On Monday three days after the Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio.
Hours after the Supreme Court action, the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost appeared on Fox News this week, casting doubt on the veracity of Dr. Caitlin Bernard’s account that a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim needed to travel to Indiana for an abortion.
Yost, a Republican, doubled down on that in an interview with the USA TODAY Network Ohio bureau on Tuesday.
“Every day that goes by the more likely that this is a fabrication. I know the cops and prosecutors in this state. There’s not one of them that wouldn’t be turning over every rock, looking for this guy and they would have charged him,” he said. “I’m not saying it could not have happened. What I’m saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence. And shame on the Indianapolis paper that ran this thing on a single source who has an obvious axe to grind.”"
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita went on Fox News Wednesday night to say he is looking into the Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who provided a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio with an abortion.
“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure,” Rokita said. “If she failed to report it in Indiana, it’s a crime for — to not report, to intentionally not report.”
The attorney general also claimed that Bernard has “a history of failing to report,” as a part of his roughly 2-minute appearance on the Fox News show “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Rokita did not provide any evidence to back up his claims.
He later released a statement reiterating his speculation about whether reporting requirements had been followed, and said he was “investigating this situation.” He also said there may be further action if a HIPAA violation occurred, meaning patient information was improperly shared. He did not offer evidence.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 10-year-old survivor of rape in Ohio was forced to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion. For weeks, Republicans have placed doubt upon the story and failed to acknowledge the destructive nature of abortion restrictions in their own states.
Now, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has indicated that he wants to investigate the doctor who performed the abortion and challenge her medical license. Instead of going after the rapist who attacked an underage girl, today’s GOP is more concerned with prosecuting doctors providing critical care.
Darren Bailey voted against the Reproductive Health Act, which codified the right to choose into state law and removed the law in Illinois that holds doctors criminally liable for performing an abortion. Bailey even served as a co-sponsor of a bill that would repeal the Reproductive Health Act entirely.
“As more and more states implement dangerous anti-abortion legislation, it is essential that Illinois remains an island for reproductive freedom. Voters need an answer from Darren Bailey: does he stand with protecting doctors or with the man who sexually abused a 10-year-old?” said JB for Governor Press Secretary Eliza Glezer. “We deserve to know just how far Bailey is willing to go to restrict women’s rights in Illinois. In Darren Bailey’s Illinois, doctors providing essential health care and the patients they treat could face greater burdens than abusers.”
Bailey has stated that he does not support allowing abortions even in cases of rape or incest. His extreme beliefs are a danger to women and girls in Illinois and in our neighboring states like Indiana and Ohio.
* Because the story involved two fellow state attorneys general, I asked for a statement from Attorney General Kwame Raoul today. The AG sent two. This Raoul statement is from the government side…
The scenario playing out in Ohio and Indiana demonstrates that even in the most extreme situations, some states will focus on creating obstacles to abortion access by denying the reality that the Supreme Court’s decision opens a door to potentially horrific outcomes. It is absolutely reprehensible that one state attorney general would question whether a minor who was raped would need an abortion while another would seek to punish the medical professional who provided critical care to this child in crisis. Here in Illinois, we protect the right to abortion and will protect the providers who are stepping in to serve patients whose state laws force them to seek care beyond their borders. The fact that in their quest to create barriers to abortion, two attorneys general would seek to force a 10-year-old rape victim to go through the added trauma of carrying her rapist’s child, underscores the critical need for federal legislation reestablishing the fundamental right to abortion nationwide.
And this Raoul statement is from the campaign side…
We are already seeing the horrific consequences of Roe v. Wade being overturned in the case of a 10-year-old victim of rape in Ohio — and the impact state attorneys general now have in this new reality. The Ohio attorney general, who rushed to have his state’s extreme law implemented after the Dobbs decision, had the audacity to suggest the rape did not occur, instead of challenging this extremist law that would prevent this child from obtaining critical health care. In our neighboring state of Indiana, the attorney general’s sole focus is investigating a provider who legally provided the much-needed abortion to this 10-year-old rape survivor. This sadly demonstrates what happens when extremist politics enter the office of a state attorney general.
* The other JW’s petitions are getting the once-over…
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* From a reader: “It has been requested by some political colleagues that I send this meme to you—and so, that is exactly what I’m doing”…
It is his Saturday trip to Florida to be the keynote speaker for that state’s Democratic Party fundraiser, with tickets ranging between $300 and $1,000 each, that has sparked criticism from his GOP rival.
“I’ve got a message to Governor Pritzker: Get back home. Let’s work on surging police support in Chicago, and let’s slash your gas tax and stop campaigning for president,” said State Senator Darren Bailey, (R) Candidate for Governor.
“Florida is in dire need of a pro-choice, Democratic governor, and Governor Pritzker is proud to support the Florida Democratic Party in their efforts to flip the state blue,” said Natalie Edelstein, JB for Governor Communications Director, in defense of Pritzker’s trip.
