Ceasefire in Gaza tested; Voting Rights Act in Court: NPR

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Today’s best stories

Israel says it will retaliate if Hamas does not hand over more bodies of deceased hostages. Israel closed a crucial border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Wednesday, cutting in half the amount of aid allowed in in retaliation for what it called a delay in receiving the hostages’ bodies. This comes after Hamas and Israel exchanged hostages and surviving prisoners in the first phase of a ceasefire deal against the Gaza war. President Trump also said there could be violence if Hamas does not surrender.

• 🎧 Hamas handed over seven bodies of hostages, but there were 28 in total in Gazatells NPR’s Daniel Estrin First. Israel says it did not receive the bodies of the hostages as quickly as it hoped. Estrin says Israel does not want to break the ceasefire agreement before recovering the bodies, and it is unclear how many bodies are under the rubble or missing. Israel carries out autopsies on the returned bodies. One family said their son was killed by Israeli bombing while in captivity. The ceasefire remains fragile on the sixth day. There were reports of Israeli gunfire killing at least six people yesterday and more gunfire today. Hamas is also waging a bloody power battle in Gaza against rival clans.

It’s day 15 of the federal government shutdownand Republicans and Democrats appear no closer to agreement on reopening the government. The Trump administration indicates it is prepared for a prolonged standoff, while congressional leaders say there are no active negotiations. Last night, the Senate failed to advance a short-term funding bill for the eighth time.

• 🎧 In past shutdowns, the possibility of the military not being paid has put pressure on Congress.but that’s not an option this time because the White House is able to reallocate funds at the moment to pay for them, says NPR’s Sam Gringlas. There could be layoffs, especially as Trump has pledged to lay off more federal workers during the shutdown. However, Democrats say they are steadfast in their position to negotiate an extension of the expiration of health care subsidies. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says he doesn’t believe the administration when it says the shutdown is the reason it’s laying off federal employees. Gringlas says that even as the impacts of the shutdown worsen, an end to the standoff may not come soon.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments today in a case that challenges the Voting Rights Act’s last major provision. The case centers on a lower court ruling that determined that the previous version of Louisiana’s congressional map illegally diluted black voting power. The move led the state to create a second majority-black district. However, critics who say race was overemphasized in this decision are now challenging the new map.

• 🎧 The court will examine whether the state’s creation of a second majority district violates the guarantees of the right to vote outlined in the 14th and 15th Amendments and the power of Congress to enforce that mandate, says NPR’s Nina Totenberg. Louisiana has a 30% black population, but there is only 1 in 6 congressional districts where African Americans have a realistic chance of electing the candidate of their choice. So the state drew a second majority-black district last year. Louisiana has since changed its position and now claims that the redistricting provisions of the Voting Rights Act are unconstitutional and discriminatory. Major provisions of the law were removed over time, except for an exception intended to ensure that minority voters were not excluded from the process of drawing new congressional districts.

Deep dive

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website features a banner and pop-up message blaming the “radical left” for the federal government shutdown.

Screenshot/HUD.gov

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Screenshot/HUD.gov

The Trump administration blames Democrats for the government shutdown and has made it public by sharing the message through internal federal agency communications and state agency websites. As the shutdown began, a bright red banner and pop-up message appeared on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website, reading: “The radical left in Congress has shut down the government.” HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need. » This is just one example of the messages reported by federal employees. Experts have suggested that these communications could violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits executive branch officials from engaging in most political activities while on duty or in federal buildings.

• ➡️ The law prohibits any communication containing a plea in opposition to a political party. While a reference to Democrats alone probably doesn’t violate the law, explicitly blaming their party for the shutdown may, said Michael Fallings, a partner at Tully Rinckey, an employment law firm.
• ➡️ The messages seen did not advocate particular candidates or influence elections, but they violate the spirit of the law, said Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. During the stress of a shutdown, Sherman says the role of agency leadership is to provide nonpartisan service to its constituents.
• ➡️ The messages during this shutdown differ from those used by previous administrations. In 2013, President Barack Obama wrote a letter thanking federal employees for their service and chastised Congress for failing to approve a spending plan, without assigning blame.

Learn more about why some ethics experts are sounding the alarm on the administration using this type of language to describe the shutdown.

Listening of the day

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and novelist Nicholas Sparks reunited to work on their new project, Staywhich is both a novel and a film based on a story they collaborated on. The book is currently out and the film will be released in theaters this October. The two men were to work together on The notebook when Shyamalan was hired to direct the film, but he refused to work on what would become his breakout film, The sixth sense (1999). The wait led to their unique experience: Stay. In the story, successful architect Tate Donovan arrives on Cape Cod to design a summer home for a client. Donovan was recently released from treatment for severe depression. He meets a young woman who challenges his point of view. Shyamalan and Sparks say this experience worked for them because they are very in tune with each other and trust each other’s work. Morning editionLeila Fadel spoke with the two to learn more about this unique collaboration. Watch their interview here. Listen to Shyamalan and Sparks describe the collaboration or read the transcript.

3 things to know before you leave

D’Angelo, seen here in concert in Chicago in 2000.

Paul Natkin/WireImage/Getty Images

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Paul Natkin/WireImage/Getty Images

1. D’Angelo, the R&B singer who helped pioneer the neo-soul subgenre, has died at the age of 51 from cancer, according to a statement from his family published by several media outlets.
2. NPR’s word of the week, “broadcast,” dates back centuries and has its roots in agriculture, not radio or television. The word took on a new meaning with the rise of radio in the 1920s.
3. Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the White House yesterday, a little more than a month after Kirk was shot and killed at an event in Orem, Utah.

This newsletter was published by Suzanne Nuyen.