White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announces birth of baby girl

May 7, 2026 / 11:22 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday that she has given birth to a baby girl, whom she and her husband have named Viviana.

Leavitt’s daughter was born May 1, she announced on Instagram. Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, also have a toddler-aged son named Niko. Leavitt began maternity leave shortly before her delivery.

“On May 1st, Viviana aka ‘Vivi’ joined our family, and our hearts instantly exploded with love,” she wrote. “She is perfect and healthy, and her big brother is joyfully adjusting to life with his new baby sister. We are enjoying every moment in our blissful newborn bubble. Thank you to everyone who reached out with prayers during my pregnancy — I truly felt them throughout the entire experience. God is Good.”

In Leavitt’s absence from the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed reporters this week. Rubio acknowledged how chaotic the briefings can be, with multiple reporters urging him to call on them at once.

“This is chaos, guys,” he said.

That discount at the pharmacy counter may pack hidden costs

May 7, 2026 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News

Next time you go to the pharmacy, you might be offered a coupon on your prescription drugs. While it may sound like a great deal — with the prospect of saving hundreds of dollars — the decision to accept it is complicated, especially for people with insurance.

Even as prescription drug costs rise, patients with commercial insurance have slowed their use of manufacturer-sponsored drug coupons in recent years, according to a study published April 6 by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Manufacturers are offering just as many of them, “but still, we see a lot of affordability issues among this commercially insured population,” said So-Yeon Kang, the study’s main author, who is an assistant professor of health management and policy at Georgetown University.

“Patients are at the intersection and battle place between these payers and manufacturers,” she said.

Drug manufacturers distribute copay coupon cards to consumers online or in person at the pharmacy counter. These manufacturer-sponsored coupons are not the same as discount card services from companies like GoodRx, which negotiate lower bulk pricing for prescription drugs, then pass those savings along to the consumer.

Manufacturers issue the coupons to keep their drugs competitive by offering patients short-term savings. Consumers pay less out-of-pocket, often for brand-name drugs. This encourages patients to use the brand-name version of the drug, even when a cheaper, generic version might be available.

Some insurers say this unfairly puts them on the hook for pricier drugs. They say monthly premiums are higher as a result, punishing consumers and patients, not the manufacturers.

So, should you use manufacturer-sponsored prescription drug coupons when they are offered?

The short answer: It depends.

Here are five things to consider:

1. What if you do not have insurance?

If you are uninsured, using a coupon can be a great way to save money, especially if there is no generic version of the drug.

TrumpRx is a new federally funded initiative that acts as a prescription drug coupon dashboard for patients. Some of the coupons come from manufacturers, while others do not. Not every drug has a coupon offer, but the portal will save consumers money on drugs for those that do, especially in the short term.

Michelle Long, a senior policy manager at KFF who studies patient and consumer protections, said people without insurance can save money by using TrumpRx or manufacturer coupons. (KFF is the health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News.)

“I wouldn’t brush it off entirely because it’s got Trump’s name on it,” Long said. “For a lot of people who take certain medications, there really could be some real savings.”

Still, Long said, TrumpRx lists only about 85 drugs, among thousands approved by the FDA. It is important to note that drug coupons have limitations and guidelines. They do not last forever. When they are exhausted, uninsured consumers may have to pay full price for the drug.

1. What if you have commercial health insurance?

For people with insurance, the answer is a little more complicated.

If the drug isn’t covered by your insurance plan or if you intend to pay cash, then the coupon may be the way to go. If not, be wary.

Insurance coverage varies for certain kinds of drugs, such as GLP-1 obesity drugs. Kang’s study found that coupon use by commercial insurance holders on obesity drugs dropped from 54.6% of prescriptions in 2017 to only 2.5% in 2024, even though use of the drugs has been rising in the United States.

She said this reflects the growing number of patients paying cash for the drugs as prices decline, along with insurers’ reluctance to cover them and manufacturers’ shifting focus from coupon distribution to marketing campaigns.

3. What should you do if you expect high medical costs this year?

If you have insurance and anticipate meeting your deductible for the year through health care visits and treatments, consider using the coupons.

Coupons let you pay less out-of-pocket when you visit the pharmacy, but your insurer likely won’t count the value of the coupon toward your deductible. Only use a coupon if there is no generic option available and if you know you’d otherwise hit your deductible.

4. What if you have insurance but low overall medical costs?

The answer will almost always be: Don’t use the coupon.

