Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul unveils a "comprehensive accounting of child sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy," including in the diocese of Belleville. Raoul, who sounds emotional recounting his mother's involvement in the Catholic church, says he has no ax to grind, but “When such trust is betrayed with abuse to children and there are efforts to cover it up, the call for accountability should be resounding."

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was scheduled to appear in state court this afternoon to defend his emergency rule to restrict transgender medical care before it's scheduled to go into effect tomorrow. This morning, Bailey's office asked a federal court to take the case. ACLU: "The Attorney General’s attempt to escape the scrutiny of the Missouri courts, which know best how state law limits his authority, is as devoid of factual and legal support as the emergency rule itself... 1/2

A federal court will sentence former St. Louis aldermen John Collins Muhammad, Jeffrey Boyd, and former President of the Board Lewis Reed today.

In a letter seeking lenience, Collins Muhammad has said he's ashamed, he let "personal greed" come in the way of his "dream job." Another citizen Curt Buchholz wrote the judge and said he "hopes the justice system prosecutes to the fullest extent of the law" with "no probation," and urges the court to "throw the book at these thieves."

It blows my mind how many smart, successful people share viral memes with fake news in them. Here's one of the recent ones from "Mike the Cop" on Instagram, apparently copied from "WFCN News," which is an internet blog claiming to be a news site. Let's take a look: First, let's check out this "news story." Notice how it is a "staff report," and doesn't include a reporter's name. Only in very rare instances will a reputable publication do this, and that's often to protect sources who have risked their own safety. Not the case here. Red flag.

St. Louis County Republicans plan to replace quitter Katherine Pinner with a new nominee to take on County Executive Sam Page tonight. Five candidates threw their hat into the ring. Each hopeful will give their pitch to the committee and field a few questions here tonight. Here are the candidates:
Tony Grasso
Scott Rose
Ben Murphy
Rickey Joiner
Mark Mantovani (Finished runner up to Page in the 2020 Democratic primary)

In the immediate aftermath of a deadly mass shooting while the shooter is at large, ILGOP nominee for Governor Darren Bailey goes on Facebook to offer prayers for families & police, voices frustrations about a canceled parade, and then says, “Let’s move on and celebrate freedom.” Bailey's campaign clarifies: “I am heartbroken by today’s tragic events and the pain and loss felt by so many. My intent was to pray for the victims and those affected by today’s tragedy and for the shooter to be caught and prosecuted without further loss. (Cont...)

More Rep. Collins Republican Leader Jim Durkin says the HGOP will accept the consequences if his members are kicked out, but calls for hearings to examine the Governor’s pandemic restrictions.

The Illinois House is back in action. Democrats have been whipping votes on repealing Parental Notification of Abortion and to alter the Health Care Right of Conscience Act. We could see debate on one or both of those bills tonight. Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) is handing out face masks that promote the repeal of PNA.

Illinois’ newest member of Congress quoting Adolf Hitler outside the US Capitol. Not sure why anyone would ever need to reference a Nazi to make a point about educating children.

https://twitter.com/always_margot/status/1346578062700400647

Rep Carroll: “I’m in complete shock that our newest Congresswoman from IL would quote one of the worst monsters in our world’s history. Maybe she should educate herself as to the context of that quote and how hurtful this is to my community and the impact of Hitler’s efforts.”

“The State will appeal immediately,” @GovPritzker’s Chief of staff says.

Judge Michael McHaney clearly wanted an audience. He asked, “How about the states who never shut down in the first place?” And said this EO robbed him of his constitutional right to fish on a lake.

https://twitter.com/anacaprana/status/1254873588571783169

Judge said @GovPritzker’s executive order violated “my constitutional right to work, to travel, to exist.”

He asked, “Does the Governor have the right to shred the Constitution for longer than 30 days?”

Judge took offense that Pritzker laughed off a question about downstate.

Breaking: Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney rules against @GovPritzker’s executive order, granting a restraining order to temporarily block the stay-at-home order set to take place on May 1. Current order remains in place. Gov to appeal. Status hearing in 1 week. To be clear: Bailey filed as the plaintiff, so he is the only Illinois citizen released from @GovPritzker’s order. Others can join suit or file separately. Judge ruled @GovPritzker’s second and subsequent executive orders “shredded the Constitution.”

Actually, we did look into this. Turns out, her investment adviser *bought* new stocks after selling stock in Disney and lost more money. She also held a lot of other stocks that took a beating & sold one Morgan Stanley called a good defensive stock. Her portfolio got walloped.

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1245724449002991623

Beyond that, the actual content of the Breitbart article betrays its own inaccurate headline. It was an unclassified budget briefing, not a Coronavirus briefing. The "reporter" couldn't even confirm if she was in the briefing. (She wasn't, I checked her calendar on that date.)

Governor Pritzker begins his press conference today announcing a fifth person from Illinois has died from the Coronavirus. Pritzker follows up with offering a "window into his decision making," explaining that he spoke with medical experts, mathematicians. "My bedrock has been to rely upon real, actual science around infection rates and potential mortality," @GovPritzker says.

Bizarre. Watch these Bernie Bros stalk @BetsyforIL and then surround her car last night, while they shout, "Block her in!" They scream at her to debate a fringe far-left candidate who only has 2 donors from Illinois. @BetsyforIL Here's the other thing: Betsy has participated in a forum with her primary opponent already. Her campaign tells me they haven't declined any invitations. This is @BetsyforIL's second straight campaign where young males have confronted her in public like this.