"Civil War,” Alex Garland’s election-year provocation, debuted at the SXSW Film and TV Festival, unveiling a violent vision of a near-future America at war with itself. “Civil War,” reportedly A24’s biggest budget release yet, is a bold gamble to capitalize on some of the anxieties that have grown in highly partisan times and ahead of a potentially momentous November presidential election. The film first shown at the festival on Thursday imagines a U.S. in all-out warfare, with California and Texas teaming up to form the “Western Forces.” That insurrection, along with the “Florida Alliance,” is seeking to topple a government led by a three-term president played by Nick Offerman.

Former President Donald Trump dominated the Republican presidential primaries on his way to a third consecutive nomination. But that does not mean his command of the party is seamless. Many GOP leaders in battleground states are offering him only tepid support — or not endorsing him at all. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says he will support the Republican ticket. But he tells reporters that his top priority is protecting GOP legislative majorities at the statehouse in Atlanta. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin endorsed Trump in a written statement but only after Trump won the Virginia primary on Super Tuesday. Virginia's Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears is one of the highest-ranking Black Republicans nationally. She has declined to endorse Trump altogether.

President Joe Biden travelled to Michigan's premier bellwether county of Saginaw as he looks to shore up support in the key battleground state ahead of November. Biden is trying to energize Black and union-affiliated voters in his trip Thursday as his campaign faces challenges in other regions of the state related to his handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Saginaw County stands out as the sole Michigan county to have voted for the winning presidential candidate in the last four elections. Biden was able to bring the county back to the Democratic column in 2020 but now faces apathy among Black voters that could impact his success there and in other areas.

Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022. The lawsuit details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with Thomas. It also documents a number of races they swam in with Thomas. The lawsuit said the plaintiffs “bring this case to secure for future generations of women the promise of Title IX that is being denied them and other college women” by the NCAA.

The Republican-led Tennessee House has advanced a proposal that would require law enforcement agencies in the state to communicate with federal immigration authorities if they discover people are in the the country illegally. The legislation passed by the House on Thursday also would broadly mandate cooperation in the process of identifying, catching, detaining and deporting those immigrants. The vote coincides with efforts in other Republican-led states to inject more state and local involvement in immigration enforcement, while criticizing President Joe Biden’s border policies. The Tennessee bill next heads to the Senate for floor debate.

The Georgia Senate is passing a plan to loosen health care permitting that proponents say will create new options for patients. Some Democrats are supporting the effort, saying the bill could provide a last-ditch attempt to expand health care coverage for lower-income adults. Senators voted 43-11 for the bill, sending it back to the House for more debate. It’s likely to face pushback there from opponents who warn greater competition will undercut rural hospitals by drawing away well-paying patients. The Senate measure could allow the Morehouse School of Medicine to open a hospital in Atlanta. It would also allow a hospital to open in any rural county where a prior hospital has been closed for more than 12 months.

Georgia Republicans have powered a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling through the state House. Thursday's 91-82 vote gets the measure close to becoming law. The same bill failed last year when 16 Republicans voted against it. Thursday, it passed with one vote to spare after seven Republicans and one Democrat who opposed the measure last year flipped to support it. Supporters say the bill would create options for children in poorly-performing schools. Democrats argue the $6,500 voucher isn’t enough to pay tuition at most private schools, and that private schools could discriminate. The vote sends the bill back to the Senate for final passage. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is backing the voucher plan.

The U.S. government could end its legal fight against a planned expedition to the Titanic shipwreck. Assistant U.S. attorney Kent Porter told a federal judge Wednesday that the U.S. is seeking more information after the company scaled back its dive plans. RMS Titanic Inc. originally planned to enter the sunken ship and take images and possibly retrieve artifacts. The U.S. said that would violate a law that treats the wreck as a gravesite. The company now says it will only take external images of the Titanic. Porter said the U.S. has not yet determined if the new plans violate the law.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns is leaning into the push to pass a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling, looking to change the minds of fellow Republican skeptics. Burns is urging passage of a voucher plan that’s been rolled together with a number of other initiatives. The full House could vote on the plan Thursday, after the House Education Committee approved the bill Wednesday on a party-line vote. But for the bill to pass, at least seven of the 89 representatives who voted against a similar plan last year need to change their mind. That would likely include some of the 16 House Republicans who shot down 2023's proposal.