WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.

The court’s order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the GOP.

In recent days, the justices have sided with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana who hope to redo their congressional maps to produce more GOP-leaning seats following the court’s voting rights decision.

But the Virginia situation was different, stemming from a 4-3 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month.

The state court found that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in Virginia’s general election last fall.

The Supreme Court typically doesn’t intervene in state court proceedings unless they present an issue of federal law. Virginia Democrats had hoped to persuade the justices that the Virginia court misread federal law and Supreme Court precedent that hold that, even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.

Virginia’s amendment had been intended as a response to Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and to blunt a new map in Florida that just became law. Once the Virginia amendment passed, it briefly turned the nationwide redistricting scramble into a draw between the two parties.

That was unraveled by the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision.

The state’s attorney general, Democrat Jay Jones, slammed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, saying it was another example of what he described as a national attack on voting rights and the rule of law.

“Let’s be clear about what is happening. Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts are systematically and unabashedly tilting power away from the people for Trump’s political gain,” Jones said in a statement issued late Friday night.

The state’s top Democrats had disagreed about whether it was even too late for help from the Supreme Court. “Time grows short, but it is not yet too late,” lawyers for the Democratic leaders of the legislature as well as the state told the justices in a brief filed Friday.

A day earlier, the office of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger already had confirmed that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts established in 2021. Last month, Virginia Commissioner of Elections Steve Koski said a court order was needed by this past Tuesday to set the district lines for primary elections on Aug. 4.

Spanberger reacted to Friday’s decision by saying both courts had nullified the votes of the more than 3 million Virginians who cast ballots in the April 21 special election.

“These Virginians made their voices heard — casting their ballots in good faith to push back against a President who said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress before voters go to the polls,” she posted on her X account.

The leader of the state Republican Party said the justices made the right call.

“Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” state party chairman Jeff Ryer said. “This should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.

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Associated Press writer Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.

“Don’t put me in the same category as those two!” says Jay Lovell, taken aback as his name is mentioned in the same breath as Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.

The defender, 33, is set to join the former Liverpool and Manchester United captains in the history books on Sunday, by leading out a team at Wembley.

Lovell will captain Cockfosters, from Enfield in north London, in the FA Vase final against AFC Stoneham, based in the Hampshire town of Eastleigh.

The father-of-two always had plans to be at Wembley this weekend, though not quite like this.

Lovell is an escalator engineer from Hertfordshire and works for a company that has been responsible for installing, maintaining and upgrading the escalators at the national stadium.

It means he and his colleagues are required on site on the day of events in case there are any problems or issues.

Cockfosters beat Kent-based Punjab United 3-1 on aggregate over two legs in last month’s semi-finals to book their place in the final.

It means Lovell will no longer be reporting to Wembley as an engineer this weekend, but instead will be looking to help his team lift the FA Vase for the first time in the club’s history.

“Now that I have actually reached the final, no-one is working,” Lovell tells BBC Sport.

“All of the lads are coming to watch me. We’ve passed the job on to someone else.

“One of my bosses actually turned around and said: ‘Having a two-hour break to go and play football, are you?’ He’s had a good bit of banter with me about it.”

Fire crews are still dealing with the incident at the landfill site.

A blaze at a waste facility and fife has continued into a fifth day, as firefighters remain at the scene.

Fire crews are still dealing with the incident at the landfill site near Ladybank as of Saturday morning. The alarm was raised at about 1.35pm on Tuesday.

At the height of the incident, 12 appliances and specialist resources were dealing with the blaze. On Saturday, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said two appliances and specialist resources remained at the scene.

A spokesman said: “There is still firefighting ongoing.”

There were no reports of any casualties. Fife Council said the waste transfer and processing facility remains closed while emergency services deal with the incident.

The council said earlier: “We understand this has been a worrying incident for residents and disruptive for people travelling through the area or trying to use Ladybank Recycling Centre. Smoke is still coming from the site as the fire is brought under control, residents should continue to keep windows and doors closed if they can see or smell smoke.

“Bin collections are currently going ahead as planned and people should continue to present bins and bulky uplift items as normal. The household waste recycling centre at the site is closed due to the fire and will remain so while firefighting activity continues.

“However, the Ladybank Recycling Centre area is unaffected and will reopen as soon as the fire is out and safe access can be reinstated.”

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My nine-year-old son, Leo, hates losing. 

