Politics and views in the United States.

Tennessee holds a surprisingly close special election. North Carolina can use newly drawn congressional maps and court practices in Ohio and Alabama bring calls for reform.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

I'm super excited of the momentum that we have to have the endorsement of the president.

And we're going to win decisively.

This is about the direction we want to move our country.

And we want to move it in the America first direction.

Republican Matt Van Epps, ahead of Tuesday's special election in Tennessee's 7th congressional district, which has been solidly Republican for over a decade.

His Democratic opponent campaigned on affordability, a winning message in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City.

Van Epps won by a modest margin, which could be another sign of voters souring on President Donald Trump's economic policies ahead of next year's midterms.

A federal court says North Carolina can use a new congressional map in 2026.

The Voting Rights Act forbids using redistricting for racial discrimination, But the judges ruled that plaintiffs hadn't proven the map wasn't just drawn to advantage the GOP.

Deborah Maxwell with the NAACP of North Carolina says it's the same thing, and the new districts clearly weaken black voting power in the eastern part of the state.

It's really odd that they would say that, that they did not choose it because of race, but you chose the area to eliminate a potential black congressperson, which that area has had for decades.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he was not there when a U.S. Admiral gave the order which killed the survivors of a previous strike on an alleged drug boat, but he defends the order.

A bipartisan group in Congress says that may have been a war crime.

A municipality near Cleveland is charging some residents with crimes if they have unpaid parking tickets.

Investigative reporter Mark Puente says the practice stands out compared with other places.

I've been to courthouses all over the country.

I've never seen people being arraigned in criminal court for parking tickets.

I could see if you had 12 of them or something, and even that's extreme.

But they're civil infractions.

Reform advocates say turning a civil fine into a criminal matter can trap people in debt and a cycle of court cases.

A missed payment can lead to additional fees, a suspended license, or even an arrest warrant.

In Alabama, a new analysis shows court fines can keep people tied to the system long after their case is resolved.

Researcher Leah Nelson looked at five years of Jefferson County data and says the structure often works against people trying to get back on their feet.

That's not a good way to raise revenue, and it's also unjust to punish people in a way that they'll never be done with.

Because we now have evidence that a very large number of people just never finish paying.

Lawmakers reviewing the fee structure say they want to rebalance accountability with more realistic chance of repayment, in part to reduce the backlog of unpaid court debt.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.