Some state lawmakers and several organizations are advocating for Illinois to become the first state in the U.S. to fully legalize the exchange of money for sex among consenting adults.

The bill is one of several responses Illinois lawmakers have passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade. It came in response to legislative efforts in other states to ban or severely limit access to abortion services.

“These policies support those communities most impacted by the gun violence crisis,” Yolanda Androzzo, One Aim Illinois program director, said at a rally. “It’s an opportunity to ensure protection and justice for survivors of gun violence.”

“Without this law, Illinois is putting targets on the backs of domestic violence survivors,” said Yolanda Androzzo, the director of the gun control advocacy group One Aim Illinois.

The previously stalled measure that she said will help to protect future victims by requiring police to temporarily take guns from firearm owners under certain orders of protection.

Unions representing nurses in Illinois are pushing for legislation that would impose mandatory staff-to-patient ratios in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. But lobby groups representing hospitals and nursing homes argue a nationwide nursing shortage makes it impossible to comply with such a mandate.

This week marks one year since the first bus of asylum seekers was sent to Chicago from the southern border. More than 13,500 migrants have arrived in the city to date.

Chicago’s Latino community has been especially affected by the events of the past year, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the fatal police shootings of Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez. We discuss key issues community leaders want elected officials to address. 

A 25-minute drive southwest of the Loop, the West Lawn community is home to many essential workers and has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 in the city.

As Latino communities scramble to understand why the coronavirus has hit them so hard, they’re calling upon elected officials to do more to help reverse the trend of rising infection rates.