“He is a go-to potential candidate in the Democratic Party right now. People want to hear from him, people want to see him [and] they see him as a new voice. He’s also trying to position himself to be perceived that way,” said ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington. “He’s trying to send a strong message that he’s ready to be perceived as a national player.”
On the stump, Pritzker has noted all of the things about himself that he says aren’t exactly the archetypal Democratic candidate — his Ukrainian-American heritage, his Jewish faith, his billionaire businessman status. He’s even made light of his weight.
“If you were running something through the computer, it wouldn’t spit out a portly, Jewish billionaire,” Axelrod said. “That’s not sort of the prototype from central casting of a president.”
But these are unusual times, Axelrod mused.
“I think that people are looking for a sort of muscularity and pushing back on Trumpism and on some of the agenda of the right. And he has set himself up,” Axelrod said. “I’m surprised about the number of people who I’ve heard from just recently in response to the Highland Park shootings and his response to the [National Rifle Association] and so on. And I heard a lot of cheering from the crowd from activist Democrats because they would like to see that in a president.”
* DGA…
Last week, New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu slammed GOP gubernatorial candidates –– including Illinois’ Darren Bailey –– for championing the Big Lie and continuing to peddle conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election results.
When asked if he thought it was “disqualifying” for GOP gubernatorial hopefuls to push Trump’s disproven claims that the 2020 election was stolen as a result of widespread voter fraud, Sununu said: “If they were on the ballot in my state, I would disqualify them.”
And disqualify them he should.
Here in Illinois, Darren Bailey has a long record of pushing the Big Lie. He trafficked in ultra-MAGA voter fraud conspiracy theories following the 2020 election, encouraging his followers to “continue to pray for our president and this election process,” adding “all this fraudulent activity is absolutely disgusting. It’s wrong — it’s, in my opinion, almost the highest form of treason in our country, so we pray that that will be dealt with. We pray that the truth will be uncovered.” That’s in addition to constantposts claiming voter fraud and celebrating Trump’s false claims of victory.
Besides spreading the Big Lie far and wide, Bailey was quick to attack those who dared push back. After US Representative Adam Kinzinger called for Trump’s impeachment following the violent Jan 6th insurrection, Bailey encouraged the Illinois Republican party to “call on Congressman Kinzinger to stand down, or outright condemn his latest personal and political attack on President Trump and the tens of millions of Americans who support the President.”
“Even Darren Bailey’s fellow Republicans know his far-right, extremist views are wholly out-of-touch with voters here in Illinois and across the country. That’s why Illinoisans will disqualify Bailey at the ballot box this November and ensure he can’t hold the state’s highest office,” said DGA Illinois Press Secretary Yael Sheinfeld.
Some of Bailey’s posts…
I stand with President Trump and the process! It’s there for a purpose. I will prayerfully await the journey and accept the outcome. There has been entirely too much fraudulent activity.
I encourage the @ILGOP to call on Congressman Kinzinger to stand down, or outright condemn his latest personal and political attack on President Trump and the tens of millions of Americans who support the President.
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood announced today that her reelection campaign has raised more than $1,000,000 during the second fundraising quarter of 2022 continuing a trend of dominance over her opponent. Thanks to the grassroots support fueling her campaign, Underwood enters the third quarter with more than $2.8 million cash on hand, and has raised more than $5.2 million this cycle, signaling her strength in the race. U.S. Representative Underwood, a registered nurse and public health expert, has made access to high-quality, affordable health care and lowering costs for families her top priority in Congress.
“The general election is on, the stakes could not be higher and our campaign is stronger than ever thanks to the unwavering support of Team Underwood,” said Rep. Underwood. “We have a vision for the future of our community where hard working Illinoisans have high-quality and affordable health care, our children are free from the terror of mass shootings, women have full authority over their health care decisions, there are more good paying union jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, and billionaires and corporations finally pay their fair share of taxes. That’s a vision worth fighting for and I’m honored to have the support of my community to bring it to life.”
In the June 28th primary, Congresswoman Underwood earned nearly three times more votes than her GOP opponent beating him in all seven counties including his home Kendall County, and in Will County, the largest in the district, she outperformed the entire Republican field combined.
In response to mass shootings that occurred in New York, Texas, and most recently in Highland Park, State Representative Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) filed legislation to hold parents consenting to FOID applicants under 21 years old criminally liable for any damages resulting from their use of firearms. Rep. Batinick filed House Bill 5769 on Friday to ensure parents are also held criminally liable in the events of these tragedies.
“The mass shootings that plague our nation and state regularly are stealing the lives of our loved ones, neighbors, and children,” said Rep. Batinick. “House Bill 5769 will help us hold parents criminally liable in Illinois for any damages resulting from the firearm, firearms, or ammunition in which they consented for their child under the age of 21 to have the FOID card to purchase. We need to take gun safety seriously and ensure that our younger adults are prepared, trained, and fit to own a firearm by adding this layer of accountability for parents consenting.”
