The Little Angels Memorial Service Wednesday at Assumption Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Glenwood was one of two held each year for families who lost a child that did not survive past 20 weeks in the womb. The second service is held in October during National Respect for Life Month.

Laurie Crosby, executive director of the Franciscan Health Foundation, said this was the hospital’s 17th memorial service in nine years. She said the service supports the values of the Franciscan Alliance’s health care ministry, which respects life at all stages, including unborn and newborn children.

“It’s just part of our Catholic tradition, just to care for every soul, so it was important to do something … to kind of commemorate their life, as short as it was,” Crosby said.

Next to the burial marker in the infant and children’s section of the Glenwood cemetery was a bouquet, surrounded by 27 white roses to symbolize purity and a life taken too early, one for each lost baby.

A nearby memorial bench built to honor the lost babies is engraved with a Bible verse from the book of Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you.”

Although there were not any mothers present Wednesday, Crosby said they sent letters to each woman who lost a child at their hospital, inviting them to attend. Crosby said while it may be difficult for mothers to attend the service, she believes it is important for staff members to honor the newborns’ lives in their place.

“I think for a lot of them, it’s comforting to know that someone’s praying for their baby and taking care of them the right way,” Crosby said.

A Franciscan Health priest, the Rev. Phil Cyscon, led with an opening prayer, a psalm, a few gospel readings, a reflection and a petition. Then attendees blessed the burial site for the lost newborns and a letter for the parents was read. The service closed with a prayer.

“Everybody who comes to our door is a family,” said Dobaro Dogisso, director of spiritual care for Franciscan Health Olympia Fields. “So if one of our family members loves the baby, that is how we’re feeling.”

Hamas this week accepted the broad outline but requested “amendments.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly disputed aspects of the plan, raising questions about Israel’s commitment to what the U.S. says is an Israeli proposal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on his eighth visit to the region since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war, told reporters in Qatar on Wednesday that the negotiations will continue.

But he said Hamas had requested “numerous” changes, adding that “ some of the changes are workable; some are not.”

Blinken declined to elaborate, but recent statements by Israeli and Hamas officials suggest they remain divided over many of the same issues that mediators have been trying to bridge for months.

Here’s a look at the main sticking points.

Ending the war

Hamas has insisted it will not release the remaining hostages unless there’s a permanent cease-fire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. When President Joe Biden announced the latest proposal last month, he said it included both.

But Netanyahu says Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and ensuring it can never again carry out an Oct. 7-style assault. A full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, where Hamas’ top leadership and much of its forces are still intact, would almost certainly leave the group in control of the territory and able to rearm.

That’s in part because Israel has yet to put forward a plan for Gaza’s postwar governance, and has rejected a U.S. proposal that has wide regional support because it would require major progress toward creating a Palestinian state.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha told a Lebanese news outlet on Wednesday that the “amendments” requested by the group aim to guarantee a permanent cease-fire and a complete Israeli withdrawal.

Hamas is also seeking the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including political leaders and senior militants convicted of orchestrating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. But it’s unclear if the sides have agreed on a list of who will be freed, or on whether they will be released in Gaza, the occupied West Bank or sent into exile.

Getting to the second phase of the plan

The cease-fire plan calls for an initial six-week phase in which Hamas would release some hostages — including women, older adults and wounded people — in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from populated areas. Palestinian civilians would be able to return to their homes and humanitarian aid would be ramped up.

But then things get tricky.

The two sides are supposed to use that six-week period to negotiate an agreement on the second phase, which Biden said would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza. The temporary cease-fire would become permanent.

But only if the two sides agree on the details.

Hamas appears concerned that Israel will resume the war once its most vulnerable hostages are returned. And even if it doesn’t, Israel could make demands in that stage of negotiations that were not part of the initial deal and are unacceptable to Hamas — and then resume the war when Hamas refuses them.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, said Israel would demand in those negotiations that Hamas be removed from power. “We cannot agree to Hamas continuing to be the rulers of Gaza because then Gaza will continue to pose a threat to Israel,” Erdan told CNN’s “The Source” on Monday.

