Will Weisert (2:50)

This is a president who sort of relishes going to sporting events.

Cecilia Lay (2:54)

Will Weisert is a White House reporter for the Associated Press. And was one of many journalists at Saturday's event.

Will Weisert (3:00)

And he's also president now for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America 250. And he's also got the Olympics on the World Cup. So it's easy to imagine the president going to World Cup Games, going to potentially Olympic events.

Cecilia Lay (3:16)

Trump has a busy agenda in the months ahead. Thousands are expected to attend a UFC event on the White House lawn in June, and through an executive order, Trump announced an Indy car race around the nation's capital in August. In addition to those events, Weisert says a number of Republican candidates in competitive districts might want the president at rallies and other campaign stops to help them out before the midterms. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting with the Secret Service and Homeland Security this week to discuss security measures at events the president will attend.

Will Weisert (3:49)

It's easy to imagine, for example, that if the president were going to speak outside, they might use bulletproof glass more conspicuously.

Cecilia Lay (3:56)

Right.

Will Weisert (3:56)

We might see that indoors, too. I mean, that's less common these days because everybody is screened. You all go through medical detectors before you get anywhere near the president, even in big giant ballroom, like on Saturday. But if it's something that the service sort of determines could keep him safe, or it could basically be a conspicuous way to show that there's more security presence, that's something else that we could see. Those decisions have not been made and finalized.

Cecilia Lay (4:16)

Presidents are natural campaigners, and Weisert notes that throughout history, they've often pushed back against heavy security details. Teddy Roosevelt was the first president protected by the Secret Service after his predecessor, President William McKinley, was assassinated. He famously sneaked away to hike or ride his horse in Rock Creek park in D.C. weisert says that presidents today are keen to be public figures, and that carries risk.

Will Weisert (4:41)

It's a balance because we live in a free society, right? People are allowed to attend public events, and the president wants to go to places where there are lots of people because that's part of the job. He wants to sort of be seen and be visible, and it's really just a trade off of what can you do to keep him safe, but also make sure that he's not just in a bubble in the White House all the time.

Cecilia Lay (5:08)

Politicians and lawyers have been arguing over congressional maps again as both parties rushed to secure extra seats in time for November's midterms. The US Supreme Court ruled that Texas could stick with their redrawn map that was designed to benefit Republicans. And in Virginia, the state's highest court considered a recent referendum that would deliver up to four more seats for Democrats. Last summer, President Trump pushed Republicans to launch a nationwide gerrymandering blitz to secure their narrow House majority. But it hasn't gone as planned, as many Democratic states have hurried to redraw their own maps in retaliation, potentially wiping out any Republican advantages. A lot depends on one last state, which today takes its own stab at making changes.

Gary Finow (5:52)

Florida represents the last opportunity, probably for Republicans to pick up seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Cecilia Lay (6:01)

Gary Finow is a reporter with Politico based in Tallahassee. He told us all Republican eyes are on the Sunshine State as the party tries to gain the upper hand and keep control of the House. To that end, yesterday, the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, released a proposed map that could give Republicans an additional four seats. The plan is for the state Legislature to quickly pass it and conceivably give Republicans back the lead in this tit for tat redistricting battle. But Finat said there is one challenge.

Gary Finow (6:31)

Here in Florida, unlike many other states, there actually is a ban on drawing seats for both Congress and the Legislature that are based on partisan gain or hurting or harming incumbents. So what a lot of people are wondering is, well, how does Governor DeSantis and the Republican Legislature enact a map, enact a plan that meets that goal of adding more Republican seats, but at the same time, what's the legal justification?

Cecilia Lay (7:01)

DeSantis office told Fox News that the new maps are needed because the state got shortchanged in the 2020 census. Finod said there are real questions about whether this could get resolved before the state holds its primaries in a few months.

Gary Finow (7:14)

But here's the rub. We're doing this in late April, and so is there a legal challenge that could stop this ahead of the midterms? So that's one of the things that's going to happen here is, okay, so the legislature passes this week, so how soon can you get it into court? And how can you get a judge to put a stay? There's been some suggestions that people have said, well, you could probably argue that you should keep in place the 2022 map.

Cecilia Lay (7:40)

Fine out said that if DeSantis is successful, he could try to use this move as a jumping off point for future presidential ambitions. Still others in the state have looked at recent electoral trends and wondered if these attempts might not work as planned.

Gary Finow (7:55)

There are fears among some, including consultants who work with Republicans. They have been concerned that you could have what's called a quote unquote dummy mander, meaning that a gerrymandering that backfires because in order to create these other Republican seats, you're gonna have to move Democrats into other districts. And so there have been some consultants who have warned that they think, well, you think you're going to gain seats, but you actually may not gain seats and you actually may make more seats competitive.

Cecilia Lay (8:28)

The first step of the process begins in the legislature today. For generations, visiting camp mystic has been a summer ritual for many families in Texas. In a month, the owners of the historic Christian girls camp is hoping to bring kids back for its 100th summer. But the anniversary has a tragic backdrop, arriving one year after 27 girls were killed during a flash flood on the Guadalupe river. And now its reopening has been marred by legal battles that has divided a community. Today, hearings will continue into possible failings by the family who run the camp. Some parents blame them for their daughters deaths, while others are eager to see them return.

