Politics and views in the United States

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies. The Utah GOP gathers signatures for a ballot measure to repeal a ban on gerrymandering and North Carolina political parties reach a truce over voter registration.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy and historic times.

Don't stop with the way things are, dream of things as they ought to be.

Dream, face pain, but love, hope, faith, and dream will help you rise above the pain.

Use hope and imagination as weapons of survival and progress but you keep on dreaming, young America.

One of the nation's most important black leaders, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, died yesterday in Chicago.

He rose to prominence in the 1960s and was in Memphis at the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

After leading civil rights organizations for years, Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, winning surprising support on a progressive and populist platform, even in states with segregationist histories.

He was 84.

Utah Republicans say they have far more signatures than needed to get a measure on November's ballot that would allow partisan redistricting.

The signatures still need to be verified and critics say they were gathered with misleading and deceitful tactics by paid canvassers.

Some 2000 people have requested their signature be taken off the petition.

A number of local election officials call unprecedented.

The ballot measure, if passed, would repeal a 2018 constitutional amendment designed to stop gerrymandering.

The Department of Homeland Security is still shut down as Congress battles over policy issues tied to the agency's funding.

Democrats have offered a 10-point list of demands they say would make federal immigration officers conform to standard police practices.

Republicans oppose changes, including a ban on masks and the requirement that warrants have to be issued by a judge.

Nebraska Republican Representative Don Bacon says there's agreement on things like body cameras, but he says Democratic leaders are lashing out at the entire department over immigration enforcement.

They're doing this out of anger at ICE and Border Patrol, but they're already funded.

So who's paying for this?

It's the Coast Guard, FEMA, TSA, Secret Service.

I think the better option though is being American first.

Let's see if we can find some low-hanging fruit that both the Democrats and Republicans can support.

North Carolina's political parties have reached a settlement over incomplete voter registrations.

They've decided to let more than 70,000 voters stay on the rolls in spite of problems with their applications, while election officials work to resolve the issues.

Meanwhile, advocates in the state say police in the capital city now have equipment which could violate people's rights.

The Raleigh police can now shoot a GPS tracker from the front of a police car and attach it to a person's vehicle.

Don Blagrove with EmancipateNC says that is actually a form of search, which would violate the Fourth Amendment.

The Raleigh Police Department requires much more extensive training and oversight before it'd be given the broad breadth of violating someone's constitutional rights.

A pro-cryptocurrency super PAC is wading into contested Democratic House primaries in Illinois.

The Fairshake PAC is making seven-figure ad buys against state lawmakers who support regulating cryptocurrency.

Fairshake is also using its $190 million war chest to target industry critic, Democratic Representative Al Green, among others.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.