Unless the drug you are looking for is not covered by your insurance plan, using coupons will put you at risk for higher indirect costs. It’s also often more advantageous to spend toward your deductible.

Watch out for copay adjustment programs that insurers use to discourage the use of drug coupons. They come in two common forms, Long said.

“Copay accumulators” allow the use of drug coupons up to their full value, but the amount of the coupon won’t count toward patients’ deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums. That makes it harder for them to reach the threshold at which insurers will pitch in on prescriptions and other medical care. It can also mean a patient will eventually start paying the full cost of the drug because they haven’t yet met their annual deductible.

“Copay maximizers” use a similar technique that also prevents the coupon value from counting toward deductibles. Maximizer programs use a third-party to adjust patients’ copayments over the course of a year to match the amount of the manufacturers’ coupons.

Insurers sometimes offer the programs to consumers under euphemistic names like “Employee Savings Program” that sound good in theory, but, in reality, take away some of the value of the coupons, Long said.

Initially, consumers will see savings at the pharmacy counter, but they may end up paying more in the long run.

5. What if you’re on Medicaid or Medicare?

Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are prohibited from using manufacturer-sponsored coupons.

A federal anti-kickback law makes it illegal to give someone anything of value to influence their decision to purchase something that will ultimately be paid for by a federal health care program. The law also prevents remuneration, which includes waiving copays and charging less than fair-market value for a product.

Manufacturer drug coupons squarely fit within both categories.

Some states, notably California and Massachusetts, prohibit or limit the use of manufacturer drug coupons when a generic version of the drug is available — highlighting the tension among manufacturers, health plans, and the government.

_KFF Health News_is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at_KFF_— the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Texas GOP backs resolution saying states have right to repel border ‘invasion’

2026-05-07 06:00:31 EDT / Fox News

The push comes as Texas’ SB 4, allowing police to arrest migrants suspected of entering the US illegally, faces new legal challenges

By Landon Mion Fox News

Published May 7, 2026 6:00am EDT

Senate passes ICE and Border Patrol funding framework

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the Senate passing a budget framework to fund I.C.E. and Border Patrol in an overnight vote on ‘Special Report.’

EXCLUSIVE:The U.S. House’s Texas GOP Caucus announced Thursday that it is united behind a resolution from Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, arguing that states have constitutional authority to secure their borders against an “invasion” or “imminent danger.”

The caucus is urging Congress to approve the measure, citing what Republicans called the “failed open-border policies” under former President Joe Biden and the millions of illegal immigrants who crossed into the country during his administration.

“It is the job of elected officials to protect the Americans that sent them to office,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen Democrat leaders willfully facilitate a border invasion time and time again. States ought to be able to step in and secure the border when federal government cannot or will not do so. I am proud to join the Texas GOP Caucus in standing up for the American people.”

The House resolution, first introduced in 2021 in response to the border crisis under the Biden administration, affirms that states have a right under the Constitution to secure their borders if the federal government fails to act. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have long treated immigration enforcement as primarily a federal responsibility.

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS FILE LAWSUIT SEEKING TO BLOCK TEXAS LAW ALLOWING COPS TO ARREST ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

The U.S. House’s Texas GOP Caucus announced unified caucus support for a resolution affirming that states have constitutional authority to secure their borders against an “invasion.”(David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

H.Res. 50 says states retain sovereign authority under Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution to defend their territory and citizens from “invasion” or “imminent danger” when the federal government fails to meet what Republicans describe as its Article IV, Section 4 obligation to protect states from invasion.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Arrington said the U.S.-Mexico border has largely been secured under the Trump administration but argued his resolution is needed to ensure states can act if a Democrat returns to the White House.

“What we want to avoid is what happened during the four years of the Biden administration, which is, we had a bunch of states being overrun and overwhelmed with illegal immigration and all the various problems that occurred as a result. We didn’t have a federal government that was doing its job and, in fact, we had a federal government that was obstructing states like Texas from actually filling the gap that they left because they abdicated that responsibility,” the congressman said.

Arrington argued that fentanyl and other drugs flowing across the border contributed to more than 100,000 overdose deaths in a single year during the Biden administration, while illegal border crossings, cartel activity and drug and human trafficking strained border states.