The Firearm Owners Identification Card Act states that individuals must be 21 years old to apply for a FOID card. Individuals under 21 years old must meet certain requirements and have the written consent of their parents or legal guardians who are eligible to also possess a FOID card. Currently, parents of children under 21 who give consent are civilly liable for damages resulting from the children’s use of firearms or ammunition. HB 5769 will also hold parents criminally liable in these events.
According to a February article from the National Institute of Justice, from 2010 to 2019, the average lives mass shootings claimed increased to 51 deaths per year and of known mass shooting cases, 77% engaged in mass shootings had “purchased at least some of their guns legally, while illegal purchases were made by 13% of those committing mass shootings.”
“This is practical legislation we can apply to increase firearm safety awareness and awareness of the consequences of firearm damages,” said Rep. Batinick. “This is a way to help make our communities safer and ensure kids under 21 and their parents fully consent to the great responsibility of owning firearms.”
State Sen. Bill Cunningham (18th District) Rep. Fran Hurley (35th District), who represent one of Chicago’s most populous neighborhoods of police officers, introduced legislation that could provide officers with some much-needed rest and relief.
The proposal is designed to end the city’s practice of routinely canceling officers’ regularly scheduled days off to make up for chronic staffing shortages.
“The Chicago Police Department has approximately 1,500 fewer officers than it is budgeted for,” Hurley said in a news release. “The way to fix this problem is to hire more officers, not cancel scheduled days off for existing officers and force them to work 12 or 13 days in a row without relief.”
Cunningham said canceling days off has become a routine staffing police for CPD and “part of a misguided crime-fighting strategy.”
* Politico interviews Abdelnasser Rashid, a progressive who defeated Rep. Mike Zalewski (D-Riverside) in the primary…
Along with knocking out a powerful lawmaker, Rashid’s victory is significant because of how he won: using his full name and showcasing his ethnicity, including his wife in full hijab.
The 32-year-old Chicago-born community organizer had run unsuccessfully in previous races — for Cook County Commission in 2018 and Cook County Board of Review in 2020. In both those races, he was advised to Americanize his name to “Nas,” a nickname he sometimes uses, and to downplay his background. The thinking was that he needed to be palatable to voters who might have prejudices against Arabs or perceived foreigners.
Rashid ignored the advice then and set out on his latest campaign with optimism that voters would accept him for who he is.
“We believed that once people got to know me, that they can move past any preconceptions,” Rashid told Playbook.
Like other successful candidates, he spent countless hours walking the district, “personally knocking on close to 7,000 doors,” he said. “There’s nothing more powerful than real conversations — not just to share your vision but to hear what’s going on in their lives.”
Political observers see Rashid’s success in the 21st District, which includes Cicero and Berwyn, and Delia Ramirez’s victory in the newly created 3rd Congressional District, as proof that the suburbs are becoming more diverse.
Yes, they’re becoming more diverse, but also much more welcoming, at least in the Democratic primary.
* Allie Lichterman with the People’s Lobby, which put a ton of progressive volunteers into the field this spring, has a Sun-Times op-ed…
Heading into the midterm elections, media outlets and political party leaders insisted that “tough-on-crime” policies would be on every voter’s mind; if elected officials wanted to win, they must back off reforms or face losses and the wrath of police unions.
In Cook County, primary election results told a very different story. Progressives who talked about non-carceral solutions to violence won big.
Movement-grown state Rep. Delia Ramirez beat a powerful sitting alderman in her bid for Congress. Toni Preckwinkle held onto her role as Cook County board president while supporting jail decarceration and bail reform. Organizer Anthony Quezada defeated a long- time incumbent for Cook County commissioner on a platform that included a civilian first responder program.
Meanwhile, the Fraternal Order of Police failed to convince the public that reforming the criminal legal system will undermine public safety. The clearest test was on Chicago’s Northwest Side, home to many police officers and assumed to be conservative. […]
While the FOP poured $100,000 into trying to scare voters, concerned community members with the People’s Lobby had actual conversations with people in those same neighborhoods. We knocked on the doors of over 8,000 people and spoke directly with thousands of them. What we heard may surprise the FOP and the pundits.
We brought up ending money bond at every door, and voters understood that denying people the presumption of innocence does not keep us safe. What does is school funding, racial justice, health care, bike lanes, reforming our regressive tax system, and much more.
It’s not like any of these candidates sent out mailers promising to let more people out of prison. But they didn’t run away from the issues and talked about other things that society can do to address crime. And all the winners worked hard and fielded strong campaigns.
* Trying to ham-handedly gin up fear among the primary electorate failed miserably. WTTW…
[Rep. Delia Ramirez] actually won two races on Jan. 28. She was also elected as the Democratic State Central Committeeperson, defeating Iris Martinez, the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk. Martinez campaigned with Catanzara, and endorsed many of the same candidates backed by the police union. Ramirez will now have a say in how the Democratic Party of Illinois operates. […]
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward) said it was a miscalculation on the part of Democratic moderates like Martinez to respond to the spike in violence during the pandemic by supporting so-called “tough on crime” measures and seeking the support of Chicago’s police union.