Israel also appears wary of the plan’s provision that the initial cease-fire be extended as long as negotiations continue over the second phase. Erdan said that would allow Hamas to “continue with endless and meaningless negotiations.”

Resolving mistrust between longtime enemies

There are other issues that could unravel cease-fire efforts, beginning with the utter lack of trust between Israel and Hamas, which have fought five wars and are committed to each other’s destruction.

Then there are the intense and contrasting pressures on Netanyahu, which may explain his mixed signals about the proposal.

Thousands of Israelis, including families of the hostages, have protested in recent months to demand the government bring the captives home, even at the expense of a lopsided deal with Hamas.

But the far-right partners in Netanyahu’s increasingly narrow coalition have rejected the U.S.-backed plan and have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war without destroying Hamas.

They want to reoccupy Gaza, encourage the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the territory and rebuild Jewish settlements there. Netanyahu’s ultranationalist allies have more leverage over him than at any time since the start of the war after Benny Gantz, a centrist political opponent, resigned Sunday from Israel’s war Cabinet.

It’s hard to imagine either Israel or Hamas entirely giving up on the talks. For Israel, that would likely mean abandoning scores of hostages still held in Gaza. For Hamas, it would prolong the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and give Israel more time to annihilate the militants.

But Blinken hinted that the negotiations would not continue indefinitely.

“At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.”

Negotiators for the group have also reached an agreement on how to provide Ukraine with up to $50 billion backed by frozen Russian assets.

The international group of wealthy democracies has been discussing ways of using the more than $260 billion in frozen Russian assets, most of which are outside the country, to help Ukraine fight Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

European officials have resisted confiscating the assets, citing legal and financial stability concerns, but the plan would use the interest earned on the assets to help Ukraine’s war effort. An official with the French presidency confirmed the agreement Wednesday, saying most of the money would be flowing to Ukraine in the form of a loan from the U.S. government backed by the proceeds of the frozen Russian assets in the European Union. Two other people familiar with the matter confirmed the arrangement.

Final technical negotiations were underway ahead of the summit to finalize the legal terms of the deal.

The announcement of the agreement comes as Biden landed in Italy with an urgency to get big things done. Thursday’s security arrangement was aimed to send a signal to Russia of American resolve in supporting Kyiv, the White House said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the security agreement would not commit U.S. troops directly to Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion — a red line drawn by Biden, who’s fearful of being pulled into direct conflict between the nuclear-armed powers.

“We want to demonstrate that the U.S. supports the people of Ukraine, that we stand with them and that we’ll continue to help address their security needs,” Sullivan said, adding “this agreement will show our resolve.”

Sullivan said aboard Air Force One that the goal of the financing plan was to have a loan that would “pull forward the windfall profits from the seized assets” of Russia, giving Ukraine a “substantial source of funding” to meet its immediate needs.

The national security adviser said he had a specific sum of money in mind, but declined to say if that figure was $50 billion. He stressed the urgency of getting Ukraine financial resources as soon as possible and that multiple countries would back the agreement.

“It’s to provide the necessary resources to Ukraine now for its economic energy and other needs, so that it’s capable of having the resilience necessary to withstand Russia’s continuing aggression,” Sullivan said.

This year’s meeting comes three years after Biden declared at his first such gathering that America was back as a global leader following the disruptions to Western alliances that occurred when Donald Trump was president. Now, there’s a chance this gathering could be the final summit for Biden and other G7 leaders, depending on the results of elections this year.

Biden and his counterparts from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will use the summit to discuss challenges related to artificial intelligence, migration, the Russian military’s resurgence and China’s economic might, among other topics. Pope Francis, Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are joining the gathering at the Borgo Egnazia resort in the Puglia region of southern Italy.

The summit, which opened Thursday, will play out after far-right parties across the continent racked up gains of surprising scale in just-concluded European Union elections. Those victories — coupled with upcoming elections in the United Kingdom, Franceand the United States — have rattled the global political establishment and added weightiness to this year’s summit.

