The Up First Newsletter: Breaking News about the Maui Fire and Hurricane Irregular Voting in Alabama, and a New Map
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Josh Green ordered a comprehensive review of what happened in the early hours of the fire. At least 2,700 structures have been destroyed, and the death toll has risen to at least 96. Green predicted the damage across Maui to be close to $6 billion.
A new map that gives black voters a realistic chance of electing a preferred candidate was ordered by the three-judge panel. Because of how racially polarized voting is in Alabama, the panel said in each of those two districts, Black Alabamians will need to make up the majority of the voting-age population or “something quite close to it.”
A salad-making tip for the historic town of Lahaina after Governor Ivey’s decision to remove two black districts from the restricted burn zone
Bobby Allyn is definitely a human. He recently sat down in front of an eyeball-scanning silver orb that confirmed his identity. The orbs are part of Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project that aims to scan billions of human irises. Co-founded by ChatGPT’s Sam Altman, the company wants to help authenticate whether the users behind cryptocurrency accounts are human or bot.
Many people who live in and around the historic town of Lahaina are still unable to return to the restricted burn zone. A group of tour boat operators have been taking supplies to the town on their boats that usually take people snorkeling or dolphin watching. NPR joined the volunteers over the weekend. Their photos show how the grassroots initiative, local surfing community and neighbors are slowly filling gaps official channels haven’t been able to.
Before you bring your lunch, I want you to read this. Most Americans don’t meet the CDC’s requirement for daily vegetable intake. But with these salad-making tips, you’ll not only eat more vegetables — you’ll never have a sad work lunch salad ever again.
As it prepares to go before a court this week with regards to its congressional voting districts, the state of Alabama is taking an unusual position.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey made a statement after she signed the map into law saying that the legislature knows more about the state and people than the courts.
The state has been trying to get the three-judge panel to allow its attorneys to argue that the panel’s ruling requiring twoopportunity districts for black voters is no longer applicable.
There are multiple references to a concurring opinion by the Supreme Court’s conservatives who voted against Alabama in order to uphold the previous rulings on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Alabama’s recent court briefs.
Kavanaugh’s opinion echoed an argument by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas that questions whether it’s constitutional for Congress to allow race-based redistricting to go on indefinitely.
Given how Kavanaugh has already voted in this case, however, Crayton says it’s clear that the justice is “not inclined to, in one year, somehow think that the state refusing to draw a second majority-Black district was somehow compliant” with the three-judge panel’s order or the Supreme Court.
A former Historian in the Justice Department’sCivil Rights Division is skeptical about the chances of Alabama getting the Supreme Court to weigh in again.