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... "One of the things that we should have pride about, and that all around the country, I think people look in envy about the fact that Illinois truly does step up and protect our LGBTQ+ community," Pritzker said, "and we're not going to stop." One of the bills Pritzker signed, HB4834, removes testosterone from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program — the electronic database that collects information about specific medications and treatments. The bill also prevents the addition of estrogen, mifepristone, and misoprostol — the latter two of which are used to end pregnancies early — to the monitoring program....

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) responded to Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) proposal to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour by saying that “I’m delighted that Sen. Murphy is talking about this and I think the voting record of a lot of us, the Democrats that had led on this before is we’re willing to do it, it was $15, plus inflation adjustments.” Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, “I want to ask you, quickly, with our small amount of time remaining here, Congressman, if you think raising the minimum wage would help. …...

A Mexican national who was previously deported from the United States returned illegally, then tried to launch a drug-and-guns business relationship with a stranger he met in a Chicago truck dealership parking lot by offering to sell him a pound of methamphetamine and an AK-47, according to federal court records. That stranger turned out to be a federal informant. Now, Leonel Mercado Jaimes is charged with distributing nearly a pound of methamphetamine after authorities say he followed through on the drug sale and later admitted he had re-entered the country illegally after being deported in 2015. According to a federal...

Woke Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared he was reupping the city’s “Trans Femicide State of Emergency” to highlight violence against transgender women — despite just one reported killing of a trans person this year, compared with nearly 200 other murders across the city. His social media posting announcing the initiative drew widespread mockery as critics pointed out his bizarre focus on a small population as the city is plagued by dozens of weekly shootings primarily involving Chicagoans of color. Johnson’s declaration suggests an ongoing epidemic of trans murders. There have been 14 transgender people were killed in Chicago between 2016...

The project was sold to the community – despite massive opposition from all sides, originally – as a huge influx of construction jobs for the community. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a building project, that money doesn’t all go to an architect; the vast majority gets spread around among small businesses, employing building materials vendors and plumbers, drywallers and carpenters, electricians and glaziers, carpet layers and escalator installers. This should have been a godsend for the area; it simply wasn’t. According to the African American Contractors Association, there’s a long list of such small businesses who...

Post See new posts Conversation Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh 🚨 HOLY CRAP! ICE has just arrested an Illinois teacher in a Tren de Aragua TRIPLE M*RDER CASE, MASS SHOOTING Democrats RELEASED HER FROM JAIL She reportedly came in 2021, then overstayed her visa, and ASSISTED the killings 🤯 "She drove 2 gunmen affiliated with TdA...where they allegedly opened fire." She ALSO reportedly helped them FLEE THE SCENE "3 killed, several injured." GET THEM ALL OUT! This is why ICE and DHS need maximum fun. 🇺🇸 Thankfully, the gunmen were DEPORTED. VIDEO AT LINK............

President Trump tore into lefty Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday over spiraling violence in Chicago – after a bloody weekend in the Windy City left at least five people dead and 22 others wounded, according to reports.

After officials kicked off the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center with a widely mocked “land acknowledgment” — a nod to the political far left that believes the United States was built on “stolen land” — a traditional Native American dance show was featured during Saturday’s scheduled events. The Black Hawk Performance Company is a Native American dance troupe based in the Chicago area, composed of dancers from several Indigenous tribes. Saturday marked the third day of the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening, which featured musical and cultural performances ranging from international superstars like John Legend to local...

At least 13 people were injured late Friday night when two gunmen opened fired from a vehicle into a crowd in the city's Princeton Park neighborhood, Chicago police said. Police said at around 11 p.m., officers were called about a person who had been shot along West 95th Street near South Wentworth Avenue. A preliminary investigation determined a red SUV pulled alongside a large crowd, and two suspects inside the vehicle began firing gunshots before fleeing the scene. When officers arrived on the scene, they found two people who had sustained gunshot injuries. A 32-year-old woman was shot twice in...