Joshua Chaffin (9:15)

It's an incredible, almost a social experiment the way that you can have very thoughtful people on either side of this.

Cecilia Lay (9:22)

Joshua Chaffin is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who spoke to families and officials for a deeply reported piece on the camp.

Joshua Chaffin (9:29)

One group, their children will have been at the camp last year in the middle of the flood, nearly died in the flood, and they are eager to send their kids back. And then you have other people who absolutely would not. And it's very difficult to sort of discern who sits kind of in which. Camp.

Cecilia Lay (9:51)

Chaffrin reports that the Christian summer retreat is an elite institution. Some families place their daughters on the camp's waiting list as soon as they're born. It's not only known as a place to make friends, but to also build connections that might turn into a future job or access to a chosen sorority. Yet the family that operates the camp, the Eastlands, face a number of lawsuits filed by some of the parents of the girls who died last year. They accuse them of gross negligence and for prioritizing money over safety. They say that reopening the camp borders on disrespectful.

Joshua Chaffin (10:24)

A lot of the victims families felt that the eastlands hadn't really taken responsibility for the deaths of their daughters. They also believed that the eastlands were just trying to sort of move on and basically write this off as a kind of almost a biblical disaster that nobody could have prevented.

Cecilia Lay (10:45)

Earlier this month, Edward Eastland, the director of the camp, provided the most detail account of what he believed went wrong as floodwaters around the camp rose to historic levels last summer. He said that more campers could have survived if he had acted faster and that he missed flood warnings from the National Weather Service did you get a

Gary Finow (11:04)

text from the National Weather Service? No sir. Did you get an email from the National Weather Service? No sir. From anyone else warning you that a flood was imminent on July 3rd? No, sir.

Cecilia Lay (11:13)

Eastland also tearfully recounted trying to save some of the girls. His own father died in the flood trying to help campers. One of the families involved in the litigation told Chaffin about the horror they have been through.

Joshua Chaffin (11:25)

Jenny Getten is mother of Ellen Getten. She had two daughters who went to mystic last year, Gwyn and Ellen, and her older daughter Gwyn survived. Her younger daughter Ellen, tragically did not, and the Gettens had to wait eight days for their daughter's body to be recovered. So this is a family and a mother that have been through the worst agony and they have been really determined, I think, at trying to channel this into legislation for camp safety and speaking out for the victims.

Cecilia Lay (12:01)

The original base for Camp mystic is now a crime scene. The Eastland family operates a sister site where the camp is looking to reopen. They've noted that the site is on higher ground with cabins that didn't flood last year. According to the journal, about 850 girls have signed up to attend so far. The family lawsuits are not the only obstacles to the camp's reopening. State lawmakers are conducting an investigation, the Texas Rangers have opened a criminal probe, and the lieutenant governor has said that Mystic's license should not be renewed today. Hearings in the state's legislature are set to continue. Before we let you go, here's a a few other stories we're following. Frustrations among many nations are intensifying as the standoff between the US And Iran over the Strait of Hormuz continues. On Monday, Iran offered a new proposal through Pakistani mediators to reopen the vital waterway if the US Lifts its blockade on the country and ends the war. The Iranian proposal would push negotiations over the country's nuclear program to a later date. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said yesterday that Trump's national security team is currently reviewing Iran's proposal. But Trump has said that the US Will only make a deal that doesn't allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Axios reports that the Iranian leadership is divided about how to address U.S. demands to end Iran's uranium enrichment program. The new proposal arrived as Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Arachi, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Russian president praised the Iranian people for what he characterized as continued resistance against the US The UK is hoping to kick the smoking habit for good. A new law is set to take effect barring Anyone born after January 1, 2009, from buying a cigarette. The bill raises the age to buy tobacco by one year every year from 2009, creating an effective lifetime ban for that age group. It would mark a stunning turnaround. Fifty years ago, half of all British people smoked. Now, with greater awareness for the health risks, restrictions on indoor smoking and the introduction of vaping products, only 1 in 10 smoked, among the lowest in Europe. The nature of the law will lead to some strange cutoffs, though. The Washington Post notes that in 2055 it will be legal for 47 year olds to purchase a pack of cigarettes, but not 46 year olds. Critics have described the law as illiberal, but it does carry strong support within the country. And finally, they say laughter is the best medicine. And for one football fan, that certainly rang true. Mark Toothaker was watching the Giants take on the Patriots at home last December when New York kicker Yong Wei Wu whiffed a field goal so bad it looked straight out of a Charlie Brown comic strip

Gary Finow (14:57)

and he stumbled.

Will Weisert (14:59)

Gillen gets swallowed up Patriots ball I

Gary Finow (15:04)

don't think I've ever seen that. Looked like he just stubbed his foot

Will Weisert (15:08)

right into the turf.

Cecilia Lay (15:10)

Toothaker laughed so hard that it caused him to have a seizure. That sounds scary, but the incident subsequently led him to get a brain scan where doctors discovered a tennis ball sized tumor tumor on his brain. Luckily for Toothaker, it was benign and left no lasting damage after being removed. Toothaker believes the sporting blunder ultimately saved his life and that it was a miracle that his wife, a nurse, was there when it happened. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. New scientists explores a different side of stress and how finding its biological sweet spot may help us get stronger, not sicker. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.