Free Republic

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on the tax plan released this morning by House Republicans: This plan gives massive tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest individuals while middle class families are left behind. It is based on the mistaken belief that cutting taxes for the wealthiest will benefit everybody else—an assumption that has been proven false each and every time it’s been tested. Eliminating state and local tax deductions will hit Illinois hard—resulting in double taxation for a third of the families in our state.

Prince Harry and Michelle Obama surprised approximately 20 students today at Hyde Park Academy, a high school on Chicago’s South Side, which is located across from the future site of the Obama Presidential Center. “The warm and wide-ranging conversation, lasting over an hour, covered how the Obama Presidential Center will showcase the South Side of Chicago for a global audience, the importance of young people staying inspired....

A Hispanic student organization at the University of Chicago is urging students to not “be problematic on Halloween.” A flyer produced by Mecha de UChicago tells students to stay away from costumes that represent cultures that aren’t your own, and “anything that sexualizes an individual or group of people.”

Northern Illinois University is urging students to “think carefully about the impact of costumes” this Halloween. An article in Northern Illinois University Today, which was sent out in a campus wide email by the Dean of Students, encourages students to avoid costumes that “mock the sexual orientation, gender identity, cultures, ethnicities, and races of others.”

Timothy Ward was a convicted felon barred from possessing a firearm on the night he fatally shot a man during an argument on Chicago’s West Side. Minutes after the July 2015 slaying, police stopped a light-colored van and found the suspected murder weapon — a black revolver — under the front passenger seat where Ward had been sitting. The gun had been sold just four months earlier at Suburban Sporting Goods in Melrose Park, a cramped strip mall store about 10 miles from the gritty block where 25-year-old Charzelle Hayes was killed, according to Chicago police. Ballistics matched the Nagant...

Former President Barack Obama has been called for jury duty in Chicago. Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans on Friday told county commissioners during a budget hearing that Obama, who owns homes in Washington, D.C., and Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood, will serve in November. He is registered to vote in Chicago. Evans says Obama’s safety will be “uppermost in our minds” when he serves. …

Northwestern University plans to double the capacity of the “men’s project” that it launched last year to help male students “deconstruct their own masculinity.” Each quarter since spring 2016, “NU Men” has offered 12 openings for a six-week program where men can learn how “oppression is impacted by their male or masculine identity” and how they can “contribute to stopping violence.”

egislation to ban “bump stocks” and other devices that allow guns to fire more rapidly was rejected by the Illinois House on Thursday, as opponents from both parties contended the measure was too broad and could turn legal gun owners into criminals. State Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, said the bill was designed in response to the mass shooting in Las Vegas, where the gunman used bump stocks to increase the rate of fire on several semi-automatic rifles. “Today we are taking the first step towards better protecting our loved ones and preventing this horrific violence from happening in Illinois,”...

SPRINGFIELD — Downstate Democrats joined with Republicans Thursday to thwart a ban on devices that make a semi-automatic rifle shoot about as fast as a fully automatic weapon — arguing the bill would have outlawed too many types of weapons. State Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Smithton, said about 40 percent of the “50 to 60″ guns he owns would be banned under the bill.

A protester shouted and threw what appeared to be Russian flags at Mr. Trump, screaming “Trump is treason!” and “We should be talking about treason not tax cuts!” CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports that the man has been identified as Ryan Clayton of the Americans Take Action group. Clayton made a similar disturbance at the Capitol when he threw a large Russian flag in the way of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, back in July when he met with Senate Intelligence investigators as part of their ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. This was Ryan Clayton from...

Recruit your neighboring governors to thank the opposition party leader.

A math education professor at the University of Illinois says the ability to solve geometry and algebra problems and teaching such subjects perpetuates so-called white privilege.

My reporting on the hurricane recovery effort in Puerto Rico would not be complete without mention of my roommate on the trip — Rep. Luis Gutierrez. In an admittedly unorthodox decision, the Chicago congressman and I shared a hotel room and rental car to reduce the logistical difficulties of following him around to hurricane-damaged locations on the island. I learned Gutierrez is probably more popular in Puerto Rico than in Chicago because of his advocacy on the island’s behalf in Congress, which gets him more media attention there than here. Everywhere we went, random people wanted to chat him up,...

Tax Reform: What do you call a tax break that delivers 88% of the benefits to upper-income families and subsidizes rich states at the expense of poor ones? If you're a Democrat, you call it a sacred cow. One provision of the Republican's tax-cutting plan that has drawn intense opposition from Democrats is the elimination of state and local tax deductions for those who itemize. ... Fewer than 22% of tax filers even claim the state and local tax deduction, and the vast majority of these are higher-income families. While 78% of those with incomes above $200,000 claim the deduction,...

If there’s one guy who’s all about measuring pain and pleasure, it’s Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Yes, I didn’t believe it either, thinking the Rahmfather wasn’t into pain and pleasure as much as he was into ruling from his iron throne on the 5th Floor of City Hall. But there it was in quotes. “I don’t look to just raise taxes,” he told the Tribune’s Editorial Board this week after proposing even more tax increases. “I look at what do we need to do, what helps us grow the economy, what improves quality of life and then measure pain versus...

Marguerite Ridgeway was a fervent Catholic until her faith was shaken when church sex abuse scandals came to light, particularly a decades-old trauma recounted by her daughter-in-law. Now Ridgeway’s son wants to install a marker at his late mother’s gravesite in Wheaton bearing the inscription “She supported priest rapist victims.” The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which owns Assumption Cemetery, has objected to what it calls the “explicit language” of the epitaph. Ridgeway’s son, Jack Ruhl, of Kalamazoo, Mich., recently sent a rendering of the planned marker to the cemetery, along with a $350 check to cover the installation fee....

CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released a new report which details the Trump Administration’s deliberate, year-long efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the impact of this sabotage on patients and families in Illinois. “1,000 Cuts: A Report on the Trump Administration’s Health Care Sabotage” highlights the steps President Trump has taken since Inauguration Day to undermine and create uncertainty in our health care system, including last week’s executive order and the termination of cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. Sen. Durbin also highlighted resources included in the report to assist Illinois consumers signing up for health...

Park advisory councils on the South Side released statements Thursday to air their concerns about the Obama Presidential Center coming to Jackson Park, joining an outpouring of community calls for transparency and collaboration as the Obama Foundation begins to finalize plans. The Midway Plaisance Advisory Council met Wednesday night to draft a resolution that strongly opposed the seizure of the land for a two story parking garage and bus staging area. They also asked for no action on the land without a renewed framework for the land by the Chicago Park District; and the consideration of all communities, and people...

Learn about ‘the patriarchy’The private university that put a female professor through multiple Title IX investigations for criticizing “sexual paranoia” is returning to its man-hating roots.Northwestern University is adding a second cohort to its six-week “dialogues” on “examining and deconstructing masculinity,” which are run by NÜ Men, a collaboration between its Social Justice Education unit and Center for Awareness, Response and Education, The Daily Northwestern reports.The assistant director of residence life, Dan Amato, credited “increased interest” for the addition of the second cohort. The program, which features “eight to 10 male-identifying students and two facilitators” in each dialogue, started in spring 2016 with...

A federal employee who allegedly threatened to kidnap, rape and kill young girls over the internet could get out of jail while he awaits trial on child porn charges.Prosecutors said Richard Barnett, 39, was dangerous and if they let him out of custody he could make a run for it. The judge said she was not ready to decide just yet. She wanted more time to think about it. But she is concerned about how dangerous he is.Police arrested Barnett in Aurora Monday. He faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly chatting with young girls on the internet and...