Blue 812 News Issue 67 - May 3

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Early Wednesday, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 (along the usual lines, good vs evil) that a Louisiana congressional map constituted an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” Which is wild, because this map was created to protect minority voters in compliance with the Voting Rights Act, and this ruling deals a severe blow to that. In the words of NAACP head Derrick Johnson: “The Supreme Court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy. This ruling is a major setback for our nation and threatens to erode the hard-won victories we’ve fought, bled, and died for.”

Zooming in on the practical implications, Louisiana will have to redraw its maps in a way that will almost certainly benefit Republicans. In fact, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and their attorney general said Thursday that the current congressional map cannot be used, so Louisiana will delay its House primary elections (though other races will still continue) while state lawmakers work to pass a new congressional map. Now, worst-case scenario is a bunch of other red states using this ruling as an excuse to redraw their maps to disenfranchise Black voters, although the timing is unclear. As The New York Times reported: “The case directly affected one state, Louisiana, striking down its congressional map and most likely causing Democrats to lose at least one blue-leaning district there. It was not immediately clear how the ruling might play out in the other states that have yet to hold their primary elections this year.”

As Justice Kagan wrote in her dissent, “I dissent because the Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court’s decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity… The consequences are likely to be far-reaching and grave.” A Black Voters Matter-Fair Fight Action analysis found that up to 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus and 11% of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus might lose their seats with Section 2 eviscerated. At the state level, we could see as many as 140 Black or Hispanic-majority legislative districts disappear.

Our long national nightmare is over. At long last, Congress passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, ending the record-smashing 76-day partial shutdown, and impressively, solving literally none of the problems with the agency, notably, the ones that created a situation where DHS agents murdered people.

This bill finally passed the House by funding everything in DHS except ICE and CBP, which Republicans will fund in a separate bill. Instead of working with Democrats like grownups, they’re planning to use a process that will shield them from a filibuster. Nothing changed except that a bunch of DHS employees suffered months of financial uncertainty. Cool.

The human cornea is the only part of the body without blood vessels. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Murrill filed a lawsuit against the FDA last year, asking the court to reinstate a requirement that patients obtain mifepristone in person from their doctor. The Biden FDA had suspended that requirement during COVID, and made the change permanent in 2023.

Citing a widely-debunked ‘study and claiming telehealth access allows abusers to surreptitiously poison women with abortion pills, Murrill also said that Louisiana suffers “sovereign and financial harms” as a result of telemedicine access. This last argument is important, because the Supreme Court unanimously threw out a challenge to mifepristone in 2024, ruling that the anti-abortion doctors who brought the suit couldn’t show that they’d been personally harmed. Murrill didn’t want the same thing happening in her case, so she claims Louisiana is being forced to spend Medicaid dollars treating women who’ve had complications from mifepristone (financial harm), and that the FDA’s rules nullify the state’s ban (sovereign harm).

You can read the full decision here, but in it, Trump-appointee Judge Kyle Duncan wrote that the FDA rules “cancel Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that ‘every unborn child is [a] human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.’” Booooooooo!

Make sure your communities—online and off—know they can still legally use abortion pills:

Abortion, Every Day also has a robust resources page that you can share—with links to providers, legal and medical help, abortion funds, and more.

Support your local abortion fund and providers. As a result of this ruling, more patients will seek out in-person care, necessitating money for travel, lodging, child care, and the procedures themselves.

Remind people this is why elections matter. That can feel like a hollow thing to say when we’re watching courts dismantle rights in real time, but the anti-abortion movement has been playing a long game for fifty years—stacking courts, electing AGs, and flipping state legislatures. Now we need voters to show up with the same focus and fury—especially because we have the power of the people on our side.

Mayor Sakbun has announced a planned renovation and expansion of the Booker T. Washington Community Center and the surrounding Washington Park. The project will add new indoor multipurpose courts to allow for year-round sports and recreation, while keeping construction within the existing block at South 13th Street and College Avenue. City leaders say the current gym will largely remain as-is, aside from possible minor repairs, and the new courts will be built as an extension to the existing structure. Planning is still in early stages, with a contractor and architect expected to be selected soon and construction tentatively targeted to begin in the fall.

The expansion is expected to benefit current tenants like Chances and Services for Youth (CASY) as well as the Parks and Recreation Department by creating more space for programming and activities. Final designs and total project costs have not yet been determined, as those details will be finalized during the scoping process. Officials emphasized that the project will not rely on property taxes; instead, funding will come from existing economic development income tax (EDIT) revenues, surplus EDIT funds, and gaming revenue.

