes shook up the waters of Devil's Hole, its pupfish population plummeted. Only 20 fish were left. Wildlife officials debated what to do. just as the federal workforce was experiencing mass firings and a government shutdown loomed.
Moving quickly, biologists took some pupfish from a backup population that had been established in captivity over a decade ago and released them into Devil's Hole. Those fish survived, babies started appearing, and biologists later added in some additional captive-bred fish. This spring, an official count found 77 devil's hole pupfish swimming around their rocky fishbowl in the desert.
Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News.
And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.
Chapter 6: How did wildlife officials save the endangered Devil's Hole pupfish?
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