Page 31 - Jay Hoffman News Today

Illinois Democrats on Friday pushed through new legislative district maps in a whirlwind 12 hours full of partisan rancor — over the objections of

Illinois Democrats stage partisan tour de force in first legislative session after the ouster of powerful Speaker Michael Madigan.

Illinois Democrats on Friday pushed through new legislative district maps in a whirlwind 12 hours full of partisan rancor — over the objections of Republicans and many community advocacy organizations.

Photo: Saga Communications If anything in the every-ten-years redistricting looks like the familiar playbook, State Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) says it’s this. “Democratic politicians picking the Illinoisans that will be their voters for the next decade,” Severin told an online news conference Monday, “behind closed, locked doors in Springfield, dropping the map at 7:30 on a Friday night, is just about as Illinois as it gets.” A Democratic leader defends the maps and the process. �...

Joyce and Pastuovic Governor JB Pritzker has a May 31 deadline to take action on a bill that would allow plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing hospitals, health care providers and other businesses and defendants of personal injuries or wrongful death to collect interest calculated from the time the lawsuit was filed, not just from the time judgment was entered. He can either veto Senate Bill 72, sign it or take no action, in which case the legislation would automatically b...

If they go all out they would likely be able to Gerrymander a majority in at least one of the chambers, but that would likely create some academically fascinating court challenges to be decided by a U.S. Supreme Court with a conservative majority with multiple Trump appointees. So don’t be surprised if the GOP goes to the mattresses over this redistricting issue and refuses to display any map until they know whether or not they have won. I’m not sure anyone on the Democratic side of the ai...

Medford Police last week clearing an encampment from the Bear Creek Greenway Medford’s new prohibited camping ordinance has been in place for just over a week. The Medford Police say they’ve been successfully moving people living outside into shelters. Local housing advocates say otherwise. At least seven campsites along the Bear Creek Greenway were cleared by the Medford Police last week under a local ordinance that prohibits people from sleeping outside. The ordinance makes it a crime fo...

The significant delay of the release of 2020 census data as well as politics surrounding the count have created problems for lawmakers deciding how to draw Illinois’ legislative maps. Normally, there is little debate over which data to use. The census data is available and used by lawmakers to understand how the state’s population has changed over the last decade. This year, factors including the pandemic and policies by the Trump administration, have delayed the release of the full census ...

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois legislators traveled to the metro-east on Friday to talk about a new law designed to improve health-care access for the poor and people of color,