Tuesday is Election Day! It’s your last chance to use your voice to choose our representatives for the general election in the fall!

Four races are competitive countywide (everyone votes for these):

plus 3 county council seats are competitive (you may or may not have one of these on your ballot):

Not sure of your district? Check here: Vigo County districts

Election Day voting sites - open Tuesday 6am-6pm:

Each polling location is staffed by trained poll-workers to ensure your voting experience is positive, but if you experience any problems or concerns, the Election Protection Hotline is standing by to help! Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer.

If you are turned away at the polls, your response must be: “Please give me a provisional ballot with a receipt, as required by law.”

Before you head to the polls, familiarize yourself with the candidates using the resources below:

Each year, letter carriers across the country head out on their routes on the second Saturday in May to collect donations of non-perishable food items to benefit local food pantries. Since launching in 1993, the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has grown into the nation’s largest one-day food drive, helping to fill the shelves of food banks in cities and towns throughout the United States.

The need is great, but you can help. We invite you to join letter carriers and our partner organizations in the fight to end hunger in our communities by participating in the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Simply leave your donation of non-perishable food in a bag near your mailbox on the second Saturday in May, and your letter carrier will do the rest.

Just a few more days until the election and the Mary Allen campaign is looking for volunteers/supporters who would want to greet people at the polls and thank them for voting, as well as people to put Mary Allen for Congress signs up at each poll location on Monday night or Tuesday by 6 am and pick them up after voting has been completed. Please reach out or sign up for any of the poll greeter shifts below.

Election Day Poll Greeters - Duke Energy

Election Day Poll Greeters - Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 157

Election Day Poll Greeters - Maryland Community Church

Election Day Poll Greeters - Vigo County Public Library

Due to the overwhelming response of the last City Cleanup Day, Terre Haute will have dumpsters available every 2nd Saturday of the month from May to August, beginning Saturday, May 9, 8 AM – 12 PM (or until dumpsters are full) at the Terre Haute Street Department Garage (1211 Deming St.)

- CITY OF TERRE HAUTE SEWAGE BILL MUST BE PRESENTED AT DROP-OFF Need a copy of your bill? Visit or email the Sewage Billing Department, located in City Hall.

- ONE DROP-OFF PER HOUSEHOLD

**visit the Blue812News Local Events calendar to see all upcoming events**

Tuesday, May 5th at 5pm: Vigo County Council Meeting in the Council Chambers in the Vigo County Government Center, 127 Oak Street

Wednesday, May 6th at 6pm: Mile with the Mayor at Herz-Rose Park. A 1-mile walk with the mayor.

Thursday, May 7th at 6pm: Terre Haute City Council Meeting at City Hall.

Saturday, May 9th at 2pm: Slices with Sakbun is back! Join Mayor Brandon for our most delicious community forum at Wise Pies (9 S 6th St, Terre Haute)! Grab a slice and a drink for just $5 when you mention “Slices with Sakbun” at checkout (dine in only), and discuss community initiatives, issues, and anything municipal on your mind. 2pm-4pm

Tuesday, May 12th at 3pm: Mingle with the Mayor at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. 3-4pm. At this informal and relaxed gathering, various topics will be covered each month with opportunities to ask questions and voice concerns. Free pie and coffee will be served courtesy of Clinton Gardens.

Tuesday, May 12th at 5pm: Vigo County Council Meeting in the Council Chambers in the Vigo County Government Center, 127 Oak Street

Thursday, May 14th at 6pm: Terre Haute City Council Meeting at City Hall.

Virginia just became the first state in the South to pass Paid Family and Medical Leave.

Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Donald Trump’s plan for a White House ballroom, compared to just 28% who support it, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Thursday. The poll was conducted Friday to Tuesday and coincided with last weekend’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which Trump and his MAGA allies said was evidence that the White House needs a fancy new ballroom.

Trump pulled Dr. Casey Means’ nomination for surgeon-general after it stalled in the Senate amid questions about her qualifications and stance on vaccines. Means, who did not finish her surgical residency and doesn’t have an active medical license, is popular with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, but faced significant pushback from GOP Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Trump tapped Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, to replace Means.

Minnesota became the first state in the country to pass a bill banning “nudification” apps that promote nonconsensual sexual imagery. The bill was unanimously passed in the Minnesota House and will head to Governor Tim Walz for final passage.

The Australian government proposed taxing Meta, Google and TikTok and using that money to fund newsrooms, explaining that those companies shouldn’t be able to use journalists’ work “with no compensation appropriate for the people who produce that creative content,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. This is such a good idea!

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