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Jan Schakowsky
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
7:11pm
Thu May 16

Pressure Against Joliet's Proposed For-Profit Immigrant Detention Center Escalates (VIDEO)

Pressure is mounting against a proposal to open a for-profit immigrant detention center in Joliet. Activists submitted 4,000 petitions against the facility to the Joliet City Council Thursday, just one day after four Illinois congressional delegates sent a letter asking the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, to reject the prison’s proposal.

U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley (D, IL-5), Tammy Duckworth (D, IL-8)Brad Schneider (D, IL-10) and Bill Foster (D, IL-11) were behind the letter sent to Napolitano on Wednesday.

“Bringing an immigrant detention center to Joliet would mean overwhelming fear for this city’s immigrant community,” said Jesse Hoyt, an organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). “The pressure that’s on the city and the county to do something to stop this is getting much more intense.”

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PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
6:22pm
Fri May 10

Women Speak Out On CPS School Closings & Immigration Reform As Mother's Day Weekend Begins (VIDEO)

Including the voice of women, and particularly mothers, in pending issues across the city, state, and country is increasingly important, according to several organizations which saw the start of Mother’s Day weekend as an opportunity to advocate for their causes.

PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
1:03pm
Fri Apr 26

CISPA Could Be The End Of Online Privacy, Internet Activists Say

Privacy advocates condemning the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) as the end of online confidentiality experienced a triumph this week as the legislation will likely be shelved by the U.S. Senate.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
9:45pm
Wed Apr 24

Tax Fairness Advocates Call For An End To Corporate Tax Deferral

It's time for the public to "tap into their anger" and rally against tax loopholes that allow big U.S. corporations to dodge their fair share of American taxes by stashing profits in offshore havens, said leaders from Citizens for Tax Justice and Americans for Tax Fairness.

Congress is currently entertaining a number of tax reform proposals that seek to lower corporate taxes and provide incentives for sending jobs and profit centers offshore, putting billions of tax dollars at stake over a 10-year period, Frank Clemente, campaign manager of Americans for Tax Fairness, said on a conference call with reporters.

The current debate on tax reform comes at a time when corporate profits are at a 60-year high, yet "some of these companies are paying less in taxes than you and I as individuals pay," Clemente said.

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Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
11:28am
Tue Apr 16

$100,000 Plus In College Debt, ‘No Jobs in Sight’: Chicago Students Push For Loan Reforms (VIDEO)

With total college loan debts pushing nearly a trillion dollars in the U.S., a group of Chicago students are pushing for student loan reforms.

Students told stories of promising futures soon replaced by a grim employment outlook through their prepared speeches at the Chicago Temple United Methodist Church Saturday afternoon.

Amanda Weaver, a Loyola University master’s student, told the crowd of about 200 parents, students and concerned community members that her student loans added up to a combined total pf $134,000.

“My parents, teachers, guidance counselors all told me ‘Go to school, take the loans, invest in my future,’” Weaver said speaking from the church pulpit. “I was told I would get nowhere in the job market without this expensive degree. Well, the truth is, after I graduated there were no jobs in sight.”

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:03pm
Tue Apr 9

Equal Pay Advocates, Lawmakers Rally To Close The Gender Wage Gap (VIDEO)

Equal pay advocates gathered at the Daley Center today and said it’s time to end the gender wage gap, which could be closed in part by passage of the federal Paycheck Fairness Act. Progress Illinois was there for the rally.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:22pm
Tue Mar 26

Labor Advocates Hold Hearing To Address Part-Time Workers' Economic Struggles

Labor advocates hosted a hearing in Chicago today and highlighted the plight of part-time workers in retail and other service industries, while underscoring the need for federal legislation that would extend protections, including health care, family and medical leave and pensions, to part-time employees.

The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act of 2013 (HR 675), sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-9), aims to do just that by building upon the Affordable Care Act and ensuring that part-time employees who work less than 30 hours a week have access to important workplace benefits.

As it stands, many of the federally mandated work-related benefits apply only to full-time workers, but that set up no longer meets the needs of the nation's workforce, Schakowsky said at the hearing, which was held at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership.

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
10:15am
Mon Mar 25

Illinois Letter Carriers Rally Against Elimination Of Saturday Mail Delivery (VIDEO)

Hundreds of Illinois letter carriers and their allies rallied at Federal Plaza Sunday in support of six-day mail delivery while also calling on U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to step down from his post.