“You hear this a lot when you talk to U.S. and European officials: If we can’t get this done now, whether it’s on China, whether it’s on the assets, we may not have another chance,” said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, an international affairs think tank. “We don’t know what the world will look like three months, six months, nine months from now.”

The G7 is an informal bloc of industrialized democracies that meets annually to discuss shared issues and concerns. This is Biden’s second trip outside the U.S. in as many weeks; the Democratic president was in France last week for a state visit in Paris and ceremonies in Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II.

While last week’s visit had a celebratory feel, this one will be dominated by pressing global issues, including how to keep financial support flowing to Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion. Biden’s trip comes days after his son Hunter was convicted on federal gun charges, a blow sure to weigh heavily on the president’s mind.

Despite pressing global challenges, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said there’s still a sense of relief among world leaders in 2024 that “America was back,”referencing Biden’s 2021 speech at the G7 in England.

“Biden’s message then was that democracies need to step up and show they can deliver for their people,” Kirby said. “That’s true now more than ever.”

Kirby said the U.S. was prepared to work with democratically elected officials in the EU no matter who they are, though some of those being elevated have expressed far less support for Ukraine than current leaders.

“We have every confidence that regardless of who fills the seats in the European Parliament, we’re going to continue to work closely with our EU partners on all the issues relative to our shared interests across the European continent,” Kirby said. “That includes supporting Ukraine.”

Biden and Zelenskyy, who met last week in Paris, are expected to hold a joint news conference while meeting at the G7 summit. Biden is also expected to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the pope and other leaders.

Biden, who’s been adamant “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, last week publicly apologized to Zelenskyy for a monthslong delay by Congress in authorizing additional American military assistance. The delay allowed Russia to make gains on the battlefield.

Sullivan called the security agreement a “bridge” to when Ukraine is invited to join the NATO alliance — a long-term priority of Zelenskyy’s that the allies have said will first require an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and that Putin has steadfastly opposed.

Biden’s back-to-back trips to France and Italy amount to a rare doubleheader of diplomacy in the midst of the presidential election. The president, however, will skip a Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland this weekend to jet to Los Angeles for a campaign fundraiser with big names from Hollywood. Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the U.S. at the conference.

Despite the delays in military aid, the Biden administration on Tuesday announced it would send Ukraine another Patriot missile system to help fend off Russian strikes, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. also announced fresh sanctionstargeting Chinese companies that help Russia pursue its war in Ukraine, as well as Russia’s financial infrastructure. Sullivan said, “These actions will ratchet up the risk that foreign financial institutions take by dealing with Russia’s war economy.”

Biden is also expected to discuss economic concerns brought on by Chinese manufacturing overcapacity, how to use artificial intelligence in a way that maximizes benefits but still manages national security risks, and global migration.

The U.S. and other G7 nations are struggling to manage large influxes of migrants arriving for complicated reasons that include war, climate change and drought. Migration, and how nations cope with the growing numbers at their borders, has been a factor driving the far-right rise in some of Europe.

Superville reported from Bari, Italy. Miller and Madhani reported from Washington. Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Fatima Hussein and Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

The imbroglio happened May 7 at the Loop courthouse during a hearing in front of Judge Kathy Flanagan, acting presiding judge of the Law Division. During the proceeding, Flanagan ordered deputies to remove attorney Brad Schneiderman from the courtroom after asking him to “stop talking” and “step back,” according to a report from the Cook County sheriff’s office.

Schneiderman walked toward the gallery, then began “turning back toward the bench” and addressed the judge again, the report said. Flanagan said “That’s it, take him!” according to the report.

A deputy took Schneiderman to a hallway and handcuffed him to a chair, the report said. He was released after Flanagan took a break from the bench and declined to sign an order that would remand him into custody, according to the report.

Reached by phone, Schneiderman declined to comment.

In a statement, Flanagan said: “At this time, I will say only that I am shocked at how the facts have been distorted into a now-public narrative that has veered so far from what actually occurred. I have cooperated fully with the Executive Committee and will cooperate fully with the Judicial Inquiry Board on this matter.”

