By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, TRÂN NGUYỄN and NADIA LATHAN, Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans ended a legislative session Friday without approving new congressional maps, but they still intend to satisfy President Donald Trump’s wishes for redistricting that bolsters their party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections as a multistate fight over control of Congress intensifies.

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After Democrats thwarted Texas Republicans’ redistricting plan with their absence during a special session, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, was expected to quickly call another special session in Austin.

Meanwhile, California Democrats plan to release a proposal for new maps aimed at countering any Republican gains in Texas.

The nation’s two most populous states have been at the forefront of a partisan battle that has reached into multiple courtrooms and statehouses controlled by both parties, with the balance of Capitol Hill and Trump’s agenda at stake for the latter half of his second presidency.

Texas Democrats who left the state nearly two weeks ago have denied their Republican colleagues the required attendance to conduct business and vote on Trump’s redistricting agenda. But they have said they would to return to Austin for another session once California Democrats release a new plan that they’ve been shaping behind closed doors.

“Do not go very far, as I believe our governor will be calling us back for another special session very soon,” Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said during a brief session Friday morning before lawmakers adjourned.

Burros said Abbott was expected to act at noon CDT.

Fight has gone national

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek approval of redrawn districts intended to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats.

“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said at what amounted to a campaign kickoff rally for the as-yet unreleased maps. “We are not bystanders in this world. We can shape the future.”

Newsom’s announcement marked the first time any state beyond Texas has officially waded into the mid-decade redistricting fight, though several governors and legislative leaders from both parties have threatened such moves. The Texas plan was stalled when minority Democrats went to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts on Aug. 3 to stop the Legislature from passing any bills.

Trump has urged other Republican-run states to redraw maps, even dispatching Vice President JD Vance to Indiana to press officials there. In Missouri, a document obtained by The Associated Press shows the state Senate received a $46,000 invoice to activate six redistricting software licenses and provide training for up to 10 staff members. Florida legislative leaders have suggested they will consider redistricting in the fall.

Newsom encouraged other Democratic-led states to get involved.

“We need to stand up — not just California. Other blue states need to stand up,” Newsom said.

House control could come down to a few seats in 2026

Republicans hold a 219-212 majority in the House, with four vacancies. New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among states that rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be nonpartisan.

The California map would take effect only if a Republican state moves forward, and it would remain through the 2030 elections. After that, Democrats say they would return mapmaking power to the independent commission approved by voters more than a decade ago.

In Los Angeles, Newsom and others depicted the looming battle as a conflict with all things Trump, tying it explicitly to the fate of American democracy.

“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back,” said Newsom, a possible 2028 presidential contender.

Some people already have said they would sue to block the effort.

“Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement. “Newsom’s made it clear: he’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.”

California Democrats hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats.

Lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on the new maps. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers— enough to act without any Republican votes.

Nguyễn reported from Sacramento, California, Blood reported from Los Angeles and Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed.

Each Friday, City Limits rounds up the latest news on housing, land use and homelessness. Catch up on what you might have missed here.

Cuomo at a campaign event in June. (Flickr/Andrew Cuomo for Mayor)

On Saturday, Andrew Cuomo pitched a controversial proposal to cap incomes for people signing new leases in rent-stabilized units.

In an apparent dig at the mayoral election frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, who reportedly pays $2,300 a month for a rent-stabilized one-bedroom in Astoria, Cuomo said “rent stabilized units when they are vacant should only be rented to people who need affordable housing.”

“Otherwise what you are doing is abusing the system,” he added.

Nearly a million apartments in New York City are rent stabilized, housing 2.4 million New Yorkers.

Cuomo’s proposal, according to spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, would require that the yearly rent for a stabilized unit make up 30 percent or more of the household income. So if the rent was $2,500 a month (or $30,000 a year) the new tenants could make no more than $100,000.

The move was roundly denounced by his political opponents, tenant groups, and even some real estate insiders, who pointed out that people living in rent stabilized units already tend to be lower income and that the proposal might actually require new residents to be rent-burdened, meaning they spend at least a third of their income on housing.

Nevermind the fact that as governor, Cuomo signed the 2019 rent laws that eliminated provisions allowing rent hikes on wealthy families in stabilized units in the first place.

Here’s what else happened this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

New funding is expected to expand the number of supportive housing apartments for New Yorkers who cycle between shelter and jail, six years after the city pledged to create more of those units as part of its plan to close Rikers Island.

The City Council voted unanimously to pass a rezoning plan to build more housing in Midtown South, which officials say may reflect changing attitudes on new development.

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) unveiled a restoration of the “Exodus and Dance” frieze by famed Harlem Renaissance sculptor Richmond Barthé, which has been on display at the Kingsborough Houses for decades.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

State officials say they aren’t enforcing penalties against the developer of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park—which failed to meet a deadline to build the remaining affordable housing the project pledged to deliver—because the company threatened to sue, Gothamist reports.

The Adams administration is secretly using a free internet program to give the NYPD access to camera feeds at NYCHA campuses, a New York Focus investigation revealed.

A program that displays public art in vacant city storefronts is opening an exhibit at NYCHA’s  Alfred E. Smith Houses on the Lower East Side, according to The City.

Politico factchecks Mayor Eric Adams’ claim of being the “most pro-housing administration” in city history.

The first city-funded homeless shelter for transgender New Yorkers opened in Queens, according to NBC New York.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org.

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Cuomo’s Plan to Means-Test Rent Stabilized Apartments, And What Else Happened This Week In Housing appeared first on City Limits.

