Republicans have dominated Missouri’s legislature for over two decades, but they haven’t entirely controlled state lawmaking, in large part because Missouri empowers citizens to petition for ballot referendums. Over the objections of the state’s conservative leaders, Missouri citizens since 2020 have launched successful petitions for ballot measures that saw voters legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage, guarantee paid sick leave, expand Medicaid, and revoke the state’s abortion ban.

Angered by these citizen-led reforms, Republicans advanced a constitutional amendment last week that would effectively kill the initiative process.

The proposal, which will now go before voters for a statewide referendum in 2026, would drastically raise the threshold for a citizen-led initiative to pass. While all measures in the state currently require a majority vote statewide, the GOP proposal would require citizen-led initiatives to also win majorities in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.

Constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by legislators would be exempt from the new hurdle, and would still only require a statewide majority to pass.

Under the proposed new rule for citizen-led ballot measures, all five popular initiatives that Missouri voters have approved since 2020 would have failed instead, a Bolts analysis found.

Iran has already restarted some of its drone production during the six-week ceasefire that began in early April, one sign it is rapidly rebuilding certain military capabilities degraded by US-Israeli strikes, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence assessments. Four sources told CNN that US intelligence indicates Iran’s military is reconstituting much faster than initially estimated.

The rebuilding of military capabilities, including replacing missile sites, launchers and production capacity for key weapons systems destroyed during the current conflict, means that Iran remains a significant threat to regional allies should President Donald Trump restart the bombing campaign, according to the four sources familiar with the intelligence. It also calls into question claims about the extent to which US-Israeli strikes have degraded Iran’s military in the long term.

While the time to restart production of different weapons components varies, some US intelligence estimates indicate Iran could fully reconstitute its drone attack capability in as soon as six months, one of the sources, a US official, told CNN.

“The Iranians have exceeded all timelines the IC had for reconstitution,” the US official said.

Drone attacks are a particular concern for regional allies. If hostilities resume, Iran could augment its missile production capability — which has been significantly degraded — with more drone launches, to continue firing at Israel and Gulf countries that are well within range of both weapons systems.

Two Georgia Supreme Court justices fended off unusually spirited election challenges from a pair of liberal attorneys on Tuesday, in a setback for Democrats who’d hoped to make inroads on this court in order to advance abortion and voting rights.

One of Tuesday’s two supreme court races was a rout: Justice Sarah Warren led former Democratic state Senator Jen Jordan by about 19 percentage points early Wednesday.

The other contest was much closer: Justice Charlie Bethel, a former Republican state representative, led personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin by roughly 2 points when the Associated Press called the race shortly after midnight.

Results were delayed on Tuesday because gunshots near an elementary school in the morning resulted in an hourslong manhunt and shut down a polling site in the Atlanta suburbs. Voting eventually resumed there, but a judge ordered the site to remain open an extra four hours, which prevented Fulton County from releasing any of its results until after 11 p.m.

Both of Tuesday’s winners were appointed to the bench by former Republican Governor Nathan Deal and endorsed this spring by Republican Governor Brian Kemp, the state GOP, and various conservative groups. Jordan and Rankin ran with the support of former President Barack Obama, the state Democratic Party, and other left-leaning groups. Bethel and Warren each earned six-year terms, as did incumbent Justice Ben Land, who was unopposed on Tuesday.