Nwexx

Unleaded gas is $4.09 per gallon at the Marathon station on Point Street in Providence, Rhode Island on April 30, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) On paper it makes little sense. Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, roughly 7,000 miles from the United States, is restricted and gasoline prices in this country soar?  The strait is the major export route for oil produced by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and Iran, according to the  International Energy Agency. But since Feb. 28, when the Iran war began and the narrow passageway between Oman and Iran became a battleground, U.S. gasoline prices have soared — and the prices of consumer products and services are poised to jump as well.  Most oil passing through the strait goes to Asian markets, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And due to greater domestic production, the U.S. is importing less crude oil from the Persian Gulf than it has in 40 years,  E...

A person holds a sign saying "No New Map" at a rally against redistricting at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama on May 4, 2026. Protests are planned in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday in opposition to Alabama's efforts to use maps that critics say dilute Black voting power. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) At least two protests are planned for Saturday in response to efforts by the state to revert to congressional maps previously ruled racially discriminatory. An event in Selma on Saturday will include faith leaders who will pray for participants.  A second is scheduled on Saturday afternoon in Montgomery, featuring speakers discussing the status of voting rights in the U.S. and the impact of the special primary election bills signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last week . Eric Hall, a cofounder of Black Lives Matter and is one of the members on the committee organizing the event , said in an interview Tuesday the gatherings aim to educate voters; make people aware o...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Cameron Hamilton to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a former acting chief who was fired in 2025 shortly after he told a congressional panel FEMA should continue to exist. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will likely schedule a hearing in the coming weeks for Hamilton to testify about his goals for the agency as part of the confirmation process.  The panel will then schedule a vote on whether to send his nomination to the floor, where Hamilton will need to secure approval from a majority of senators before he would become FEMA administrator.  Taking on that role will be no easy task, especially since Trump has  spoken repeatedly during his second administration about reducing the size and scope of the agency.  “We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state le...

The U.S. Supreme Court, pictured April 9, 2026. The court on Monday vacated a 2023 order preventing Alabama from using a map it had ruled racially discriminatory, sending the case back to lower courts. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) The U.S. Supreme Court Monday overturned a 2023 ruling blocking use of a congressional map the courts ruled as racially discriminatory, which could open the way for Alabama to use new district lines this year. The order from the nation’s highest court in the case, known collectively as Allen v. Milligan, came about a week before the state’s May 19th primaries and about a week and a half after the court significantly weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prevents racial discrimination in voting laws, in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais . The ruling said plaintiffs challenging maps under Section 2 must make a showing of intentional discrimination to prevail. G...

The headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama on February 8, 2023. The Alabama Attorney General's Office Monday issued a subpoena for documents, weeks after the U.S. Department of Justce filed criminal charges against the organization. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Monday subpoenaed the Southern Poverty Law Center a couple of weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the organization. The office said in a news release on Monday that it was seeking records from a now-defunct program in which the SPLC paid informants within white supremacist and extremist groups to obtain information on the groups’ activities. “We have always suspected that they were monetizing hate and trading on race-baiting, it was just a matter of proving it,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall in the news release. “Thanks to the U.S. Justice Department’s action to deal with the SPLC, the State’s effo...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in December 2025. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images) As President Donald Trump tries to assert power over U.S. elections, he has raged on social media, cajoled Republican lawmakers and unleashed the Department of Justice on his political enemies. What has he accomplished with all that effort? Not a lot. Six months before the November midterm elections, the Trump administration’s quest to exercise authority over the contests and impose sweeping restrictions on voters has proved largely unsuccessful. The aggressive campaign — separate from Trump’s more effective foray into redistricting fights — has been stymied by the courts, rebuffed by many state election officials and opposed by key Republican senators. “I think there’s many out there who are worried about the constant drumbeat of what the administration is trying to do and what they might do in the future. I hear this...