NPR News: 06-29-2026 9PM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. The Supreme Court rejected President Trump's attack on state laws that deal with mail-in ballots today. The decision leaves in place laws in more than half the states in Washington, D.C. that permit mail ballots to be counted after an election, as long as they're posted by Election Day.
What was the Supreme Court's ruling on mail-in ballots?
NPR's Ashley Lopez has more on the decision.
In a 5-4 ruling where two conservative justices, Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts, sided with the liberal wing of the court. They said that Mississippi's law isn't violating federal statute. Justice Barrett authored this opinion. She wrote that states have the right to maintain some latitude in how they run their elections, which includes how they run their mail-in ballot programs. And while this might be out of step with President Trump and some GOP officials, this is actually historically a pretty conservative principle. The majority also said in clear language that voting is happening when voters fill out a ballot, not when ballots are making their way through the mail.
NPR's Ashley Lopez reporting. Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has threatened to pull her National Guard troops from Washington, D.C. if they're used for President Trump's ongoing anti-crime crackdown in the city. Michigan's one of several Democratic-led states to send troops to D.C. in recent weeks ahead of America 250 celebrations, as NPR's Kat Lonsdorff reports.
In a strongly worded letter to the head of Michigan's National Guard, Governor Whitmer reiterates that the 161 troops from her state in D.C. are only to be used for operations surrounding the America 250 celebrations, not President Trump's task force. The letter comes after a video, which NPR has authenticated, began circulating on social media, showing National Guard troops identifying themselves as from Michigan, patrolling the Georgetown waterfront, far from the America 250 celebrations. Until recently, only Republican-led states had sent National Guard members to D.C., where thousands of armed and uniformed troops have been patrolling the streets for months as part of Trump's efforts to fight crime.
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington.
The Colorado Supreme Court has delivered a blow to Democratic redistricting efforts to draw more blue seats in the state. From Colorado Public Radio, Benta Berkland has more.
The state's highest court says the Democratic proposed initiatives did not pass muster on a technicality requiring single subjects for initiatives. Backers hope to ask voters this fall to temporarily pause the state's independent redistricting commission to draw seven blue seats, leaving only one red district in 2028. Colorado's current congressional delegation is evenly split 4-4. Democrats in Colorado say the decision is deeply disappointing and gives the party one less tool to combat Trump and Republicans' mid-cycle redistricting. For NPR News, I'm Benta Birkeland in Denver.
A heat wave is gripping the Midwest and is shifting eastward. The National Weather Service says the hot and humid weather is expected to last through most of the week. This is NPR News from Washington. The window for finding survivors after last week's earthquakes in Venezuela is shrinking fast. Venezuelans are combing through more ruins of buildings. A 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the disaster zone in a northern state. The disaster killed more than 1,700 people. Comcast is splitting itself into two after years of sharp drops in its share price. As NPR's David Fulkenflik reports, the conglomerate recently spun off most of its cable channels into a separate company that includes CNBC and MSNOW.
Here's what the new alignment looks like. The new NBCUniversal will include NBC and NBC News, Telemundo, Bravo, Universal Studios, Universal Theme Parks, and a litany of movie and TV franchises. Comcast will hold on to its broadband cable systems and other tech elements. This divide comes amid strong headwinds for entertainment media as they all compete with digital giants such as Amazon, Netflix and Apple.
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