The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Wisconsin's legislative redistricting plan, a move advocates said will have long-lasting impacts for the state's communities of color.

In its decision, the nation's high court held the plan, submitted by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court a few weeks ago, improperly added a new majority-Black Assembly district in Milwaukee.

Jamie Lynn Crofts, policy director for the Milwaukee-based organization Wisconsin Voices, said even Evers' maps did not adequately represent Black residents in Milwaukee, as non-Black voters comprised around 49% of residents in some of what the governor labeled majority-Black districts.

"So for example, the district with the highest percentage of Black voters was 51.39% Black, and the rest of the districts had under 51% Black voters," Crofts explained.

The decision, which will compel the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reestablish new legislative district lines, comes as candidates are about to start picking up signatures to get on the ballot for the fall elections. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported candidates cannot actually file the paperwork until they know which district in which they are running.

The Voting Rights Act compels states to establish districts where a majority of the population are residents of color. But with the bare majority outlined in Evers' proposal, Crofts argued the population of Black residents in the districts could decline below the 50% mark by the next round of redistricting in 2031.

"A lot of these districts were combined with suburban, white voting blocs," Crofts observed. "And these suburbs, we know, are growing as well."

Tomika Vukovic, co-executive director of organizational empowerment for Wisconsin Voices, said she feels lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have disregarded concerns over Milwaukee's Black-majority districts, although the issue has been highlighted by Milwaukee politicians and social-justice groups throughout the redistricting process.

With the debate back before the state Supreme Court, she said voters should take the chance to raise their concerns with the state's high court.

"And these judges are actually elected," Vukovic pointed out. "They are elected, and they have a chief of staff. You can write letters to them."

The challenge to Evers' maps was brought by legislative Republicans, who are hoping to enact their own voting maps. Voting-rights groups, including Wisconsin Voices, and Democrats argued the GOP's proposals are gerrymandered.

While Evers' state legislative maps were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices allowed the state to push ahead with Evers' congressional redistricting plan.

Indiana lawmakers are advancing a measure focused on parental rights.

Senate Bill 143 has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 9-2 vote.

Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, chair of the Judiciary Committee, authored the bill. She said it aims to prohibit government entities from withholding information from parents about their children or denying parental access to such information. Brown noted the bill allows parents to take legal action for violations.

"We don't have any bill currently in the state of Indiana protecting parents' rights or delineating them," Brown pointed out. "I certainly appreciate all the voices that we've probably all heard on this bill. And I really appreciate everyone's patience with trying to get this right."

Critics, including the ACLU, warn the bill could force educators to disclose sensitive information, potentially harming LGBTQ+ students. The bill sparked significant debate, with supporters highlighting cases where parents felt excluded by state agencies or schools.

Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Michigan City, who voted against the bill, expressed doubts about its constitutionality, citing children's privacy rights.

"I feel like this bill is very, very broad and I feel like it is going to have a chilling effect," Pol explained. "My concern here is that in the intent of trying to protect children, we're going to ultimately put certain children in danger."

While parental rights legislation is part of a national trend -- 62 similar bills appeared in 24 states in 2023 -- Hoosiers remain divided on its effects. Some parents support transparency, while others caution against blanket policies which may not account for older children's privacy needs. The bill now heads to the full Senate for further debate.


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A new poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris' support for Israel's war in Gaza may have cost her the 2024 presidential election.

Nearly 30% of the 19 million voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020, but chose to stay home in 2024, said Palestine was the reason.

University of New Hampshire PhD student Stephanie Black said she couldn't support Harris' complacency in genocide, so she voted third party.

"We are exhausted of a government that is not listening to student protesters," said Black, "that is not listening to international activism groups - the evidence that they are presenting."

Harris won New Hampshire, but in states that swung from blue to red in 2024, 20% of Biden supporters did not vote due to Gaza.

Black called the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas "a step in the right direction," but said it's important that enough aid now reaches the Palestinian people to recover and rebuild.

Prior to Biden withdrawing from the race, several progressive groups warned he could lose millions of young voters unless he cut off U.S. military support for Israel.

Harris made it clear she would not break from Biden's policies.

UNH PhD candidate Sebastian Rowan said the protest vote should not be blamed for Harris' loss, but rather the Democrats' failure to deliver for working people.

"The Democratic Party, in addition to continuing to send billions of dollars to Israel, wasn't offering anything meaningful for the working class," said Rowan. "Many people felt that we were being gaslighted into believing that the economy is actually great."

Twenty-four percent of non-voters who previously backed Biden cited the economy as the reason they chose not to vote last year.

Rowan said his protest vote was in no way a sign of support for President-elect Donald Trump.

He said students will continue to organize on campus and press school officials to divest from companies, which profit from the war in Gaza.

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





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A group of University of Pennsylvania students got up close and personal with Keystone State voters recently as they studied solutions to bridging the ideological divide.

Students with Penn's Political Empathy Lab traveled across the state last summer and talked with people at parks, libraries and county fairs. The goal was to listen to Pennsylvanians as they discussed the issues in the 2024 campaign.

Lia Howard, professor of political science at the university and director of the lab, said the students emphasized using critical listening skills to understand the voters better.

"Democratic listening is one of the most important and undervalued things that are happening right now," Howard contended. "Because we're just so inundated by talk, expression, and we don't get enough time to practice listening to another human being."

Howard pointed out the students recorded 45 hours of audio during their sessions, producing a podcast series and presenting what they learned on and off campus. Another statewide tour is scheduled for this spring, and Howard added she will eventually publish the students' findings.

Howard noted the lab was formed to put into direct practice some of the theoretical concepts her students study and apply them to Pennsylvania during the 2024 election.

"We weren't trying to do polling or necessarily canvassing, though both are really important and I'm all for both," Howard explained. "That wasn't our role. It was really to think about what we were bringing and how we could connect."

The students traveled more than 2,500 miles across the state and learned about each city or town before engaging the voters. Howard emphasized the students found showing empathy as they listened often drew a higher degree of candor and openness in the responses they received.

"Empathy is something that you just practice. You have to do it to get it," Howard stressed. "I think it's worth working those muscles out, especially under times of duress. I think our country needs a lot more of that working out and building those muscles because we're a democracy, and that's what we need to do."

Penn has put together a program to extend the Political Empathy Lab's concept to other locations nationwide.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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