skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

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

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

High Court Victory For Black Voters Challenging Georgia's Election Rules

play audio
Play

Monday, August 22, 2022   

The Supreme Court is upholding a victory for Black voters who claimed Georgia's elections process for electing members to the statewide Public Service Commission seat is discriminatory.

November's elections for two of the five Georgia PSC seats will not be held after the high court ruled Friday the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta made an error in allowing the elections to continue as planned.

Wanda Mosley, national field director for the Black Voters Matter Fund, is a plaintiff in the case. She said she was elated for the initial court ruling, which found the redrawing of PSC Districts 2 and 3 diluted the Black vote after expert testimony in the case.

"To hear a Trump-appointed judge say that indeed Black votes have been diluted was a huge actual victory and moral victory for us," Mosley asserted. "We know this, we live this, we see this, we experience this."

The state appealed, and the 11th Circuit halted Judge Steven Grimberg's ruling, citing the "Purcell principle," which discourages courts from changing election rules immediately before an election.

The Supreme Court stated the appeals court should use a different legal framework, but late Friday the state withdrew its motion for an emergency stay, claiming since printing ballots for the elections starts today, pursuing the motion would jeopardize the process.

Under Georgia's current system, commissioners run statewide but must live in one of five districts. However, this year lawmakers redrew the boundaries of voting districts in Georgia to reflect new census numbers and the changes affected the PSC seats, which Mosley feels were gerrymandered.

"This happens all throughout the country and the fact that we just sit and ignore it and accept it is frustrating," Mosley stated. "Especially for folks who are in these so-called marginalized communities where we have been left to feel as though we don't have power, but we do. Our votes are very powerful."

According to Georgia Secretary of State spokesman Mike Hassinger, all the changes mean PSC vice-chairman Tim Echols and commissioner Fitz Johnson, both Republicans, will continue to serve on the PSC until elections can be called. Echols was about to go against Democrat Patty Durand and Libertarian Colin McKinney in the District 2 race, while the District 3 contest would have had Johnson facing Democrat Sheila Edwards.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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