Progress Illinois

Hundreds of protesters were met by dozens of Chicago police officers outfitted with riot gear in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s North Side Ravenswood home Saturday afternoon. While the Mayor wasn’t home, his house was guarded by a line of officers who created a makeshift barrier using their bicycles.

The protesters, many of whom sat down in the middle of North Hermitage Avenue for about 20 minutes, decried Emanuel’s closing of six city mental health facilities. Some of the mental health advocates in attendance were patients of the now-defunct clinics.
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The following is an op-ed from Celeste Meiffren, field director with Illinois PIRG.

When Congress turns to reauthorizing the federal Farm Bill this summer, you might think that only farmers should care. But in reality, the decisions they make impact all of us, because there’s a real risk Congress will maintain a broken status quo that lavishes taxpayer dollars on the junk food ingredients that are helping to fuel the obesity epidemic.
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U.S. Rep. Robert Dold (R-10) went against party lines Wednesday and introduced a bill that would prohibit lawmakers from barring Planned Parenthood -- and other clinics that perform abortions -- from receiving federal Title X dollars that go toward family planning and contraceptive services.

The first-term Republican’s bill, H.R. 5650, or the Protecting Women’s Access to Health Care Act, gained approval from Planned Parenthood, but some of Dold’s critics, including his Democrat opponent in November’s general election, Brad Schneider, aren’t convinced he’s a true advocate for women’s reproductive freedom.
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