Afternoon Briefing: Fisher House opens to serve families of veterans and active military
For the third time in little more than a decade, a bipartisan group is being formed to launch a voter initiative aimed at amending the Illinois Constitution to try to remove the heavy partisan influence of lawmakers in the once-per-decade redrawing of state legislative boundaries.
Unlike the current controversy in Texas, where Republicans are looking to redraw congressional boundaries to maximize GOP seats in the U.S. House for the 2026 midterm elections, the Illinois effort is aimed solely at Illinois House and state Senate boundaries. And unlike two earlier efforts, in 2014 and 2016, that were struck down by the courts, the current proposal is more streamlined and designed to fit through the very narrow window that previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings have left for a constitutional amendment by citizens' petition to appear on the ballot.
Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.
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The second-in-command of the Chicago Police Department appears to have been stripped of virtually all of her duties related to the department's daily operations, according to a new organizational chart sent today to CPD personnel. Read more here.
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Upward of 300 veterans, active service members and associates gathered at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago yesterday for the opening and dedication ceremony of the 100th Fisher House. Read more here.
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Starting guard Ariel Atkins is sidelined indefinitely. Star Angel Reese is battling through minor injuries. With fewer than 20 games left in the regular season, the playoffs are a far-off dream. Read more here.
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The reboot of 'The Naked Gun' tosses off a few sharp and/or stupidly effective gags of the hit-and-run variety, nice and quick. Sample exchange: 'I guess you can't fight City Hall.' 'No. It's a building.' Read more here.
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One of this century's most powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Russia and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a broad section of the Pacific, including Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast and as far south as New Zealand. Read more here.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas Democrats defy Gov. Abbott's redistricting ultimatum, and threats of arrest, to block consideration of new congressional maps
The governor had threatened to kick Democrats out of office after dozens fled the state to prevent new district lines from being approved. Texas Democrats who fled the state in order to block new congressional maps favored by Republicans successfully prevented a scheduled legislative session to consider those maps from going forward on Monday. Due to their absence, the Texas House of Representatives did not have enough members present to establish the necessary quorum to open the proceedings. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had threatened to try to kick dozens of Democrats out of the legislature if they were not present for the session. When they did not show up, Republicans in the chamber voted to issue civil warrants for their arrest, though the warrants reportedly only apply within state lines. 'It's imperative that they be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law,' Texas's Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in a statement Monday afternoon. The Democrats' decision to leave Texas, with some going to Illinois and others going to New York, came a few days after Republicans unveiled their new proposed congressional map that experts say could secure the GOP five additional seats in the House of Representatives if it's in place before the 2026 midterm elections. 'This truancy ends now,' Abbott wrote in a letter sent to Democrats Sunday evening. He had also previously argued that the Democrats may have committed a felony by leaving the state. In a press conference on Monday morning in New York, where they were joined by the state's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, some of the Texas Democrats said they were committed to their fight to stop the maps and argued that Abbott does not have the legal authority to punish them for leaving the state. 'Respectfully, he's making up some shit,' Democratic state Rep. Jolanda Jones said. The Texas House Democratic caucus had initially responded to Abbott's threats with the statement 'come and take it.' What comes next? The Texas House is scheduled to reconvene again on Tuesday, but every indication is that Democrats will miss that session as well. It remains to be seen how long they can continue to stay outside of the state, or how their procedural gambit might actually stop the map from eventually being approved. A previous walkout four years ago designed to block a controversial voting bill delayed a final vote, but ultimately did not prevent it from being passed. It's also uncertain whether Abbott truly can follow through on his threat to oust the Democrats from their seats. He can't do so unilaterally. Any attempt to boot them from the legislature would have to go through the courts, which could set off a lengthy legal battle with no apparent timeline for when it might be resolved, according to analysis by Politico. What prompted this fight? The decision of how many House members each state gets is made at the federal level, but it's the states themselves that choose how to carve up