“It didn’t resonate,” said Rodriguez Sanchez, who has advocated for legislation decreasing funding for the Chicago Police Department and increasing funding for mental health treatment and social services. “It was a landslide.”
The Chicago FOP-funded mailers were over the top and not very well produced. But they and others will be back in the fall against folks like Sen. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago). They probably won’t do much better. Martwick, a former FOP ally, represents a district that all statewide Democrats have won by double digits the past three cycles. The “closest” race was Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s first win in 2016, and that margin in Martwick’s new district was still about 12 points (she won by 4.6 in Martwick’s current district). She then took the district by 38 points two years later.
* Republicans were likely hoping for a pre-election trial, but no luck. Tribune…
The federal bribery case against a longtime confidant of former House Speaker Michael Madigan and three others has been rescheduled for March due to logistics issues with another high-profile case against singer R. Kelly.
The “ComEd Four” case, as it has come to be known, had been set to kick off in September, but U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber scuttled that plan last month when he learned that the large ceremonial courtroom would still be tied up with Kelly’s trial, which begins on Aug. 15.
The courtroom on the 25th floor of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse has been in high demand during the pandemic and is the only space that can accommodate a jury trial with multiple defendants given the COVID-19 protocols that are still in effect.
Charged in the case are longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-top ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former City Club President Jay Doherty.
The four are accused of arranging for Madigan’s associates and allies to get jobs, contracts and money in order to influence Madigan as key legislation worked its way through Springfield.
The group was originally charged in November 2020, and they had previously been set to go to trial in September. But U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, who presides over the case, is also set to preside in August over the trial of R&B star and convicted sexual predator R. Kelly. Kelly’s trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges was recently pushed back two weeks, which was enough to knock the ComEd case off the calendar. […]
Timothy Mapes, Madigan’s former chief of staff, is also set for trial on perjury charges in January. And earlier this week, a judge set the long-awaited racketeering trial of Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) for November 2023.
1. Heading into this cycle, regardless of all the convos about downstate and such, the suburbs still hold the pathway for a statewide GOP to win and since 2014, that pathway has gotten extremely more narrow.
2. By most modeling scenarios, to win statewide - assuming past trends hold - a GOP candidate is going to need to not only win DuPage County, but win with a pretty decent plurality. Past models would say 57%-61%.
3. The current trend in DuPage is not the GOP’s friend. And I know primary ballots cast are not necessarily a predictor of general election trends, but they do tell a story.
2014: GOP Primary ballots cast for gov: 92,386, Dem Primary ballots cast for gov 15,122
- Rauner gets 61% of vote in DuPage County in General Election against Quinn.
2018: GOP Primary ballots cast for gov: 72,204, Dem Primary ballots cast for gov: 82,954
- JB defeats Rauner in General Election in DuPage 48%-46%
2022: GOP Primary ballots cast for gov: 69,443, Dem Primary ballots cast for gov: 71,693
Personally, I had thought with all the talk of GOP resurgence and an intense GOP primary at the top of the ticket that GOP ballots cast would significantly surpass Dem ballots cast in DuPage, it simply wasn’t the case.
I know everyone says a wave is coming, and I don’t discount it, but there seems to be a lot of work that needs to be done to get a DuPage environment closer to 2014. Winning DuPage isn’t enough to win statewide, you really need to run up the score and trendlines don’t seem to be heading towards a significant GOP spread in Dupage right now. DuPage has become a swing/Lean R county and that creates a ton of challenges for statewide candidates. It really mirrors what happened in Lake County in the late 90’s.
Students and staff at universities and community colleges no longer have to prove they’re vaccinated or test for COVID-19 under modified orders from Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The attorney who sued over the mandates is claiming victory.
Pritzker’s office on Wednesday announced modified COVID-19 executive orders issued in August 2021 for all K-12 staff, college staff and students and workers in the medical industry to vaccinate or test. The updated order drops the vaccine and testing mandate in higher ed.
Attorney Thomas DeVore, who’s also the GOP candidate for attorney general in the November election, sued the governor and several colleges over the mandate June 22.
“It’s my opinion that given that these colleges were in the position where they had to answer our lawsuit within the next week or two, the governor issued this modified executive order to try to render this lawsuit moot,” DeVore told The Center Square. […]
DeVore still has a case pending against vaccine or testing mandates for K-12 teachers, which remains in place.
If they had dropped the K-12 mandates, I might have been more inclined to agree with him.
Just over two weeks after the Illinois primary election that took place on June 28, Gregg Johnson was confirmed Wednesday, July 13 as the Democratic nominee for the state’s District 72 House of Representative seat.
