The Illinois Supreme Court is rejecting a challenge by state Republicans over Illinois’ legislative map. House GOP members filed a lawsuit in January asking the state’s high court to declare the Democratic mapping effort an unconstitutional political gerrymandering. The suit claimed the boundaries were drawn to give Democrats supermajorities in the state House and Senate. The Supreme Court ruled that the GOP waited to long to contest the 2021 redrawing of legislative districts.
The Trump administration is revoking the visas of international college students across Illinois. Reports say groups of international students at the University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois, University of Illinois Chicago, and Southern Illinois University have had their visas terminated. Similar terminations have been reported at universities across the country. The Trump administration has targeted students who had been involved with pro-Palestinian protests.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is launching a new measles simulator dashboard. The new data dashboard is designed to help school officials and members of the public assess the potential severity of any outbreaks of measles, should one occur in Illinois. Currently, there are no reported cases of the measles in Illinois. However, state health officials are closely monitoring an outbreak in Texas and New Mexico that has resulted in more than 530 confirmed cases, including three deaths.
A new report by the Anti-Defamation League shows hate crimes are on the rise in Illinois. The report tracked hate incidents aimed at immigrant, Black, Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ+ communities in the state between 2020 and 2024. The number of hate crimes in Illinois jumped from 98 in 2021 to 347 in 2023. The majority of reported incidents were based on race or ethnicity.
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