The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission took public comments at a meeting in Benton Township Thursday evening as it prepares to redraw the state’s legislative district maps. The body was created by a vote of the people in 2018 to reduce gerrymandering, and requests heard on Thursday included balancing lakeshore communities and more rural areas in the vicinity to ensuring diversity is respected. The commission has been hearing from the public for months, and member Rebecca Szetela told WSJM News every bit of input it gets is taken seriously.
“Our next step is to compile all of the different public comments that we’ve received and to evaluate where we’ve received feedback and maps, and start to come up with ideas as to where those communities of interest are that we’ve been hearing about from the public,” Szetela said. “At this point, we are still awaiting census data, but we are planning on starting to draw maps with the data we do have form the Ameri
Three commissioners from the Michigan Independent Redistricting Committee stopped by Bird’s Eye Outfitters on Wednesday afternoon on their way to Gaylord.
Michigan redistricting commission votes down measure to recite Pledge of Allegiance msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The pledge as well as the national anthem have stirred controversies over patriotism, freedom of speech and reckoning with injustice in the U.S. American athletes protesting police brutality and racism by kneeling during the national anthem at sporting events drew national attention during Donald Trump s presidency.
Pointing to such controversies, commissioners raised concerns that reciting the pledge would divide the commission and create a heated atmosphere at public hearings where the group of randomly selected citizens in charge of drawing new congressional and legislative districts will solicit input from communities across the state.
Rebecca Szetela, a 47-year-old independent commissioner from Canton, said her biggest concern was that reciting the pledge would prove unnecessarily divisive. She worried about public meetings in which people might sit during the pledge, creating a hostile atmosphere among members of the public in attendance.