Letter to the Editor |
Legalizing prostitution in Illinois undermines public health

Dear Editor,

Some Illinois state lawmakers plan to introduce a bill to legalize prostitution in the Land of Lincoln. This proposal would expunge past criminal arrests and conviction records.

Taking advantage of the super-majority in both chambers, these Democrats want "private choices" about the use of one's body to be a civil right protected by law. This flawed thinking will only increase incidents of rape, assault and murder.

Prostitution is inherently immoral. It objectifies and exploits those involved as consumable products, instead of human beings made in the image of God. Moreover, it empowers the criminal underworld, fueling the demand for sex trafficked victims - including children.

At a time when sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are increasing, state lawmakers are foolish to promote an industry dedicated to sexual promiscuity. For two years in a row now, public health officials have issued warnings about the sexually transmitted virus, monkeypox, predominantly spread among gay and bisexual men. Is HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and HPV no longer a concern? Prostitution exacerbates these diseases.

A chief task of our legislators is to promote the public health. Legalizing prostitution would undermine this priority by spreading disease and fostering a culture that objectifies human beings as merely sexual outlets to be purchased. Sadly, it will contribute to rising rates of family dysfunction and breakdown.


David E. Smith, Executive Director
Illinois Family Institute



Viewpoint |
Think you are exempt, you're not - If they can take my rights, Republicans will take yours, too


The GOP’s attacks on trans people are setting a stage for a broader assault on rights we all enjoy.

Illustration: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay

by Robin S.C. Griffin
      OtherWords


Most days in my depraved, transsexual lifestyle start the same: I wake up at 5:15 a.m. to pet my cat, have some coffee, and journal a little before I get out the door.

I bike down the street to a gym where I get to see a few friends and sweat a little before putting in my time at the office. After work, I do a few chores and relax for a while. Half the time I cook dinner, half the time my wife takes care of it.

Like you, I like to listen to music, play a game, or watch a show unless I make plans with friends. I try to write in my free time and then get to bed on time to do it all again.

The simple fact is that most trans people’s lives are pretty normal — we’re human after all.

It’s a simple life, but it’s full of joy and meaning for me. I’m not Christian anymore, but it feels like I’ve managed to find the kind of life King Solomon talked about in Ecclesiastes 5:12: “Sleep is sweet to the one who works.”

The simple fact is that most trans people’s lives are pretty normal — we’re human after all. So why is attacking us the number one priority of the incoming Republican-controlled government?

Republicans recently decided to welcome Delaware Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, who will be the first openly trans member of Congress, by introducing a resolution that would ban trans women from using restrooms at the Capitol. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has spoken in support of the measure.

Days later, Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas introduced the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2024,” which seeks to prohibit the federal government from recognizing trans people and lays the groundwork for further discrimination.

There’s a lot going wrong in our world. So why are Republicans chasing down trans people?

These cruelties come on top of a wave of anti-trans laws in statehouses across the country, a wave which continues to build in GOP-controlled states.

All this in a country where most families can’t afford surprise expenses of a few hundred dollars, where people call an Uber to the emergency room so they aren’t bankrupted by the ambulance bill, and where many workers would have to toil for decades to earn what their CEO makes in a day.

Not to mention 2024 is on track to be the hottest year in recorded human history, leaving a wake of climate-driven disasters across the country.

There’s a lot going wrong in our world. So why are Republicans chasing down trans people?

Attacks on trans people are broadly unpopular outside Trump’s base, and we make up a small fraction of the population. Policies that make our lives better and safer — or even just leave us alone — come at essentially no cost to everyone else.

The fact of the matter is that Republicans are warming up for their bigger goals. If they can wipe away two decades of progress for trans people in a few short months, they’ll have a playbook for overturning gay marriage by the end of the year.

If they can convince you to look the other way while they invade the medical history of trans people, maybe you won’t notice when they use the same authority to let insurance companies deny you coverage for a preexisting health condition.

They don’t care how normal my life is — or yours. The point is to crush anyone they don’t like and to reward their wealthy backers. I can’t say where they’ll stop, but I share Solomon’s cynicism from the back half of Ecclesiastes 5:12: “But the satiation of a wealthy man will not permit him to sleep.”


About the author:
Robin S.C. Griffin is a development associate at the Institute for Policy Studies. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.




