skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Bill Clinton is hospitalized for observation and testing after developing a fever; Biden commutes most federal death sentences before Trump takes office; Proposed post office 'slowdown' threatens rural Americans; Report: Tax credits shrink poverty for NM kids, families; Tiny plastic pieces enter the body in ways you'd never think of.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Biden commutes the sentences of most federal death row inmates, the House Ethics Committee says former Rep. Gaetz may have committed statutory rape, and the national archivist won't certify the ERA without congressional approval.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

WI Advocates: SCOTUS Decision to Have Major Impact on Black Communities

play audio
Play

Tuesday, March 29, 2022   

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Wisconsin's legislative redistricting plan, a move advocates said will have long-lasting impacts for the state's communities of color.

In its decision, the nation's high court held the plan, submitted by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court a few weeks ago, improperly added a new majority-Black Assembly district in Milwaukee.

Jamie Lynn Crofts, policy director for the Milwaukee-based organization Wisconsin Voices, said even Evers' maps did not adequately represent Black residents in Milwaukee, as non-Black voters comprised around 49% of residents in some of what the governor labeled majority-Black districts.

"So for example, the district with the highest percentage of Black voters was 51.39% Black, and the rest of the districts had under 51% Black voters," Crofts explained.

The decision, which will compel the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reestablish new legislative district lines, comes as candidates are about to start picking up signatures to get on the ballot for the fall elections. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported candidates cannot actually file the paperwork until they know which district in which they are running.

The Voting Rights Act compels states to establish districts where a majority of the population are residents of color. But with the bare majority outlined in Evers' proposal, Crofts argued the population of Black residents in the districts could decline below the 50% mark by the next round of redistricting in 2031.

"A lot of these districts were combined with suburban, white voting blocs," Crofts observed. "And these suburbs, we know, are growing as well."

Tomika Vukovic, co-executive director of organizational empowerment for Wisconsin Voices, said she feels lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have disregarded concerns over Milwaukee's Black-majority districts, although the issue has been highlighted by Milwaukee politicians and social-justice groups throughout the redistricting process.

With the debate back before the state Supreme Court, she said voters should take the chance to raise their concerns with the state's high court.

"And these judges are actually elected," Vukovic pointed out. "They are elected, and they have a chief of staff. You can write letters to them."

The challenge to Evers' maps was brought by legislative Republicans, who are hoping to enact their own voting maps. Voting-rights groups, including Wisconsin Voices, and Democrats argued the GOP's proposals are gerrymandered.

While Evers' state legislative maps were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices allowed the state to push ahead with Evers' congressional redistricting plan.

Disclosure: Wisconsin Voices contributes to our fund for reporting on Civic Engagement, Community Issues and Volunteering, Human Rights/Racial Justice, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Juana Valle's well is one of 20 sites tested in California's San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast regions in the first round of preliminary sampling by University of California-Berkeley researchers and the Community Water Center. The results showed 96 parts per trillion of total PFAS in her water, including 32 parts per trillion of PFOS - both considered potentially hazardous amounts. (Hannah Norman/KFF Health News)

Environment

play sound

By Hannah Norman for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Ser…


Environment

play sound

Animal rights organizers are regrouping after mixed results at the ballot box in November. A measure targeting factory farms passed in Berkeley but …

Environment

play sound

Farmers in Nebraska and across the nation might not be in panic mode anymore thanks to another extension of the Farm Bill but they still want Congress…


Immigration law experts say applying for asylum status can be very lengthy, and that programs such as Temporary Protected Status can fill the void for people fleeing violence elsewhere in the world. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

With 2025 almost here, organizations assisting Minnesota's Latino populations say they're laser focused on a couple of areas - mental health-care …

Social Issues

play sound

A new report found Connecticut's fiscal controls on the state budget restrict long-term growth. The controls were introduced during the 2018 budget …

As of August, enrollment in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System had reached 66,114 students, representing an increase of 8.4%, according to state data. (Adobe Stock/AI generated image)

Social Issues

play sound

Nearly a dozen changes could be made to the Kentucky Community and Technical College system, under Senate Joint Resolution 179, passed by lawmakers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jessica Scott-Reid for Sentient.Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Arkansas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collab…

play sound

By Julieta Cardenas for Sentient.Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021