Midwest
Illinois state lawmakers get hostile during debates on trans athletes in girls' sports
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As Illinois faces a growing political divide over the issue of trans athletes in girls’ sports, the state’s lawmakers addressed the topic in a heated back-and-forth on the floor of the state capital on Wednesday.
The state’s General Assembly members broke out into aggressive arguments over the issue during the session. One Democrat member even made the unsubstantiated argument that laws to keep trans athletes out of girls’ sports would result in genital inspections of children. That argument was initially used by U.S. House Democrats who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in January.
The Illinois lawmaker to repeat the unsubstantiated claim was Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago, who accused GOP colleagues of being “obsessed with children’s genitalia.”
“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle feel the need to share their obsession with children’s genitalia once again,” Cassidy said. “We are grown adults, and we are picking on kids because you are obsessed with children’s genitalia.”
Cassidy’s statement was then pushed back upon by Republican Rep. Blaine Wilhour of Southern Illinois. Wilhour called out the state’s Democrats as a whole for supporting gender transitions for minors and pointed out a recent track meet in Naperville, Illinois, that sparked national outrage after a biological male won a girls’ race.
“These folks up here accuse people of being obsessed with kids’ genitalia because they have the audacity to believe that boys should not be competing in girls’ sports. But I just want to point out here that there is only one party, the Democrat Party, that is supporting and encouraging minor children to use life-altering and often unreversable hormone blockers,” Wilhour said.
“What we’ve seen in Naperville, that’s not fair competition. Not only that, it’s abusive to these young girls and it’s a clear violation of Title IX.”
The recent Naperville incident has put the community and state under a national microscope in recent days. The controversy even prompted a series of heated debates, which went viral on social media, at the Naperville 203 Community School District Board meeting on Monday.
Democrat state Rep. Anna Stava-Murray, who represents Naperville, defended the trans student who won the race.
“I find it disgusting when adults try to bully children, and that’s what’s happening right now,” Stava-Murray said.
“We have adults, including adults on the House floor, who want to take a moment that that child trained for and use it as a political talking point, that’s disgusting, you should be ashamed of yourselves. That child did not ask to be in national media. That child’s parents didn’t consent to that.”
ILLINOIS TRANS ATHLETE CONFLICT GROWS AFTER TENSE TRACK MEET AS STATE REPUBLICANS CALL FOR TRUMP’S HELP
Republican state Rep. Adam Niemerg then chimed in to condemn the Democrats for allowing the issue to continue in Illinois, warning of potential cuts to federal funding by President Donald Trump’s administration for defying an executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls’ sports.
“To think parents and kids still have to be dealing with this astounds me, after all, there is an executive order banning this kind of thing from happening. Folks, this nonsense has to stop. This insanity is leaving a trail of tears heartache and oppression of girls and women everywhere,” Niemberg said.
“You want federal dollars? Then stop embracing policies that 90 or 95% of the people oppose! Stop letting boys compete in girls’ sports! What is so hard about that to understand? I will not stay silent on this issue and neither will parents.”
Niemerg also called out the mainstream media over coverage of the issue.
“The media needs to do their job and stop acting like this is not happening. Ask the governor directly, press him on this issue, do your jobs, and stop lying about what is going on here in Illinois,” he said.
MAINE TEENS BATTLING STATE DEMOCRATS ON GIRLS’ SPORTS BILL AFTER ENDURING TRANS ATHLETE CHAOS IN HIGH SCHOOL
Tension over the issue in Illinois has mounted in recent months before coming to a head in the aftermath of the Naperville incident over the last week.
There is already one federal Title IX probe in Illinois regarding transgenders impeding on female spaces, but it is only against one school, that was launched back in March.
Deerfield Public Schools District 109 is facing a probe by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights after middle school girls were allegedly forced by school administrators to change in front of a trans student in the girls’ locker room.
Back in April, the the Illinois High School Association announced in a public letter that Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the Illinois Department of Human Rights have declared that state law requires that transgender athletes be allowed to participate based on gender identity. So it is continuing to allow biological males to compete with girls, as it has since 2006.
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., has addressed two letters to the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice asking for federal intervention into the issue. Miller previously sent a letter in April and is now doubling-down on her pleas for the Trump administration to step in.
Miller’s latest letter asks U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Education Secretary Linda McMahon to specifically look into the Naperville incident and consider pulling federal funding from the state, as seen in a copy obtained by Fox News Digital.
Even Chicago Bears legend Brian Urlacher has spoken out on the issue while his home state is ravaged by controversy.
