Kate Lý Johnston

Republican lawmakers in nearly every Midwestern state are working on legislation to outlaw TikTok, following Montana’s lead after the state became the first in the U.S. to ban the Chinese-owned app.

Machaela Cavanaugh, who filibustered continuously for months to block legislation prohibiting gender-affirming health care, says she will “put aside” her own legislative goals for the remainder of her term to keep advocating for transgender youth.

Ohio Republicans voted to bring back special August elections last Wednesday — which they just voted to abolish last December — in an attempt to rush the approval of two bills that could block a citizen-led abortion rights initiative from appearing on the state’s ballot this November.

Missouri House Republicans voted to defund all of the state’s public libraries, in a proposed $45.6 billion state budget that will soon move to a vote in the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Majority Black wards contributed nearly half of the record-breaking $2.3 billion sitting in Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) accounts as of January 2022, a new CivicLab report found. But the city’s 18 Black wards received less TIF funding in 2021 than the city’s 14 majority white wards, which contributed less than a third of that money.

Lawmakers in four Midwestern states are introducing legislation this year to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, or magic mushrooms, which has become increasingly embraced as a breakthrough psychiatric treatment amid a growing U.S. mental health crisis.

A provision that would have required Illinois’ universities and community colleges to sell emergency contraceptives through at least one campus vending machine failed to make it into the final draft of the state’s latest abortion bill.

Chicago activists are urging the city to develop a more comprehensive emergency action plan to protect its homeless population ahead of upcoming winter storms, as extreme weather conditions sweeping the country have been lethal to those living on the streets.

The year 2023 could be when a budding weed industry makes further progress in the Midwest, with talks of upcoming ballot measures and initiatives to legalize marijuana in three Midwestern states.

It’s been one year since President Joe Biden signed his landmark $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, giving Midwest states a combined total of at least $90.8 billion over the next ten years to improve failing infrastructure and create new transportation options.