Free Republic

The Trump administration suffered another legal defeat on its sanctuary city crackdown after a judge Friday permanently blocked the government from retaliating against Chicago’s sanctuary policy by stripping away its police grant money. U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, a Reagan appointee to the bench, said the administration is free to track down illegal immigrants on its own, but it cannot force Chicago to cooperate in reporting or turning them over. His ruling follows similar defeats for the Trump administration in California and Philadelphia, where judges have also ruled against the administration’s attempts to condition Byrne Justice Assistance Grant money...

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday trumpeted the renewed success of an Illinois steel mill, pushing back against criticism that his escalating trade disputes are hurting American workers and farmers. The president pointed to the U.S. Steel plant's reopening as a success story after he slapped tariffs on imported steel and aluminum last spring. On Wednesday, he and European leaders agreed to open talks on trade, a decision he called a breakthrough. "America never surrenders," Trump said in an address to workers at the company's steel coil warehouse in Granite City. "We don't wave the white...

Protesters greeted President Trump on his visit to Granite City, Ill., with a giant balloon depicting him as a chicken. Trump delivered remarks at the U.S. Steel Co.'s Granite City Works, where he also took credit for the plant’s reopening following his increased tariffs on imports. Protesters lined up hours ahead of his visit to greet the president with the “Trump chicken” balloon and numerous signs attacking the president as a “liar,” calling for his impeachment, and slamming his controversial “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. (TWEET-AT-LINK) Last week, another 33-foot-tall inflatable blimp depicting Trump as a chicken captured headlines after it was...

**SNIP** The federal lawsuit filed in May might seem a legal long shot, since the center is an ode to Obama, the city's favorite son. But Caplan's challenge forced the city last month to reveal that the Obama Center isn't quite the done deal that many Chicagoans think it is: The city hasn't reached key agreements or a lease with the foundation, and those pacts will require another new city ordinance to be passed sometime soon. "The City Council has yet to introduce, much less enact, an ordinance authorizing the construction and operation of the center," the city's corporation counsel,...

Today, Chicago-based Skender announced the creation of 100 new jobs in the City of Chicago, made possible with the opening of the new Skender advanced manufacturing facility, and the hiring of Peter Murray as President, Skender Manufacturing. The new advanced manufacturing operations will be located at 3348 S. Pulaski, on Chicago's southwest side; approximately 100 new jobs will be created related to the production of modular buildings for multifamily, healthcare and commercial buildings. Production is scheduled to start as early as November 2018 for Skender Manufacturing's first project, a six-story, 110-unit, 80,000-square-foot West Loop multifamily building. "With the launch of...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A group is planning to shut down part of Lake Shore Drive on Chicago's North Side for an anti-violence protest next week. The demonstration is scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 2, which will be as fans are headed to the Cubs-Padres games.

Democrats are now 'soft favorites' to take the House, according to an analysis by University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato and his team. The latest periodic installment of Sabato's 'Crystal Ball' newsletter handicapping congressional the elections shifts 17 House races in the direction of Democrats. Race-by-race rankings are moving several GOP incumbents into the tossup category. Among them are Texas Rep. John Culberson, Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam, Indiana Rep. Steve Chabot, and Iowa Rep. David Young.

MAPLE PARK, Ill. — Snow and sleet were falling on Eldon Gould’s 500 acres this week, but he was already looking ahead to planting season; depending on ground conditions and the temperature, that could be just several weeks away. But now the prospect of steel and aluminum tariffs was adding to the list of worries and uncertainties that come with every corn and soybean season. “It’s the retaliation risk,” Mr. Gould said from his kitchen table in Maple Park, in a region of northern Illinois where farmland runs on for miles. “The world’s already awash in grain,” Mr. Gould said,...

Chicago, Illinois, July 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueGrace Logistics, a nationwide third-party logistics (3PL) provider, announces the official July 23, 2018 opening of their new Chicago office in the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building, 141 W. Jackson Blvd. The BlueGrace Logistics recruiting staff is currently deep into their search for both experienced sales professionals and recent college graduates in Chicago who are looking for a new and exciting opportunity in the rapidly growing Chicago market, which the industry’s Journal of Commerce described as a high-tech logistics magnet. BlueGrace Logistics is grateful to Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his warm...

With radicals preparing drum head trials for Trump, his supporters, the rich, and just about anyone who disagrees with them, Rep. Ryan might want to rethink his desire to be "rich." These moderates appear to be the only Democrats who realize the danger the party is in: But some elected officials in relatively conservative areas say progressives are clueless about what their agenda would mean for Democrats outside major cities and the coasts. "We will be a permanent minority party in this country," said Iowa state Sen. Jeff Danielson, a firefighter who represents an area that saw one of the...