“It’s just different because we are men, there are certain things we do better than women, and it’s just, number one, it’s not fair, and if I had a daughter who had to be forced to play against a man, I would not be okay with it and I would raise hell about it,” Urlacher said during an interview on the “Global View” podcast on May 9. “I just don’t get it, it’s a common sense thing, I just don’t see how you can push this and make someone thing they’re a different sex.”
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A Detroit teenager charged in connection with a shooting involving a 14-year-old boy was back in court on Monday for a preliminary exam.
Ramon Smith, 17, is charged with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, felonious assault, carrying a concealed weapon, and three counts of felony firearm.
Smith, who will be tried as an adult, is accused of shooting 14-year-old Tabaun Clark in the chest during a teen takeover in Detroit on May 17 near Farmer Street.
On Monday, Clark testified in court.
“How many shots did you hear?” an attorney asked Clark.
“Two before I felt something,” Clark said.
“Where did you feel something?”
“In my chest.”
Officials allege Smith got into a fight with a group, took out a gun and fired multiple shots, striking Clark, who was in the crowd, before running off.
“Were you bleeding?” an attorney asked Clark.
“Yes,” Clark replied.
“Did you realize you had been shot?”
“Yes,” Clark said.
“What was going through your mind at that point?” the attorney asked.
“Try to keep breathin(g),” said Clark.
Detective Serena DeJonge with the Detroit Police Department also took the stand, reading written responses from the defendant once in custody, who describes what he says played out the night of the shooting.
According to DeJonge, the defendant said “a gun fell, so I grabbed it and put it in my book bag.” After the fight, DeJonge said the defendant claimed that as he was walking away, the group followed him. DeJonge said the defendant reported seeing “one of them reaching,” and he pulled his gun out of his bag and fired shots at the group.
Evidence revealed in court alleges the defendant fired six shots instead of three.
Judge Patricia Jefferson said there’s enough probable cause to go to trial. The case is now bound over to Wayne County Circuit Court.
Smith is due back in court on June 15. He remains at the juvenile detention facility.
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department says it will do monthly reviews of call data to identify nuisance properties.
It follows efforts by a local group that says thousands of properties should have been cited under the city’s nuisance ordinance.
Chronic nuisance property ordinance
What we know:
The ordinance was created in 2001 to address nuisance properties in the city, and the impact they can have on quality of life.
But in recent years, the ordinance has been used less and less.
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It was one of the issues before the steering and rules committee on Monday, June 8, after a push by local group Common Ground.
Milwaukee Common Council Steering and Rules Committee
It was already working on crunching the numbers when federal prosecutors charged one of the largest landlords on the city’s south side, and others, with allegedly running a drug trafficking enterprise through rental properties.
Ultimately, Common Ground says thousands of properties across the city should have been declared a nuisance, but weren’t.
A nuisance premises can be cited if it reaches certain thresholds of calls for service within a period of time and the calls are substantiated.
Milwaukee Common Council Steering and Rules Committee
And if the problem isn’t addressed, it could result in fines.
On Monday, Milwaukee police said it’s a process that takes time, but says it’s changing its procedures and reviewing calls for service each month.
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What they’re saying:
“We’re also doing a deeper dive into that data analysis, requiring all of our district captains to address any, to review those properties and if they choose not to ‘nuisance’ the property that is eligible to be ‘nuisanced,’ why not,” said Milwaukee Police Department Chief of Staff Heather Hough.
It’s important to note that Milwaukee alders urged the importance of residents calling police about nuisance properties, so there is a record to look back on for if or when a property falls under that nuisance ordinance.
The Source: FOX6 attended the Milwaukee Common Council’s Steering and Rules Committee to produce this story.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A Minneapolis woman who was paralyzed weeks before her wedding is rebuilding her life after receiving a second heart transplant.
Tannhauser later received a successful heart transplant April 3, according to People.
It was her second heart transplant.
Tannhauser’s heart problems began when she was a child. According to a profile by Abbott, she was diagnosed with an irregular heart rhythm at age 8 and underwent more than 10 surgeries over the next five years.
She received her first heart transplant on Sept. 7, 2011, when she was 17, Abbott said.
After that transplant, Tannhauser earned a biomedical engineering degree and went on to work with Abbott’s vascular team as a field clinical specialist, helping with cardiovascular clinical trials, according to the company.
Now, the fundraiser is helping Tannhauser and Pfaff pay for medical bills, rehabilitation, accessible housing, and transportation.
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