The Democratic primary election night results for District 72 had Gregg Johnson taking the lead with 2,830 votes and Thurgood Brooks coming in second with 2,802 votes, a 28-vote difference. […]
The Rock Island County Clerk’s Office’s recount confirmed Johnson’s lead, with a total of 2,843 votes. Brooks followed closely behind with 2,820 - just 23 votes shy of Johnson.
He doesn’t look or sound like [a billionaire] at all. He’s a big Midwestern boy who doesn’t speak in a snotty, snooty, or overly intellectual manner; it’s easy to forget that he’s a member of the American aristocracy. You can contrast that with someone like [Michael] Bloomberg — when he ran, that man was just dripping with so much contempt for ordinary people. But when you hear J.B. speak, you can tell he doesn’t view you as an ant and he would never try to ban your extra large soda.
* Treasurer Frerichs…
We found $45,000 in unclaimed property that belonged to the American Cancer Society.
It is a common story for our office that includes a heroine, the best of intentions, a little miscommunication, and proactive work by our staff.
Diane Koszyk lived in Elmwood Park, near Chicago. She was a public servant who helped people in the county circuit court clerk’s office. She beat cancer once, ovarian cancer, but could not beat the stomach cancer that followed. She died in 2017 at the age of 78.
During her years here, she set aside a bit of money that she eventually earmarked for the American Cancer Society. However, when she passed, her wishes were not immediately known. It’s not that JP Morgan Chase, where she did this banking, did anything wrong. In fact, this scenario is all-too common.
A person has a banking relationship. The person also has final wishes. For whatever reason, the two are not reconciled and the money eventually is turned over to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office as unclaimed property.
Unclaimed property comes in all forms such as forgotten bank accounts, unpaid life insurance benefits, or a refund check mailed to the wrong address. Today, an estimated one-in-four adults who search ICash find money, and the average amount is $1,000. You can search your name, or the name of your business, or church, by clicking here.
The brother of indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14th) on Wednesday urged the City Council dean to retire from politics next year rather than risk defeat in a ward redrawn to exclude his most favorable precincts.
“I hope he does what is best for them as a family: To take care of his health number one. To engage with his grandchildren,” said former state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago.
“Do the math. Seventy-eight years old. Come on. When is enough enough? … They’ve had a long run. It’s not insulting to say there’s an end to everything. I would just hope that they would be happy in their later years engaging with their family.”
* NRCC…
Hi there –
Gas prices in Illinois are nearly 50 cents higher than the national average.
While working for Governor Pritzker, Nikki Budzinski supported a plan that doubled Illinois’ gas tax to 38 cents – giving Illinois the 2nd highest gas tax in the nation.
NRCC Comment: “Nikki Budzinski has already made the lives of Illinois families worse. Imagine what she could do if elected to Congress.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Courtney Parella
First lady Jill Biden’s comparison of Hispanics to “breakfast tacos” in a speech earlier this week has drawn the ire of the suburban Republican running for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat.
Catalina Lauf, a Woodstock resident who is Hispanic, seized on Biden’s comment for a fundraising email sent to followers Wednesday.
The subject line of the email proclaims: “This is just insulting.”
“Democrats have spent years taking the Hispanic community for granted,” reads the email from Lauf, whose mother immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala in the 1980s. “They are so disconnected from the people they claim to represent that reduce us to stereotypes.”
Does that means she’s now woke? I can’t keep up with this.
Funding primary candidates from another party with the intent to set them up for a loss in the general election undermines the American idea of democracy.
An example of this trending political strategy will be at the top of the Illinois November ballot: Gov. J.B. Pritzker vs. state Sen. Darren Bailey.
The ploy began a few months back when the Democratic Governors Association and Pritzker began investing millions of dollars through advertisements boosting Bailey’s views — bringing more eyes on the Donald Trump-endorsed state senator than the more moderate Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who had $50 million in donations on his side and dubbed himself as “Pritzker’s worst nightmare.”
Pritzker got what he wanted when Bailey won the Republican nomination for governor in the June primary. Now it’s up to the voters to decide between him and a candidate who is anti-abortion, pro-guns and known for wanting Trump’s approval. […]
It doesn’t matter if candidates are trying to keep a political seat blue or red. Influencing elections by funding and boosting weaker opponents pollutes the nature of our democracy.
Keep it clean. The power to choose representatives must stay with the voters.
* The Question: Does funding primary candidates from another party with the intent to set them up for a loss in the general election undermine the American idea of democracy? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
The Tulsa Women’s Clinic will officially close its doors Thursday, as staff prepare to move the facility to Carbondale, Ill., a nearly eight-hour drive from Tulsa.
The clinic is owned by Dr. Alan Braid, who made headlines last year when he wrote an opinion essay in the Washington Post titled “Why I violated Texas’s extreme abortion ban”.
Braid is also shuttering his San Antonio abortion clinic, the Alamo Women’s Clinic, in preparation of moving that location to Albuquerque, N.M.
