Free Republic

An unpopular Illinois, Dolton mayor was booed out of a town meeting then sued the other officials for hosting it without her. So-called America's 'worst mayor' Tiffany Henyard arrived at Monday's village board meeting an hour late and was met with outraged residents, reported WGN. Despite the meeting's location being moved to the local park district facilities after Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office found Dolton had violated the state’s Open Meetings Act, Henyard tried to hold a separate board meeting at Village Hall, according to WLS.

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a new Illinois law that allows the state to penalize anti-abortion pregnancy centers if they use deception to interfere with patients seeking the procedure. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston said Thursday the new law “is painfully and blatantly a violation of the First Amendment.” The law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week bans anti-abortion pregnancy centers, often referred to as “crisis pregnancy centers,” from using “misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation” to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception. Violators faced fines of up to $50,000. The bill was...

The refrain is heard almost as often as the fatal gunshots: The way to reduce Chicago’s gun violence is tougher prison sentences for repeat gun offenders, keeping them off the streets and decreasing the city’s mounting death toll. That idea, pushed by the mayor, police superintendent and others, shifts pressure from patrol officers of the city’s West and South sides to the Capitol, where legislators will consider how to balance law and order with finding alternatives to imprisoning young blacks and other minorities.In that building, in the same Senate seat where Barack Obama launched his political career and focused on...