41s ago 11.25 BST California voters will decide in November whether to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more US House seats next year, after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at president Donald Trump’s urging. California lawmakers voted mostly along party lines Thursday to approve legislation calling for the special election. Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, who has led the campaign in favor of the map, then quickly signed it – the latest step in a tit-for-tat gerrymandering battle, AP reported. “This is not something six weeks ago that I ever imagined that I’d be doing,” Newsom said at a press conference, pledging a campaign for the measure that would reach out to Democrats, Republicans and independent voters. “This is a reaction to an assault on our democracy in Texas.” Republicans, who have filed a lawsuit and called for a federal investigation into the plan, promised to fight the measure at the ballot box as well. California Assemblyman James Gallagher, the Republican minority leader, said Trump was “wrong” to push for new Republican seats elsewhere, contending the president was just responding to Democratic gerrymandering in other states. But he warned that Newsom’s approach, which the governor has dubbed “fight fire with fire,” was dangerous. “You move forward fighting fire with fire and what happens?” Gallagher asked. “You burn it all down.” Texas’ redrawn maps still need a final vote in the Republican-controlled state Senate, which advanced the plan out of a committee Thursday but did not bring the measure to the floor. The Senate was scheduled to meet again Friday. Share

22m ago 11.04 BST Environmental group hails ‘landmark victory’ after Alligator Alcatraz closure ruling Environmental groups have welcomed the ordered closure of the Trump administration’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail within 60 days. In her 82-page order, published in the US district court’s southern district of Florida on Friday, judge Kathleen Williams determined the facility was causing severe and irreparable damage to the fragile Florida Everglades. The shock ruling by district court judge Kathleen Williams builds on a temporary restraining order she issued two weeks ago halting further construction work at the remote tented camp, which has attracted waves of criticism for harsh conditions, abuse of detainees and denial of due process as they await deportation. “This is a landmark victory for the Everglades and countless Americans who believe this imperilled wilderness should be protected, not exploited,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which mounted the legal challenge. “It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government – and there are consequences for ignoring them”. Judge Williams also ruled that no more detainees were to be brought to the facility while it was being wound down. She also noted that a plan to develop the site on which the jail was built into a massive tourist airport was rejected in the 1960s because of the harm it would have caused the the land and delicate ecosystem. “Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” she wrote. “This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.” No further construction at the site can take place, she ruled, and there must be no further increase in the number of detainees currently held there, estimated to be about 700. After the 60-day period, all construction materials, fencing, generators and fixtures that made the site a detention camp must be removed. Read my colleague Richard Luscombe’s latest report here: Federal judge orders closure of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration jail Read more Share