In a recent decision, a divided Supreme Court has sided with Texas Republicans by permitting the use of a newly drawn congressional map for the state’s upcoming elections. This map, endorsed by President Donald Trump, had been previously deemed likely discriminatory based on race by a lower court.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Southern Command reported another successful operation in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday. This marks the 22nd strike under the Trump administration’s campaign targeting small vessels suspected of drug trafficking.
In a somewhat contradictory move amid an intensifying immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has directed U.S. embassies and consulates globally to fast-track visa applications for foreign investors and 2026 World Cup ticket holders. President Trump is set to make an appearance at the FIFA draw on Friday, highlighting this initiative.
In other news, the White House is preparing to present plans for a new ballroom to a federal planning commission. This submission is anticipated before the year concludes, approximately three months following the commencement of construction.
White House to submit plans for new ballroom to planning commission
The White House is expected to submit plans for Trump’s new ballroom to a federal planning commission before the year ends, about three months after construction began.
Will Scharf, named by Trump as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said Thursday that White House colleagues told him the long-awaited plans will be filed sometime in December.
“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” said Scharf, who is also a top White House aide. He said the review process would happen at a “normal and deliberative pace.”
Separately, the White House confirmed Thursday that a second architectural firm has been added to the project. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said architect Shalom Baranes of Washington, D.C., was needed as construction moves into a new phase.
▶ Read more about the proposed plans
Another boat is sunk amid probe into the first strike
The U.S. Southern Command said the strike on the small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean Thursday was the 22nd strike so far, killing four people and raising the death toll to at least 87.
The strike was announced as Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for classified briefings as lawmakers began an investigation into the very first strike. Bradley told them there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Democrats are pushing for the release of video they say shows a war crime, or murder.
▶ Read more about the strike
Supreme Court allows Texas to use redistricted map favorable to GOP
A divided Supreme Court on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump despite a lower-court ruling that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.
With conservative justices in the majority, the court acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the three liberal justices that her colleagues should not have intervened.
▶ Read more about the ruling
Trump calls people from Somalia ‘garbage’
He said it four times in seven seconds. In fact, Trump’s rhetorical attacks on immigrants have been building since he said Mexico was sending “rapists” across the border during his presidential campaign announcement a decade ago.
But with one flourish closing a two-hour Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump amped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric even further and ditched any claim that his administration was only seeking to remove people without legal status.
It was a riveting display in a nation that prides itself as being founded and enriched by immigrants, alongside an ugly history of enslaving millions of them and limiting who can come in.
Trump’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and deportations have reignited an age-old debate — and widened the nation’s divisions — over who can be an American,.
▶ Read more about Trump’s recent comments
Appeals court: Trump must release school mental health grants
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to halt an order requiring it to release millions of dollars in grants meant to address the shortage of mental health workers in schools.
The program was funded by Congress after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, included grants meant to help schools hire more counselors, psychologists and social workers, with a focus on rural and underserved areas of the country.
▶ Read more about the decision
Trump to direct more water to California farms
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday announced a new plan for operating the Central Valley Project, a vast system of pumps, dams and canals that direct water southward from the state’s wetter north.
It follows an executive order Trump signed in January calling for more water to flow to farmers, arguing the state was wasting the precious resource in the name of protecting endangered fish species.
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