By JOHN HANNA, Associated Press

Republicans can move ahead with redrawing Texas’ congressional districts now that Democratic lawmakers have returned to the state. Efforts to thwart President Donald Trump’s push to tilt the political map for next year’s midterm elections in his favor shifted to California.

Related Articles

US envoy to discuss long-term ceasefire with Israel after Lebanon commits to disarming Hezbollah

Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims

FDA’s new expert panels are rife with financial conflicts and fringe views

California Democrats’ push for redistricting faces a tight legislative deadline

Texas Democrats return to Capitol for Republicans’ US House map overhaul as California counters

Dozens of Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout Monday after Democrats in California heeded Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to counter the GOP effort in Texas.

In California, the Democratic-supermajority Legislature faces right deadlines, and a plan would have to be approved by voters in November.

Republicans have more options for mid-decade redistricting than Democrats because they control more statehouses, and they’ve talked about redrawing districts in Florida, Indiana and Missouri.

Here’s what to know.

Trump is trying avoid a congressional check on him

Both Trump and the Democrats are looking ahead to the 2026 midterms knowing that they often go against the president’s party, as they did during Trump’s first term in 2018. Republicans currently have a seven-seat majority in the 435-member House.

State legislatures draw the lines after each U.S. census in most states — including Texas — and only a few dozen House districts are competitive.

In Texas, Republicans hold 25 of 38 seats, and they’re trying to increase that to 30. In California, Democrats have 43 of the 52 seats, and they’re trying to boost that to 48, to wipe out the advantage the GOP would gain from redrawing lines in Texas.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

California is more complicated for Democrats

In some ways, the nation’s most-populous state, California, is a reverse-mirror image of the nation’s second most-populous state, Texas. Democrats are even more firmly in control of state government there than Republicans are in Texas, with Democratic supermajorities in both California legislative chambers.

But California’s districts were drawn by an independent commission created by a statewide vote in 2008 after years of intense partisan battles over redistricting.

Democrats are trying to avoid legal challenges to a new map by asking voters to approve it as an exception to the normal process, which would require a special election in November. Texas has no such commission, so its Legislature doesn’t have to seek voters’ approval for its maps.

California lawmakers were returning Monday to the state capital from a summer break. They are scheduled to remain in session through Sept. 12.

Texas Democratic lawmakers return to Texas after leaving two weeks ago to block a vote on a redrawn redistricting map, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Why a walkout stalled Republicans in Texas

Republicans have solid majorities in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, and a Democrat hasn’t won statewide office there since 1994. But Texas is among a handful of states where two-thirds of each chamber must be present to conduct business, and the GOP majorities are not that large.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott already had called a special legislative session when Trump began pushing for a new congressional map, but GOP lawmakers could not conduct business after most Democratic lawmakers left for blue states, including California, Illinois and Massachusetts.

But there were pressures on Democrats against holding out longer. They were away from their families and nonlegislative jobs, and their walkout also prevented lawmakers from providing relief to the Texas Hill Country ravaged by deadly flash flooding in July. They also faced fines of $500 per day, as well as efforts to oust some of them from office.

SILVER BAY — A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hoisted four children from a “rock” offshore a popular beach on the North Shore of Lake Superior early Sunday morning.

At 2:10 a.m., an MH-60 Jayhawk from USCG’s Air Station Traverse City in Michigan rescued the children and brought them to emergency medical services waiting at a clearing on shore, the USCG Great Lakes District said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

An update on Monday includes a video and more information about the rescue.

“Coast Guard Sector Northern Great Lakes received a request for helicopter assistance at approximately 9 p.m., from Lake County, Minnesota, reporting that the individuals were unable to safely disembark the rock due to hazardous conditions,” according to the Coast Guard report on the incident.

The Coast Guard reports that after the children were rescued, they were transported to awaiting Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and the children’s parents in a nearby field. Their conditions were not detailed.

“This successful rescue highlights the critical importance of interagency coordination and the rapid response capabilities of the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Lt. (junior grade) Patrick Grissler, Aircraft Commander, in the provided statement. “We are grateful for the collaboration with Lake County and are pleased to have safely assisted these individuals.”