“The drugs were killing hundreds of thousands, they were killing a plane load of American citizens every week,” Arrington said. “They killed over 100,000 Americans in one year, which is more than we lost in the Vietnam War. When you’re losing more American citizens to what is tantamount to chemical warfare from the Mexican terrorist drug cartels, in close cooperation with the Chinese who were providing the precursor material for synthetic fentanyl, that was the greatest and most imminent threat to our nation during those four years.”

The congressman highlighted that his resolution has received support from the Texas GOP Caucus, conservative organizations, law enforcement officials and legal experts.

DOJ ACCUSES COURTS OF UNDERCUTTING EXECUTIVE POWER IN HIGH-STAKES SUPREME COURT BORDER CASE

Rep. Jodey Arrington said his resolution is needed to ensure states can still take action when a Democrat returns to the White House.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“The Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, forbids states from interfering with the federal government’s monopoly over our territorial sovereignty,” John Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “But the House of Representatives could make its own findings of fact that failures at the border rose to the level of an ‘imminent danger’ that would justify a state’s exercise of self-defense. Such a set of findings might bolster Texas’s case in the courts as well as its political case to the public. Without such congressional support, Texas is likely to fail.”

In a press release obtained by Fox News Digital, Texas GOP Caucus Chairman Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, said “the Framers understood that a state cannot be left at the mercy of a federal government that refuses to do its job when there’s an invasion at its border.”

“That’s why Article I, Section 10 exists — and that’s exactly the situation Texas and our border states faced for four years under the Biden administration. H.Res. 50 affirms what the Constitution already guarantees: states have every right to defend its citizens. The Texas GOP Caucus is united in ensuring that right is recognized and preserved,” he said.

The resolution comes amid a legal battle over Texas Senate Bill 4, a state measure that would allow police officers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally crossing into the U.S. and authorize state judges to order certain migrants to leave the country.

The law is set to take effect next week after a federal appeals court vacated a lower court ruling last month that had blocked enforcement. The appeals court found the plaintiffs in that case did not have standing to sue, but it did not resolve the broader constitutional questions surrounding the law.

S.B. 4 established a state-level crime for illegal entry and authorized state magistrates to order certain individuals to leave the country if they are convicted.

Arrington told Fox News Digital that Texas’ S.B. 4 could soon reach the U.S. Supreme Court as legal challenges continue.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran said states “have every right to defend its citizens.”(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)

The Texas Civil Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas filed a new lawsuit this week seeking emergency relief to block several provisions of the Texas measure before they take effect May 15.

The groups argue the law is unconstitutional, saying immigration enforcement is exclusively the responsibility of the federal government and that federal law should preempt the state statute.

Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, argued that S.B. 4 is “cruel and illegal,” adding that the groups “will keep fighting it until it is permanently struck down.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Every court to have reached the merits of laws like S.B. 4 has found them to be unconstitutional,” he said in a statement.

The three groups did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on Arrington’s resolution in time for publication.

Hottest U.S. gas prices in years leave drivers feeling burned

May 7, 2026 / 7:55 AM EDT / CBS News

The surging cost of filling up her car is taking a toll on Melissa Miles’ finances — and her classroom attendance.

A full-time student in social work at Eastern Michigan University, she commutes daily in her 2015 Chevrolet Sonic between school and her home 80 miles away in Hillsdale, Michigan. But with gasoline prices in the state now averaging $4.80 a gallon, the 42-year-old told CBS News she has started skipping some classes to avoid the drive.

“Literally every day, I have to figure out, do I have the groceries for the week, or do I have the necessities for today? And then compare it to, can I miss this class?” said Miles, a single mom whose budget includes looking after her 5-year-old son.

Hillsdale, Michigan, resident Melissa Miles, seen here with her 5-year-old son, Kingston, said surging gas prices are making it harder for her to afford her commute to a local university. Courtesy of Melissa Miles

Miles is one of the millions of U.S. motorists grappling with sharply higher prices at the pump due to the Iran war. The national gas price rose on Thursday to $4.56 a gallon, up more than $1.50 since the conflict erupted in late February, according to AAA.

The cost of diesel has also jumped to $5.67, up from $3.54 a year ago, and is threatening to drive up the prices of countless goods delivered by truck and rail.

Although President Trump said this week that the U.S. is making “great progress” in its negotiations with Iran, economists and energy experts predict that fuel costs are likely to remain elevated for months to come.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at financial research firm Moody’s Analytics, expects gas prices to settle at around $3.50 a gallon by the end of 2026, roughly 50 cents higher than the cost just before the war.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told CBS News that Mr. Trump remains committed to lowering fuel costs for Americans.

