skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, May 18, 2025

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

Millions under threat of strong tornadoes and violent winds as storm danger increases Friday; Expanded Clean Slate laws in NC, US could improve public safety; TX farmers and ranchers benefit from federal conservation funds; Head Start supports WA parents, celebrates 60 years.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Omaha elects its first Black mayor, U.S. Supreme Court considers whether lower courts can prevent Trump administration's removal of birthright citizenship, and half of states consider their own citizenship requirements for voter registration.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

New Mexico's acequia irrigation system is a model of democratic governance, buying a house in rural America will get harder under the Trump administration's draft 2026 budget, and physicians and medical clinics serving rural America are becoming a rarity.

Wisconsin Case Will Make National News in 2018

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 4, 2018   

MADISON, Wis. -- A Supreme Court decision expected this spring will likely impact the way every state draws its political boundaries.

The case, Gill v. Whitford, is concerned with the way Wisconsin Republicans drew the state's political map in 2011. The process of drawing the maps, done by outside consultants and lawyers, was done in complete secrecy, and resulted in an overwhelming Republican advantage at the polls.

A panel of three federal judges ruled 2-1 that the Republicans were unfair, and the case wound up in the Supreme Court. Jay Heck is executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin. He said the result of the gerrymandering is the opposite of what should be happening.

"Elected representatives at the state and federal level should be selected by the voters,” Heck said; “not the way we have it now where the elected representatives select their voters through the process of drawing the district lines."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Wisconsin mapmakers "drew and rejected maps until they came up with one that maximized Republican chances, and then it succeeded beyond their expectations."

A few months ago, the Supreme Court added a Maryland gerrymandering case to the Wisconsin case.

"The Wisconsin case was a Republican gerrymander, one of the most partisan gerrymanders in the country in the last 50 years," Heck said. "And the U.S. Supreme Court just decided to add the state of Maryland, which was a Democratic gerrymander of a Congressional district there.”

Heck said he believes the Maryland case was added to the Wisconsin case for a specific reason.

"Because they want their decision, when they make one - hopefully in March or April of this year, of 2018 - would be so that it doesn't appear that they're favoring Republicans or Democrats, but they're going after both,” he explained.

If the Supreme Court rules the political maps unconstitutional, it will affect nearly every other state, and will force Wisconsin to redraw its political boundaries in a more fair manner.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Since its inception in 1965, Head Start has served nearly 40 million children and their families. (Save the Children)

Social Issues

play sound

This Sunday is the 60th anniversary of Head Start, the federally funded preschool program supporting more than 12,000 children, up to age four…


Environment

play sound

By Dawn Attride for Sentient.Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Arkansas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaborati…

Environment

play sound

Friday is Endangered Species Day and experts are reminding Rhode Islanders of the plight of the North Atlantic right whale. Right whales' habitat is …


The peninsular bighorn sheep is federally listed as an endangered species. (Chrismr/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Today, on the 20th anniversary of Endangered Species Day, conservation advocates warn polices of President Donald Trump's administration are …

Environment

play sound

New data show Arizona's two largest airports have fared well for on-time departures and arrivals but the same cannot be said about U.S. airlines in …

Eastern hellbenders reproduce from late August to October, with females laying 150-450 eggs that males guard and oxygenate until they hatch, in 45 to 75 days. (Ondreicka/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

It is Endangered Species Day, a reminder some plants and wildlife need protection, like Pennsylvania's eastern hellbender. It is the state's …

Environment

play sound

By Dawn Attride for Sentient.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Greater Dakota News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaborati…

Environment

play sound

A recent poll by the National Wildlife Federation showed Texas farmers and ranchers benefit from voluntary conservation programs from the U.S…

 

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