How would you react to finding your seatmate on a 12-hour flight to China is a talkative eight-year-old boy whose father had ditched him to go sit in business class? Flyertalk member steveo posted the following question in the United forum: Hi Flyertalk. Just got off [Chicago] to [Beijing] and to my delight I had a maybe [an] 8-year-old boy sitting next to me the whole flight while his dad was in Polaris. I had the distinct pleasure of entertaining this kid who wouldn’t shut up for 12-hours. Should I complain about this? Short answer: yes. Flight attendants appear...

President Donald Trump is making his first visit to Illinois since becoming president, making a stop in Granite City on Thursday where he is expected to tout the reopening of a U.S. Steel Corp. mill. The White House announced Sunday night Trump will swing through Granite City, in southern Illinois near St. Louis and Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday. The Trump administration has been highlighting U.S. Steel’s Granite City mill as a trade war success story even as the tariffs have sparked concerns in other sectors, with alarms sounded by Illinois farmers whose main crop is soybeans. The visit will have...

The National Education Association thinks Colin Kaepernick is an ideal role model. Many members, however, may take their loyalty elsewhere. And frankly, they should. On July 1, the NEA honored Kaepernick, along with several other persons and organizations, with a “Human and Civil Rights” award in recognition of the former pro-football star’s campaign “to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism.” The born-again political revolutionary, who these last couple years has been peddling the idea that police are conducting a nationwide pogrom against innocent blacks, accepted the honor with predictable melodrama. “To me, this is bigger than football...

A new study names Chicago the rat capital of the U.S. According to a study by the apartment search service “Rent Hop,” the city received 50,963 rat complaints last year – more than any other city in the country. New York came in a distant second place, followed by Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Every time the President talks about trade negotiations, it makes the news. On July 18, he mentioned – for the umpteenth time – that he might prefer to break NAFTA up into two agreements, and the press went ballistic again. We have hundreds of major issues in United States politics – taxes, unemployment, crime, foreign policy – and people can talk comfortably about them because they are always on the collective mind. But trade is different; it’s only an issue once every generation or so. So this is an issue with tons of misconceptions, not only in the electorate, but...

Last Saturday, Chicago police approached a man on the city’s south side with body cameras recording.   For police in any city, the encounter was perhaps a classic attempt at a Terry street stop – one where police have reasonable suspicion of a weapon, one where police want to conduct a brief stop and defensively “pat down” a suspect.  But as police well know, Supreme Court decisions tend to guide only one side during police encounters; they have little to no control over the irresponsible, reckless, or criminal actions of the people police are approaching.And, from the police body camera...

Illinois Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) is adamant that she does not want taxpayers to have to pay for anything related to the Obama Center Library, which is scheduled to be built in Jackson Park on Chicago's Southside. "No tax money should be spent on the Obama Center," Ives recently told the DuPage Policy Journal. The $38.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2019 that was recently passed by the Illinois General Assembly included what was initially reported as $172 million earmarked for road work around the area where the Obama Library is being built. A recent Washington Examiner article, however, claims...

CHICAGO, IL -- Flex-N-Gate, a leading manufacturer and supplier for the automotive industry, is hosting a hiring event from noon to 5 p.m. July 23. The event will be held at South Chicago Learning Center, 3055 E. 92nd St., Chicago. The company is hiring for a new plant it is building on the city's South Side, which is expected to begin production in early 2019. The Urbana-based Flex-N-Gate announced plans last year to convert an existing warehouse facility into a 288,000-square-foot, modern automotive operation that will serve automakers, including Chicago's Ford plant. Flex-N-Gate is anticipated to bring 300 jobs to...

Will anyone in Chicago be embarrassed by this? Will any of the perpetually and professionally outraged say, “Gosh, maybe we were too quick to judge”? Will any of them look at the police body camera footage and say, “Yes, the guy had a gun and was trying to pull it out on the officers, so they had to shoot him”? When Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., nearly four years ago, the fable quickly spread that he had presented no threat, that he had said to the officer, “Hands up, don’t shoot” just...

Chicago may soon become the largest municipality in the U.S. to test a universal basic income program. Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar recently proposed legislation that would provide 1,000 families with a $500 monthly stipend -- no questions asked. The bill already has the backing of the majority of city lawmakers, and Pawar hopes to soon work with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to implement the pilot program, The Intercept reported. “Nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in the bank for an emergency,” Pawar told the outlet. “UBI could be an incredible benefit for people who are working and are having...