By SEUNG MIN KIM, HANNAH FINGERHUT and JOEY CAPPELLETTI, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iraq War combat veteran and Iowa’s first woman elected to Congress, is expected to announce next month she will not seek reelection, leaving another hole in an Iowa seat that could have ripple effects down the ballot as Democrats look to the state for pickup opportunities.

As Senate Republicans work to maintain their majority in the chamber, Ernst is joining a wave of her peers making headaches for the party. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina turned down a reelection bid after clashing with President Donald Trump.

Ernst plans to announce in September that she will opt out of the race for a third term, according to three people familiar with her plans who spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement.

Seung Min Kim and Joey Cappelletti reported from Washington.

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By JANIE HAR, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

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A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while the case proceeded through court.

An email to the Department of Homeland Security for comment was not immediately returned.

The 9th Circuit panel found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the department had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior TPS extension because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit for it.

“In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” the court wrote.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco found in March that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that the administration overstepped its authority in terminating the protections and were motivated by racial animus in doing so. Chen ordered a freeze on the terminations, but the Supreme Court reversed him without explanation, which is common in emergency appeals.

It is unclear what effect Friday’s ruling will have on the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans whose protections expired in April. Protections for another group of 250,000 Venezuelans are set to expire Sept. 10.

Congress authorized Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.

In ending the protections, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow migrants from the two countries to stay on for what is a temporary program.

Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and and an ineffectual government.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed into law a new congressional voting map designed to help Republicans gain more seats in the 2026 midterm elections, delivering a win for President Donald Trump and his desire to hold onto a slim GOP majority in the U.S. House.

The Texas map drafted in rare mid-decade redistricting prompted fierce protests from Democrats and sparked a gerrymandering tug-of-war for voters in states across the country.

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“Texas is now more red in the United States Congress,” Abbott said in a video he posted on X of him signing the legislation.

Before Texas lawmakers passed their new map, California passed a bill asking voters to approve new Democratic-leaning districts to counter any Republican gains in Texas.

The incumbent president’s party usually loses congressional seats in the midterm election. On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing districts puts Democrats within three seats of a majority.

Texas Democrats have vowed to challenge the new map in court. They delayed a vote by two weeks by leaving Texas on Aug. 3 in protest and to rally support nationally. Upon their return, they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring to ensure they showed up for debate.

But the large Republican majority in the Texas Legislature made its ultimate passage all but inevitable.

The head of Texas’ Democratic Party criticized Abbott, saying he and Republicans “effectively surrendered Texas to Washington” with the new map.

“They love to boast about how ‘Texas Tough’ they are, but when Donald Trump made one call, they bent over backwards to prioritize his politics over Texans,” state Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement. “Honestly, it’s pathetic.”

Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing in court that it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice.

Republican leaders have denied the map is racially discriminatory and contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. They have also been explicit in their desire to draw a new map for a goal of electing more Republicans.

This version corrects when Democrats left Texas to Aug. 3 instead of July.

A Coon Rapids man was killed Thursday night when his motorcycle crashed into a Volkswagen sport utility vehicle on Snelling Avenue near the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights.

The Volkswagen Touareg was traveling southbound on Snelling Avenue, which is also Minnesota 51, and turned to go eastbound on Garden Avenue around 10:20 p.m. when it was struck by a Yamaha MT09 operated by 27-year-old Jacob Isaac Lewer, according to Minnesota State Patrol.

Lewer was declared dead. His passenger, a 25-year-old Scandia woman, suffered non-life threatening injuries. Road conditions were dry and it is unknown if alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Roseville Police, St. Anthony Police and the St. Paul Fire Department EMS also responded to the scene. The driver of the SUV, a 28-year-old Roseville woman, was not injured and showed no evidence of alcohol impairment, according to State Patrol.

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