Congressional districting

If Congresswoman Terri Sewell has her way, The United State Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to order Alabama to redraw its congressional districts would mean a new map for the 2024 elections.

Sewell, a Birmingham Democrat, has long been the state’s only Democratic member in the House of Representatives, and she represents the state’s only majority-black district.

The Supreme Court, with John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joining the more liberal justices, affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s Congressional District, as drawn after the 2020 Census, most likely violate the Voting Rights Act and that there should be a second district that is majority or near-majority Black.

It doesn’t require deep analysis to point out that means Alabama have an additional seat in the House that might be in play for the Democrats. With perhaps both the districts at least somewhat less of a slam dunk than the current Alabama 7, which is Sewell’s district.

She said she’s ready for it to get done.

“It is about making sure that every American’s voice in this democracy is heard,” she said.

Small slip in reading scores

This spring, Alabama’s second and third graders tested a little lower in reading than they did a year ago, reports AL.com’s Trisha Powell Crain.

Seventy six percent of third-graders and 78 percent of sixth graders showed they were reading up to their grade level. That’s two percentage points lower for each.

Remember, these standards were adopted two years ago and are tougher than they were before. Challenges to getting the students ready this year included new textbooks that weren’t available at the beginning of the school year and a class of third-graders whose educational careers began with COVID-19 taking out the last part of their kindergarten year and making a mess of their first-grade year.

State superintendent Eric Mackey: “This is a true accounting of where we are. But we want it to be a lot better.”

Iraq war hero’s name

Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Keith Yoakum had plans to retire from the Army near Fort Novosel (formerly Fort Rucker), Alabama.

He had bought 51 acres, and his wife and children were settling in and waiting for him, and he had talked with his twin brother, Kevin, about his moving there and going into an aviation business with him.

But in 2007 Yoakum was on deployment in Iraq, flying an Apache helicopter on patrol with 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, when he took enemy groundfire. The brigade said that, with other aircraft to protect, Yoakum and fellow pilot Jason DeFrenn chose to stay in the fight until their Apache crashed and killed both of them.

Now, Stars and Stripes reports that the brigade has renamed its airfield to honor the two pilots.

The Yoakum-DeFrenn Army Heliport opened last month at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Texas.

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