Black Beach has become a popular destination for North Shore visitors since the beach, made out of the taconite tailings Reserve Mining used to dump directly into Lake Superior, opened to the public, and the city redeveloped the area nearby with a campground and other attractions.

The sand-like tailings connect the mainland with an island in Lake Superior, and some visitors scramble up its steep rockface to the top.

In 2023, two 18-year-old men drowned after jumping into Lake Superior at Black Beach.

The Pioneer Press contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Kathy Cargill selling several Duluth properties on Park Point

State fire marshal speaks on lengthy Lutsen Lodge fire investigation

Motorist shot in leg on I-35 in Chisago County; cops heard target shooting nearby

Sen. Tina Smith calls for EPA to reinstate 6 Duluth lab workers who criticized agency

Union organizer to run for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District

By KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States began their annual large-scale joint military exercise on Monday to better cope with threats by nuclear-armed North Korea, which has warned the drills would deepen regional tensions and vowed to respond to “any provocation” against its territory.

Related Articles

Google to pay $36M fine for anticompetitive deals with Australia’s largest telcos

Cambridge Dictionary adds ‘skibidi’ and ‘tradwife’ among 6,000 new words

Swiss watchmaker Swatch apologies for ad showing gesture seen as racist

Hamas cites progress in ceasefire talks as Palestinian death toll passes 62,000

Zelenskyy brings Europe’s top leaders with him to meet Trump on ending Russia’s war

The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield, the second of two large-scale exercises held annually in South Korea, after another set in March, will involve 21,000 soldiers, including 18,000 South Koreans, in computer-simulated command post operations and field training.

The drills, which the allies describe as defensive, could trigger a response from North Korea, which has long portrayed the allies’ exercises as invasion rehearsals and has often used them as a pretext for military demonstrations and weapons tests aimed at advancing its nuclear program.

In a statement last week, North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol said the drills show the allies’ stance of “military confrontation” with the North and declared that its forces would be ready to counteract “any provocation going beyond the boundary line.”

Ulchi Freedom Shield comes at a pivotal moment for South Korea’s new liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who is preparing for an Aug. 25 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. Trump has raised concerns in Seoul that he may shake up the decades-old alliance by demanding higher payments for the American troop presence in South Korea and possibly reducing it as Washington shifts its focus more toward China.

South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose the joint military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield or UFS, between the U.S. and South Korea in front of the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. The banners read “Stop the military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high as North Korea has brushed aside Lee’s calls to resume diplomacy with its war-divided rival, with relations having soured in recent years as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accelerated his weapons program and deepened alignment with Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What’s needed now is the courage to steadily take steps toward easing tensions, grounded in a firmly maintained state of ironclad security readiness,” Lee said during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. South Korea also on Monday began a four-day civil defense drill involving thousands of public workers, often scheduled alongside the allies’ summertime military exercises.

Seoul’s previous conservative government responded to North Korean threats by expanding military exercises with the United States and seeking stronger U.S. assurances for nuclear deterrence, drawing an angry reaction from Kim, who last year renounced long-term reconciliation goals and rewrote the North’s constitution to label the South a permanent enemy.

In his latest message to Pyongyang on Friday, Lee, who took office in June, said he would seek to restore a 2018-inter-Korean military agreement designed to reduce border tensions and called for North Korea to respond to the South’s efforts to rebuild trust and revive talks.

The 2018 military agreement, reached during a brief period of diplomacy between the Koreas, created buffer zones on land and sea and no-fly zones above the border to prevent clashes.

But South Korea suspended the deal in 2024, citing tensions over North Korea’s launches of trash-laden balloons toward the South, and moved to resume frontline military activities and propaganda campaigns. The step came after North Korea had already declared it would no longer abide by the agreement.

When asked whether the Lee government’s steps to restore the agreement would affect the allies’ drills, the South’s Defense Ministry said Monday that there are no immediate plans to suspend live-fire training near the Koreas’ disputed western maritime border.

South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose the joint military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield or UFS, between the U.S. and South Korea in front of the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. The banners read “Stop the military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

While the allies have postponed half of Ulchi Freedom Shield’s originally planned 44 field training programs to September, U.S. military officials denied South Korean media speculation that the scaled-back drills were meant to make room for diplomacy with the North, citing heat concerns and flood damage to some training fields.