By ANDREA ROSA, NICOLE WINFIELD and DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV prayed Friday for a peaceful end to the “increasingly deafening violence” of wars around the world as he celebrated a Catholic feast day on the same day as a high-stakes U.S.-Russia summit over the war in Ukraine.

History’s first American pope didn’t mention the meeting Friday in Alaska between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he has constantly called for dialogue and an end to the conflict, including in conversations with Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer, in Castel Gandolfo, in the outskirts of Rome, Friday, Aug.15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

On Friday Leo recalled that the Aug. 15 feast day dedicated to the Virgin Mary was declared a dogma by Pope Pius XII at the height of World War II.

“He (Pius) hoped that human lives would never again be destroyed by wars,” Leo said. “How relevant are these words today? Unfortunately, even today, we feel powerless in the face of the spread of increasingly deafening violence, insensitive to any movement of humanity.”

The pope prayed for hope for a peaceful future.

“We must not resign ourselves to the prevalence of the logic of armed conflict,” he said.

Leo wasn’t the only religious leader offering prayers for peace. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, prayed for a successful outcome of the U.S.-Russia summit during a visit to the Turkish island of Gokceada, home to an ethnic Greek community and his birthplace.

“Enlighten the leaders who will meet tomorrow in Alaska, that they may bring peace to the world, end these murderous wars, stop the shedding of blood, let reason prevail, and let justice and mutual respect reign throughout the world,” Bartholomew said Thursday. “There is room here for everyone. We need not kill one another to make space.”

The 85-year-old Bartholomew was visiting the island for the Aug. 15 celebration of the Virgin Mary, which is also an important date on the Orthodox Christian calendar.

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Leo spoke from the main piazza of Castel Gandolfo, the hilltown south of Rome that is home to a papal estate and gardens. He has spent a chunk of the summer at the estate, extending now for the second time his vacation to take advantage of the quiet and relatively cooler calm of the property overlooking Lake Alban.

It was here that Leo met with Zelenskyy for the second time on July 9. Leo had spoken by telephone with Putin on June 4 and, according to the Vatican, “urged Russia to make a gesture that would promote peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue for establishing positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict.”

Upon arrival in Castel Gandolfo earlier this week, Leo told reporters that he hoped the Trump-Putin summit would produce at least a cease-fire, saying the war had gone on for too long with too many dead, and no end in sight.

Leo, who marks his 100th day as pope Saturday, will spend the long weekend here, breaking Sunday to have lunch with the poor people of the Albano diocese. He is scheduled to return to the Vatican on Tuesday, closing out a six-week vacation period punctuated by spells back at the Vatican, most significantly to preside over the 1-million strong Holy Year celebration for young people earlier this month.

Winfield reported from Rome and Gatopoulos reported from Athens, Greece.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS (AP) — For visitors to France overwhelmed by the crowds at Versailles, the Paris region offers a calmer chateau experience: The fortress of Vincennes, a medieval royal residence with the tallest keep in Europe that once held renowned figures such as the Marquis de Sade.

The massive fortress east of Paris, just 15 minutes from the city center by metro, immerses visitors in history as soon as they walk through the drawbridge.

The castle is much older than Versailles and closer to Paris, local guide Cindy Smili-Yesli said. “It’s a fairly quiet castle,” she said. “The visiting conditions are much more pleasant. Here, you can really take a close look at every detail of the decor in the keep.”

People arrive to visit the Chateau de Vincennes, a massive fortress just east of Paris, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Vincennes welcomes up to 145,000 visitors a year, when over eight million visit Versailles.

Europe’s tallest keep

The Chateau of Vincennes was first built in the second part of the 14th century, as the Hundred Years War was raging between the kingdoms of France and England, on the location of a royal manor that was used as a hunting base in the nearby woods. French King Charles V, who ascended the throne in 1364, chose to make it his residence.

The immense 171-feet keep was meant to show the extent of France’s power.

“It has been a powerful symbol of the royal monarchy since the mid-14th century,” Smili-Yesli said.

But Vincennes was also a symbol of an historic English success against France. Henry V of England and his court moved into the chateau for some time after his successful military campaign, in accordance with the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. Henry V died at Vincennes in 1422. He was 35.

View of the Chateau de Vincennes, a massive fortress with the Holy Chapel, left, just east of Paris, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

“The legend of Vincennes says that his body was reduced to ashes in the castle’s kitchens, and his bones were recovered,” Smili-Yesli said.

Famous figures imprisoned

From the 15th century, the keep housed a prison. Famous captives included future King of France Henri IV, accused of plotting, writer and philosopher Denis Diderot, and the Marquis de Sade, known for his writings on sex.

“The Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the keep of Vincennes in the mid-to-late 18th century because of his writings and his actions as a libertine,” Smili-Yesli said. “He was originally held on the first floor of the keep. But as he did not get along well with one of his cousins, the Count of Mirabeau, the jailers, to punish him, moved him down to the ground floor into a much less pleasant cell, subject to cold and damp.”

View of the Holy Chapel in the Chateau de Vincennes, a massive fortress just east of Paris, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Many common law prisoners were also imprisoned at Vincennes, including women, especially during a series of scandals in 1679 to 1680 involving poisoning and witchcraft. Some graffiti left by the captives can still be seen on the stone walls.

A Gothic Holy Chapel

Facing the keep, the spectacular Holy Chapel, built in the Gothic style, features stunning stained glass windows from the mid-16th century which depict the Apocalypse through various spectacular scenes.

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The castle served as a refuge for the royal family at shaky times. In 1648, when a series of rebellions broke out in the kingdom, young King Louis XIV settled there.

The Sun King later wished to move further away from Paris, which had been hostile to him during that period. He went on to build a palace in Versailles, west of the French capital, and left Vincennes with his court in 1682.