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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Redrawing the Map: New Congressional Districts Announced Today for NC

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Friday, July 1, 2011   

DURHAM, N. C. – Congressional district lines are expected to shift today (Friday) when the new redistricting maps are released. The process happens every ten years as a result of U.S. Census data, although it is rarely without controversy and this year is expected to be no exception.

Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, says her organization will be closely reviewing the maps released at noon. It is often minority voters who are negatively affected when district boundaries are redrawn, she says.

"The way the districts are drawn can either be fair, or can kind-of unfairly 'pack' them, or divide minority voters in more districts than they should be."

The North Carolina General Assembly's redistricting plan will be announced July 11. Earls claims closed-door discussions that often happen during redistricting sometimes allow politicians to influence the outcome for their own gain.

"It's one of the most intensely political pieces of legislation that the General Assembly enacts each decade."

If voters feel like the redistricting lines are unfairly drawn, they can challenge them in court - a process that frequently happens throughout the nation after the new district boundaries are announced.

Earls' organization has been following both federal and state redistricting efforts. Background and recent district revisions suggested by a nonpartisan coalition in North Carolina can be found at www.southerncoalition.org.



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