NPR News: 05-15-2026 11PM EDT

The episode covers a series of late-day developments in national politics, agriculture markets, and sports. Supreme Court action on redistricting, the absence of a concrete U.S.-China trade agreement, and renewed plans for a presidential sculpture garden form the central threads, while stock declines and a golf tournament provide additional updates.

Virginia Redistricting Map Blocked by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court declined without explanation to let Virginia use a new congressional map approved by voters in an April referendum. That map would have given Democrats an edge in all but one of the state's districts. Democrats had framed the map as a response to earlier Republican-led redistricting efforts and to a prior Supreme Court ruling that weakened a key section of the Voting Rights Act. Virginia's state Supreme Court had already invalidated the referendum on procedural grounds, ruling that legislators failed to follow requirements in the state constitution. The one-sentence federal order leaves the earlier state-court decision in place.

Grain Markets React to Absence of China Trade Deal