When it comes to gerrymandering, Illinois flunks big time

by Mark Richardson
Illinois News Connection

CHICAGO - A national watchdog group studied how all 50 states handle the biennial process of redrawing their congressional district lines - and has given Illinois a failing grade.

Common Cause issued its report this week, analyzing how effective each state has been in drawing fair, independent and balanced district maps. Only two states - California and Massachusetts - earned an "A" while 17 states were in the "D" or "F" category.

Dan Vicuña, national redistricting director for Common Cause, said there was a consistent thread among the states that rated poorly.

"The states that rank near the bottom shared some things in common," he said, "which include a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to give the public much, or any, notice about when meetings would take place; having redistricting hearings for the public during traditional working hours."

The report said Illinois was a "nearly perfect model" for everything that can go wrong with redistricting. The state Legislature scheduled hearings in places and at times when many people could not attend. The report said the result was heavily gerrymandered in favor of Democrats, which drew lawsuits from a half-dozen civil-rights groups.

To improve the process, Vicuña said, Illinois needs to develop a nonpartisan system or commission with broad representation to draw up districts, hold well-advertised hearings in public places after work hours, increase language assistance and improve access for people with disabilities.

"States that find a different path and take that power away and create citizen commissions, create bipartisan, multi-partisan processes for drawing districts - keeping political insiders boxed out of the process, and making redistricting community-centered - has resulted in great success," he said.

Vicuña said Illinois lawmakers drew congressional and state legislative districts through the legislative process, using it in this cycle to protect a Democratic supermajority. Reformers have twice put ballot initiatives in front of voters to create independent, citizen redistricting commissions in the last decade, winning both times. However, both laws were subsequently struck down by the IllWhinois Supreme Court.


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The person who investigates suspicious deaths in your town may not even be a doctor

by Samantha Young
Kaiser Health News

When a group of physicians gathered in Washington state for an annual meeting, one made a startling revelation: If you ever want to know when, how — and where — to kill someone, I can tell you, and you'll get away with it. No problem.

That's because the expertise and availability of coroners, who determine cause of death in criminal and unexplained cases, vary widely across Washington, as they do in many other parts of the country.


Photo: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay

"A coroner doesn't have to ever have taken a science class in their life," said Nancy Belcher, chief executive officer of the King County Medical Society, the group that met that day.

Her colleague's startling comment launched her on a four-year journey to improve the state's archaic death investigation system, she said. "These are the people that go in, look at a homicide scene or death, and say whether there needs to be an autopsy. They're the ultimate decision-maker," Belcher added.

Each state has its own laws governing the investigation of violent and unexplained deaths, and most delegate the task to cities, counties, and regional districts. The job can be held by an elected coroner as young as 18 or a highly trained physician appointed as medical examiner. Some death investigators work for elected sheriffs who try to avoid controversy or owe political favors. Others own funeral homes and direct bodies to their private businesses.


The various titles used by death investigators don't distinguish the discrepancies in their credentials.

Overall, it's a disjointed and chronically underfunded system — with more than 2,000 offices across the country that determine the cause of death in about 600,000 cases a year.

"There are some really egregious conflicts of interest that can arise with coroners," said Justin Feldman, a visiting professor at Harvard University's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights.

Belcher's crusade succeeded in changing some aspects of Washington's coroner system when state lawmakers approved a new law last year, but efforts to reform death investigations in California, Georgia, and Illinois have recently failed.

Rulings on causes of death are often not cut-and-dried and can be controversial, especially in police-involved deaths such as the 2020 killing of George Floyd. In that case, Minnesota's Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd's death a homicide but indicated a heart condition and the presence of fentanyl in his system may have been factors. Pathologists hired by Floyd's family said he died from lack of oxygen when a police officer kneeled on his neck and back.

In a recent California case, the Sacramento County coroner's office ruled that Lori McClintock, the wife of congressman Tom McClintock, died from dehydration and gastroenteritis in December 2021 after ingesting white mulberry leaf, a plant not considered toxic to humans. The ruling triggered questions by scientists, doctors, and pathologists about the decision to link the plant to her cause of death. When asked to explain how he made the connection, Dr. Jason Tovar, the chief forensic pathologist who reports to the coroner, said he reviewed literature about the plant online using WebMD and Verywell Health.

