Tag: Illinois

Illinois Democrats Seek to Maximize Their Party’s Seats, Axe Republicans in New Proposed Congressional Map

Ohio Star Staff
Rep. Kinzinger

Democrats in Illinois’ state legislature Friday released a new map that would shore up all of their party’s incumbents in Congress and likely eliminate two of the state’s five Republicans.

The proposal would give Democrats a 14-3 advantage in the state, compared to the current 13-5 map. Illinois is one of several states losing a congressional seat this upcoming decade, and the new map, if adopted, would shore up Democrats in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs and create a winding Democratic seat that stretches from East St. Louis up through the middle of the state.

That district includes much of what is now held by Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, and includes Springfield, the state’s capital, Decatur and Champaign, home to the University of Illinois. The new map also shores up Rep. Cheri Bustos’ northern Illinois seat by having it encompass Bloomington, home to Illinois State University.

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Data Shows Increased Homicides in Six Major Cities Across the Country

Ohio Star Staff
Police line do not cross tape

The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.

Black people have represented a massive share of murder victims in six major cities through the first six months of 2021 compared to last year, which itself saw a large crime surge, according to data analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DCNF analyzed both police department data and homicide reports compiled by local news outlets to determine how black people have been victimized in the wake of the 2020 crime spike.

“We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times earlier this month.

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Census Bureau Announces Ohio Will Lose a Congressional Seat as Florida and Texas Each Gain

Ohio Star Staff

Texas and Florida are slated to gain congressional seats during the decennial redistricting process, while California and New York are set to each lose one, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the decennial state population and congressional apportionment totals Monday, outlining how many districts each state will have for the next decade. The data also determines how many Electoral College votes each state will have through 2032, and allocates how federal money is distributed to each state for schools, roads and other public projects.

The release was originally scheduled for December, but faced delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s unsuccessful effort to exclude non-citizens from the count.

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High School Students Moving Out of Illinois So They Can Play Sports

Jason M. Reynolds

Illinois high school student athletes and their parents who are tired of COVID-19 delays in sports are taking matters into their own hands — some are protesting, while others are moving out of state to play elsewhere.

Student athletes, coaches and students’ parents rallied in the dozens in McCook on Sunday to demand fall sports to resume, ABC 7 reported. Only golf, cross country, girls’ tennis and girls’ swimming and diving are playing for now.

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In New Jersey, Rep. Van Drew’s Democrat Challenger – Wife of Patrick Kennedy – Raises Money to Bail out Rapists and Defendants Charged with Terrorism, Kidnapping, Murder

Neil W. McCabe

The leftwing Democrat running against Rep. Jefferson H. “Jeff” Van Drew (R.-N.J.) has put her money where her mouth is , and is raising money to bail out rapists and at least one defendant facing terror terrorism charges at the same time she is challenging the one-time Democrat, who switched parties after voting against impeaching President Donald Trump.

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Soft-on-Crime Prosecutors Across America with Soros Ties Refuse to Charge and Try Criminal Behavior

Ohio Star Staff

Left-wing prosecutors have implemented soft-on-crime approaches to criminal justice across America, in some instances making it a matter of policy in major cities not to prosecute specific crimes, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found.

A common, though not universal, feature of prominent left-wing district attorneys is the backing of political organizations funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros. The New York Times has credited Soros with pioneering the “push to overhaul prosecutors’ offices” across the country.

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World Health Organization: Abortion Is ‘Essential’ During Coronavirus Pandemic

Ohio Star Staff
WHO Dir Gen. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Abortion is considered an essential service during the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a statement Saturday.

The WHO said in its statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation that “services related to reproductive health are considered to be part of essential services during the COVID-19 outbreak.”

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Moderate Democrats Are Trying to Distance Themselves from Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

Ohio Star Staff

Moderate Democrats who are working on getting reelected in a partisan environment are doing their best to keep a distance from the so-called Green New Deal.

Democratic Reps. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Harley Rouda of California are keeping their distance from the GND as they campaign for reelection in Republican-leaning seats. Cuellar called the group supporting the measure “Justice Socialists.”

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Ohio River Commission Opts to Introduce New Standards, Drawing Ire of National Wildlife Federation

Ohio Star Staff

by Steve Bittenbender   A multistate organization in charge of improving the quality of one of the country’s most important rivers voted on Thursday to adopt a new plan on how to ensure states meet water pollution standards. By a 19-2 vote, with one abstention, the Ohio River Valley Water…

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Illinois Governor Pritzker Announces Plan to Legalize Marijuana

Ohio Star Staff

  Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Saturday that he’d reached an agreement with key lawmakers on a plan to legalize recreational marijuana in the state starting next year. The legislation would allow adults 21 and older to legally buy cannabis for recreational use from licensed dispensaries. Illinois residents could possess…

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Transgender Inmate Transferred to Female Prison After Year-Long Court Battle

Ohio Star Staff

by Grace Carr   A biologically male transgender inmate was moved to an all-female prison in Illinois after a judge determined the inmate could be housed according to his gender identity. Authorities transferred Deon “Strawberry” Hampton, 27, from a male prison in Dixon to Logan Correctional Center women’s prison, ABC…

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Commentary: There’s No Such Thing as a Conservative Blue Dog Democrat

Admin

by George Rasley   On Tuesday, the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of allegedly “fiscally responsible” House Democrats announced its new leadership team as their party is poised to retake the gavel in the 116th Congress. The Blue Dogs claim they embrace a “bipartisan approach” to legislating and are looking…

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Education ‘Equity’ Professor Wants Mathematics To Honor ‘Other-Than-Human Persons’

Admin

by Rob Shimshock   An Illinois professor who focuses on “equity” in mathematics will present her plan to redefine the field of study to oppose “objects, truths, and knowledge” at a 2019 conference. University of Illinois education professor Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez will give her talk, titled “Mathematx: Towards a way of Being,”…

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Unthinkable: Democratic Congressman Backs Trump in Trade Dispute with Canada’s Trudeau

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Raja Krishnamoorthi

by Henry Rodgers   Illinois Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi joined President Donald Trump and White House advisers in blasting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for feuding with Trump during the G7 summit, in a statement released Sunday. “While I have serious concerns about President Trump’s approach to trade talks with Canada,…

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