Republicans hope for more redistricting changes

HELENA — The redistricting commission that reached a deal late last week on a tentative map for the state's 100 House districts is far from finished redrawing the state's legislative districts.

Chairman Jim Regnier lauded the panel Thursday for meeting its goal of keeping population differences between districts very small, with not much more than a 1 percent deviation between larger and smaller districts.

"The lower the deviation, the lower flexibility you have to have districts that are out of whack, so to speak," said the impartial chairman charged with negotiating a compromise between part...