Producer host Julia Dudley Najieb reviews the news headlines regarding the controversial San Francisco gerrymandering accusation against three task force members
By ONME Newswire
News Too Real April 8, 2022: In episode 9 of season 4, producer host Julia Dudley Najieb reflects on the breaking news concerning the highly controversial redistricting process happening in San Francisco, CA where residents are in an uproar with the recent set of maps released by the Redistricting Task Force; some people hold three members of the task force at fault. Some leaders are speaking out against the possible gerrymandering tactics being performed on behalf of the Republican Party, where three members are responsible or a part of the gerrymandering accusation: (these three were appointed by the Elections Commission) Raynell Cooper, Chasel Lee and Vice Chair Ditka Reiner.
The Redistricting Task Force consists of nine members. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Elections Commission each appoint three members. These nine individuals work with City staff and outside consultants to establish boundaries for San Francisco’s Supervisorial districts following each federal decennial census. The Task Force ensures the boundaries comply with the legal requirements established in federal, state and local law.
As part of this process, the Redistricting Task Force holds multiple community hearings to receive input from the people of San Francisco.
Gerrymandering is when a political group tries to change a voting district to create a result that helps them or hurts the group who is against them.
The term comes from early 19th century: from the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts + salamander, from the supposed similarity between a salamander and the shape of a new voting district on a map drawn when he was in office (1812), the creation of which was felt to favor his party; the map (with claws, wings, and fangs added) was published in the Boston Weekly Messenger, with the title The Gerry-Mander .
News Too Real Podcast 4-8-22 Headlines:
World
If a happiness index was taken within the last few weeks, it would have shown Tanzanians to be the happiest people in the world, according to some Tanzanians on social media.
Within the past few weeks, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, widely known as just Mama Samia, met the two leading figures of the opposition party Chadema, Tundu Lissu and Freeman Mbowe - meetings that would have been unimaginable just over a year ago.
A year ago, Tanzania was a very different place.
Then-President John Magufuli believed the opposition were puppets of foreign interests. His only language towards the opposition was force, and he made it his mission to eliminate multiparty politics.
What President Samia has achieved so far is to put the brakes on a fast descent into total authoritarianism. She has returned the country to the pre-2015 era, but has done little to alter the institutional structures which enabled her predecessor to crack down on dissent so completely.
National
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson proclaimed the progress her confirmation to the Supreme Court represents and offered her gratitude to the many people who she said helped her along the way at an event on the White House South Lawn on Friday.
"It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we've made it! We've made it — all of us," Jackson said.
"I have dedicated my career to public service because I love this country and our Constitution and the rights that make us free," Jackson also said.
Quoting poet Maya Angelou, Jackson said, "I am the dream and the hope of the slave.“
"In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States," she added, also offering a tearful tribute to her daughters. Jackson also thanked Democratic Senate leaders and numerous White House staff involved in her confirmation process.
California
A new bill working its way through the state legislature could change the definition of the workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours.
Lawmakers say the change would improve quality of life and even productivity.
According to Assembly Bill 2932, if an employee works 40 hours they’d need to be compensated for that extra eight hours by receiving at least time-and-a-half.
Assemblymember Christina Garcia, who represents the 58th District in Bell Gardens, was one of the authors to introduce the bill in the state legislature.
The bill would apply to companies with 500 employees or more.
Rep. Mark Takano of the 41st Congressional District in Riverside is a supporter of a reduced work week at the federal level.
Jonathan Harris, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who specializes in employment law, likened the idea to the labor revolution that brought forth the 40-hour workweek in the 1930s.
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