New U. S. House districts that could help Republicans win several additional seats in Florida got their first test in court Friday against assertions that they violate a state constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering. Attorneys representing voters asked a state judge to block the new districts from being used in the midterm elections and instead reinstate districts used for previous elections. Such a move would create a significant wrinkle in President Donald Trump's attempt to hold on to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives. The court’s order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Court...

SEATTLE (AP) — A tourist from Washington state is facing federal charges after a witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of him hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal just off a Maui beach last week. Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area on Wednesday as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him, Assistant U. S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said...