Afternoon Briefing: Illinois House fail to pass convicted youth resentencing bill
Apr 11, 2025
Good afternoon, Chicago.
In a surprising loss for criminal justice reform advocates, Democrats were unable to pass legislation providing more resentencing options for people in prison convicted of committing crimes when they were under 21.
The bill not only was a setback for advocates but also under
scored a political divide between progressives and moderates within the Democratic Party, which has a supermajority in the House. The measure sponsored by Chicago Democratic state Rep. Theresa Mah was defeated late yesterday 51-49 — 11 votes short of passage as several Democrats, including from the suburbs and downstate, either voted against the bill or did not vote at all.
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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Laura Bernstein gestures after speaking in the public participation segment of a Deerfield Public Schools District 109 Board of Education meeting at Caruso Middle School, April 10, 2025, in Deerfield. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Hundreds crowd Deerfield school board meeting over transgender student dispute
The meeting followed the announcement by American First Legal, a conservative nonprofit, that it had filed a complaint with the criminal section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division urging it to investigate District 109 and its administrators over an alleged incident of female students at Shepard Middle School being forced by staffers to change in front of a transgender girl, an allegation the district has denied. Read more here.
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Portillo’s pepper, egg and cheese sandwich. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
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Twyla Tharp Dance’s 60th anniversary “Diamond Jubilee” performance at the Harris Theater in Chicago is accompanied by Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion and flutist Constance Volk. (Kyle Flubacker)
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An aerial view of new cars waiting for shipment at a pier for ro-ro ships in Yantai city in eastern China’s Shandong province, March 30, 2025. (Chinatopix via AP)
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