Tag Archives: Illinois

The Chicago Tribune reports: Democratic billionaire J.B. Pritzker will take on wealthy Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in November, a race expected to easily shatter Illinois campaign spending records and make a run at the national mark. Both candidates enter a nearly eight-month general election campaign needing to unify their respective parties following bruising primary campaigns. More than half of Democratic …

Newsweek reports: Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier and “long-time neo-Nazi” whose website promotes anti-Semitic material, is the Republican Party’s official candidate in a congressional district spanning areas of Chicago after he ran unopposed in a primary. The 70-year-old Vietnam War veteran, who is standing in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional district for a seat in the House of Representatives, is a notorious …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Despite Democratic pressure from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and gubernatorial rivals just days before the primary election, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said he plans to veto a gun measure that would have required the state to license gun dealers. In an interview with WJPF radio station in southern Illinois, Rauner said he’ll veto the measure, while …

Mediaite reports: CNN’s Alisyn Camerota confronted a literal Nazi who is currently poised to nab the GOP nomination for Congress — and the interview predictably derailed, as the Nazi ranted about “the Jewish media.” Arthur Jones, a holocaust denier, anti-Semite, white supremacist and all around lunatic is set to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat near Chicago …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Arthur Jones — an outspoken Holocaust denier, activist anti-Semite and white supremacist — is poised to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat representing parts of Chicago and nearby suburbs. “Well first of all, I’m running for Congress not the chancellor of Germany. All right. To me the Holocaust is what I said it …

USA Today reports: Starting in January, Illinois will bar a rare criminal defense allowing the use of a victim’s sexual orientation as justification for violent crime, a ban gay rights advocates say they will attempt to replicate in about half a dozen states next year. Defense attorneys will no longer be able to mount the so-called “gay panic defense” in …

The Chicago Tribune reports: Gov. Bruce Rauner made official Monday morning what had long been expected, formally announcing plans to seek a second term as the state’s chief executive despite turmoil within his own Republican Party. His campaign released a two-minute-plus video in which a Harley-Davidson riding Rauner criticizes his chief political nemesis, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Rauner positions …

MetroWeekly reports: Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed two bills into law that will help LGBTQ people achieve greater equality under the law. The first eliminates what is known as the “gay panic” defense in murder cases. Historically, the “gay panic” defense is when a defendant claims that the murder victim was homosexual and made a pass at them, making them …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Lawyers for former Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., on Tuesday accused federal investigators of prosecutorial misconduct on a variety of grounds, including asking witnesses about Schock’s sexuality, whom he slept with and if he is gay. Schock was indicted on Nov. 10, 2016, and his defense lawyers in a Tuesday 92-page pre-trial filing asked a judge to …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “body man” — a hand-picked assistant chosen to travel with him — was terminated on his first day of the job after a series of homophobic and racially insensitive comments were found on his Twitter page. The exit is one of at least 20 since last week — when Rauner began a rash …

The Washington Post reports: The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Ill., is calling on priests there to deny Holy Communion and even funeral rites to people in same-sex unions unless they show “some signs of repentance” for their relationships before death. The decree by Bishop Thomas Paprocki also said that people “living publicly” in same-sex marriages may not …

Slate reports: On Wednesday, the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill prohibiting the “gay panic” defense, which allows alleged murderers to defend their actions in court by arguing that their victim’s sexual orientation “triggered” their crime. The bill also bars the “trans panic” defense, which alleged murderers may use to justify the killing of a trans person on …

The Chicago Tribune reports: Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy will join the Democratic race for Illinois governor, officially filing paperwork with the state later Wednesday, said campaign aides to the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy. “Today I am announcing my run for governor because I love Illinois,” Kennedy said in a statement. “But we have never been in worse …

The Chicago Tribune reports: An attorney for former Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock said a federal indictment against his client is expected Thursday. Schock, 35, resigned from Congress on March 31, 2015, amid a federal criminal probe into how he spent campaign dollars and his $1 million-plus annual office budget. On the same day, he was served with a subpoena outside …

In the first Senate flip of the night for the Democrats, US House Rep. Tammy Duckworth has unseated Sen. Mark Kirk. Last week the Human Rights Campaign made the unprecedented move of retracting their endorsement of Kirk after he made a racist attack on Duckworth’s family during their final debate. The Democrats need to flip at least four seats to …

Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin writes: After careful consideration, HRC’s Public Policy Committee of the Board of Directors has taken the unprecedented step — a first in our 36-year history — of revoking an endorsement. We are a bipartisan organization and our staff and board make endorsement decisions based on a proven record of LGBTQ equality and a candidate’s ability to drive legislative …

NBC News reports: Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk is again under fire for making racially-charged comments, this time for questioning the military service of his Democratic opponent’s family. During Thursday night’s debate between Kirk and challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Duckworth spoke about her desire to be in the Senate as a voice of reason and referenced her family’s history of service, …

The Champaign News-Gazette reports: A Social Security Administration employee who believes he shouldn’t have to watch a workplace diversity video about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, because it violates his religious beliefs, fears he may lose his job because of it. David Hall, 42, of Tolono has worked for the federal agency for 14 years, based in the …

The Chicago Tribune reports: Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who has made opposition to a U.S.-led nuclear agreement with Iran a major theme of his re-election campaign, likened home-state President Barack Obama to “drug dealer in chief” over a $400 million payment linked to the release of American prisoners. Kirk’s controversial rhetoric has been an issue as the first-term senator …

From the Chicago Tribune: A suburban Chicago gun shop has called off its controversial raffle of a semi-automatic rifle to raise money for the victims of the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting. The owners of Second Amendment Sports in McHenry said they canceled the raffle after questions were raised about the legality of the event. State law allows only nonprofit organizations …