Weekly News Update — April 22, 2013

Posted on April 21, 2013

This week in Chicago’s civil liberties news…

You can now purchase tickets ($50 per person / benefits CCDBR and Bill of Rights Foundation) online for the June 22 Tribute: A Brunch with Stan Willis! Please visit our donation page, and note “Stan Willis Brunch Tickets” in the “Designation” line.

In other news:

FINDING TORTURE: A nonpartisan, independent review of American detention and interrogation programs found an institutionalized practice of torture, reports The New York Times’s Scott Shane.

FEELING THE AFTERSHOCK: Chicago Tribune’s Manya Brachear reports on the Muslim community’s support to the victims of the Boston bombings and plea that Americans avoid backlash focused on Muslim communities in the wake of the attack.

CONTINUING THE TORTURE INVESTIGATION: A special prosecutor has been appointed to five new cases involving Burge-era torture because the Cook County State’s Attorney Office has an “inherent conflict of interest,” reports Chicago Tribune’s Jason Meisner.

LIMITING DOMESTIC DRONE SURVEILLANCE: Illinois’s SB 1587, which would regulate the use of drones in Illinois, passed the Senate on Thursday. Read more about the bill at ACLU of Illinois.

MORE ON DRONES: Antiwar’s John Whitehead overviews new drone technology and the new “microdrone” revolution.

TARGETING LEGAL RESIDENTS: Chicago Reporter’s Yana Kunichoff discusses ICE’s “dragnet” policies, and its targeting of American citizens and legal residents as potential deportees.

PROMOTING SEX EDUCATION: A comprehensive sex education plan passed the Illinois house on Thursday, reports ACLU of Illinois.

GETTING NATIONAL: Bill of Rights Defense Committee releases its April newsletter discussing national civil liberties news, including the BORDC’s April Patriot Award winner, Chicagoan Joe Scarry.