“As the president continues to exert maximum leverage over Iran with the ongoing successful blockade to bring this conflict to an end, we will see global energy markets stabilize and gas prices plummet back to the multi-year lows Americans enjoyed prior to the start of Operation Epic Fury,” Rogers said in an email.

Sacramento, California, resident Daniel Hock expressed frustration with the state’s skyrocketing gas prices, which at $6.16 a gallon are the highest in the country.

“I ultimately am the one footing the bill under a presidency that said that my gas prices would go down,” he told CBS News.

The 33-year-old, who works as a university admissions adviser, said he now spends roughly $100 a week on gas, or roughly 9% of his pre-tax income. That’s money he’d rather use to pay down the debt he accumulated during a recent four-month period of unemployment, he told CBS News.

Not surprisingly, low-income Americans are taking the biggest hit from higher fuel costs, given that they spend a larger share of their income on gas than those higher up the income ladder. Bank of America data shows that in March, low-income families spent 4.2% of their income on gas, compared to 2.7% for wealthier households.

Steph Thornton, a 42-year-old single mom of two, said higher fuel prices are hurting people like her who live just above the poverty line. The Macomb, Michigan, resident, a community health worker, uses her 2017 Ford Escape to conduct home visits with clients. Thornton estimates she now spends about $400 a month on gas, compared to $320 earlier this year when prices hovered around $3 a gallon.

“Many of us haven’t even regrouped from the pandemic,” Thornton said. “Things are just hitting us back-to-back.”

学者陈志锐和猴纸剧坊 获2026年华族文化贡献奖

2026年5月7日 19:45 / 联合早报

2026年度新加坡华族文化贡献奖，由陈志锐博士（左）获得个人奖，由何家伟（右）创立的猴纸剧坊获得团体奖。 （李冠卫摄）

学者、诗人陈志锐博士和本地偶剧团猴纸剧坊，分别获得2026年新加坡华族文化贡献奖个人奖和团体奖。

新加坡华族文化贡献奖由新加坡华族文化中心设立，表彰为新加坡华族文化之传承、推动、提升和发展，做出卓越贡献的个人和团体。得奖者可获奖座与1万元奖金；另有项目资助金，个人可获1万元，团体则为2万元。

新加坡华族文化中心星期四（5月7日）晚举行“华彩2026”开幕礼暨新加坡华族文化贡献奖颁奖典礼，活动主宾为贸工部兼文化、社区及青年部高级政务部长刘燕玲。典礼上也献一系列“华彩2026”精彩节目选段，包括Toy肥料厂全新剧作《白龙王子》、鼟乐团与新加坡华族舞蹈剧场携手带来的《八雅之循》，以及96.3好FM与UFM100.3 DJ演出的喜剧《月光下的榴梿恋人》等。

华族文化贡献奖在2017年成立，历届个人奖得主包括郭勇德、严众莲、吴文德、郑朝吉博士、梁文福博士、柯木林、李煜传和韩劳达。历届团体奖得主包括啸涛篆刻书画会、九年剧场、南华潮剧社、青少儿广播演艺组、实践剧场、鼎艺团、新加坡作家协会和湘灵音乐社。

评委会主席林任君在记者会上提到，本届共收到21份提名，其中11份为个人提名，其余10份为团体提名，首次提名者有8份。

2027年新加坡华族文化贡献奖即日起接受提名，截止日期为2026年9月30日傍晚5时。更多详情与提名可至singaporeccc.org.sg/zh-hans/sccca。

凯恩看好PSG能在欧冠决赛压倒阿申纳夺冠。 （路透社）

（慕尼黑综合电）拜仁慕尼黑前锋哈里·凯恩（Harry Kane）说，巴黎圣日耳曼（PSG）完全有理由被视为欧冠决赛对阵阿申纳（Arsenal）的夺冠热门。但他坦言，在目睹夺冠梦想被主帅恩里克（Enrique）领军的球队终结后，他甚至可能不会观看这场决赛。

在新加坡时间星期四（5月7日）凌晨进行的半决赛次回合中，尽管这名英格兰队长在伤停补时阶段破门，帮助德甲冠军在安联球场1比1战平，但PSG最终仍以6比5的总比分惊险晋级。

