Virginia House speaker kills Senate GOP redistricting plan

RICHMOND, Va. — Republican House Speaker Bill Howell on Wednesday blocked a controversial GOP redistricting scheme despite significant pressure from within his own party to keep it alive.

Howell said Senate Republicans acted out of line last month when they amended a relatively benign House bill by completely redrawing the Senate maps to give them an edge in the 2015 elections. Those changes “strayed dramatically, in my opinion, from the legislation’s initial purpose,” Howell said, and he flexed his power as speaker to rule them not germane to the intent of the bill.