Over the years, there have been tears when he hasn’t won at a board game. He has threatened to quit cricket – his favourite sport – because he wasn’t the best on the day. And he is not above levelling cheating accusations at a rival team who has won fair and square. 

And in those moments, I’ve forced myself to go against the instinct every parent has: to smooth it over, tell him he’s a winner anyway, or agree with him, as a way to rescue him from the disappointment. 

Instead, I’ve always told him the truth, because it’s an important lesson for children to learn.

You won’t always be the winner. Sometimes you are the loser.

So when I saw commentator Michelle Dewberry’s viral comments about not wanting her five-year-old son to get a runner-up sticker at football training, I found myself somewhat reluctantly agreeing with her. 

Dewberry wrote on X: ‘My 5 year old boy does football training. At the end of the session they do a ‘man of the match’ type thing. My boy is always desperate to win it. He often doesn’t.’

She went on to say, ‘One of the other mums heard me & was aghast at what I said. She told me she is going to get ‘runner-up stickers’ for all the kids who don’t make it.

I said no thanks, not for my son,’ commenting that, ‘Kids need to learn that they can be the best, but they must apply themselves & dust themselves off when it doesn’t go their way. 

Dewberry isn’t wrong. Children do need to learn how to lose. 

They need to learn that things won’t always go their way – to understand that someone else might be faster, stronger, cleverer, or simply better at something than they are. 

Dewberry is also a GB news presenter and Brexiteer who is in favour of capital punishment, so as you can imagine, she’s not the first person I’d expect myself to agree with.  

I strongly feel that every child should be encouraged to take part in sports and team activities, regardless of ability. They get taught so much more than how to kick a ball or run fast. They teach teamwork, discipline, and resilience.  

Sometimes there is a player of the match.

And the other children need to learn how to support that child, congratulate them and be happy for them. That’s all part of being in a team. Not receiving a sticker or ‘runners up’ prize – I think that takes away from the child who was determined the best. 

And five isn’t too young to start learning that lesson, either.

Because if children grow up believing they should always win, or always be rewarded regardless of effort, the real world eventually becomes a very confusing place.

You won’t always get picked. You won’t always succeed. You won’t always be exceptional at everything you try. And that’s ok.

In fact, I’d argue it’s healthy.

Children should learn that effort matters more than ego. That trying your best is something to feel proud of, even if you don’t come first. That if your best isn’t good enough on one occasion, it doesn’t make you a failure as a person.

We cannot all be brilliant at everything.

But where I started to part ways with Dewberry was when the conversation drifted away from teaching kids about resilience and coping with disappointment towards something much harsher.

Her message became more about mocking sensitivity and dismissing her child’s feelings, and she suggested that people sometimes use defeat as an excuse to play the victim.

Dewberry topped her post off by stating that the country would be ‘in a better place’ if more people aligned with her worldview.  

It was once she took that turn that I think she crossed a very important line.

There is a difference between teaching resilience and demonstrating to your kids a complete lack of empathy – between saying ‘You lost, try harder next time’ and making kids feel fundamentally rubbish or weak for struggling.

Because while children absolutely need boundaries and honesty, they also need compassion. 

The healthiest adults are usually not the ones who were taught to suppress every emotion or ‘toughen up’ at all costs. They are the ones who learned how to process disappointment without feeling ashamed for having emotions in the first place.

It’s ok to lean into how children feel when they lose. It’s ok to say: ‘I see you’re disappointed,’ ‘I know that hurts,’ and ‘I understand that you wanted to win.’

That isn’t creating weakness, and it’s certainly not playing the victim. It’s teaching emotional security.

Kids need cheering on. They need support. They need to feel valued, whether they came first or last. But they do also need honesty.

The important thing about defeat is what comes next. Helping children overcome that disappointment in a healthy way rather than pretending it doesn’t exist or shaming them for feeling it.

More than 6,500 well-preserved Bronze Age items were discovered in the village

There have been many historical discoveries across Cambridgeshire, marking the importance of the county in periods of history. There are remnants of the Romans, but also from the Iron Age.

In Isleham near Ely, one of the largest ever Bronze Age discoveries was made. The Isleham Hord was a discovery of more than 6,500 pieces of worked and unworked bronze. It was found in 1959 by William Houghton and his brother Arthur. It’s thought to be the largest Bronze Age hoard ever discovered in England, as well as one of the finest.

