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Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

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JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

Supreme Court Gerrymandering Case Could Lead to Major Shift in Arizona

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017   

PHOENIX – Arizona voters took redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature 17 years ago, but that could be in jeopardy, depending on the outcome of a gerrymandering case that the U.S. Supreme Court has just agreed to hear.

On Monday, the high court accepted a case from Wisconsin in which Republican state lawmakers are accused of drawing highly partisan district maps to protect their majority.

In 2000, Arizonans passed a ballot initiative that established an independent redistricting commission.

Robyn Prud'homme-Bauer, co-director of the Arizona League of Women Voters, says lawmakers have been fighting the commission ever since and would likely move against it if the high court upholds Wisconsin's system.

"I suspect there will be legislation within the state Legislature to amend or overturn or take back to the ballot whether we should have an independent redistricting commission," she states.

The Supreme Court case could result in new federal criteria for how districts are redrawn after the next census in 2020. As it stands now, in many states, lawmakers have created districts intended to reduce the minority party's success either by packing them into a small number of districts or by spreading them out in multiple districts to dilute their influence.

Republicans control the state government in 25 states, compared with seven for Democrats.

Arizona's commission is made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent. Prud'homme-Bauer says it was designed to let voters choose their lawmakers, and not the other way around.

"It has definitely taken the party politics out of the decision making and has allowed for redistricting plans that meet goals that they outline: compactness, competitiveness, equal population as best as it can," she states.

Prud'homme-Bauer adds that since 2000, there have not been big changes in the composition of the state Legislature, but several congressional districts have become more competitive, and in the long run, any changes to redistricting could affect which party controls the House of Representatives.




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