Lorraine Bailey

Court Upholds Prosecution of Animal Rights Activists as Terrorists

Under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, even an animal-rights protest that causes economic damage to a business — like convincing a consumer to stop purchasing products manufactured by an animal enterprise — is punishable behavior

Lorraine Bailey
By Lorraine Bailey
FILE - A black mink looks out of its cage at the Ott Mink Farm, April 21, 2005, in Heafford Junction, Wisc. (AP/Morry Gash)

The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday upheld the prosecution of an animal-rights activist who freed 2,000 minks and foxes from a fur factory as a terrorist. In 2013, Californians Tyler Lang and Kevin Johnson freed 2,000 minks and foxes, and left the words “Liberation in Love” spray-painted on a barn at a fur factory in Morris, Ill., roughly 60 miles

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Chicago Police Accused Of Ruining Black Man’s Wedding Day

“On what should have been one of the happiest days of his life, plaintiff Joseph Baskins was instead subjected to a nightmare that would last three years,”

Lorraine Bailey
By Lorraine Bailey
FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2015, file photo, Chicago police officers line up outside the District 1 central headquarters in Chicago, during a protest for the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Special prosecutor Patricia Brown-Holmes announced Tuesday, June 27, 2017, that three Chicago police officers were indicted on felony charges that they conspired to cover up the actions of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the killing of McDonald. The indictment, approved by a Cook County grand jury, alleges that one current and two former officers lied about the events of Oct. 20, 2014 when Van Dyke shot the black teenager 16 times. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty File)

An Illinois man claims three intoxicated, on-duty Chicago cops made racist comments and attacked him and his fiancée in a City Hall elevator, landing the man in jail on what was supposed to be his wedding day. “On what should have been one of the happiest days of his life, plaintiff Joseph Baskins was instead subjected to a nightmare that would

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Illinois Judge Rules State Requirements For Third Parties Unconstitutional

Established political parties are not subject to the same rules as third parties, and Illinois is the only state in the nation with a full-slate requirement.

Lorraine Bailey
By Lorraine Bailey
Kimberly Fisher, from White Haven, Md., casts her ballot at a polling place at the Wicomico County Youth and Civic Center in Salisbury, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, after superstorm Sandy passed through the area. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Seventh Circuit handed a victory to the Libertarian Party on Friday, declaring an Illinois requirement that third parties run a full slate of candidates to get on the ballot unconstitutional. “We have little difficulty concluding that the full-slate requirement severely burdens the First Amendment rights of minor parties, their members, and

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Court Rules Illinois Prosecutor’s Vigilante Police Force Illegal

Former LaSalle County prosecutor Brian Towne formed a police force separate from the county’s police force called the State’s Attorney Felony Enforcement which was tasked with drug interdiction along interstate highways

Lorraine Bailey
By Lorraine Bailey
LaSalle County prosecutor Brian Towne. (Photo: Scott Anderson)

The Illinois Supreme Court vacated a woman’s drug-trafficking conviction, ruling that a police unit operated by an Illinois county state’s attorney’s office, independent from the county’s regular police force, had no authority to make traffic stops. In 2011, former LaSalle County State’s Attorney Brian Towne formed a police force separate from

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