Daywatch: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss receives endorsement in congressional run
Evanston Mayor and former state legislator Daniel Biss' progressive credentials got a boost this morning with an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Illinois' increasingly crowded 9th Congressional District Democratic primary race.
Warren, a three-term senator from Massachusetts and briefly a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, announced she was backing Biss in a statement shared with the Tribune in which she praised the two-term mayor as 'a relentless fighter for working people who can help deliver the structural change our country needs right now.'
The nod from Warren could carry some extra weight as more than a dozen candidates vie for the chance to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat who announced in May that she would not seek a 15th term representing a district covering parts of the North Side, North Shore and northwest suburbs.
Read the full story from the Tribune's Dan Petrella.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including Rush scaling back gender-affirming care, where the 'granny flat' ordinance stands with the City Council and viewership for this year's NASCAR Chicago Street Race.
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A federal grand jury indicted a man yesterday on charges that he fatally shot a prominent Minnesota state representative and her husband and seriously wounded a state senator and his wife while he was allegedly disguised as a police officer.
Rush University System for Health is the latest Illinois hospital system to scale back its gender-affirming care for minors, amid threats from the Trump administration against institutions that provide such care.
Rush has 'paused' offering hormonal care to new patients under the age of 18, effective July 1, spokesperson Tobin Klinger confirmed.
Aldermen advanced a measure that could legalize 'granny flats' citywide with limited restrictions, a move advocates say will create more affordable housing.
The City Council's Zoning Committee voted 13-7 to advance the additional dwelling unit ordinance. The result tees up a vote today by the full City Council, when aldermen could give a green light clearing the way for new garden apartments, attic-to-housing conversions and coach housing.
Aurora officials have found high levels of lead in the drinking water supplied to some homes.
Between January and June, 100 samples were collected and tested for lead using recently-heightened federal sampling and monitoring requirements, according to city officials. More than 10% of the samples contained lead readings above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 'action level,' meaning the city is now required to take certain actions, such as replacing lead service lines, adjusting water treatment practices and implementing public education programs.
A man was shot on the Near North Side Monday about two years after he was released from a 100-year prison sentence for his part in the April 2014 killing of 14-year old Endia Martin, according to police sources.
Reports of fewer fireflies in recent years have sparked worry for the future of the insect's population. However, increased sightings this summer have boosted hopes for the survival of the insect.
The third and potentially final NASCAR Chicago Street Race made a few firsts during the Fourth of July weekend. Rain stayed away, the races ran to completion and two new networks broadcast the events to a national TV audience.
Shane van Gisbergen, who won the inaugural Cup Series race in 2023, took the checkered flag once again this year, but far fewer people saw it.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong went 1-for-2 in his All-Star debut, while teammate Kyle Tucker was 0-for-2 with a nice catch in left field, writes Paul Sullivan.
The National League blew a 6-0 lead in the final three innings, watching the American League tie it on Steven Kwan's RBI infield hit off Edwin Díaz with two outs in the ninth. The game ended in a tie, which led to the first-ever swing-off between the two sides, an abbreviated Home Run Derby with six players.
The Blackhawks agreed to terms yesterday on a three-year, entry-level contract with forward Anton Frondell, whom they drafted with the No. 3 pick last month.
The deal carries a $975,000 salary-cap hit. When the Hawks last drafted third in 2019, forward Kirby Dach's three-year contract had a $925,000 cap hit.
The new Disney tour of 'Beauty and the Beast' playing this summer at the Cadillac Palace Theatre is introducing bookish Belle, clever Chip and garrulous Gaston to younger generations who were not even born in 1993 when Disney decided to take a stab at turning an animated movie into a Broadway musical. They're also unlikely to know the significance of this particular musical in the history of the art form.
But in fact, 'Beauty and the Beast' sparked a revolution in bringing family audiences back to Broadway. And the success of the show changed the face of the Disney organization.
Mustard on deep dish? Bizarre. Does it work? Apparently, yes, according to the good folks at Portillo's and Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, who are teaming up for a new crosstown collaboration: The Chicago Dog Deep Dish.
On this day in 2019, after eluding capture for a week in the Humboldt Park lagoon, a 5-foot alligator nicknamed 'Chance the Snapper' appeared for a news conference with its trapper Frank Robb. The gator was relocated to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida.
