BLACK CAUCUS

The move was done "to make sure the people of Chicago have no say," one good-government advocate said.

Yet another lawsuit is being filed over Michigan’s new district maps that would draw new lines for voters for the next 10 years.

Good morning, Chicago. Here are some of the top stories you need to know to start your day.

The Black Caucus' leader said the Latino map is "gutting, essentially" five Black wards.

“To be told that you have Kamala Harris, we are proud of her, you don’t need anybody else is insulting,” Duckworth told reporters. “That’s not something you would say to the Black Caucus: That you have Kamala, we’re not going to be put any African Americans in the Cabinet, why would you say that to AAPIs?”

The House and Senate also passed the components of the Black Caucus’ economic agenda, including measures that aim to prevent employers from discriminating against people with criminal records, expand access to state contracts for minority-owned businesses, women and people with disabilities, and clamp down on payday loans. Republicans supported some pieces of the economic agenda. Pritzker indicated he supported the measure, again without saying he would sign it as passed.

Welch, of Hillside, won the endorsement of the House Democrat Latino Caucus on Tuesday, a day after the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus and its 22 members late Monday, bringing him to a little more than half of the votes needed to win the speaker’s chair. A majority of both caucuses had previously backed Madigan, the Southwest Side Democrat who has led the chamber for all but two years since 1983 but is now facing stiff opposition after being tied to a federal corruption probe.

The unanimous decision from the Black Caucus late Monday came as longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan suspended his bid for another term after failing to garner the support of 60 Democrats he needs to be reelected. All but one of the 22 members of the Black Caucus previously backed Madigan, whose hold on the gavel was loosened after he was tied to a federal corruption investigation.

The Black Caucus has been one of the most loyal constituencies for Madigan, the nation’s longest serving House speaker, who now finds his tenure in jeopardy. Madigan has been implicated in a federal bribery investigation in which Commonwealth Edison agreed to pay a $200 million fine and agreed to cooperate after acknowledging its role in a near-decadelong effort to curry favor with the speaker by offering jobs and contracts to his allies.

“So far, of the Black Caucus’ 22 members, only Rep. Maurice West of Rockford has said he will not vote for Madigan’s reelection as speaker, a post the Southwest Side Democrat has held since 1983 with the exception of two years in the mid-1990s when Republicans controlled the chamber.” More here.

One of the major issues for Joe Biden during his campaign has been his support of the 1994 crime bill which has been widely criticized as racist. “The Black caucus voted for it and every Black mayor supported it across the board,” Biden said. “What happened violent actually went down precipitously, remember the rise in violent crime in the late 80s early 90s? Biden is talking about community policing here and the results of the 94 crime bill. According to a Government Accountability Office report violent crime from 1994 to 2000 only fell about 2.5 percent.

The Chair of the Michigan Democratic Partys Black Caucus said Friday Fmr. Vice President Joe Biden should make amends with black voters after a joking remark about who is considered black while on a popular radio show. Bidens comments were however immediately seized by Republicans and Biden-opposers as offensive. In video online, Senate Candidate John James, who is black, said the Bidens comment was out of line. IN response to criticism, Biden campaign advisor Symone D. Sanders, who is also black, said Bidens comments were meant to set himself apart from Mr. Trump.