“It’s bittersweet. We have always been in the fight for both states, Texas and Oklahoma,” said Andrea Gallegos, executive director of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic. “We stayed open as long as we could.”
A Wisconsin doctor has purchased two clinical buildings in northern Illinois where he plans to offer abortion pills as early as this week at one location and surgical abortions within six months at the other site.
The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights last month. That led abortion providers in Wisconsin to stop the procedures while the courts determine whether the state’s 1849 law banning most abortions stands. Abortion remains legal in Illinois.
Dr. Dennis Christensen says he is part of a group trying to revive abortion services in Rockford, Illinois, in part to accommodate women from Wisconsin. Christensen is an obstetrician-gynecologist who has provided abortions in Madison and Milwaukee and is now mostly retired, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. […]
The only exception to Wisconsin’s abortion ban involves a risk to the mother’s life. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit last month challenging the old law, arguing that 1980s statutes supersede the ban and that it has been dormant so long it should be unenforceable.
Anti-abortion activists demonstrated in Rockford on Wednesday. They are concerned about the potential opening of a reproductive health clinic that would offer medication abortion.
Eric Scheidler is with the Pro-Life Action League. He joined demonstrators at an intersection on the east side of Rockford. Many held signs depicting graphic imagery of aborted fetuses. Scheidler says he’s troubled at the prospect of northern Illinois becoming a destination for women seeking abortion care.
“Well, we’re here in Rockford because, you know the state of Illinois becoming an abortion Mecca,’ said Scheidler. “The governor has called on women from all over the United States to come to Illinois for abortions. And that has prompted abortionists all over the region to try to establish abortion facilities here.”
On Thursday, the Planned Parenthood organizations from Illinois and Wisconsin will announce a partnership.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Wisconsin are coming together to make sure women have access to the care they need. […]
Later Thursday morning, Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will host a joint virtual press conference announcing a partnership to meet patient need for abortion care and increase access.
…Adding… Related press release…
Nearly three weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaders of the Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) affiliates held a virtual press conference on July 14, to announce an innovative partnership to bring medical professionals to Illinois to meet the growing patient need for abortion care.
The Waukegan PPIL Health Center opened in 2020, near the Wisconsin border, in anticipation of PPWI patients losing access to care. Now that Roe has been overturned, and PPWI has been forced to suspend abortion care, Wisconsin clinicians, nurses and staff are traveling to the Waukegan Health Center to provide care and expand capacity at that health center as well as across Illinois through telehealth.
“Because abortion is safe and legal in Illinois, we are now an oasis for care, as millions of patients are stranded in a vast abortion desert, including Wisconsin residents,” said Jennifer Welch, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “Fortunately, trained medical professionals from Wisconsin are providing the care patients need in Illinois, and Illinois has the space to accommodate this increase of staff and patients. So, while PPWI is temporarily suspending providing abortion care, Wisconsin patients can access services in Illinois. Together, we are working to ensure all of our patients get the care they need.”
“At PPWI, we have anticipated this difficult moment for years and worked with our health care partners at PPIL and others to do what we can to protect and enhance access to safe, non-judgmental abortion care for patients traveling across state lines,” said Tanya Atkinson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “Despite the devastating impact of Wisconsin’s criminal abortion ban, we are grateful to the dedicated patient services team who are doing everything they can to meet the growing patient demand next door.”
The abortion ban has forced people in Wisconsin to travel far distances for health care at great cost and disruption to their personal lives. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, PPWI’s and PPIL’s call volume has doubled and all abortion patients in Wisconsin are being referred out of state for care. PPIL’s abortion care for Wisconsin residents has increased 10 fold since Roe was overturned.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe V. Wade, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker envisions Illinois as a state women can turn to for abortions.
The governor asked the Biden administration for more federal funding to support doctors providing telehealth services, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“J.B. Pritzker has an extreme and ghoulish position on abortion,” said Mike Koolidge, spokesman for the political action committee, People Who Play by the Rules. “He supports allowing it to a healthy mother and child all the way up to birth, or even after birth if the parents don’t want their child. That’s infanticide. This is an extreme and disturbing position and polls show it thankfully represents the views of a very small sliver of our state.”
Stratton also highlighted how racial inequalities to abortion access and healthcare could leave lasting impacts on minority communities.
“Recognizing that after a child is born that they do not have access to resources, they are not given what’s needed to address the systemic racism that they are gonna experience throughout their lives, to make sure there’s no help that’s given to these Black and brown families across our country in the wake of these abortion bans and restrictions. It’s contradictory to what so much of what we’ve heard today. This is not about helping. This is only gonna harm and cause immeasurable suffering,” Lt. Gov. Stratton said.
* WaPo dispatched a reporter out on one of those classic East Coast adventures to fly-over country. In this case, it’s Granite City, which has an abortion clinic…
People in Granite City usually don’t focus on the clinic unless they have to. When the subject comes up, there’s nervous laughter. Long pauses. Eventually, someone changes the subject.