their territory into their allotted number of districts. There is a long history of parties using this process to draw maps that give them an advantage, often by slicing opposition's electoral strongholds into small pieces or by cramming them all into one district so seats elsewhere in the state are safe. This practice, known as gerrymandering, has become increasingly common in recent years. That's especially true in Republican-led states. Even in the context of recent gerrymandering, what Texas Republicans are trying to do is remarkable for both its timing and the aggressiveness of the partisan slant in its proposed map. States usually redraw their districts every 10 years, after the new census determines where House districts will be apportioned. The Texas GOP have opted to create new maps just five years after the state's last round of redistricting so they will place ahead of the midterms, when Democrats would only need to pick up a few seats to seize control of the House. Republicans currently control 25 of Texas's 38 congressional districts. The new map puts them in position to hold 30 House seats after next year, which would give them 80% of the state's representation in Congress in a state where President Trump secured 56% of the vote in last year's presidential race, according to the official tally from the Texas Secretary of State. Will other GOP states follow Texas's lead? Ohio has unique laws that require the state to redraw its maps before 2026. The GOP currently controls 10 of Ohio's 15 districts. Members of the state GOP are reportedly debating how partisan they should be in putting together their new maps. Depending on how aggressively they gerrymander the new map, Republicans could give themselves two or even three more House seats. In the most extreme case, Democrats could be left with just two congressional seats in a state where Kamala Harris received 44% of the vote in 2024. President Trump has also reportedly encouraged Missouri Republicans to redraw their maps. They already hold six of the state's eight congressional seats, but a plan to split a safe Democratic district in Kansas City could secure an additional seat for the GOP. So far there hasn't been any real redistricting action in other red states, but experts say the maps in states like Florida, Nebraska, Kansas and Nebraska could be carved up to give Republicans more advantages if there's the political will to do so. What are the stakes? With Republicans fully in control of both houses of Congress, Democrats have been largely unable to stand in the way of Trump's agenda. That could change if they gain a majority in either chamber. Flipping the Senate appears unlikely, but early forecasters are giving Democrats strong odds of taking over the House. If they do, Democrats would effectively have veto power over any legislation Trump and the GOP want to pass. They would also have new oversight authority and the ability to launch investigations into the president's actions and hold public hearings on the most controversial moves taken by his administration. The partisan split in the House has been incredibly thin in recent years, in part because gerrymandering has reduced the number of genuinely competitive seats across the country. Republicans adding five seats in Texas, two in Ohio plus possibly a few more in other states could prove to be the difference between holding onto the House or having Democrats be in charge for the final two years of Trump's second term. Democrats threaten to go 'nuclear' Blue state Democrats have made a lot of noise about countering the GOP's redistricting gambit, but experts say the tools they have to actually do that are limited. 'We can sit on the sidelines, talk about the way the world should be,' California Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this month. 'Or we can recognize the existential nature that is this moment.' Newsom has said he will push to have deep-blue California redraw its own maps to balance out any gains the GOP makes from redistricting in Texas or elsewhere. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have made similar statements. Democrats in Congress have also said they're willing to consider any options to prevent Republicans from using redistricting to maintain control of the House. 'If they're going to go nuclear in Texas, I'm going to go nuclear in other places,' Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin told Axios earlier this month. Despite their strong rhetoric, Democrats would face significant hurdles if they wanted to match the GOP tit-for-tat in redistricting. California, a deep-blue state with 14 more congressional seats than any other state, might seem like the obvious place for Democrats to pick up more seats. But congressional districts in the Golden State are currently drawn by an independent commission, not the state Legislature. To get that power back, lawmakers would have to hold a special election and convince California voters to overturn the state's redistricting system. New York also has an independent redistricting commission. Democratic lawmakers unveiled a bill Wednesday that would give them authority over the state's maps again, but it would have to go through a lengthy process that would make it next to impossible for the new districts to be in place by next year's midterms. At Monday's press conference, Hochul said bolder action may be necessary. 'I'm exploring, with our leaders, every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible,' she said. Lawmakers do control redistricting in Illinois, but the state only has three GOP-held districts, which significantly limits the gains Democrats could make there.