The hoard included swords, spear-heads, arrows, axes and palstaves, as well as knives, daggers, armour and decorative equipment mainly for horses. The items are believed to date back to the late Bronze Age, which was around 1,000 BCE.

With the find being so precious, the thousands of items were handed over to different authorities. They were entrusted to St Edmundsbury Borough Council Heritage Service and the West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village near Bury St Edmunds. Other items are held by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

Besides important Bronze Age discoveries, Isleham has much more on offer. There is another standout historical site in the village – Isleham Priory Church – which is a rare surviving Norman priory church from the 12th century. The church is “surviving in a surprisingly unaltered state despite later conversion into a barn”, as stated by English Heritage.

There is also lots going on in the village, making it a great place to visit. There are a number of old pubs, including The Griffin, The Rising Sun and The Merry Monk. The village has also been the inspiration for a book. Fenwomen, written by Mary Chamberlain in 1975, is a look at the lives of rural women in the Fens during the 1970s.

Like many other villages in Cambridgeshire, Isleham has a name that is hard to pronounce. People may think it’s pronounced like Is-le-ham, however it’s pronounced like Eyez-lum.

The medical drama won’t air during its usual slot this weekend as it’s been replaced by another show.

Casualty enthusiasts face disappointment this weekend as the cherished BBC drama undergoes a scheduling shake-up.

Typically, devotees tune in on Saturday evenings, but this week there’ll be no episode on Saturday 16 May. The reason? The BBC is broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest grand final instead.

The yearly musical extravaganza goes live at 8pm with Graham Norton providing his trademark commentary, while supporters rally behind the UK’s Look Mum No Computer in hopes of securing valuable points.

While Casualty devotees will miss out on an instalment due to the programming conflict, the wait won’t be lengthy – the show returns to its usual Saturday evening slot the following week (May 23).

Presently, the enduring series has launched its fresh ‘Lethal Legacy’ boxset, which delves deeply into Flynn Byron’s (Olly Rix) military past, reports Wales Online.

Meanwhile, potential complications loom for Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) following a near-catastrophic mistake in the latest instalment.

While the popular character has been relying on opioids to cope with intense physical discomfort, she mistakenly gave a patient an excessive dose of morphine.

Yet when Matty Linlaker (Aron Julius) discovered the error, he shouldered responsibility when his father, Dylan Keogh (William Beck), confronted him about the mishap.

Subsequently, when Matty invited Stevie for a meal, she turned him down, despite mutual romantic interest between them. Right from the opening episode, the duo shared a passionate kiss behind an ambulance while discussing the death of Kim Chang (Jasmine Bayes).

However, viewers were far from thrilled by the budding romance, swiftly flocking to social media to voice their opinions on the plotline.

One viewer commented: “Can the writers stop doing this to Stevie! Sorry, but not feeling it, plus this is going to completely screw up Dylan big time, especially as he opens up to Stevie.”

Another posted: “Honestly, the worst storyline they could’ve run with.” Someone else expressed: “I’m sorry, but I don’t see this ending very well!”

One fan exclaimed: “This was just awful. Why…. WHY?!” As another remarked: “NO STEVIE ANYONE BUT HIM.” Someone else shared: “Why are you pushing these two? Nobody likes them together.”

While one person wrote: “Definitely not liking this relationship, he should have said it was Stevie, which was likely down to the meds. If she doesn’t know, then she may make a similar mistake. I hope we aren’t going to see a pain med reliance/addiction storyline. Feel like that’s been done several times now.”

Casualty is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Perched on a small hill 89 metres above the West Lancashire plain, four miles west of Wigan and roughly halfway between Liverpool and Preston, this ancient village has been going quietly about its business since the Normans recorded it in the Domesday Book.

Right now, it rewards a proper look.

It has a church with a monastic secret

The Parish Church of St Thomas the Martyr on School Lane is the kind of building that makes you stop and ask questions.

Roby Mill, Fifteens@The Fox (Image: David Dixon)

It began life not as a parish church at all, but as the church of a Benedictine priory, founded in 1319 by Sir Robert de Holland, secretary to the Earl of Lancaster, and dedicated to the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury.

The priory was the largest and last of four Benedictine monasteries founded in Lancashire.

When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the priory was demolished but the church was spared, meaning that what you walk into today is essentially the nave of a medieval monastery, the aisles and nave originally serving as the chancel, housing the altar and choir.

It’s now a Grade I listed building. You don’t need to be religious to find that history quietly remarkable.

