About 200 are gathered in the rotunda for a rally supporting Democrats as Republicans prepare to approve new congressional maps on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025.

U.S.-NATO MEETING: U.S. and NATO military officials will meet today to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as the White House works to arrange a summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Governor Gavin Newsom has rallied enough support from local Democratic leaders to plow ahead with a controversial initiative to redraw California’s congressional maps. A key next task: tapping the state’s wealthy to help sell the plan to voters.

The Texas State Capitol was cleared of visitors Tuesday evening and closed to the public after a social media threat, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Lodi Mayor Cameron Bregman is sounding the alarm over the newly redrawn California congressional maps that would cut his city into three separate congressional districts.

Hurricane Erin may not be forecast to make landfall, but the sprawling Category 2 storm is still going to impact much of the East Coast as it tracks north this week. On Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency to prepare for the life-threatening rip currents and storm surge expected to affect the coastal region.

California is a crucial battlefront in a coast-to-coast political civil war over congressional redistricting, a war that Republicans nationally appear better positioned to win.

CAP-AND-TRADE UNVEILED: The Assembly is proposing modest reforms to the state’s signature cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, according to draft legislative language circulating today, our Camille von Kaenel scooped for Pro subscribers.