The various titles used by death investigators don't distinguish the discrepancies in their credentials. Some communities rely on coroners, who may be elected or appointed to their offices, and may — or may not — have medical training. Medical examiners, on the other hand, are typically doctors who have completed residencies in forensic pathology.

In 2009, the National Research Council recommended that states replace coroners with medical examiners, describing a system "in need of significant improvement."

Massachusetts was the first state to replace coroners with medical examiners statewide in 1877. As of 2019, 22 states and the District of Columbia had only medical examiners, 14 states had only coroners, and 14 had a mix, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The movement to convert the rest of the country's death investigators from coroners to medical examiners is waning, a casualty of coroners' political might in their communities and the additional costs needed to pay for medical examiners' expertise.

The push is now to better train coroners and give them greater independence from other government agencies.

"When you try to remove them, you run into a political wall," said Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen, a former medical examiner for the city of Milwaukee and the author of "Death Investigation in America: Coroners, Medical Examiners, and the Pursuit of Medical Certainty."


Lawmakers "didn't want their names behind something that will get the sheriffs against them," Collins said.

"You can't kill them, so you have to help train them," he added.

There wouldn't be enough medical examiners to meet demand anyway, in part because of the time and expense it takes to become trained after medical school, said Dr. Kathryn Pinneri, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. She estimates there are about 750 full-time pathologists nationwide and about 80 job openings. About 40 forensic pathologists are certified in an average year, she said.

"There's a huge shortage," Pinneri said. "People talk about abolishing the coroner system, but it's really not feasible. I think we need to train coroners. That's what will improve the system."

Her association has called for coroners and medical examiners to function independently, without ties to other government or law enforcement agencies. A 2011 survey by the group found that 82% of the forensic pathologists who responded had faced pressure from politicians or the deceased person's relatives to change the reported cause or manner of death in a case.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, a former chief forensic pathologist in California, resigned five years ago over what he described as interference by the San Joaquin County sheriff to protect law enforcement officers.

"California has the most backward system in death investigation, is the most backward in forensic science and in forensic medicine," Omalu testified before the state Senate Governance and Finance Committee in 2018.

San Joaquin County has since separated its coroner duties from the sheriff's office.

The Golden State is one of three states that allow sheriffs to also serve as coroners, and all but 10 of California's 58 counties combine the offices. Legislative efforts to separate them have failed at least twice, most recently this year.

AB 1608, spearheaded by state Assembly member Mike Gipson (D-Carson), cleared that chamber but failed to get enough votes in the Senate.

"We thought we had a modest proposal. That it was a first step," said Robert Collins, who advocated for the bill and whose 30-year-old stepson, Angelo Quinto, died after being restrained by Antioch police in December 2020.

The Contra Costa County coroner's office, part of the sheriff's department, blamed Quinto's death on "excited delirium," a controversial finding sometimes used to explain deaths in police custody. The finding has been rejected by the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization.


When something like this affects rural areas, if they push back a little bit, we just stop.

Lawmakers "didn't want their names behind something that will get the sheriffs against them," Collins said. "Just having that opposition is enough to scare a lot of politicians."

The influential California State Sheriffs' Association and the California State Coroners Association opposed the bill, describing the "massive costs" to set up stand-alone coroner offices.

Many Illinois counties also said they would shoulder a financial burden under similar legislation introduced last year by state Rep. Maurice West, a Democrat. His more sweeping bill would have replaced coroners with medical examiners.

Rural counties, in particular, complained about their tight budgets and killed his bill before it got a committee hearing, he said.

"When something like this affects rural areas, if they push back a little bit, we just stop," West said.

Proponents of overhauling the system in Washington state — where in small, rural counties, the local prosecutor doubles as the coroner — faced similar hurdles.

The King County Medical Society, which wrote the legislation to divorce the two, said the system created a conflict of interest. But small counties worried they didn't have the money to hire a coroner.

So, lawmakers struck a deal with the counties to allow them to pool their resources and hire shared contract coroners in exchange for ending the dual role for prosecutors by 2025. The bill, HB 1326, signed last year by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, also requires more rigorous training for coroners and medical examiners.

"We had some hostile people that we talked to that really just felt that we were gunning for them, and we absolutely were not," Belcher said. "We were just trying to figure out a system that I think anybody would agree needed to be overhauled."



