Civil Rights

The Illinois Department of Corrections has revised its publication review policy to include a centralized appeal process for incarcerated people who feel they’ve been unfairly denied access to certain reading materials.

Four swastikas were found on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in the last two weeks. The hate symbols were found drawn or carved in two different residence halls, a library and a bathroom stall in the campus’ foreign languages building.

Nearly 90 percent of the children living in concentrated poverty in Illinois are nonwhite, according to a recent report by a child advocacy group.

The Illinois Department of Corrections will implement a new publication review policy in October. The change comes after staff at the Danville Correctional Center removed more than 200 books from a college-in-prison program’s library at the facility earlier this year.

A Rockford woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Secretary of State. The action is done in partnership with a Chicago organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Officials at the University of Illinois are investigating a report of a noose found in an elevator at Allen Hall, a student dorm in Urbana.

A recent report illustrates just how much harder it is for people who aren’t white to get small-business loans.

A package of bills signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker is aimed at helping newly-released Illinois prisoners find their way back into the democratic process.

Illinois is joining a chorus of states condemning a Trump administration proposal to rollback protections for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act.

Banks in Illinois are more likely to lend to white-owned small businesses as opposed to their minority counterparts — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the Woodstock Institute, a social justice and research think tank.

The American Civil Liberties Union sent letters to eight Illinois municipalities last week urging them to repeal their panhandling bans. The nonprofit organization warned of legal action if community officials don't heed their warning.

Hundreds of immigrant children who originally came to the southern border are sick, with illnesses like fever, strep throat, and even tuberculosis. Now, they’re being sent alone to Illinois shelters.

White extremist propaganda surged by almost 60 percent on Midwestern college campuses last year. That’s according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.

Peoria native and feminist icon Betty Friedan received a tribute across the street from her childhood home.

An Illinois high school student and her father are suing a school district and several administrators alleging her civil rights were violated when she showed support for gun rights during an anti-school violence walkout.

A 2020 jury trial date has been set for a transgender inmate suing Illinois Department of Corrections officials for alleged abuses.

A federal judge has ordered the city of Springfield to pay more than $330,000 to civil rights attorneys who represented two panhandlers in the legal fight over anti-panhandling laws in the city.

Springfield City Council members have unanimously approved a resolution affirming the state capital city's commitment to civil rights and opposition to racism.

Major civil rights groups have joined a class-action seeking to force Chicago to reform the nation's second largest police force with direct court oversight.

Several community groups have sued the city of Chicago to bypass or even scuttle a draft deal between Chicago and the Justice Department that seeks to reform the nation's second largest police force without federal court oversight.

A Cook County judge has ruled against the Chicago Public School's lawsuit over the funding of education by the state of Illinois.  Judge Franklin Ulyses Valderrama denied a CPS motion for an injunction seeking to bar the state from distributing education funds in a discriminatory manner. He also ruled in favor of the state's motion to dismiss the case, but is allowing CPS to come back with a new argument.

A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled the 1964 Civil Rights Act does protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination. The ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first time a federal appellate court has come to that conclusion. 

Chicago's schools are suing Illinois' governor and other state officials over how the state funds schools, claiming it violates the civil rights of the predominantly-minority student population in the nation's third-largest school district. 

The Justice Department and the city of Chicago have signed a joint statement in which the nation's third largest city commits to police reforms under a court-enforced agreement, called a consent decree.  The document, along with the findings of a yearlong Justice Department civil rights investigation of the police force,was released Friday. 

Cook County officials say they expect to issue the 10 thousandth marriage license to a same-sex couple this week.  Cook County Clerk David Orr held a news conference along with state lawmakers and civil right groups to mark the milestone. 

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department says it will hold a forum Wednesday to discuss its investigation into the Chicago Police Department and to hear from community members about their experiences with it.