Supreme Court halts redistricting chaos and more news from the states

Good evening. We start in Missouri, where it took the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve an escalating legal showdown over redistricting. In New Mexico, lawmakers want assurance that nobody will start calling the state “New America.” In Kentucky, immigration detentions rise even as reliable information dwindles.

In Tennessee, a grassroots effort saves a beloved parade and in Alaska, authorities crack down on the scourge of abandoned or illegally scuttled fishing boats.

In national news, Stateline looks at how post-Sept, 11 surveillance rules have morphed into something that was hard to imagine back then, and Republicans continue their midterm convention to highlight the presidency of Donald Trump.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a federal judge’s order requiring Missouri to use a gerrymandered congressional map in November, putting the state back on course to conduct the election using districts drawn in 2022, Missouri Independent reports.

In a one-page order, the court granted an emergency request from a political action committee called People Not Politicians and its executive director, Richard von Glahn, to stay a temporary restraining order issued Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark in St. Louis.

Thursday’s ruling is the latest turn in a convoluted legal fight that has bounced between the Missouri Supreme Court, a federal district judge, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court in the span of a week.

Republican lawmakers approved the new map during a 2025 special session called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe. The plan was designed to make the Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, more favorable to Republicans.

Opponents gathered more than 300,000 signatures seeking a statewide vote on the plan. The two sides have been fighting in various courts ever since, provoking confusion and angst from candidates and election officials, unsure which version of the map they should rely on for the election in November.

More election news:

New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Thursday called upon major tech companies Apple and Google to commit to ensuring New Mexico retains its name on the companies’ maps, Source New Mexico reports.

The letter to Apple CEO John Ternus and Google CEO Sundar Pichai follows President Donald Trump’s social media posts on Sunday that first showed New Mexico’s name altered on a map to be “New America” and then later expressed enthusiasm for such a change by writing: “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”

Last year Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) by executive order and, more recently, renamed Lake Ontario (Lake America) by the same mechanism. While not all tech companies complied, Apple and Google updated their maps to reflect Trump’s new names.

“Because of this history, we ask each of you to publicly commit that Apple Maps and Google Maps will continue to identify the State of New Mexico as New Mexico, regardless of what the President posts on social media, what executive order he attempts to issue, or what pressure he puts on your companies,” the letter says.

The number of federal immigration detainees in Kentucky jails is growing dramatically, but the public knows less and less about them, including whether or not they have criminal records, according to new reports on federal efforts to deport more people, Kentucky Lantern reports. 

Some information on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in Kentucky jails is hard to find, a new report from the League of Women Voters of Kentucky says. 

The League’s analysis found a few online rosters at Kentucky jails that house federal immigration detainees are unclear on the local crimes charged or status of the detainee. Three do not list people who are in ICE custody. 

“Kentucky jails belong to us, the people of Kentucky, so we should know how immigrants are being treated,” wrote League President Jennifer Jackson in a letter about the report. “The people held there are human beings, so Kentuckians should insist on their human rights.”

More immigration coverage:

North Carolina: Asheville has joined Durham and a handful of other municipalities in making it illegal for landlords to collect rent on a property the city has deemed unsafe.

Tennessee: Nashville-based payday lender Advance Financial, one of the latest spenders in state politics, closed over 40 of its storefront locations Wednesday, down to just 30 stores from a peak of 105.

Alabama: Suicide prevention advocates are recruiting firearm retailers to a program that allows veterans who feel at risk of taking their lives to store their guns with a gun shop.

Pennsylvania: A coalition of attorneys urged the state Supreme Court to extend its ruling striking down mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder to people currently incarcerated.

Maryland: Lawmakers emerged confused and frustrated after a hearing where auditors and state officials disagreed about the propriety of millions in medical payments for people behind bars.

Louisiana: Bankrupt LIV Golf still owes the state $1.2 million after canceling a golf tournament that was supposed to take place in New Orleans in June. 

South Carolina: The state locks up Black children at a higher rate than white children, found a new ACLU report, released as lawmakers look for ways to reform the juvenile justice system.

Indiana: The state Supreme Court is considering a religious freedom challenge to the state’s near-total abortion ban by two unnamed women and reproductive rights advocates.

