NPR News: 05-08-2026 9PM EDT
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What recent decision did Virginia's Supreme Court make regarding redistricting?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Last month, Virginia voters approved a redistricting measure that could have gotten Democrats four more seats in Congress. Today, Virginia's Supreme Court has nullified the election. Jad Khalil from member station VPM reports.
The court's ruling stems from Virginia's long constitutional amendment process. It requires the legislature to pass the text of an amendment, then stand for reelection, and then pass it again before voters approve it. Virginia Democrats had to sprint to get it passed in the first step, and did so after early voting had already begun. The Virginia Supreme Court said that, quote, irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum. It's a major defeat for national Democrats, who were counting on Virginia to blunt President Trump's redistricting push. State Democrats also spent lots of political capital on the effort. Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott said they would respect the result of the referendum.
Likewise, it's a win for Republicans. State Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougal said the ruling was constitutional and not partisan. For NPR News, I'm Jad Khalil in Richmond.
The U.S. military says it fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates reported another missile and drone attack today. The violence further undermines a month-old ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. was acting defensively and insists the ceasefire is still in effect.
Of course we fired back at them. They were shooting at us. That's what I would expect to do. Only stupid countries don't shoot back when you're shot at. And we're not a stupid country.
Iran says the U.S. strikes violate the truce. The Trump administration is awaiting Tehran's response to the latest U.S. proposal aimed at ending the war. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular gas is around $4.55. In California, it's $6.16. That's about 10 cents higher than Monday, even though oil prices have come down a bit this week. NPR's Camilla Dominovsky reports.
Global crude oil futures have been highly volatile since the start of the war. They spike up on any news that signals a drawn-out conflict and fall down on any hint that a resolution may be nigh. But traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, that crucial waterway for oil markets, has remained all but non-existent in recent days. The global oil market is facing a supply crisis that doesn't go away based on a social media post or a headline. Meanwhile, refinery outages in the Midwest pushed U.S. gasoline prices up even further. And warmer weather means the start of summer driving season when demand usually goes up. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.
President Trump drove his motorcade across the reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. yesterday. His administration is painting the pool a color he calls American flag blue. Trump announced the project last month, telling reporters at the time that he was inspired by a friend's complaints while visiting from Germany. Trump said the project will cost nearly $2 million. U.S. stocks rose to new records today. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. America's employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month. Despite an economic shock from the Iran war, hiring was better than the 65,000 that economists had expected, though it decelerated from March. The tech company CloudFare is the latest in a string of firms to cut jobs because of artificial intelligence.
As NPR's John Ruich reports, the company announced it's axing about 20% of its workforce.
Cloudflare runs services behind the scenes that aim to make a wide range of websites and apps more secure and faster. In a quarterly earnings call, it announced that it was cutting 1,100 jobs. CEO Matthew Prince says it's not a cost-cutting exercise. Instead, he says the company is accelerating its evolution to, quote, an agentic AI-first operating model. That means using AI that can perform tasks autonomously.
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