THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All
December 13, 2021
Good morning everyone.
We’re thinking of everyone in southern Illinois and across the country who were hurt by the deadly tornadoes this weekend. A “quad-state tornado” is a terrifying phrase I never could have imagined, especially not in December.
Switching gears, if you’re a paid subscriber, thank you! You’re helping to support local journalism. We need more people shining a spotlight on what elected leaders are doing. It’s just $7.99 per month and $75 per year. It’s the best way to help support the work we’re doing. Just click below to subscribe!
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
Democrats defend legislative remap, saying state has moved past racial voting patterns: ‘We are not Mississippi in 1965’ (Chicago Tribune)
Speaking to a three-judge panel in the ceremonial courtroom in the downtown Dirksen federal building, an attorney representing the Illinois legislature’s Democratic majority acknowledged it was unusual to see the party’s work challenged by its traditional Latino and Black allies.
“MALDEF and the NAACP used to be at the same table,” attorney Sean Berkowitz said.
Not in this case. Berkowitz was in court to defend a new state legislative map drawn by Democrats against claims of disenfranchisement in legal challenges from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black civil rights organization as well as Illinois Republicans.
The argument Berkowitz and other Democratic attorneys made is that while the map meets federal and state laws, Illinois voters have advanced beyond the racial voting patterns of the past and have far exceeded the goals of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that followed passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 — both championed by the courthouse’s namesake, the late Senate Republican leader Everett McKinley Dirksen of Pekin.
The lawsuits’ contention that Latinos were shortchanged of majority-Latino districts and that Blacks were shifted out a heavily Black East St. Louis district represents the thinking of past, when ethnic and racial groups were packed into districts rather than spread out to create additional opportunities for increased representation, lawyers for the Democrats said.
The Newman-Casten race becomes a national battle (Crain’s Chicago Business)
U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, D-LaGrange, has picked up an expected but crucial endorsement in her Democratic primary race for survival against fellow Democrat Sean Casten of Downers Grove in the new 6th Congressional District.
The endorsement, from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, removes any doubt that the Newman-Casten race will become a closely watched, highly funded national contest between the Democratic Party’s progressive and moderate wings.
Related: Rep. Marie Newman, in a Democratic primary with Rep. Sean Casten, faces political damage from ethics probe (Chicago Sun-Times)
House Ethics Committee extends investigation of complaint against U.S. Rep. Marie Newman into 2022 (Chicago Tribune)
Rep. Rodney Davis walks a fine line on infrastructure, Jan. 6 as he prepares for reelection (Illinois Newsroom)
Republican Congressman Rodney Davis says infrastructure is a top priority, but he voted no on President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law.
He says Jan. 6 rioters should face charges for breaking the law, but he is not willing to criticize Republicans who encourage their beliefs.
These are some of the fine lines Davis walks as he navigates a new legislative district and a Republican Party still defined by former president Donald Trump.
“I don’t think I’ve changed at all. I’m still proud of my bipartisan record,” Davis said. “I’m a conservative who actually is proud of being able to get things done here. And I’m not going to sacrifice my core values and principles that I ran on when I first ran in this district in 2012.”
After ‘too much loss,’ Pritzker signs bill sending $250 million to anti-violence groups (Chicago Sun-Times)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed legislation paving the way for $250 million in state funding to community groups that are working to reduce gun violence in Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods and other parts of Illinois suffering the ripple effects of a nationwide crime spike.
The Reimagine Public Safety Act, which created a new state office for firearm violence prevention, was part of the budget Pritzker signed in the spring.
The trailer bill that was signed Friday — which state lawmakers advanced during the fall veto session — gives officials in the Illinois Department of Human Services more leeway in issuing the millions in grant funding and expands eligibility for groups already working to “interrupt” violence, according to Pritzker’s office.
Legislator pushes for law requiring Illinois hospitals to report all assaults to police (ProPublica)
An Illinois lawmaker said she will propose legislation to require hospital employees to report suspected patient-on-patient sexual assaults to law enforcement.
The proposal, from State Sen. Julie Morrison, a Lake Forest Democrat, was prompted by a ProPublica investigation that found that Roseland Community Hospital officials failed to report a possible sexual assault of a patient in its psychiatric ward, even though it was captured on surveillance video.
Morrison, chair of the senate health committee, said she was “appalled that a report was not made to law enforcement.” Currently, only alleged assaults of patients by hospital employees must be reported to law enforcement.
“I don’t believe any patient should lose the human rights of being protected in a hospital, regardless of who assaults them,” Morrison said in an interview. “People in these locked facilities are very vulnerable anyway. They have so many issues they are trying to deal with, and to not have that very minimal protection for their safety is totally unacceptable.”
JOIN US
Thanks for subscribing to The Illinoize. This post is public, so feel free to share it.