Time Magazine
11 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Marjorie Taylor Greene Signals Potential Split From GOP
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has historically been closely aligned with President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, is proclaiming her discontent with the current trajectory of the Republican Party. 'I don't know what the hell happened with the Republican Party,' Greene told the Daily Mail in an interview published over the weekend. 'But I'll tell you one thing, the course that it's on, I don't want to have anything to do with it, and I, I just don't care anymore.' While Greene said that she is still loyal to Trump, she told the outlet that she thinks the party 'has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans.' On Monday, the Georgia lawmaker appeared to criticize the Trump Administration's handling of various issues on social media. In one post, she included an image that said 'number of arrests' and listed several incidents or events—including an apparent reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, 'pedophile arrests' related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the '2020 election'—with the number zero next to each one. Greene captioned the post, 'Don't talk about it if you aren't going to do it.' In another post the same day, she noted that 'our Republican controlled Congress is no where near completing our appropriations bills' ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline, and that lawmakers are on recess until Sept. 2. 'The American people pay ALL the taxes and deserve their representatives to do our jobs and put Americans needs and interests FIRST,' she wrote. Greene has made a handful of other critical comments toward her fellow Republican lawmakers or the Trump Administration in recent weeks. On July 28, Greene became the first Republican in Congress to call the situation in Gaza a 'genocide,' taking the step in a post denouncing what she called an 'awful statement' from her Republican colleague Rep. Randy Fine of Florida regarding the conflict. Earlier that month, she criticized the Trump Administration's handling of files related to Epstein's case, calling it 'a red line that it crosses for many people.' Both issues have been the subject of broader tensions within the Republican Party, as deepening divides have emerged between lawmakers over the conflict in Gaza and as the Trump Administration has faced fierce backlash from the President's MAGA base over Epstein. Polling has also suggested other trouble for Trump and congressional Republicans. The President hit the lowest approval rating of his second term late last month as he lost support from Independents. And the massive tax and spending bill the GOP passed earlier in July—a signature piece of Trump's agenda—appears to be the most unpopular piece of major legislation in decades. In her interview with the Daily Mail, Greene said she wants to stop foreign aid, cut down on government spending via the Department of Government Efficiency, and reign in the national debt. The Georgia lawmaker also told the outlet that she thinks Republican women 'are really sick and tired of the way men treat' them. She said that Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, whose nomination to serve as the U.S. representative at the United Nations was pulled by the Trump Administration earlier this year, 'got shafted.' Greene didn't blame the President specifically for the move, but rather 'the people in the White House.' She called it 'weird' that Mike Waltz was then tapped for the role, being reassigned from his position as National Security Adviser, even after The Atlantic revealed that he had apparently added its editor in chief to a private Signal group chat that was being used to discuss sensitive military operations. 'How does he get awarded after 'Signalgate'?' Greene told the Daily Mail. 'I don't know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I'm kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore,' she said. 'I don't know which one it is.'
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
Texas Gov. Abbott orders arrest of Democrats who skipped town to avoid redistricting vote
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state authorities Monday to arrest dozens of House Democrats who fled to Illinois rather than stay for a vote on redrawing the state's congressional map. 'Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans,' Abbott said in a statement. 'By fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief. There are consequences for dereliction of duty. 3 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state authorities to arrest dozens of House Democrats who fled. AP 3 Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. AP 3 Democratic lawmakers from Texas arrive for a news conference with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, after leaving their state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts, in Carol Stream, Illinois, U.S. August 3, 2025. REUTERS 'Speaker Dustin Burrows just issued a call of the Texas House and issued warrants to compel members to return to the chamber. To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans. This order will remain in effect until all missing Democrat House members are accounted for and brought to the Texas Capitol.' This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.