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San Francisco Chronicle
2 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Virginia judge bars Youngkin's university board appointments rejected by Senate Democrats
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A judge ordered that eight public university board members tapped by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin be removed from their posts in a victory for Virginia Senate Democrats who rejected the appointees in a June committee vote. Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jonathan D. Frieden severed the newly appointed members from their governing-board seats at the University of Virginia, George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute. His order came at the request of nine Virginia Senate Democrats who filed a lawsuit last month requesting immediate action against the heads of university boards, also known as rectors or presidents. The nine senators argued that despite the legislative committee rejecting the membership of the eight board members, the board chairs had continued acknowledging them as members, and Frieden agreed. 'Here, the public interest is served by protecting the power of the elected legislature to confirm or reject gubernatorial appointees,' Frieden wrote in an opinion letter about his order. An attorney representing the board rectors said in court that if unsuccessful, he intended to appeal Frieden's order. The case comes amid the White House's effort to reshape higher education, with a focus on DEI. Colleges in Virginia and across the U.S. have recently become a groundswell for political tension between academic leaders and the federal government, with boards at the center of those battles. The political and cultural divide in higher education has only escalated conflicts over who gets to have a seat at the table for critical board votes that could shape those institutions' future. In June, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan resigned after the Justice Department pushed for his removal. Earlier this month, the Trump administration initiated a civil rights investigation into George Mason University's hiring practices. The board at George Mason is having a meeting later this week. And earlier this year, the board at the Virginia Military Institute ousted its president, Retired Army Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins. His tenure as president was marked by the implementation of diversity initiatives, which faced pushback from some conservative alumni. Last month, the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections committee met through an ongoing special session and opted against approving the eight university appointees made by Youngkin, notably including former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II and Caren Merrick, Youngkin's former commerce secretary. According to the state Constitution, all gubernatorial appointments are subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. Following the vote, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Scott Surrovell wrote a letter to all board chairs, reminding them that appointees must be approved by the legislature. But Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares also wrote to the heads of the university boards, instead advising them that the appointed members should remain on the governing bodies because only a committee, not the whole state General Assembly, had voted to reject them. Mark Stancil, an attorney representing the Democratic senators, argued that the attorney general's guidance was incorrect. 'Their position flies in the face of the text of the Constitution, the text of the governing statute, and decades of longstanding practice," he wrote in a court filing. Christopher Michel, representing the rectors, countered that if the Constitution states that the legislature has the power to reject appointees, that would mean the full legislature rather than one committee. 'The General Assembly is a two-house body,' Michel said. Michel further questioned whether the Virginia senators met the legal requirements necessary to have board members immediately removed by a judge. He asserted that Virginia senators had sued the wrong people, and that the rectors did not represent the voted-down members themselves. In turn, Stancil argued to the court that rectors are responsible for holding meetings and counting votes. Frieden said in his letter that the rectors did have culpability in the case, writing: 'As the person presiding at those meetings, each ... is responsible for recognizing members who wish to speak and recognizing and announcing the votes of members.' Inside the courtroom, Surovell, state Sen. Kannan Srinivasan and Deputy Attorney General Theo Stamos sat among the benches. Surovell said to a group of reporters outside the courtroom that state Democrats had a responsibility to push back. 'These boards just don't seem very interested in following any law or listening to anything that the entity that controls them says,' he said. 'This hearing today is about making sure that we have a rule of law in Virginia — that the laws are followed and that the Senate is listened to.' ___
Los Angeles Times
2 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Women in legislatures across the U.S. fight for ‘potty parity'
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote. None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma because, of course, multiple men's bathrooms are available. The Legislature even installed speakers in the men's bathrooms to broadcast the chamber's events so they don't miss anything important. In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be 'flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist — or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me,' she said. 'Well, guess what? I'm here.' Kruesi and Rush write for the Associated Press. AP writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.
New York Post
2 minutes ago
- New York Post
Hunter Biden-Jasmine Crockett presidential campaign 'would be some ticket,' Trump jokes
WASHINGTON — President Trump found the idea of a Hunter Biden-Jasmine Crocket 2028 Democratic presidential ticket both amusing and terrifying on the latest episode of 'Pod Force One,' out now. 'That would be some ticket. No, these people are crazy, so you never know what's going to happen,' Trump quipped after The Post's Miranda Devine joked that Hunter and Crockett (D-Texas) could be a 'joint ticket.' The jest came after Trump weighed in on Hunter's decision to come out forcefully in defense of his father, former President Joe Biden, in a pair of interviews last week. Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here! The former first son blamed Democrats' 2024 electoral loss on the party ditching his father and blamed former elder Biden's disastrous June 27, 2024, debate performance against Trump on his use of Ambien — apparently without a prescription. 'Well, they had two chances to win the election,' Trump told Devine. 'They had him, and that didn't work out, and he was down by 25 points or something, and then they switched him. It's like taking a prize fighter out in the middle of the fight. It's not fair. 'They took him out, they put Kamala [in]. Nobody knew who Kamala was,' he added. 'I guess they say she's going to try it again [in 2028], and I don't see it.' 'But how about Crockett? Crockett is their new star.' 4 President Trump chided that it's not inconceivable that Democrats may turn to Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Hunter Biden in 2028. Daniel Torok / The White House 4 Hunter Biden blamed Democrats' 2024 electoral loss on the party ditching his father. Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images 4 Rep. Jasmine Crockett has defended former President Joe Biden. Houston Chronicle via Getty Images Trump then bashed the outspoken Texas congresswoman as 'a low-IQ person,' prompting Devine to joke about a team-up of the two Democrats in 2028. Crockett, 44, has passionately defended the 46th president, insisting that his mental acuity 'is supreme when it comes to comparing him to Donald Trump.' 'I never saw anything in Joe Biden that made me wonder whatsoever, and it's not that I was with Joe Biden every single day, that's for sure,' Crockett told Katie Couric's 'Next Question' podcast in an interview last month. 'The way that I would describe Joe is like, I mean, he's a granddaddy, right?' Crockett was recently the subject of an Atlantic profile piece that revealed she uses a photo of herself as the lockscreen wallpaper on her phone. Meanwhile, Hunter's recent interviews caught the eye of podcast titan Joe Rogan, who mused that the former first son 'could be president' one day as he came across as 'smarter than his dad.' 4 President Trump also riffed about becoming the First Minister of Scotland. Daniel Torok / The White House After riffing about Hunter and Crockett, Devine noted that she had been requested to ask Trump about becoming First Minister of Scotland when his term concludes. Trump, whose mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, suggested 'I could do that' in response. 'I would think I might be eligible,' the 79-year-old added. 'I could be, within six months or something like that. But it is a special place.'