The event spawned two hearings before an executive committee headed by Chief Judge Timothy Evans with Schneiderman, Flanagan, witnesses and attorneys detailing differing views of what happened, according to transcripts obtained by the Tribune. No official transcript of the May 7 hearing in its entirety exists because Cook County court reporters for years have not covered the Law Division, which handles civil cases.

The executive committee referred the matter to the Judicial Inquiry Board, which investigates complaints about judges, but declined to reassign Flanagan, deferring “a decision on assignment to other duties until further information is received from the Judicial Inquiry Board,” the office said in a statement.

During a May 14 executive committee hearing, Schneiderman told Evans he tried to be heard after he said Flanagan ruled on a motion without allowing him to respond, a statement which Flanagan disputed later in the proceedings.

“I should say that prior to me being taken back in the hallway, at no time was I trying to be disrespectful to the court,” Schneiderman said according to the transcript. “I was merely trying to advocate on behalf of my client on a contested motion.”

For her part, Flanagan told the committee at a later hearing that Schneiderman “became disruptive over a ruling on a motion” but that she did not order Schneiderman to be handcuffed, but merely wanted him removed from the courtroom because he needed a “time out.”

“That’s all he needed. That’s all I intended. I never imagined that he would be handcuffed to a chair behind the courtroom, and I wasn’t present when he did it — when he was handcuffed,” she said.

Schneiderman disputed that he was disruptive or disrespectful, with his attorney submitting affidavits from observers, according to references to the affidavits in the transcript. Flanagan’s attorneys brought to the hearing multiple courtroom observers as witnesses who told Evans they viewed Schneiderman’s conduct as disruptive.

The deputy who handcuffed him told the committee during a second June 3 hearing that she interpreted Flanagan’s words of “That’s it. Take him,” as meaning take him into custody.

St. Elizabeth Seton Church, 9300 W. 167th Ave.: Mass of Thanksgiving and reception at 11:30 a.m. June 23 as the Very Rev. William T. Corcoran concludes his pastorship after 11 years at the parish. A reception follows in the McBrady Center. The Rev. Kevin McCray will become the new pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Church beginning July 1. Corcoran will continue to serve as interim vicar for the Archdiocese of Chicago Vicariate V and the dean for Vicariate V-Deanery E as well as associate priest at the parish. He was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 13, 1981. His first parish was Sacred Heart in Palos Hills, where he was associate priest. He served four other parishes during his career, as well as being an adjunct faculty member at St. Joseph’s College of Loyola University and Mundelein Seminary of the University of St. Mary of the Lake and earning several academic degrees, and serving the diocese in various roles.

Corcoran said his biggest accomplishment at St. Elizabeth was “motivating the community to be building up the kingdom of God in this corner of the world. They’ve done this by works of charity, reaching out to the unemployed, soup kitchens, supporting food pantries to local shelters to groups that assist unwed mothers … and weekly worship of God.”

He confirmed he’s not retiring. His work for the archdiocese “allows me to be very supportive of the 36 parishes and respond to critical situations with support and assistance (not managing day-to-day),” he said. “I will help the parish work toward a solution and to help them articulate what they need to do.”

He thinks of his time at St. Elizabeth fondly. “I’ve been privileged to be in this wonderful community and surrounded by very competent and capable staff. And at moments where conflicts arise, people always put the parish first in a healthy spirit of compromise,” he said.

Alsip

Incarnation St. Terrence Parish, 4300 W. 119th Place: Parish raffle tickets being sold through June 29. Grand prize tickets will be drawn after the 11 a.m. Mass June 30 at the St. Terrence worship site. Each ticket costs $50. Grand prize is $25,000, first prize is $5,000 and third prize is $1,000 if the goal of 1,500 tickets is reached. Pay with cash, credit or check. Tickets are sold in the parish office or online at incparish.com/

Home Build ‘24 is set for June 22 at St. Terrence Parish. Other parish partners involved in this project to build walls for homes include St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Francis of Assisi, St. George, St. Julie, St. Michael and St. Stephen. People of all ages are welcome to volunteer for building, hospitality and cleanup, as well as prayers for the families of those who receive the homes. Information: whyruhyper@att.net.

