La gobernadora de Nueva York, Kathy Hochul, promulgó nuevos mapas del Congreso. Esto se produce unos días después de que los demócratas en la legislatura rechazaran los mapas elaborados por la Comisión Independiente de Redistribución de Distritos del estado. Los legisladores estuvieron de acuerdo que los mapas del IRC (por sus siglas en inglés) eran demasiado similares a los mapas de 2022, que favorecían en gran medida a los republicanos. Rechazar esos mapas hizo que el estado volviera al punto de partida después de que la Corte Suprema de Nueva York ordenara que se dibujaran nuevos mapas el año pasado. Pero Jeffrey M. Wice, investigador principal del Instituto de Redistribución de Distritos y Censos de la Facultad de Derecho de Nueva York, dice que el proceso de redistribución de distritos del estado fue diseñado para fracasar.

"Se baso en una enmienda constitucional aprobada por los votantes en 2014 que estuvo mal concebida. Tenía una redacción errónea y dejaba muchos cabos sueltos," enfatizó además Wice.

Agrega que la enmienda fue diseñada específicamente para retener la entonces mayoría republicana en el Senado estatal. La aprobación de los mapas más recientes pone fin al debate sobre la redistribución de distritos en Nueva York, al menos por ahora. Pero Wice cree que ahora es el momento de que los legisladores trabajen para hacer más transparente el proceso de redistribución de distritos, con más aportes del público y tal vez una nueva enmienda a la Constitución estatal.

Los defensores del derecho al voto estaban igualmente preocupados por los mapas del IRC. A algunos les preocupaba haber creado distritos donde las comunidades de mayoría blanca podrían anular las necesidades de los votantes minoritarios. Rosemary Rivera, de Acción Ciudadana de Nueva York, explica que habría quitado el poder a quienes más lo necesitan.

"Las personas de bajos ingresos, de color que, para empezar, tienen dificultades para acceder al poder, y luego, empiezas a diluir su voz y su voto, se convierte en un problema en términos de lo que realmente queremos, que es una democracia inclusiva y representativa," insistió también Rivera.

Si bien algunos están contentos de que los nuevos mapas unifiquen comunidades previamente desconectadas, otros sienten que se podría haber hecho más. Rivera menciona que varios distritos de la ciudad de Nueva York todavía están dividiendo a las comunidades minoritarias, dejándolas sin el poder que necesitan para elegir a los candidatos que desean.

El apoyo para este informe fue proporcionado por The Carnegie Corporation de Nueva York.


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Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation.

Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in ruling the Environmental Protection Agency's Good Neighbor Rule was improperly enacted and repealing the so-called "Chevron deference." Without it, judges have to rule on ambiguous regulatory laws with no agency expertise.

Craig Segall, vice president of the advocacy group Evergreen Action, said the court is diminishing the capacity of Virginia's federal climate partners like the EPA.

"By creating room to attack, for instance, carbon standards for power plants federally, that Virginia might want to implement," Segall outlined. "Or by making it harder for U.S. EPA to move us toward electric vehicles that would create jobs in Virginia and that would, you know, clean up the air, especially in Northern Virginia where it's so congested."

He added it creates an opportunity for states to lead on climate action. But partisan opinions on climate change vary across the country. In Virginia, it means mixed efforts from utility companies and lawmakers. Dominion Energy is developing offshore wind, but it is also pressing on with a natural gas plant residents vehemently oppose.

The rulings, coupled with decisions on presidential immunity and what constitutes bribery have eroded the Supreme Court's perception of impartiality. Polls show most Americans across party lines feel the Court puts political ideology first.

Quentin Scott, federal policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said it opens the floodgates to government corruption.

"We can't have this blatant, open corruption or it will diminish our effectiveness of government and enforcement of some very important rules related to pollution," Scott asserted.

He stressed climate action will be a top ballot priority along with preserving democracy. Some of his group's top issues for the next presidency will be improving grid interconnection of clean energy projects and approving certain reforms for the Supreme Court.

Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, delivered a powerful message in Indianapolis.

Speaking at a Zeta Phi Beta Sorority event, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her candidacy, Harris emphasized her dedication to affordable healthcare, student debt relief, and gun control measures, including universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.

She also hammered home that, if she is elected president, she would restore a woman's right to choose an abortion.

"When I am President of the United States and when Congress passes a law to restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law," Harris said. "We are not playing around."

Harris expressed her belief that the current administration has made progress toward a better future by implementing such initiatives as capping insulin prices for more affordable healthcare, passing the Child Tax Credit, and forgiving student loan debt for millions of Americans.

GOP Vice-Presidential nominee J.D. Vance was also in Indiana Wednesday. He spoke at a private event in Ft. Wayne.

Criticizing Project 2025, a conservative plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation, Harris warned it would take the country backward in the areas of medical freedom and education.

"This represents an outright attack on our children, our family, and our future. These extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back. We are not going back," she said.

Harris called for unity in defending freedom and stated there are two different visions for the country. Her vision, she said, looks to the future; the other, she said, looks to the past. Harris urged the community to mobilize and vote, stressing the significance of this moment in shaping the nation's future.


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A sweeping conservative plan to shape a possible second Donald Trump presidency is making headlines, even as the GOP candidate claims to know little about it.

"Project 2025" from the conservative Heritage Foundation includes standard conservative ideas, such as slashing regulations, but also firing thousands of civil servants, dismantling the Department of Education and giving more power to the states.

David Nevins, co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder of the Bridge Alliance, a network of organizations working to promote healthy self-governance, has enlisted experts to share their thoughts on each of Project 2025's 30 sections.

"The cross-partisan approach that we believe in is, in some cases, the federal government can do certain things more effectively - in some cases not as effectively - and that's the discussion we need to have as a nation," Nevins said.

Alarming to New Mexico conservationists, Project 2025 proposes slashing federal money for research and investment in renewable energy, and replacing carbon-reduction goals with efforts to increase energy production and energy security.

Nevins believes many on the far right want to "turn back the clock" and erase societal changes that have occurred in the last 20 to 30 years. He said people can be afraid of change - especially when things are moving fast - but thinks Project 2025 represents a lack of open-mindedness rather than seeking common ground to take democracy to its next level.

"The reality of America is that we are a diverse country, in terms of racial, ethnic, sexual preferences, religion - that is the reality. And if we're going to live into the pluralistic dream of our founding fathers and mothers, we have to learn to make that work," he explained.

While Trump has denied knowing much about Project 2025, nearly two-thirds of the authors behind the plan served in his former administration.


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