Untangled

In Arizona and Michigan, independent commissions draw the maps, but the process hasn’t been without its bumps. In Iowa, an advisory commission drafts congressional and state boundaries but the state legislature retains final authority to implement them. Guests include: Colleen Coyle Mathis, former chair, Arizona Independent Restricting Commission; Dave Wells, research director, Grand Canyon Institute, retired professor, Arizona State University; Lauren Gibbons, state government reporter, Bridge Michigan; and O. Kay Henderson, news director, Radio Iowa.

In Arizona and Michigan, independent commissions draw the maps, but the process hasn’t been without its bumps. In Iowa, an advisory commission drafts congressional and state boundaries but the state legislature retains final authority to implement them.

When it comes to redistricting everyone says they want fair maps. That’s the easy part. The hard part is setting a legal standard for drawing them. We’re untangling how to draw fair maps this episode. Guests include: Dave Wasserman, Senior Editor & Elections Analyst for The Cook Political Report; Samuel Wang, Princeton Gerrymandering Project Professor; Dan Vicuna, director of redistricting and representation for Common Cause.

When it comes to redistricting everyone says they want fair maps. That’s the easy part. The hard part is setting a legal standard for drawing them.

Gerrymandering is bad, right? Drawing congressional or statehouse districts to benefit one party at the expense of the other is wrong. Right? As we untangle redistricting this season, we wanted to unravel the belief that gerrymandering is bad. Guests include: Matt Huffman, Ohio Senate President (R-Lima); Maureen O’Connor, former chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court; Allison Russo, Ohio House Minority Leader (D-Upper Arlington); David Pepper, former Ohio Democratic Party Chair; Jeff Berding, co-owner of FC Cincinnati; and David Niven, political science professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Gerrymandering is bad, right? Drawing congressional or statehouse districts to benefit one party at the expense of the other is wrong. Right? As we untangle redistricting this season, we wanted to unravel the belief that gerrymandering is bad.

What can be done at the local, state and federal levels to solve the immigration crisis?

Politicians on the right often bring up crime when discussing immigration but research shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S.

When we talk about our immigration system being broken, we’re really talking about asylum. Our laws let people seek refuge from persecution, but the rules weren’t created to handle hundreds of thousands.

When it comes to the politics of immigration, Ohio's members of Congress have been front and center. We look the political fault lines that severed bipartisan efforts at immigration reform.