The Democratic governors countering Texas redistricting and federal cuts to vaccine research: Morning Rundown

Democratic governors in California and New York hatch plans to counter GOP redistricting efforts in Texas. Former Bureau of Prisons staffers are outraged about Ghislaine Maxwell’s move to a minimum security prison. And RFK Jr. announces $500 million in cuts to promising vaccine research.

Here’s what to know today.

Democrats draw up plans to retaliate if Republicans gerrymander Texas

Two can play at the redistricting game: Democrats in America’s biggest blue states are hatching plans to counter a move by Texas Republicans to draw a new House map in their own favor.

Retaliation threats have come from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who have both vowed to eliminate GOP-held seats in their states. But the changes are easier said than done.

This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Democrats have legal hurdles to jump through in California and New York, which have restrictions on partisan gerrymandering — something liberal advocates pushed for in previous years in the name of good government. Texas has no such limits, so GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has called a special session to draw a new map.

Newsom hopes to get around his state’s independent redistricting commission by working with the Democratic-dominated Legislature to set up a special election for a statewide ballot measure on Nov. 4. The measure would include a trigger that says a pre-drawn new House map expected to boost Democrats would take effect if Texas implemented a new map, a source close to the governor told NBC News.

“We’re not going to roll over. And we’re going to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said. “Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California.”

Hochul also seeks a tit-for-tat response to Texas and has to use a constitutional amendment process to overcome New York’s independent commission. Her new proposal would transfer the commission’s power of redrawing congressional districts to the Legislature, but only if another state engaged in mid-decade redistricting first. But the change still has to pass multiple rounds of approval, and any new maps possibly created wouldn’t be in effect until at least the 2028 elections.

Read the full story here.

More on the redistricting showdown:

• Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin urged fellow Democrats to “go nuclear” in their fight to counter the Texas GOP’s efforts.

Ghislaine Maxwell transfer roils former Bureau of Prisons staffers

After Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to one of the cushiest federal detention facilities in the country, a private Facebook group of current and former federal prison staffers erupted in shock and outrage.

“As a retired BOP employee, this makes me sick,” wrote one person on the “Bureau of Prisons staff and retirees” Facebook page.

The federal prison camp in Texas is one of seven minimum security, dormitory-style, federal security facilities that do not typically hold inmates like Maxwell, who are convicted of sex crimes and serving lengthy sentences.

Robert Hood, a former Bureau of Prisons chief of internal affairs, said in an email that the transfer of Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator and confidant, is a “travesty of justice.”

“To relocate a sex offender serving 20 years to a country club setting is offensive to victims and others serving similar crimes,” he wrote.

Inmates held at Maxwell’s new facility have more programs available to them and the freedom to roam its grounds, which are surrounded by a small fence instead of walls or razor wire. Vito Maraviglia, a retired federal prison special investigative agent, said that placing Maxwell in such a prison camp would make it easier for her to escape or for someone on the outside to target her.

Read what others had to say.

Related news:

• The Trump administration is considering releasing the transcripts of the Justice Department’s interview with Maxwell, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.

• The House committee investigating the Epstein case issued subpoenas to Bill and Hillary Clinton and several top former Justice Department officials for their testimony.

RFK Jr. cuts $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts

The Trump administration is terminating 22 contracts focused on developing mRNA vaccines and winding down additional federal investments in mRNA technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced.

The cuts deal a major blow to a promising area of research and adds to evidence that Kennedy is pursuing an aggressive anti-vaccine agenda.

The projects being axed were funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a Department of Health and Human Services program that works with the pharmaceutical industry to develop vaccines and other countermeasures for public health emergencies. The research was used to rapidly develop COVID vaccines during the pandemic.

“This isn’t just about vaccines,” Rick Bright, who directed BARDA from 2016 to 2020, said in a text message. “It’s about whether we’ll be ready when the next crisis hits. Cutting mRNA development now puts every American at greater risk.”

Kennedy said that the terminated contracts were worth nearly $500 million. Among them is an award that goes toward developing an mRNA-based vaccine for H5N1, the strain of bird flu that has infected dozens of people in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Read All About It

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of a mosquito-borne chikungunya outbreak in southeast China. Most people infected with the virus develop fever, joint pain, headache and more.

• The implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five in 2023 was “preventable,” according to a new Coast Guard report.

• Violent crime decreased by 4.5% in the U.S. last year, according to new FBI statistics.

• Trump is creating a task force for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Staff Pick: 80 years after Hiroshima bombing, a responsibility to remember

Eighty years ago today, the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing 70,000 people. Three days later, it dropped a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing 40,000 more as it sought to end World War II.

The lives of countless others changed forever. Survivors of the bombings, known as hibakusha, have spent decades battling radiation-related illness, depression and discrimination, their experiences sometimes barely discussed among their own families. Many have spoken out nonetheless, even earning the Nobel Peace Prize for their work campaigning against nuclear weapons.

But the number of hibakusha is dwindling, their average age now above 86, making it all the more important to hear their stories as global conflicts raise fears that the world could again see the use of nuclear weapons, which are now many times more destructive than the atomic bombs used in Japan.

“I beg world leaders to stop and come to the negotiation table,” Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow, 93, told NBC News. “It’s not nuclear weapons, but diplomacy, exchange of words and ideas.”

— Jennifer Jett, Asia digital editor

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

If you’re not sure whether weighted vests really work? The NBC Select team spoke to fitness trainers, who swear by them and shared some helpful tips. Plus, Outdoor Voices is officially back, and these are some of the best finds from the latest collection.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Kayla Hayempour. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com