The village centre is a time warp in the best possible sense

Climb up from the station and into the old village, and the cobbled streets with steep gradients bring you to an abrupt halt.

This is not a village that has been spruced up for a lifestyle magazine. The stone terraces and old lanes sit under the shadow of the church tower in a way that has barely changed in outline for centuries.

It’s a proper Lancashire hilltop village, and it knows it.

The countryside around it is seriously underrated

Beacon Country Park sits just on the edge of the village, over 300 acres of rolling countryside spread across the slopes of Ashurst Beacon, with wildflower meadows, woodland and panoramic views across most of Lancashire to the west and the West Pennine Moors to the east.

It has held Green Flag status since 2007, and there’s a licensed café and bar on site.

For something quieter, Dean Wood is a semi-natural ancient woodland that follows the course of Dean Brook between Up Holland and Orrell, 77 acres of mature trees and seasonal flora managed by West Lancashire’s countryside rangers.

Abbey Lakes, on the village’s border with Orrell, is a wildlife haven named after the ruined abbey whose lakes once served the priory.

On the edge of the village, the derelict St Joseph’s College is hard to miss, a sprawling former Roman Catholic seminary that closed in the 1980s and has been empty ever since. Today, its towers and boarded‑up windows give the hillside a slightly gothic edge, a stark contrast to the neat stone cottages below.

The food and drink are better than you’d expect

The Fox at Roby Mill, a short walk from the village, is the standout option — an 18th-century country pub with exposed stone, wooden beams and real fires, serving a menu built around locally sourced produce.

It’s been rated the number one restaurant in Upholland on TripAdvisor for good reason.

If you’re after something a little grander, Holland Hall is a 17th-century Grade II listed manor house on Lafford Lane with a dog-friendly pub in its grounds that does Sunday roasts on the terrace looking out over the countryside.

It’s straightforward to reach

Upholland has its own railway station on the Kirkby–Wigan line, with direct services to Wigan Wallgate in around 14 minutes and connections toward Liverpool (via Kirkby, around 40–50 minutes).

If you’re driving, the village is just off the A577 between Skelmersdale and Wigan, with parking in the village centre.

And if you want more…

Beacon Country Park connects to a wider network of walks that take in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath. Cedar Farm at Mawdesley, a creative hub with independent shops, a café and regular events, is a 15-minute drive south. Rufford Old Hall is not much further.

Have you visited Up Holland? What would you recommend doing? Let us know in the comments…

Alex Harvey, a postgraduate history student at the University of York, will get the summer series of lectures at Malton Museum underway with ‘Yorkshire in the ‘Dark Ages’: What happened after the Romans left?’.

Alex, who specialises in Scandinavian York, has written for several academic journals and magazines, such as Early Medieval England, and is the author of Forgotten Vikings: New Approaches To The Viking Age.

In this lecture, Alex will explore the shadowy period between Roman Britain and the dawn of the Anglo-Saxons, which saw both change and continuity.

Although the Romans vacated, their architecture remained in York and Malton, repurposed or abandoned entirely, just as wholly new dynasties and kingdoms were formed from the ruins of the former empire.

Yorkshire is home to many post-Roman realms, and it is through archaeology, such as the many finds in Malton Museum, that we can reveal these hidden histories.

Alex’s most recent book is ‘Little Kingdoms: An A-Z of Early Medieval Britain,’ which is the basis of this lecture, reveals a complex landscape of diverse people, kingdoms, and stories in the ‘Dark Ages.’ It will be available to purchase on the night.

Through a desire to disseminate complex academic theory and writing, Alex continually seeks to make history more accessible, especially more obscure elements, and present his research in an entertaining and engaging manner. Commended for being an excellent speaker, it promises to be a fascinating lecture.

The lecture starts at 7pm on Thursday, May 21, in the Assembly Rooms, Yorkersgate, Malton with access through Malton Museum.

Doors open at 6.30 pm, and refreshments will be available.

Tickets are £10 per person and can be purchased through the Malton Museum website – https://www.maltonmuseum.co.uk/online-booking/

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers on New York’s Long Island Rail Road are on strike, union officials said early Saturday, paralyzing the busiest commuter rail system in North America.

Labor unions representing about half the system’s workers announced the walkout after negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ended Friday without a new contract. The five unions, which represent about half the system’s 7,000 workers, including locomotive engineers, machinists and signalmen, weren’t legally allowed to go on strike until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Kevin Sexton of the National Vice President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said no new negotiations have been scheduled.

