Daily Briefing: Redrawing Texas

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I’m Nicole Fallert. Happy Shark Week! 🦈

Quick look at Monday’s news:

Texas’ congressional map on the drawing board

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature is poised to consider a new set of congressional maps during a special session that kicks off Monday.

Here’s the latest from the Caller-Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

• Why this matters for America: After facing pressure from Trump’s political team, Gov. Greg Abbott has asked lawmakers to redraw some of Texas’ 38 U.S. House districts ahead of the 2026 midterms. Trump wants to disperse GOP voters across the state to help flip blue seats, rather then have them be consolidated in red districts.
• Can the president pressure state politics? Democrats from the state’s congressional delegation said they expect the new districts to violate the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the votes of racial minorities.
• “I’m a Texan. How can I get involved?” Texans can follow the special session online, contact their lawmakers and testify at hearings to participate in the legislative process.

More from the USA TODAY Network: A special session could spark redistricting in Florida and Ohio is already scheduled to redraw maps this year.

Israel fire kills dozens more aid seekers in Gaza

At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire while they waited for U.N. aid trucks Sunday in northern Gaza, the territory’s health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced Gazans, some of whom began to leave. The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza, in one of the highest reported tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed. Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.

More news to know now

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ICE detention is growing in the South

Republican-led Southern states increasingly lead in detaining and deporting millions of immigrants ‒ from “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades to the expansion of a sprawling Georgia immigration facility. Far from the U.S.-Mexico border, Mississippi has the ICE jail with the highest average daily population. Louisiana has more detention centers than any other state besides Texas – nine total – after it converted nearly half a dozen correctional facilities to immigrant detention. Most are remote, scattered near farms and forests. And other states might follow Louisiana’s example as more federal funds flow to ICE detention. 

A $10 billion lawsuit. More documents coming. Here’s the latest on Trump and Epstein.

Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit for libel and slander against the Wall Street Journal, its publisher, two of its reporters, and News Corp founder and former friend Rupert Murdoch. At issue is its story that Trump sent a “bawdy” 50th-birthday letter to Epstein in 2003, decorated with a crude drawing of a woman’s naked body that used his distinctive signature. Trump called the article “false” and demanded damages. But his attempt to convince Americans that there is nothing to see here is likely to be an uphill battle.

Today’s talkers

WNBA Commissioner booed by crowd chanting ‘Pay Them!’

 In case their message to the WNBA and its owners wasn’t already clear, the players sent another one ahead of Saturday night’s All-Star Game. Taking the court for warmups, every single player wore a black T-shirt with “Pay Us What You Owe Us” emblazoned across the front. The players’ unwavering stance stands in stark contrast to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s impression this is just the normal back-and-forth that occurs in every labor negotiation. The crowd booed Engelbert and chanted “Pay Them! Pay Them!” as she presented the All-Star MVP trophy to Napheesa Collier, whose team beat Team Clark 151-131.

Photo of the day: This is dad’s special cup

Scratch “cup.” It’s the Claret Jug. American Scottie Scheffler stole hearts celebrating his win of the 2025 Open Championship, the first British Open victory of his career, giving him career wins at three of the four major tournaments. Only the U.S. Open remains.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.