The Supreme Court on Wednesday sharply weakened a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act, a ruling that limits the consideration of race in drawing voting maps and could usher in Republican gains in the House.

The Washington Post reports that the decision is expected to touch off a scramble by Republicans to redraw majority-minority districts, especially in the South. New districts could shift the balance of power in Congress by imperiling the reelection prospects of some Black Democrats, possibly as soon as November’s midterms in some instances. Minority representatives in state legislatures and local offices could also be redistricted out.

Many experts are saying that statehouses, county commissions and city halls—not the halls of Washington—will absorb the heaviest blow from the Voting Rights Act's collapse. Most Voting Rights Act lawsuits have targeted local and state governments: the entities that decide what's taught in schools, who polices the streets and which neighborhoods get sidewalks.

Charles Taylor, the executive director of the Mississippi NAACP, tells Axios that the decision is a “betrayal to Black voters” with implications “up and down the ballot.” Mother Jones says the “now-completed demolition” of the law could take us back to the Jim Crow era. In the long run, however, the court’s decision will turbocharge the GOP’s current gerrymandering efforts for future elections in 2027 and 2028, potentially costing Democrats up to 19 House seats, according to one study.

The conservative justices framed their decision as a tweak to the law, but that is not how it will play out in practice, critics argue. This is such a controversial decision because the Supreme Court has just said that drawing districts to group people by political party is legal.

President Trump said that talks with Iran have “come a long way” but that they are now being held by phone, with American negotiators no longer flying 18 hours to Pakistan. A Pentagon official told the U.S. Congress that the war has so far cost $25 billion, mostly on munitions, as a potential deadline for congressional approval of the war looms.

Members of Trump’s national security team presented him with multiple options this week for how to handle the continuing bottleneck in the strait after negotiations failed to reopen the critical waterway, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the meeting told NBC News. The threat of prolonged disruption to the global economy has sent energy prices soaring—gas price averages in the U.S. reached $4.23 a gallon, the highest level in nearly four years, while the international benchmark price for oil, Brent crude, surged to $115 a barrel early Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an Iranian commander has vowed “swift action” if the U.S. military advances. An official told Aljazeera, “The restraint shown by armed forces so far has been intended to give diplomacy a chance, allowing the United States to learn of and accept Iran’s conditions for ending the war permanently.”

When I’ve hailed rides via Waymo, I’m always surprised at how gentle and humane the driving is. But even computers make mistakes. And if your driverless car breaks the rules of the road, what happens? Police can pull it over, but who gets the ticket when there’s no one there for the cop to hand it to (and who’s really responsible)?

Well, the California DMV just announced new rules as part of a litany of refreshed regulations for autonomous vehicles—some inspired by cases where robotaxis obstructed police and firefighters, and at least one local incident in which a cop couldn’t ticket a Waymo for an illegal U-turn. Under the updated policies, which the DMV called the most comprehensive to date in the U.S., manufacturers can also get permits to deploy heavy-duty driverless vehicles on California roadways.

However, the change won’t take effect until later in 2026, leaving a long window where enforcement remains limited as robotaxi fleets expand. In San Francisco alone, driverless cars operated by Waymo have racked up hundreds of citations, (mostly for parking violations). Those tickets added up to more than $65,000 in fines in one year alone.