这让凯恩错失了在决赛中面对老对手阿申纳的机会。欧冠决赛将于5月30日在匈牙利布达佩斯举行，届时PSG将力争成为欧冠改制后，继皇家马德里（Real Madrid）以来首支成功卫冕的球队。

凯恩受访时说：“我不知道（会不会看决赛），这取决于我在哪里，现在我只是感到失望。这让人难以接受，两回合中我们本有很多机会改写结局。我们梦想赢得所有奖杯，我们也确实有这个实力，正因如此才更感痛苦。”

炮轰裁判双标 怒斥点球争议

凯恩也对比赛中的判罚表达了强烈不满，尤其是上半场主裁判平海罗（Pinheiro）拒绝了拜仁因PSG中场内维斯（Neves）手球犯规而提出的罚球申诉。

凯恩说：“看过比赛的人都会得出同样的结论。上周那种球判了手球，这周却不判，这简直是疯了。PSG本应吃到一张明显的第二张黄牌，但裁判改变了主意，也许是现场气氛影响了他。”

对于即将到来的巅峰对决，曾效力托特纳姆（Tottenham）的凯恩虽然承认阿申纳有机会夺得队史首冠，但更看好PSG，“这非常势均力敌，两支球队的球风完全不同，但都非常强大。PSG作为卫冕冠军，理应被视为夺冠大热门，但这将是一场水平相当的对决。足球的美妙之处就在于，任何细节都可能决定最后的胜负。”

Wildlife agents can kill bears from helicopters to protect caribou in Alaska, judge rules

May 7, 2026 / 6:50 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity, sought to halt the program while their lawsuit challenging its legality plays out. But Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said the groups had failed to show that the state acted without a reasonable basis for approving the plan.

The timing of the ruling is important: The Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska is expected to begin calving soon. The babies are particularly susceptible to being eaten by bears or wolves.

State officials see the bear-killing program as important to helping the caribou herd recover. The herd, which once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters from dozens of communities, peaked at around 190,000 animals.

But the caribou population began declining in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and by 2019 numbered around 13,000 animals. Last year, the population was estimated around 16,280, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. Hunting has not been allowed since 2021.

The state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, plus 11 more last year, according to the conservation groups’ lawsuit. According to the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, 99 bears, including 20 cubs, were killed by the state from the air in less than a month in 2023.

The groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game last year authorized reinstating the program without key data on the bears’ population numbers and sustainability.

Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement the groups want to see the caribou herd thrive, “but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”

“We need to stop this disgraceful waste of the state’s limited resources and work based on science to protect all our wildlife,” Freeman said.

State attorneys have said that officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers in adopting the plan. Alaska is home to an estimated 100,000 black bears and 30,000 brown bears.

“The herd has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” they wrote in a court filing.

The Alaska Department of Law welcomed Zeman’s decision “to allow this management program to continue during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said by email. The department represents the board and Department of Fish and Game.

“Continuing this program makes sense in light of the scientific record,” Curtis said.

Caribou traverse a ridgeline on Aug. 11, 2025, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Becky Bohrer/AP

Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email.

The program has been the subject of ongoing litigation. A judge last year, in a case previously brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process in which it was adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability.

Emergency regulations implemented by the state were later struck down. A subsequent public process was announced surrounding plans to reauthorize the program, which the board did last July.

According to the Alaska Wildlife Association, a group of state biologists in 2020 determined that the main reasons for the herd’s decline were disease and a lack of food and “bear predation isn’t even in the top three identified causes of mortality among the Mulchatna herd.”

“We are concerned that big game management in Alaska has become a process whereby population objectives for wild ungulates are established based on public demand rather than on habitat capacity, promoting unsustainable management,” the alliance says in a position paper.

重庆市副市长、公安局长张安疆离世

2026年5月7日 19:55 / 联合早报

中国重庆市副市长、公安局长张安疆离世，享年55岁。

重庆日报客户端星期四（5月7日）引述“重庆市张安疆同志治丧工作小组”消息称，张安疆“因突发疾病经抢救无效，于2026年5月7日10时52分不幸离世，享年55岁”。

公开资料显示，张安疆1971年2月生，曾长期在甘肃工作，历任甘肃省发改委固定资产投资处处长，甘肃省武威市副市长，甘肃省发改委副主任，甘肃省酒泉市委副书记、市长等职。

2019年12月，张安疆南下跨省出任重庆市潼南区代理区长，2021年4月升任区委书记。他在2023年1月出任重庆市副市长，后于2024年2月任重庆市公安局党委书记、局长。

Woman dies while competing in 250-mile Arizona ultramarathon

May 7, 2026 / 7:54 AM EDT / CBS/AP

A participant in a grueling 250-mile ultramarathon on trails across northern Arizona died Tuesday after experiencing a medical emergency, race organizers and local law enforcement said.

