The road from public ownership of a municipal water system to privatization is a one-way street paved with regret. Once public ownership is lost, it’s a rarity to recover control. Bolingbrook, Illinois, has been trying to for the last 15 years. Missoula, Montana, is one extraordinary success story, but it took sustained public support, political will across administrations, costly decades in the…
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The Department of Justice is attempting to sabotage a reparations initiative that compensates victims of historic housing discrimination in Evanston, Illinois. For decades, Black residents of Evanston were subjected to redlining and other forms of housing discrimination, which prevented them from obtaining bank loans to purchase property. “Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century…
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On June 1, the Illinois legislature passed a tax on the digital advertising revenue of tech companies like Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet (parent company of Google). Big Tech resisted the measure and will likely challenge it in court. Nevertheless, several analyses show the tax may generate $800 million annually, a number that could increase with time as revenues from digital advertising are expected…
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On Tuesday, the Trump administration filed a motion to join a lawsuit attempting to block the U.S.’s first and only reparations program. The federal government is supporting a 2024 lawsuit by right-wing group Judicial Watch, which argues that the Evanston, Illinois reparations program violates the rights of non-Black residents. In a court filing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice…
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Since 2014, U.S. lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The vast majority of these efforts have failed to pass, but more than 30 states have adopted anti-BDS laws. The first state-based measure to take specific action against Israel boycotts was passed in Illinois in 2015; 49-0 in the Senate and 102-0 in the House.
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In the relentless nightmare that is the post-Roe United States, it can be hard to find the bright spots for abortion rights. Maternal mortality rates in states with abortion bans are increasing. South Carolina, which already has a draconian six-week abortion ban in effect, is now debating whether to ban nearly all abortions in the state. The future of mifepristone access remains murky and tenuous…
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