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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Another Challenge to "Cracked and Packed" Ohio Congressional Districts

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Wednesday, March 9, 2022   

The Ohio Redistricting Commission has until noon Thursday to respond to the latest challenge to the state's new congressional voting-district maps.

After its first map was found unconstitutional, the Republican-controlled commission approved a second map, creating 10 GOP districts; three Democratic districts and two competitive districts.

On Tuesday, the League of Women Voters of Ohio and other nonpartisan groups filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the maps as unconstitutional.

Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, argued two districts need to be brought into compliance.

"The voters were 'cracked and packed,' " Miller asserted. "Instead of creating districts that really keep voters together that have more in common -- economically, culturally, politically -- they combined parts of central Ohio with rural areas, almost all the way to Dayton."

And in Southwest Ohio, Miller explained, a progressive part of Hamilton County was combined with heavily conservative surrounding areas, potentially weakening the district's historically Democratic record.

In a response filed Tuesday to a separate challenge of the same map, the Ohio Redistricting Commission defends it as constitutional, and said certain constitutional requirements of map drawing do not apply to the commission.

Miller countered it is crucial the maps are drawn fairly, because "rigged" districts result in unfair representation.

"It dilutes the power of our votes," Miller contended. "It means that once someone gets into office, they know that they will continue to win their office, and they don't have to listen to voters. Instead, they can just play to political extremes."

Ohio's state legislative maps also remain in limbo, awaiting the outcome of a third legal challenge before the Ohio Supreme Court.


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