Blue Island

Blue Island Waterfall on the Cal Sag Channel, Chatham and Fulton streets: Annual Blessing of the Waters at 3 p.m. June 23. The nondenominational, interactive ceremony to bless the water will be officiated by the Rev. MaryBeth Ingberg of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Evergreen Park. The Mudcats will play Dixieland music, and donated refreshments will be served. Each attendee can offer blessings and prayers. Some chairs will be provided, although attendees may bring their own. The event is open to everyone. Information: 708-424-3755.

Oak Lawn

St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Parish, 10621 Kedvale Ave.: Bingo and ice cream social for the 55+ Club at 6:30 p.m. June 25 in Kane Hall. Register for 2024-25 membership in the club. Early bird special rate is $25 for singles and $40 for couples. RSVP at 708-499-2672 or 708-425-5712.

Orland Park

All Saints Lutheran Church, 13350 LaGrange Rd.: Participants and staff from St. Coletta’s of Illinois enjoyed a picnic lunch on June 5 at All Saints Lutheran Church in Orland Park. Pastor Don Borling and members of the congregation welcomed 60 developmentally disabled adults and their chaperons to the church for an afternoon of fellowship. On the menu were grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, homemade side dishes and desserts, as well as baseball and bean bag games afterward. The picnics are back after a hiatus during the pandemic. The next one is June 20.

What’s going on at your church? Let us know by sending us an email including time, date, place and public contact information at least two weeks before the event or reservation deadline at religion@southtownstar.com.

There, Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, raced over to Ald. David Moore, 17th, to ask Moore why he had blocked two seemingly uncontroversial proposals of La Spata’s aimed at adding housing in Logan Square.

The answer, Moore shouted in anger and frustration as he stood beside a sun-filled window, was retaliation.

“If you hit me, I’m gonna knock your ass out,” he grumbled as he got closer to La Spata. “If you can’t dish it, don’t give it out.”

TV cameras set up for a nearby interview panned over as the shouting grew louder. Another council member and security guards quickly stepped in to separate the aldermen, ending the tense interaction.

But the effects of the dispute will linger: Now, a $10 million bond to fund a low-income housing development and a much-needed zoning change clearing the way for a storage building to be turned into a 62-loft apartment are delayed for at least a month.

Moore used the “defer and publish” parliamentary maneuver when the items came up for consideration. Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, also backed it. The tactic prevents scheduled votes and is often used by aldermen to delay ordinances they oppose.

Nonetheless, La Spata sat in disbelief after the legislation was blocked. City Council colleagues typically do not touch the day-to-day development ordinances involving another alderman’s ward, a tradition known as “aldermanic prerogative.”

But Moore left no doubt about why he stalled La Spata’s proposals. He blocked them because La Spata had “deferred and published” an ordinance of Moore’s own, he said.

La Spata used the tactic in April to prevent a vote on an ordinance sponsored by Moore that sought to give City Council control over the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system’s future. After the delay, the ordinance finally passed with broad council support in May, despite opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“This was clearly payback,” Moore told the Tribune. “My thing is: Leave David Moore alone,”

“If you slap me, I’m going to hit you with a bat. If you hit me with a bat, I’m going to shoot you with a gun,” he continued.

Moore said he found La Spata’s complaints after the council meeting “mean-spirited” and took them as political threats. La Spata said he had invited Moore to view the housing developments, an invitation Moore has no plans to accept. Moore only meant to send a message, he explained.

“I don’t have a problem with his developments,” Moore said. “You don’t need to invite me anywhere.”

Moore had made public comments suggesting he would clap back against anyone who stalled the ShotSpotter ordinance as it worked through the City Council. His retaliatory stall tactics Wednesday are not his first.