Dating back to his first term, Trump has regularly called for South Korea to pay more for the 28,500 American troops stationed on its soil. Public comments by senior Trump administration officials, including Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, have suggested a push to restructure the alliance, which some experts say could potentially affect the size and role of U.S. forces in South Korea.

Under this approach, South Korea would take a greater role in countering North Korean threats while U.S. forces focus more on China, possibly leaving Seoul to face reduced benefits but increased costs and risks, experts say.

In a recent meeting with reporters, Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, stressed the need to “modernize” the alliance to address the evolving security environment, including North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, its deepening alignment with Russia, and what he called Chinese threats to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

By RIAZ KHAN

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Anguished Pakistanis searched remote areas for bodies swept away by weekend flash floods as the death toll reached 277 on Monday, while one official replied to the lack of evacuation warnings by saying people should have built homes elsewhere.

Related Articles

Google to pay $36M fine for anticompetitive deals with Australia’s largest telcos

Cambridge Dictionary adds ‘skibidi’ and ‘tradwife’ among 6,000 new words

Swiss watchmaker Swatch apologies for ad showing gesture seen as racist

Hamas cites progress in ceasefire talks as Palestinian death toll passes 62,000

Zelenskyy brings Europe’s top leaders with him to meet Trump on ending Russia’s war

A changing climate has made residents of northern Pakistan’s river-carved mountainous areas more vulnerable to sudden, heavy rains.

More than 150 people were still missing in the district of Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after Friday’s flash floods.

Villagers have said there had been no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional method for alerting emergencies in remote areas. The government has said the sudden downpour was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be informed.

Emergency services spokesman Mohammad Suhail said three bodies were found on Monday. The army has deployed engineers and heavy machinery to clear the rubble.

On Sunday, provincial chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur said many deaths could have been avoided if residents had not built homes along waterways. He said the government would encourage displaced families to relocate to safer areas, where they would be assisted in rebuilding homes.

Residents said they were not living near streams, yet the flood swept through their homes. In Buner’s Malak Pur village, Ikram Ullah, aged 55, said people’s ancestral homes were destroyed even though they were not near the stream, which emerged in the area because of the flood. He said large boulders rolled down from mountains with the flood.

In flood-hit Pir Baba village, Shaukat Ali, 57, a shopkeeper whose grocery store was swept away, said his business was not near a river or stream but had stood for years alongside hundreds of other shops in the bazar. “We feel hurt when someone says we suffered because of living along the waterways,” Ali told The Associated Press.

This map shows the Buner region and a number of villages particularly badly impacted by the recent flooding. (AP Digital Embed)

Pakistan has seen higher-than-normal monsoon rains since June 26 that have killed at least 645 people across the country, with 400 deaths in the northwest. The National Disaster Management Authority issued an alert for further flooding after new rains began Sunday in many parts of the country.

In a statement, the military said the Pakistan Air Force played a key role in flood relief operations by airlifting 48 tons of NGO-provided relief goods from the port of Karachi to Peshawar, the regional capital. It said the air force established an air bridge to ensure the swift delivery of supplies.

On Monday, torrential rains triggered a flash flood that struck Darori village in northwestern Swabi district, killing 15 people, government official Awais Babar said.

He said rescuers evacuated nearly 100 people, mostly women and children, who had taken refuge on the roofs of homes. Disaster management officials said the floods inundated streets in other districts in the northwest and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting Monday to review relief efforts in flood-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as northern Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

At the meeting, officials estimated flood-related damages to public and private property at more than 126 million rupees ($450,000), according to a government statement.

The U.N. humanitarian agency said it had mobilized groups in hard-hit areas where damaged roads and communication lines have cut off communities. Relief agencies were providing food, water and other aid.

Flooding has also hit India-administered Kashmir, where at least 67 people were killed and dozens remain missing after flash floods swept through the region during an annual Hindu pilgrimage last week.

In 2022, catastrophic floods linked to climate change killed nearly 1,700 people in Pakistan and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Associated Press writers Ishfaq Hussain in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this story.