New Jersey: A state watchdog is urging legislators to strengthen protections against deed fraud, warning that real estate scams have risen since the pandemic.

Maine: Providers and patient advocates are warning lawmakers that proposed new rules to combat fraud will put patient privacy at risk.

Rhode Island: Trailing by 279 votes in preliminary primary results, Republican gubernatorial candidate Elaine Pelino is asking for a recount. More primary results are here.

Arkansas: Philanthropists Olivia and Tom Walton announced Thursday they’re giving $100 million toward a national effort to cut maternal deaths in half.

Parade participants kick off the Tennessee Soybean Festival in Martin on Sept. 8. The community banded together to put the festival on after the city cancelled the annual event amid a financial crisis and corruption scandal. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) 

The parade marked the start of a weeklong Soybean Festival that’s been a tradition in Martin since 1994. This year, it’s also a form of victory march for community members who logged thousands of volunteer hours over the last three months to keep that tradition alive, creating a grassroots version of the festival from scratch. 

The Tennessee Soybean Festival Committee announced the official festival’s cancellation in May, citing the city’s recent financial challenges. It was a painful blow to a community already stinging from the indictment of former Mayor Randal Brundige, Economic and Community Development Director Bradley Thompson and Brundige’s daughter, Natalie — all charged in November with official misconduct and the combined theft of more than $450,000 in public funds since 2015.

Within hours of the cancellation, community members mobilized, sketching out their own plans for Martin’s Grassroots Soybean Festival. They formed a new board and raised $115,000 through sponsorships and partnerships with businesses, including $25,000 from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and $30,000 from Martin’s hotel tax-driven tourism fund.

“They’ve done a really good job,” parade spectator Debbie Carden said. “The community pulled together to put together a really nice week for everyone. Everybody’s happy that people stepped up.”

Read more from Tennessee Lookout.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the surveillance infrastructure built and expanded in its aftermath has become part of a far larger digital ecosystem — producing tools that can collect and analyze information on a scale unimaginable in 2001, Stateline reports.

The terrorist attacks did more than reshape the nation’s approach to terrorism. They changed the architecture of American intelligence and policing. They expanded how government agencies collect, share and analyze information, and brought national security tools deeper into ordinary law enforcement.

On top of that comes the digital revolution of the last decades, including smart phones, home devices and surveillance cameras both public and private. And now AI allows governments and companies to tie those data sources together in astonishing ways.

“The things that we would have taken for granted as forms of privacy we can all expect have just completely vanished,” said Jessica Katzenstein, a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor at Arizona State University.

More from Stateline: Schools, libraries sound alarm over potential changes to federal internet program 

A proposal by President Donald Trump to give $5,000 to each American adult if Republicans retain control of the U.S. House and Senate in November would “explode” the national deficit and worsen inflation, according to an analysis issued Thursday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.

The committee, whose board includes economists, bankers and former elected and administration officials from both political parties, estimates Trump’s plan would cost roughly $1.2 trillion.

“This proposal is fiscally dangerous, economically backwards, and fundamentally unserious,” Maya MacGuineas, the committee’s president, said in a statement. “It’s hard to understand how anyone could look at our current fiscal and economic situation and think we need to borrow another $1.2 trillion to send everyone cash.”

Trump announced the “Trump dividend” Wednesday night during the latter half of a nearly two-hour keynote speech at the Republican National Committee’s first midterm convention.

More late coverage of the second night of the GOP’s midterm convention is here.

Three southeast Alaska commercial fishers accused of deliberately sinking their boats are now pleading guilty, Alaska Beacon reports.

John Fisher of Sitka, Joseph Poling of Petersburg and Tony Vanveen of Sitka have each signed plea deals, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in the District of Alaska.

The three were initially charged earlier this year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage. Despite similar details, the cases are not linked.

Alaska has a chronic problem with abandoned and derelict vessels. Maintaining boats is expensive, and disposing of an unseaworthy boat is also expensive. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has a list of more than 400 abandoned boats on state land and waters.

“The navigable waters of Southeast Alaska are especially precious to the communities who depend on them,” said a sentencing memorandum signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt. “Illegally scuttling vessels creates risk to the environment and can create a hazard to navigation if done carelessly.”