In 2021, Moore sponsored the ordinance to rename Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. When the ordinance was similarly stalled, Moore responded by blocking the City Council’s entire agenda.

Moments after Moore yelled at him, La Spata called the retaliation “inappropriate.”

“I think we are called to be better than that, to be bigger than that,” he said. “I try to raise my daughter so that we use words rather than fists. That is what I expect of any adult.”

The two ordinances to build more housing are “critical,” he said. The old Hollander Storage & Moving building in Logan Square is being held up by metal plates now and urgently needs redevelopment to start, he said.

“If that facade were to crumble or be damaged in the next month, I know the individuals who I would hold responsible,” La Spata said. “There’s such a desperate need for affordable housing. There’s such a desperate need to move these two buildings forward.”

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

The lawsuit — filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and RAICES — is the first test of the legality of Biden’s sweeping crackdown on the border, which came after months of internal White House deliberations and is designed in part to deflect political attacks against the president on his handling of immigration.

“By enacting an asylum ban that is legally indistinguishable from the Trump ban we successfully blocked, we were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU.

The order Biden issued last week would limit asylum processing once encounters with migrants between ports of entry reach 2,500 per day. It went into effect immediately because the latest figures were far higher, at about 4,000 daily.

The restrictions would be in effect until two weeks after the daily encounter numbers are at or below 1,500 per day between ports of entry, under a seven-day average. But it’s far from clear when the numbers would dip that low; the last time was in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The order went into effect June 5, and Biden administration officials have said they expected record levels of deportations.

But advocates argue that suspending asylum for migrants who don’t arrive at a designated port of entry — which the Biden administration is trying to push migrants to do —- violates existing federal immigration law, among other concerns.

Biden invoked the same legal authority used by the Trump administration for its asylum ban, which comes under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That provision allows a president to limit entries for certain migrants if their entry is deemed “detrimental” to the national interest.

Biden has repeatedly criticized Trump’s immigration policies as he campaigns, and his administration argues that his directive is different because it includes several exemptions for humanitarian reasons. For example, victims of human trafficking, unaccompanied minors and those with severe medical emergencies would not be subject to the limits.

“We stand by the legality of what we have done,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on ABC’s “This Week” before the lawsuit was filed, saying he anticipated legal challenges. “We stand by the value proposition.”

Under Biden’s directive, migrants who arrive at the border but do not express a fear of returning to their home countries will be subject to immediate removal from the United States, within a matter of days or even hours. Those migrants could face punishments that could include a five-year bar from reentering the U.S. or even criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, those who express fear or an intention to seek asylum will be screened by a U.S. asylum officer but at a higher standard than currently used. If they pass the screening, they can pursue more limited forms of humanitarian protection, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which prohibits returning people to a country where they’re likely to face torture.

The 216-207 vote fell along party lines, with Republicans coalescing behind the contempt effort despite reservations among some of the party’s more centrist members.

“We have to defend the Constitution. We have to defend the authority of Congress,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference ahead of the vote. “We can’t allow the Department of Justice and Executive Branch to hide information from Congress.”

Garland is now the third attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress. Yet it is unlikely that the Justice Department — which Garland oversees — will prosecute him. The White House’s decision to exert executive privilege over the audio recording, shielding it from Congress, would make it exceedingly difficult to make a criminal case against Garland.

The White House and congressional Democrats have slammed Republicans’ motives for pursuing contempt and dismissed their efforts to obtain the audio as purely political. They also pointed out that Rep. Jim Jordan, the GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee, defied his own congressional subpoena last session.

“This contempt resolution will do very little, other than smear the reputation of Merrick Garland, who will remain a good and decent public servant no matter what Republicans say about him today,” New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on Judiciary Committee, said during floor debate.

Garland has defended the Justice Department, saying officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the committees about Special Counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation, including a transcript of Biden’s interview with him.

“There have been a series of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department,” Garland said in a press conference last month. “This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just most recent.”