First responders attended to a woman in her 40s who was participating in the race and collapsed at a trailhead in the Groom Creek community south of Prescott, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paul Wick said on Wednesday.

Cocodona 250 ultramarathon codirector Erika Snyder confirmed the death and declined to provide further details at the request of the runner’s relatives.

“Please keep the runner’s family, friends, fellow runners, volunteers, and first responders in your thoughts,” the event’s organizers posted on social media. “We are deeply grateful to this beautiful community. The race is going to continue in their honor. We ask all participants and crew to carry the memory of this runner with you on the trail.”

Ultramarathons can test the boundaries of human endurance, but deaths are very rare relative to the total number of participants in a sport that has in recent years grown in popularity around the world, with races hosted from Death Valley to the Himalayas. Last year, a Michigan woman collapsed and died during a 100-mile race in the southwest Colorado mountains.

The Cocodona is one of the toughest ultramarathons in the U.S., featuring a course that rises more than a mile in elevation – twice – while passing through Sedona from its start in Black Canyon City. Runners have 125 hours to complete the race, which links some of Arizona’s most iconic trails, according to CBS affiliate KPHO.

This year’s race started Monday before dawn, and the overall winner, Rachel Entrekin, finished Wednesday afternoon to a roaring crowd in Flagstaff while setting a course record.

A crowd gathers to watch runners finish the Cocodona 250 ultramarathon in downtown Flagstaff, Ariz., on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Cheyanne Mumphrey / AP

Organizers say they’re moving to a lottery registration system next year because of the race’s popularity.

Aid stations provide opportunities to eat, hydrate and adjust equipment, with a team of medical professional stationed across the course, Snyder said. Racers often nap on the ground along the way in a race that can last five days.

In 2021, freezing rain and high winds were linked to the deaths of 21 runners at an ultramarathon through mountains in northwestern China.

Efforts to game the 2026 election intensify as Republicans draw new maps

2026-05-07 4:00 AM ET / CNN Politics

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf

State Senator Randy McNally, lieutenant governor of Tennessee, on the floor of the Senate during a special legislative session at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, on Tuesday, May 5. Tennessee is considering redrawing its House congressional map following a key Supreme Court decision last week, a move expected to bolster Republicans ahead of what are forecasted to be tough midterm elections in November.

Madison Thorn/Bloomberg/Getty Images

While the national mood seems to be veering away from President Donald Trump as his popularity drops, Republicans are trying to squeeze every possible advantage out of a recent Supreme Court decision.

Multiple states are still in the process of tearing up and drawing new congressional maps, or waiting on courts to have their say, creating an unprecedented amount of flux in American democracy six months before Election Day.

Candidates don’t know where to run. Lawmakers are seeing their districts carved up. Voters don’t know which district they live in.

An election system in chaos

► On Sunday, Trump issued a directive on social media for Republican-led states to capitalize on last month’s Supreme Court decision upending the Voting Rights Act and erase multiple majority-Black districts across the South after the high court made it more difficult to challenge future maps for racial discrimination. Multiple efforts were already underway.

► Tennessee Republicans unveiled a map Wednesday to carve up the state’s only district represented by a Democrat and disperse its majority-Black voters into surrounding GOP-represented districts. While the Tennessee primary isn’t until August, candidate filing closed back in March and the new map required the legislature to repeal its own longstanding ban on mid-decade redistricting.

► Louisiana’s governor declared an emergency to postpone the state’s congressional primaries even though some voters had already cast mail-in ballots. They will likely need to vote again if state officials Republicans successfully change maps to advantage Republicans.

“We cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the ‘convenience’ of State Legislatures. If they have to vote twice, so be it,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social.

► Florida Republicans had drawn new maps in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed them into law Monday even though voters in 2010 expressly forbade the redrawing of maps for partisan gain.

► Similar efforts are underway in Alabama and Mississippi, but not in more closely divided states such as Georgia, where the outgoing Republican governor acknowledged that voting is already underway.

► In Virginia, where Democrats dominate, there are candidates who don’t know which district they’ll be running in as the state Supreme Court considers whether to allow redrawn maps blessed earlier this year by state voters.

