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Alabama Redistricting Back in the Spotlight · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan Campus,
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  identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for research related to the
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  Wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu slash wiregrass archives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the News Wrap from In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's Capital Journal,
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  discusses the confusion over Alabama's election map as it makes its way to the Supreme Court.
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  And the wild card has a thief caught in the act.
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  Todd, welcome back to the News Wrap. Good to be with you.
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  What is the big topic right now? Well, once again, we're talking about
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  redistricting and the congressional map because there has once again been another ruling,
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  this time the Northern District of Alabama. Remember, the Supreme Court overturned one of
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  their rulings and sent it back to the lower court to say, okay, y'all revisit this case
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  and decide whether or not Alabama can proceed with the maps the legislature drew versus the
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  maps that the court drew. The legislature passed maps that would give Republicans
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  essentially one more congressional seat. So the court ruled this week that no,
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  the state was in the wrong based on the Louisiana decision, the new jurisprudence from the court
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  that the state used race to draw the maps and therefore they're unconstitutional. Well,
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  unsurprisingly, that ruling has been appealed to the Supreme Court. So we are yet again at
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  the Supreme Court waiting to see what those justices will allow. They could agree with
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  Alabama and let the legislatively drawn map go forward, as the legislature has asked and the
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  governor and Republicans, or they could side with the lower court. And that would really
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  change things because we would go back to a map that the courts mandated. That really throws the
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  election into a bit of chaos. So we're in a pretty chaotic situation right now, once again,
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  waiting on the Supreme Court. And Todd, haven't there been some demonstrations over this issue?
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  Oh, sure. Yeah. You had a couple thousand people gather in Montgomery at the Capitol steps. There
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  were actually protests all around the South, but Montgomery was a big one for a lot of congressmen
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  and people from Washington, D.C. coming down to say that what Alabama and other states are doing
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  is essentially diluting black representation in Congress. And so interestingly, it's had
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  an opposite effect in terms of all this work from Republicans to change the maps has actually
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  increased Democratic turnout. Democrats are more fired up and more engaged politically because of
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  what's going on. So it's been a bit of a backfire so far. Well, in that case, we need a wild card.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Happy to lighten up. This story comes from Canada, Alberta, where police were
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  investigating this theft of certain barbecue goods, namely hot dogs. Somebody had been
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  stealing hot dogs and they looked around and they caught the suspect red handed. And that is,
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  it was a fox. It was this red fox with a mouthful of hot dogs. There's an Instagram picture. It's
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  hilarious. He's got five or six hot dogs in his mouth. So they caught him, but I don't think
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  they're going to try to get those hot dogs back. A thief caught in the act. Yeah, pretty great.
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  Todd, who is on Capitol Journal tonight at 730, Sunday at noon and YouTube?
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  I'm going to be talking with Attorney General Steve Marshall. He's the one appealing these
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  decisions to the Supreme Court. So when we talk all about the state's argument,
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  also going to be talking with Congressman Shamari Figures. It's his district that would really be
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  impacted one way or the other, how the court rules. I'm going to get his perspective as a
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  congressman, but also as a former civil rights lawyer. Also going to be visiting with the
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  governor and lieutenant governor from Boys State, the Boys State annual gathering of high school
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  juniors in Montgomery today. Interesting engagement in the political system. Look forward to that.
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  Well, Todd, I want to thank you today for the news rep.
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  You bet.
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  That was Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal.
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  More information about Capitol Journal can be found at the website aptv.org.
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  Thanks for joining us today for the news rep from In Focus, which is also a podcast,
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  wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.