Why did it take the killing of a young African American man for Rahm to do something?

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For those Illinois Democrats who have been trusting in Hillary Clinton's skirt tails as the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee to help sweep Illinois House and Senate Democratic incumbents back into office and to perhaps topple some GOP lawmakers, uh, knock it off.

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Rather than suggest an overall move towards eliminating male and female identifiers on restrooms, the image does illustrate a very uncomfortable truth in our culture. A truth so deeply embedded in all of our psyches and systems that it is almost impossible to recognize.

Ten prominent Illinoisans and members of the Democratic National Committee have announced their support for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

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Federal law has banned pay discrimination since 1963. But more than 50 years later, many in the American workplace -- because of their sex, race or ethnicity -- don't get equal pay for equal work.

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Allow me to let you in on a little secret: I, like presumably most Americans who support Bernie Sanders, do not expect miracles. But if Bernie Sanders is elected president, then maybe, just maybe, things will change. And that's worth a vote. That's worth trying.

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A new report release Monday by the University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Initiative shows the extent of the crisis facing young black men in the Windy City. Almost half - 47 percent - of young black men from the ages of 20 and 24 were out of school and unemployed in 2014.

When I want to believe that America is a democracy -- indeed, to feel so deeply this is so that my soul trembles -- I turn to Martin Luther King, who gave his life for it.

Illinois's former Governor Edgar had it right months ago. Edgar characterized current Governor Rauner's refusal to negotiate a budget until he wins concessions on his ideological policy agenda as "hostage taking."