State Representative London Lamar, a Democrat from Tennessee, holds a copy of the proposed congressional map for Tennessee during a special legislative session at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Wednesday, May 6.

Madison Thorn/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Who will win the redistricting war? Republicans are ahead and gaining

CNN has been tracking the redistricting war. So far, Republicans have enacted new congressional maps in five states, targeting 13 US House seats currently held by Democrats. New maps in California, Utah and Virginia could flip as many as 10 seats for Democrats.

That means that Republicans have drawn themselves a net of three new GOP-friendly seats so far, but more are now expected. Each state’s situation is different, but new maps in Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina could push that total up to seven or eight. Mississippi has already held its primary, but there are calls for it, too, to redraw its map.

The GOP advantage could grow beyond 10 if the Virginia Supreme Court agrees with Republican lawmakers and invalidates on procedural grounds a voter initiative that passed last month.

Accusations of partisanship at the US Supreme Court

Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents a soon-to-be sliced and diced Memphis district, accused the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority of handing a seat to Trump.

“They knew what they were doing,” he said on CNN Tuesday. “They’re trying to give him additional congressional seats throughout this country without any consideration of how it affects a large, great city like Memphis.”

Justices moved Monday to make sure the decision took place in time for Louisiana to postpone its primary and draw new districts. The high court also stood in the way of New York redrawing its maps to erase a Republican district on Staten Island earlier this year. On the other hand, justices allowed California’s new maps, gerrymandered to help Democrats, to take effect.

Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts attends US President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Election officials will have to pivot

In Louisiana, ballots were already in the mail when the primary was postponed. In Mississippi, where the primary has already taken place, a second primary would have to be held if maps are changed. In Alabama, there’s talk of delaying the primary from June to August or potentially holding a second primary for redrawn districts.

A ‘race to the bottom’

“This is not how it should be,” Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama told CNN’s Laura Coates on Monday. He thinks courts, including the Supreme Court, will ultimately protect his district.

The redistricting war, he said, is absolutely evidence that Trump is trying to rig the election.

“He’s grasping for straws; he’s doing everything that he can to ensure that Republicans stay in power,” Figures said. But the ultimate result of the redistricting war, he said, will be a “race to the bottom” that benefits no one.

“This whole attitude of ‘let’s just minimize the voice of our political adversaries,’” Figures said, “if this was the attitude back during the Constitutional Convention, we never would have left out with the United States of America. … We have to have that realization and come to the table and be Americans at the end of the day.”

Voters don’t always behave as expected

It’s possible that either party, by trying to draw itself new seats, makes previously safe districts competitive and ends up shooting itself in the foot, or at least doesn’t win all its new targets. New GOP-friendly maps in Florida and Texas, for instance, assume that gains Trump made among Latino voters in 2024 will hold this year. That’s a gamble.

Special elections held since 2024 have indicated a potential swing toward Democrats that could overtake any efforts to game the system.

A voter casts a ballot at a polling station in the East Liverpool City Hall during the Ohio voting primaries on May 5, in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

There is some optimism the system will hold

Trump seems to know there is a backlash brewing, which helps explain his efforts to change the system.

“A president who is feeling confident going into the elections does not do these things,” according to David Becker, founder of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, which works with state election officials to build confidence in the US democratic system.

But for all the uncertainty caused by the unprecedented redistricting war, Becker said the guardrails of the election system are holding. Once legislatures settle on maps, voters will be able to vote for candidates and have those votes accurately counted.

“The fact that election officials out there are having to work so hard just to do their basic job, just to hold on to a functioning democracy, that’s not great,” he said. “It’s really bad, but it’s working.”

Where Trump has failed so far

The redistricting war Trump demanded is only one of multiple things the president has promoted expressly to help his party stave off a blue wave. Some of Trump’s wackier ideas (or jokes?) — about canceling the November midterm, for instance — would be unconstitutional and outside his power.

Other efforts to change how elections operate have failed, so far, in Congress and the courts. Trump could not muster a necessary Senate supermajority to impose new nationwide voter ID rules. His executive orders to impose new rules and get the US Postal Service involved in denying mail-in voting have met resistance in the courts. It’s also not at clear that new restrictions that put up barriers to voting would help Republicans, since the parties have realigned in many ways, and some voters who back Trump and the GOP are less engaged and might opt not to take part in midterm elections.