Republicans were incensed when Hur declined to prosecuteBiden over his handling of classified documents and quickly opened an investigation. GOP lawmakers — led by Jordan and Rep. James Comer — sent a subpoena for audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden during the spring. But the Justice Department only turned over some of the records, leaving out audio of the interview with the president.

On the last day to comply with the Republicans’ subpoena for the audio, the White House blocked the release by invoking executive privilege. It said that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.

Executive privilege gives presidents the right to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of decision-making, though it can be challenged in court.

Administrations of both political parties have long held the position that officials who assert a president’s claim of executive privilege can’t be prosecuted for contempt of Congress, a Justice Department official told Republicans last month.

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte cited a committee’s decision in 2008 to back down from a contempt effort after President George W. Bush asserted executive privilege to keep Congress from getting records involving Vice President Dick Cheney.

Before Garland, the last attorney general held in contempt was Bill Barr in 2019. That was when the Democratically controlled House voted to issue a referral against Barr after he refused to turn over documents related to a special counsel investigation into Trump.

Years before that, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt related to the gun-running operation known as Operation Fast and Furious. In each of those instances, the Justice Department took no action against the attorney general.

The special counsel in Biden’s case, Hur, spent a year investigating the president’s improper retention of classified documents, from his time as a senator and as vice president. The result was a 345-page report that questioned Biden’s age and mental competence but recommended no criminal charges for the 81-year-old. Hur said he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a case in court.

In March, Hur stood by his no-prosecution assessment in testimony before the Judiciary Committee, where he was grilled for more than four hours by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

His defense did not satisfy Republicans, who insist that there is a politically motivated double standard at the Justice Department, which is prosecuting former President Donald Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Florida club after he left the White House.

But there are major differences between the two probes. Biden’s team returned the documents after they were discovered, and the president cooperated with the investigation by voluntarily sitting for an interview and consenting to searches of his homes.

Trump, by contrast, is accused of enlisting the help of aides and lawyers to conceal the documents from the government and of seeking to have potentially incriminating evidence destroyed.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

An order filed Wednesday outlines the damages owed to Crispiniana Domingo, who in 2016 was arrested and charged with aggravated battery to an infant being treated at UIC hospital. Domingo is owed $3.67 million in compensatory damages and $220,000 in punitive damages from the UIC officer who falsely charged her with beating the child and breaking his arm, according to court records.

Domingo, a Bolingbrook resident, was found not guilty of the original battery charges in February 2018, per the complaint.

She spent about a week in Cook County Jail and was suspended from work for about two years during criminal proceedings, the complaint stated.

Attorney Richard Dvorak said an investigation of the baby’s medical history helped clear Domingo of the charges, but that the allegations and legal process were “absolutely horrible and devastating” for her.

He said the verdict and award was a “huge message to police and detectives that they can’t just ignore all of this medical evidence and prosecute people for crimes they didn’t commit.”

Domingo has not worked in nursing since the 2016 accusation, he said.

“(Domingo) had a really good, productive life and this is a classic example of how malicious prosecution can destroy someone’s life,” he said.

An attorney for the officer who was the defendant in the case was unavailable for comment.

Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle says the deputies were shot while responding to a report that someone inside the home was threatening to kill themself or others. He said the suspect also was shot.

Ambulances and two medical helicopters went to the Lost Lake community near Dixon, where there also was a massive police presence, according to a post on the Winnebago Boone & Ogle County Fire/Ems Incidents Facebook page.

A spokesperson at Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon said three people were taken to the hospital’s emergency department, two of whom were treated and released. The spokesperson did not release the condition of the third person.

A person answering the phone at the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department would not comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Aerial video by local media Wednesday afternoon showed law enforcement and personal cars parked on the side of unpaved roads throughout the neighborhood and officials occasionally gathering in small groups but little ongoing activity. Yellow police tape blocked at least one driveway and an Ogle County sheriff’s mobile command center was parked at the end of the drive.

Lost Lake’s property owner’s association describes the area as a “country style community” with about 700 owners in an unincorporated area close to the cities of Dixon, Franklin Grove and Oregon, about 100 miles west of Chicago.