NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-08-2026 12PM EDT

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi saying. President Trump and the GOP are notching another win in their campaign to prevail in this year's midterm elections and hold control of the U.S. Congress. In Virginia, the state Supreme Court has struck down a voter-approved referendum that would have allowed Democrats to redraw the Commonwealth's congressional map. In a 4-3 ruling, the court sided with Republicans who sued on grounds a state-legislative. legislature made procedural errors in how it put the question of a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Today's ruling helps a GOP boost their chances for retaining U.S. congressional control through their own redistricting efforts largely across the U.S. South. Tennessee is the first state to redraw its congressional map after the U.S. Supreme Court last week weakened protections against racial

discrimination in redistricting under the Voting Rights Act. BLN's Mariana Bacayahu says the governor has signed a new map into law. The biggest change is to the city of Memphis, a majority black district that up until last week had been protected under part of the Voting Rights Act. Now the city will be split into three different congressional districts, and it means all nine of the state's U.S. House seats are more likely to go to Republicans. Mariana Bacayahu reporting. Facebook and Instagram parent company MEDA is challenging Britain's

media regulator offcom, Meta told London's High Court yesterday. It is opposed to how fees and penalties under the Online Safety Act are calculated. A murder trial in Oregon is raising questions about digital privacy. The suspect wants tech giant meta to hand over Instagram records, he says, will prove that he is innocent. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Troy Brenelson reports the state Supreme Court heard arguments in the case this week. David A.on Urbano is charged with second-degree murder in a suspected gang killing outside Salem, Oregon. His attorney, Ryan Peck, is seeking Instagram messages between a witness and the teen he shot and killed. There's no meaningful dispute that META has Instagram messages

and records that go to the heart of Relator's theory of self-defense. If the state wanted to, it could get those records from META with relative, Mehta's attorneys say users' data is protected by the Stored Communications Act. That law allows them to divulge records to government entities, but they say criminal defendants don't qualify. Access to social media records has also recently been at the center of cases in Washington, D.C., and California. For NPR news, I'm Troy Brennelson in Portland. U.S. gas prices are down slightly. Average price, $4.54. It's NPR.

The Labor Department says U.S. employers added more jobs than expected last month. NPRs, Scott Horsley, reports the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. U.S. employers added 115,000 jobs in April, more than forecasters predicted, but fewer than the month before. Job gains for February and March were revised down by a total of 16,000 jobs. Job gains in April were concentrated in health care, retail, restaurants, and transportation. The federal government continued to cut jobs. That's NPR Scott Horsley reporting. A global cyber attack on a study program used by universities and lower-level schools have disrupted education programs for thousands of students. Bruce Convizer reports from New Jersey that the attack comes at a particularly bad time for university students. Professors and students depend on the management system known as Canvas for course notes, assignments, and grades, among other things. The attack could hardly come at a worse time. for university students gearing up for final exams and finishing term papers. The program is used by more than 40% of universities across the country,

including Rutgers University, the top state school here in New Jersey. The attack was carried out by hackers known as shiny hunters. It is not immediately clear what the hackers want, but typically they hold the data and access to the program for ransom. Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Michigan are among the countless colleges across the country, hamstrung by the attack. For NPR news, I'm Bruce Confeiser in Greenbrook, New Jersey. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.