Supreme Court seems inclined to limit race-based electoral districts under the Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appears ready to gut a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that’s helped root out racial discrimination in voting for more than a half century. Such a change would boost Republican electoral prospects, particularly across the South. During 2 1/2 hours of arguments Wednesday, the court’s six conservative justices seemed inclined to effectively strike down a Black majority congressional district in Louisiana because it relied too heavily on race. If that is the outcome, it would mark a fundamental change in the 1965 voting rights law that was the centerpiece legislation of the Civil Rights Movement. The court is expected to rule by early summer in 2026.

County judge in Chicago area bars ICE from arresting people at court

CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County’s top judge signed an order barring ICE from arresting people at court. The county includes Chicago, which has seen a federal immigration crackdown in recent months. Detaining residents outside courthouses has been a common tactic for federal agents, who have been stationed outside county courthouses for weeks, making arrests and drawing crowds of protesters. The order, which takes effect Wednesday, bars the civil arrest of any “party, witness, or potential witness” while going to court proceedings. It includes arrests inside courthouses and in parking lots, surrounding sidewalks and entryways.

A discarded straw leads to murder charges in 1984 killing of New York teen

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Prosecutors say DNA obtained from a discarded straw has led to the indictment of a man accused of sexually assaulting and killing a New York teenager more than 40 years ago. Sixty-three-year-old Richard Bilodeau pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of murder in the death of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco. She disappeared after leaving her part-time job at a Long Island roller-skating rink in November 1984. Three men convicted of the killing served several years in prison before being exonerated by DNA evidence. Investigators now say that DNA taken from Fusco’s body in 1984 matches a sample extracted from a straw that Bilodeau used and discarded last year.

Faulty engineering led to implosion of Titan submersible headed to Titanic wreckage

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Faulty engineering led to the implosion of an experimental submersible that killed five people on the way to the wreck of the Titanic, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a report Wednesday. The NTSB made the statement in its final report on the hull failure and implosion of the Titan submersible in June 2023. Everyone on board the submersible died instantly in the North Atlantic when Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion as it descended to the wreck. The NTSB report states that the faulty engineering of the Titan “resulted in the construction of a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements.” It also stated that OceanGate, the owner of the Titan, failed to adequately test the Titan and was unaware of its true durability.