What do you and Jeff Tweedy have in common? I bet you'd never guess that you both care about civil liberties issues and support the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. It's true!

As part of our reproductive rights campaign, "Women are not Livestock," the members of Wilco personally autographed a t-shirt. The campaign, which consisted of several rallies last spring, was a response to several anti-choice bills that were sent to the House Agriculture Committee - a committee that usually deals with grazing, water rights, livestock and hunting.
Throughout the month of November, when you sign up to become a member of the ACLU of Illinois, you will be automatically entered to win the t-shirt, signed by the band, as well as a CD of their latest album, The Whole Love.

Join Wilco, and help us fight for civil liberties issues including reproductive rights. Become a member of the ACLU of Illinois today with a minimum contribution of $20. You could be that lucky person who wins the Wilco package!

Become a card-carrying member of the ACLU today!

During the first week of the veto session in Springfield, anti-abortion groups were racing around the Capitol coming up with new and more outrageous lies about House Bill 3027, a measure that modernizes Illinois sexual health education standards to incorporate current science. My favorite lie this week - that House Bill 3027 mandates teaching children in public schools about abortion. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn the bill says nothing about abortion at all.

Despite the increasingly-hysterical claims of opponents, Illinois currently does not require that schools teach sexual health in accordance with the current science, meaning that the materials do not have to be medically-accurate or age appropriate. House Bill 3027 changes that, ensuring that our schools stress abstinence, but also teach current, accurate, age-appropriate and complete information.

The Chicago News Cooperative published an article about the ACLU of Illinois' lawsuit asking the city to refine their police deployment strategy to address disparities in response rates to 9-1-1 calls made in certain neighborhoods. The ACLU of Illinois cited data in the lawsuit obtained by the Chicago News Cooperative that shows police respond less frequently to 9-1-1 calls on the South and West Sides, which consist of primarily African-American and Latino neighborhoods.

The CNC obtained deployment data from an anonymous police source. City officials have continued to decline to make the data public, saying its release would constitute a security risk.

Harvey Grossman, the legal director for the ACLU, said the lawsuit is an attempt to “bring sunshine” to the deployment of officers by forcing the city to explain its assignment strategy.

“This shouldn’t be a secret in the city,” he said. “We pay for those services. Everybody agrees that public perception is an incredibly important part of public safety. You can’t have a sense of safety if you don’t know how your officers are deployed.”

Read the whole article.