SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As the California Citizens Redistricting Commission prepares to decide on the final legislative maps, conservation groups are asking communities united by environmental concerns be kept together.

The idea is to give voters more influence over the people who have the power to address problems such as industrial air pollution, marine oil spills, drought or wildfire.

Samuel Sukaton, redistricting coordinator for the California Environmental Voters Educational Fund, noted his organization recently detailed its concerns in a letter to the commission.

"One of the things that we're working on is communities that are dependent on specific environmental features, whether that's public land, major environmental-justice concerns, like oil refineries," Sukaton explained. "They should be kept with those resources so that they can determine, by electing their government representatives, what gets done with that region."

For example, The EnviroVoters Education Fund wants to see North Coast districts keeping Native American reservations intact and including the coastal region. They argued the initial maps, which combine communities in the Sierras with towns in the San Joaquin Valley, create districts with disparate interests and make it harder to draw Latino-majority districts on the valley floor.

Sukaton pointed out the maps drawn by the nonpartisan commission will shape California's direction for the next decade.

"California, with the independent commission, with public testimony, has this unique, powerful opportunity to handle two of the great crises of our time: inequity and the climate crisis," Sukaton contended. "And more democracy is the answer to both."

The commission released draft maps a few weeks ago and is taking public comment online and at a series of meetings taking place almost daily. A final vote is expected to take place Dec. 24.

Tennesseans aren't the only ones mourning the tragic loss of three children and three adults at this week's shooting at Nashville's Covenant School.

Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder found out about the shooting while attending the National League of Cities Conference in the nation's capital. Molder has a personal connection to Pastor Chad Scruggs, whose 9-year-old daughter Hallie was one of the three children who lost their lives. Molder said the tragedy overshadowed the conference. He said First Lady Jill Biden was the keynote speaker and let the crowd know what had happened.

"There was a very large vigil to honor all of the six victims, and to just know that these events should not become a part of our normal daily life, and unfortunately, that has been the case," he said. "And so hopefully, this will serve as a wakeup call to all of those who have the ability to impact a change on these events."

The K-12 School Shooting Database has recorded 90 gun-related incidents at schools so far this year. Including the deaths in Nashville this week, 75 people have been killed or injured in 2023, not including the shooters.

Columbia is 40 miles south of Nashville, with a population of about 40,000.

Molder said one theme of the National League of Cities Conference was making sure that leaders are using every available resource from the federal government, including American Rescue Plan Act funds. He said ARPA money is being put to use in his city.

"Columbia, specifically, is in the process of its largest capital infrastructure project in history for the city. That's a $60 million wastewater treatment plant expansion and improvement project," he said. "And fortunately for us, approximately $5 million flowed down from ARP funds to allow us to sort of jumpstart that project."

Molder said the conference provided the opportunity for mayors to visit Capitol Hill, where he met with Tennessee senators and heard from Cabinet secretaries and other federal leaders.

An Arkansas mayor joined city leaders from across the country for the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference in the nation's capital this week, and discussed some of the most pressing issues facing communities, from transportation to public safety.

Jonas Anderson, mayor of Cave City and president of the Arkansas Municipal League, focused on education, cybersecurity, and workforce training, but said infrastructure took the spotlight. He pointed out federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act is being put to use at home in Cave City.

"And we were able to utilize those funds to make some major improvements in our water and sewer system," Anderson explained. "We've actually been doing that the last couple of years, we just wrapped up one project on that we're looking forward to doing another one this summer"

The American Rescue Plan Act allocated nearly $2.6 billion to Arkansas for COVID-19 response needs, fill revenue shortfalls, and address the unequal impact of the pandemic on certain populations. The money must be used by Dec. 31, 2024.

As a rural community with fewer than 2,000 residents, Anderson acknowledged Cave City faces funding challenges based on its small population and added he is working with area partners to seek additional money for a revitalization project.

"We've purchased a few historic properties in our old downtown section," Anderson outlined. "We're actually going to renovate those and convert those into City Hall offices, police department building for them to utilize, and then we're going to use one as a kind of a public space pocket park area."

Anderson added Cave City and its partners are also seeking local and federal funds for other projects, and applying for recreation and tourism grants.


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Idaho students are not letting their right to vote with a school ID go down without a fight.

Earlier this month, state lawmakers passed legislation to prohibit the use of student IDs as a valid form of identification when voting.

Matt Gordon, an attorney representing the groups Babe Vote and March for Our Lives Idaho, which filed suit to challenge the law, said it is a direct attack on Idaho students' ability to vote.

"When you remove a form of identification that students have and that they can show at the polls for voting, that does make it harder for some students to vote, particularly students for whom that is the only form of acceptable identification that they might have to show at the polls," Gordon contended.

Gordon noted the legislation comes at a time when youth voter registration has surged. An analysis of 2022 compared with 2018 found registration for people ages 18 and 19 in the state jumped 81%, the highest in the nation. Lawmakers who supported the bill said it is needed to counter voter fraud.

However, Gordon noted lawmakers, as well as the Secretary of State, could not cite any cases to support this claim.

"The evidence just isn't there," Gordon argued. "They presented no evidence of any fraud associated with the use of student IDs to vote."

Gordon added the aim is to have this case resolved before the 2024 election, so students understand what kind of identification they need, or need to obtain, to vote next year.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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