When the clinic asked to build a four-foot fence around its property in the fall of 2020, to minimize contact between patients and the protesters, the city council turned down the proposal, without any members voicing an opinion on the matter before they took a vote.
City officials seem to prefer avoiding the topic altogether.
Mayor Michael Parkinson, who was elected last year, did not respond to requests for comment on this story. Nor did nine of Granite City’s 10 city council members.
“That place needs to leave,” said city council member and longtime Granite City resident Bob Pickerell, referring to the abortion clinic, before he excused himself and hung up the phone.
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville announced Tuesday it will sell the historic mansion that housed its bishops for more than 70 years and use the proceeds primarily for a maternity fund for expectant mothers.
Bishop Michael McGovern is planning to move from the bishop’s residence at 925 Centreville Ave. to the rectory of the Cathedral of St. Peter on Harrison Street in downtown Belleville this summer. […]
Myler noted the decision to give proceeds of the home sale to a maternity fund comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision of 1973.
While the proceeds will primarily be used for a maternity fund, money also will be used in “support of Catholic education, youth ministry and evangelization,” according to Myler and the diocese’s news release.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis — a Democrat up for reelection — signed an executive order [last] week that will, essentially, protect Colorado from having to cooperate with other states’ investigations into people seeking or providing abortions.
Polis’ executive order states that Colorado will not help out with any criminal investigations or civil actions that originate in other states that are aimed at curbing access to abortion or punishing those involved in the procedure. Here’s the language of that part of the order, it’s seems rather sweeping:
“All state agencies and principal departments shall not, unless pursuant to a court order, provide information or data, including patient medical records, patient-level data, or related billing information, or expend time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources to assist or further any investigation or proceeding initiated in or by another state that seeks to impose criminal or civil liability or professional sanction upon a person or entity for conduct that would be legal in Colorado related to providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining reproductive health care.”
Polis also ordered the state Department of Regulatory Affairs to put measures in place to protect anyone who holds a Colorado professional license from “disciplinary action against a professional license or disqualified from professional licensure” for performing or seeking abortion care in any state.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 10-year-old survivor of rape in Ohio was forced to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion. For weeks, Republicans have placed doubt upon the story and failed to acknowledge the destructive nature of abortion restrictions in their own states.
Now, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has indicated that he wants to investigate the doctor who performed the abortion and challenge her medical license. Instead of going after the rapist who attacked an underage girl, today’s GOP is more concerned with prosecuting doctors providing critical care.
Darren Bailey voted against the Reproductive Health Act, which codified the right to choose into state law and removed the law in Illinois that holds doctors criminally liable for performing an abortion. Bailey even served as a co-sponsor of a bill that would repeal the Reproductive Health Act entirely.
“As more and more states implement dangerous anti-abortion legislation, it is essential that Illinois remains an island for reproductive freedom. Voters need an answer from Darren Bailey: does he stand with protecting doctors or with the man who sexually abused a 10-year-old?” said JB for Governor Press Secretary Eliza Glezer. “We deserve to know just how far Bailey is willing to go to restrict women’s rights in Illinois. In Darren Bailey’s Illinois, doctors providing essential health care and the patients they treat could face greater burdens than abusers.”
Bailey has stated that he does not support allowing abortions even in cases of rape or incest. His extreme beliefs are a danger to women and girls in Illinois and in our neighboring states like Indiana and Ohio.
Rents rose in the US last month at the fastest pace since 1986, helping to propel overall inflation to a fresh four-decade high.
n index measuring rent of a primary residence was 0.8% higher in June than the month before, an acceleration from the 0.6% increase recorded in May, according to the Labor Department’s report on consumer prices published Wednesday. In the 12 months through June, rents were up 5.8%.
Those costs are soaring across the country as would-be homebuyers get priced out by the fastest-rising mortgage rates in decades and slide back into the overcrowded rental market. But rent growth may be peaking as affordability concerns mount, and a surge in construction of new units is poised to start adding to the available inventory.
The Labor Department measure tends to lag behind other estimates, so it is likely that rent increases will contribute to rising inflation in the consumer price index through the rest of this year, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. […]
Nearly 836,000 multifamily units are under construction, the most since 1973, according to Jay Parsons, chief economist at RealPage. But most new construction targets higher-income tenants and not the lower end, where supply shortages are most extreme, he said.
Since 75% to 80% of renters remain in their homes every year, the topline figure is weighted toward the inflation rate experienced by continuing renters.
Rent comprises 40% of the core CPI price index.[1] Tenant rent and housing characteristics are used to impute an “equivalent” rent for owner-occupied homes in the index. During the pandemic, this method may have led to distorted estimates for owner-occupied rent because most tenants live in multi-unit properties whereas 9-in-10 owner-occupants live in one-unit homes.
Housing represents about a third of the value of the market basket of goods and services that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses to track inflation in the Consumer Price Index.