This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
Health News on The Sentinel

Illinois contractors and builders oppose HB 5412, it will harm small businesses

SPRINGFIELD -- Opponents say a proposed amendment by House Leader Marcus Evans (D-Chicago) that passed the House Labor Committee back on February 16th is terrible for female and minority-owned businesses, as well as union and non-union construction firms in Illinois.

As written, the amendment to HB 5412 would require general contractors to pay the wages of a subcontractors’ employees, even if the prime contractor has already paid the subcontractor in full. However, those opposed to the bill say the measure would do the exact opposite.

"Opponents feel it would do nothing to prevent Wage Theft, but only encourage it by allowing rogue subcontractors to get off the hook by not paying their workers," states a press release from Black Contractors Owners & Executives/Hispanic American Construction Industry Association this week. According to the release, payment for wages will become "the responsibility onto the prime contractor, while allowing these bad apples to move onto the next job and underbid legitimate contractors since they have no payroll costs."

The Federation of Women Contractors, an advocacy organization that protects the interests of women-owned construction firms said that should HB5412 passes, it would be damaging to her members and result in many of them going out of business.

"For our members who are small businesses, any increase in cost has a catastrophic impact on the financial health of their companies and their ability to compete in the marketplace," said Jaemie Neely, Executive Director for the association. "We oppose HB5412 because it would not prevent or deter unethical subcontractors from stealing wages from their employees but rather the bill would expose general contractors to a risk of having to pay twice for wages and we think our alternative amendment is a much better solution."

Fourteen other professional organizations, from the building industry to mechanical contractors, are fighting the proposal that has the backing of the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council.

The Associated Builders & Contractors, Black Contractors Owners & Executives, Chicago Chamber of Commerce, Chicago & Downstate Roofing Contractors Association, Chicago Area General Contractors, Hispanic American Construction Industry Association, Home Builders Association of IL, IL Chamber of Commerce, IL Chemical Industry Council, IL Construction Industry Council, IL Manufacturers Association, Il Mechanical & Specialty Contractors Association, IL Road & Transportation Builders Association, and the Women’s Construction Owners & Executives are against HB 5412.

Jacqueline Gomez, Executive Director of Hispanic American Construction Industry Association said HB 5412 would lock out future entrepreneurs from the construction industry and increase the costs for clients. "Punishing good companies for a few bad apples is a bad idea."

The committee asked the sponsor for additional revisions before HB 5412 goes in front of the house for a final vote.

House bill in the works to keep teens out of adult court



by Lily Bohlke
Public News Service


(SPRINGFIELD, IL) - A bill pending in the Illinois House of Representatives would bring misdemeanor cases against older teenagers to juvenile court rather than adult court.

House Bill 111 would allow emerging adults to be considered "delinquent minors" and adjudicated in the juvenile system up to their 19th birthday.

Lael Chester, director of the Emerging Adult Justice Project at the Columbia University Justice Lab, said 18 is an arbitrary age to start bringing teens into adult court.

Photo by Niu Niu/Unsplash
She pointed out young people go through a tremendous period of growth in their mid 20s, and argued not only can young people be particularly vulnerable in the adult court and prison system, but it affects the rest of their lives.

"When you are applying to college, when you have jobs, and they ask you if you've been convicted of a crime, you haven't been convicted, you've been adjudicated," Chester explained. "And it really provides young people with the opportunity to get their feet in the ground."

Chester emphasized Illinois is on the cutting edge, but it's not the first state to take this step. Starting July of last year, 18-year-olds in Vermont began entering the juvenile system for misdemeanors.

Chester noted focusing on emerging adults is one way advocates hope to reduce racial disparities in the justice system.

"Racial disparities are prevalent throughout the justice system at all ages," Chester contended. "But actually 18- and 19-year-olds have by far the highest racial disparities of any age group in the justice system."

Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, sponsored similar legislation in the Senate and said she plans to move forward with the House bill if and as soon as it passes.

She added there are many reasons young people commit misdemeanor offenses, and the juvenile system is better suited to find out how to help kids have successful and healthy futures.

"In the juvenile system, there are more opportunities for services," Fine remarked. "And sometimes these kids need services instead of severe punishment."

Recent research has shown when people are not arrested and prosecuted for nonviolent misdemeanors, they're less likely to offend again, especially if it's the first time they encounter the justice system.



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