The Chicago man accused of burning a cross in Grant Park last week made his first court appearance on Thursday, as a judge denied prosecutors' request to keep him locked up until trial. Merlin Lu, 21, is charged with two felony counts of hate crime, one felony count of property damage, one felony count of arson, and additional misdemeanor charges including disorderly conduct and burning a cross to intimidate. At his first court appearance on Thursday, Cook County prosecutors sought to have him detained while he awaits trial, but the judge said the state failed to show what he did...

Former President Barack Obama formally opened his presidential center in Chicago on Thursday with a call to defend democracy as three former presidents joined him on stage in an extraordinary event featuring politicians, A-list celebrities, athletes and other internationally known figures. “I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens,” the nation’s first Black president told the crowd. Bono, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony and Eddie Vedder took turns on the stage ahead of...

Cost to taxpayers for Obama Center keep piling up Illinois taxpayers may be on the hook for millions in unpaid contractor fees for the Obama Presidential Center as the foundation's promised $420 million "safety net" fund to prevent a taxpayer bailout has yet to materialize and many black-owned contractors are being left unpaid. Meanwhile, multiple contractors are now saying that the Obama Center hasn't paid them for millions of dollars for their work. And some are wondering if taxpayers will be forced to pay up, according to Fox News. Some of these subcontractors say they are locked in payment disputes...

Later this month, the Obama Presidential Center will open on the South Side of Chicago. In a preview for the press, NPR and other media toured the building and grounds showcasing the Obama presidency. It isn't a presidential library. It's a campus, with basketball courts, gardens, ball fields, a playground for kids, a Chicago public library branch and an eight- story museum that towers over it all.

The Obama Presidential Center was billed as a lasting legacy to former President Barack Obama, and its construction was touted as an ambitious model built with aggressive goals for minority-owned and local businesses. But now, some of the very subcontractors who helped build the 19.3-acre campus on Chicago’s South Side say they are facing financial ruin as they race to recover millions of dollars they claim remain unpaid ahead of the center's grand opening Friday. Overall construction costs were reported to be $830 million in 2021, and have likely climbed past the $1 billion mark. A Fox News Digital investigation...

Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and U2's Bono and the Edge are among the music stars who will perform on Thursday at the grand opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, where the former president spent years working as a community organizer and politician. "We are bringing together some of today's most prominent voices and global icons for the Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening Ceremony," the Obama Foundation announced in a Wednesday social media post, which you can see below. "The festivities will livestream globally at 11 a.m. CT, Thursday, June 18 — don’t miss it!" Other performers helping...

A 21-year-old leftist college student is in custody after admitting to burning a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park, saying it was a protest against the Trump administration — an act that sparked outrage from Democrats who initially called it the “seeds of racism and fascism.” The incident first flared up on June 9. A disturbing video showed a wooden cross burning at Grant Park in Chicago. Firefighters extinguished the flames and police released photos of a “person of interest” fleeing the scene, per ABC 7. With no suspect in custody, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential presidential contender, rushed...

UPDATE: Chicago police confirmed to NBC Chicago Tuesday morning that a person of interest in connection with the cross found burning in Grant Park was in custody. Our latest story can be found here. Our original story continues below. It was a startling and offensive scene. A burning cross in Grant Park last Tuesday - the century-old flaming symbol of racism and hatred. For nearly a week, Chicago police and the FBI have been trying to identify the man who was suspected of setting up the cross and torching it. NBC 5 Investigates has identified a 21-year-old college senior who...

A 21-year-old University of Illinois Chicago senior says he is the person who set fire to a cross in Grant Park last week, though he insists he had no idea that burning crosses are a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan. Merlin Lu told NBC 5 in an interview Monday that his target was not a racial group, but rather supporters of President Donald Trump, whom he described as “MAGA Christian nationalist supporters.” His chosen method of protest: placing a red baseball cap atop a cross, the central symbol of Christianity, and setting it ablaze. “I don’t want to wait...

African American Contractors Association president Omar Shareef said that a total of seven separate subcontractors have contacted him for help with pursuing missing payments in the past several months. Some of the contractors are owed seven figures. They’re willing to settle for less, as long as they can keep their businesses running.