The net rent at high-end, or Class A, apartment buildings hit an all-time high of $3.55 per square foot in the first quarter, up 19.1% from a year earlier, according to the Chicago office of Integra Realty Resources, a consulting and appraisal firm. After plunging with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the downtown multifamily market is soaring once again, pushing up the cost of housing and pumping up the profits of landlords. […]
It’s not just the high end of the downtown market that’s booming: Net rents at less-expensive Class B buildings also rose to a record high, $2.92 per square foot, in the quarter, up 18.7% from a year earlier, according to Integra. Net rents include concessions like free rent. […]
Right now, demand for apartments exceeds supply, but the market should move closer into balance next year, when developers complete nearly 3,900 apartments downtown, according to Integra. If tenants don’t get any relief from rising rents then, they might in 2024, when Integra forecasts developers will add another 4,800 units to the downtown market.
Not too awful worried about people who can afford that much rent.
Rents have been rising swiftly across America for much of the pandemic era, and housing experts are warning that they could now receive a boost from an unlikely source: the Federal Reserve.
As the central bank raises interest rates to cool down the economy and contain rapid inflation, it is also pushing up mortgage costs, putting home purchases out of reach for many first-time buyers. If people who would have otherwise bought a home remain waylaid in apartments and rented houses, it could compound already-booming demand — keeping pressure on rental prices.
While it is tough to predict how big or how lasting that Fed-induced bump in rental demand might prove, it could ironically make it more difficult for the central bank to wrestle inflation lower in the near term. Rent-related costs make up nearly a third of the closely tracked Consumer Price Index inflation measure, so anything that helps to keep them climbing at an unusually brisk pace is likely to perpetuate rapid inflation. […]
Because a large number of new apartments and condominiums have been started since the pandemic began, few if any economists expect the recent breakneck pace of rent increases to continue: More supply should be on its way. Some markets, like Phoenix, have already seen a slowdown in real-time rent trackers.
But new buildings are taking a long time to finish amid shortages of both the labor and supplies needed to turn blueprints into reality, and it is uncertain when those challenges will clear up. Plus, new apartment and housing developments skew toward high-end and luxury units at a moment when the nation is short about 1.5 million housing units that are affordable and available to lower-income renters, according to a Harvard housing study.
So, price hikes may ease for upper-income types, but not for others. And rising interest rates will make it even less likely that people will build smaller, affordable rental properties. Maybe some smart policy people ought to take a look at this.
* Related…
* The Great Rent Squeeze: Landlords’ jacking up rent was the single largest factor in May’s red-hot inflation report
* I’m glad to see Darren Bailey’s campaign manager Jose Durbin get some recognition. You might not believe this, but the young man is very easy to work with and understands a lot…
How did you come to meet Darren Bailey? “For a few years, I worked for [former state Sen.] Kyle McCarter as his legislative aide and chief of staff. He asked me to go to Kenya with him,” where he served as an ambassador during the Trump administration. “But my wife refused. To be fair, she was getting her undergrad degree to be a teacher. … Then Kyle introduced me to Darren. I’m his longest staffer,” having worked on his state House and Senate campaigns before the governor’s race.
The biggest challenge? “Darren being an outsider. When I’d start talking to people about Darren for governor, people would say a candidate from southern Illinois didn’t have a chance. They’d say, ‘He’s a great guy, but he can’t win.’”
What’s your take on the Democratic Governors Association ads that described Bailey as far right? “I didn’t like the meddling. More than the DGA, it was help from the Super PAC [headed by Dan Proft and funded by Dick Uihlein] that really made a difference. … We tried not to pay attention to that and just kept our noses to the ground.”
What strategies helped you in the primary? “Facebook was huge, but it didn’t start as a campaign strategy. When JB shut down the state [because of the pandemic], Cindy [Bailey’s wife] went on Facebook to pray with people. Then Darren started going on and talking about different subjects and it just blossomed. We don’t spend a lot of money on it. Darren had to get used to it. But now, if you ask Darren Bailey one thing, he’ll tell you he loves social media.” […]
What’s the biggest challenge going forward? “Pritzker’s money. But honestly, I don’t think money wins the race. We have a great staff. We won’t be outworked. We’ll leave everything on the ground.”
Say what you will about Bailey, but this young man is going places.
Starting next year, you can still bring plastic spoons and cups into state parks — but they won’t be offered.
The change is part of a bill Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law earlier this month. Starting Jan. 1, 2023, state agencies and departments will be prohibited from procuring single-use plastic disposable foodware at state parks and natural areas.
Instead, vendors at these locations will have to offer either recyclable or compostable foodware. The legislation will affect Illinois’ 184 state parks and natural areas, which collectively host millions of visitors each year, according to the state Department of Natural Resources website.
“This is a modest attempt to begin to show that the state of Illinois, as a purchaser of products, is going to prefer compostable products,” said state Sen. Julie Morrison, a Lake Forest Democrat who sponsored the bill. “It’s really important that we get plastics out of our landfills and out of our whole use chain. We can do this.”