“We’re far apart at this point,” Sexton said. “We are truly sorry that we are in this situation.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has urged LIRR riders to work from during the walkout as the MTA plans to provide free but limited shuttle buses during the work day rush hours geared toward essential workers.

In a statement she blamed the strike on union leadership.

“Commuters are dealing with unnecessary dysfunction and thousands of union LIRR workers are being forced to go without a paycheck because of decisions made by a small group of union leaders,” Hochul said. “I stand with LIRR riders and will fight to preserve the long term stability of the MTA.”

Dispute over wages

Both sides said the fight was over wage increases and health care premiums.

Details on exactly where each side stood late Friday weren’t released, but the union had gone into the talks demanding a total raise of 16% over four years, saying it was needed to help workers keep up with inflation.

The MTA has argued that the union’s initial demands would lead to fare increases. Lieber said that while the MTA had met the pay demands, it had asked for new hires to the LIRR to pay higher health care premiums to offset some costs. The union rejected that idea.

Commuters brace for the worst

Susanne Alberto, a personal trainer from Long Island, said she has already made plans with her Manhattan clients to hold virtual sessions in the event of a shutdown.

She said the union likely has the upper hand.

“The MTA is going to cave, and they know that,” Alberto said. “Why don’t they just do it now instead of waiting until virtually millions of people get inconvenienced?”

Udle, the electrician, said he will likely use his vacation days rather than navigate the “nightmare” of commuting into Manhattan if the rail service shuts down.

A union member, he sympathized with the unions’ affordability concerns, but he said he didn’t agree with their strong-arm tactics.

“I get it, the cost of living is going up and stuff like that,” Udle said while waiting at Penn Station for a train home. “But they shouldn’t hold everybody hostage to do it. There’s a better way. You’re affecting a lot of other people.”

A strike was temporarily averted in September when President Donald Trump’s administration agreed to help with negotiations. Those efforts ended without a deal, giving both sides 60 days — ending 12:01 a.m. Saturday — to again try to resolve their differences before the union is legally allowed to go on strike or the agency could lock out workers.

LIRR workers last went on strike in 1994, for about two days.

Workers on the commuter rail system connecting Manhattan to New Jersey, New Jersey Transit, went on strike last year. It lasted three days.

___

The first reference to the rail system has been updated to correct to Long Island Rail Road, from Long Island Railroad.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

The final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 takes place today in Vienna, Austria, as Ireland and RTÉ boycott the event over Israel’s inclusion

Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan has said the competition cannot portray itself as a “celebration of unity and peace” while the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “deepens”.

The grand finale of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is taking place today in Vienna, Austria.

Ireland and RTÉ have withdrawn from this year’s competition over its inclusion of Israel alongside Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.

Charlie, who secured victory for Ireland in 1994 performing alongside Paul Harrington, has aligned himself with ActionAid Ireland in condemning Eurovision and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

He said: “Three years into genocide in Gaza and a 60- year-long illegal occupation of Palestine, Israel continues to compete in the Eurovision as if nothing is happening. The Eurovision Song Contest cannot continue to present itself as a celebration of unity, peace and shared European values while ignoring what is happening in Palestine,” reports the Irish Mirror.

“This is not business as usual. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza deepens. Children have been killed. Families have been wiped out. Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps have been attacked. And Palestinians are being starved and displaced before the eyes of the world. Silence and inaction are complicity.” ActionAid Ireland has additionally urged the Government to demand accountability from Israel, press for EU action on Palestine, and swiftly enact the long-stalled Occupied Territories Bill, which would prohibit trade with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

Karol Balfe, CEO of ActionAid Ireland, stated: “The hypocrisy over Eurovision is staggering. Israel has killed over 72,000 Palestinians, destroyed the Gaza Strip, and controls almost every aspect of life in the West Bank. Yet Israel is still part of Eurovision, even though Russia was rightly excluded from Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine. “

Charlie continued: “People across Ireland are horrified by what they are witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. They do not want genocide normalised and ignored on the European stage. Palestinians are not forgotten, and people in Ireland will continue to stand in solidarity with them.”

Rather than viewing Eurovision, ActionAid is encouraging people to arrange alternative solidarity evenings.

Suggestions include karaoke sessions, community meet-ups, artistic and painting activities showcasing Palestinian music and heritage, with people encouraged to post these online using #MyEuroVisionIs.

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