Top 5 US news stories
May 27 2026
AI and Offshoring Hollow Out Phoenix's Back-Office Economy
Paxton Ousts Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate Runoff
South Carolina Senate Blocks Mid-Decade GOP Redistricting Push
NASA Taps Blue Origin, Firefly, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost for Moon Base
Knicks Sweep Cavaliers to Reach First NBA Finals Since 1999
AI and Offshoring Hollow Out Phoenix's Back-Office Economy
Phoenix's metro area has long served as a hub for back-office work, drawing companies seeking abundant land and lower-paid labor for customer service, data entry and payroll processing roles. Those positions, once a key ladder to the middle class after manufacturing declines, are now disappearing as offshoring continues and artificial intelligence absorbs routine tasks. About 16.5 million Americans still work in office- and administrative-support jobs, according to the Labor Department, down from roughly 18 million at the end of 2019. The number of customer-service representatives in metro Phoenix has fallen 26% over the most recent four-year period measured. The Labor Department projects employment in the sector will decline another 4% over the next eight years, the steepest drop among major categories. Affected workers profiled in the reporting include a test grader whose work was outsourced to India and a laid-off customer-relations manager now considering bartending, while staffing firms that supply back-office workers are themselves cutting employees.
WSJ
Paxton Ousts Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate Runoff
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the May 26 Republican Senate runoff with nearly 64% of the vote, capping what AdImpact called the costliest Senate GOP primary on record. Cornyn and aligned groups spent close to $100 million attempting to defeat Paxton, running ads that cited scandals throughout his career, including his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House on charges he was later acquitted of by the state Senate. The race went to a runoff after Cornyn narrowly edged Paxton 42% to 40% in the March primary without either candidate clearing the 50% threshold. President Trump's 11th-hour endorsement of Paxton helped consolidate Republican support behind the attorney general, mirroring Trump's role in unseating GOP incumbents in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky earlier this cycle. Paxton will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a seminarian who has emerged as a major national fundraiser, in the November general election. Minutes after the race was called, the Cook Political Report shifted its forecast for the seat from "Likely Republican" to "Lean Republican"; Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994. The dominant framing across mainstream political coverage — reflected in the Cook shift — treats Paxton, positioned further to the right than Cornyn and trailed by years of legal and ethical controversies, as a weaker general-election candidate likely to alienate moderates and independents, though that interpretation is not established fact and some Republican strategists argue Texas's partisan baseline now makes the seat safe regardless of nominee.
Roll Call / WSJ
South Carolina Senate Blocks Mid-Decade GOP Redistricting Push
The Republican-controlled South Carolina Senate voted on May 26 against advancing a new congressional map, ending the state GOP's push to redraw districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Twelve Republican senators joined Democrats in opposing the proposal, with state Senate Republican leader Shane Massey delivering a 45-minute floor speech warning against mid-decade gerrymandering. The map, backed by President Trump and already passed by the state House, would have eliminated South Carolina's only Democratic-held seat — the majority-Black 6th Congressional District represented since 1993 by Rep. James Clyburn, a longtime Democratic power broker whose 2020 endorsement of Joe Biden in the South Carolina presidential primary is widely credited with reviving Biden's campaign, and a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the organization of African-American members of Congress. The state Senate adjourned with a motion to reconvene June 10, one day after South Carolina's scheduled primaries, making it highly unlikely any redistricting effort will move forward in time for the November elections. The existing congressional map remains in place.
NBC News
NASA Taps Blue Origin, Firefly, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost for Moon Base
NASA on May 26 unveiled the first phase of its Artemis Moon Base plan, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four US companies. Blue Origin will supply two landers to deliver lunar terrain vehicles built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, while Firefly Aerospace will deliver the program's first drones. The agency is targeting the Artemis III mission for mid-2027, a crewed lunar landing as early as 2028, and permanent surface habitats sometime in the 2030s. The awards mark NASA's most significant commercial commitment to date for lunar surface infrastructure.
NPR
Knicks Sweep Cavaliers to Reach First NBA Finals Since 1999
The New York Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 on May 26 to complete a four-game Eastern Conference Finals sweep, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. Guard Jalen Brunson led all scorers in the closeout game. The franchise last appeared in the championship round in 1999. The Oklahoma City Thunder lead the San Antonio Spurs 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals, with Game 6 set for Thursday night in San Antonio. The Knicks will face the Western Conference champion in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 3.
CBS Sports
May 27, 1937: Golden Gate Bridge Opens to the Public
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, a 4,200-foot-long suspension span linking San Francisco and Marin County, opens after five years of construction. That five-year build contrasts with today’s reality, where U.S. infrastructure projects routinely spend roughly four to five years just navigating environmental review and permitting before shovels ever hit the ground.
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