By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – A committee Tuesday approved a bill to, in effect, allow employers to fire you for not following your workplace’s covid regulations. The bill, which now awaits House debate, amends the “health care right of conscience” act such that you cannot use your religious beliefs as a reason to bypass tests…… MORE
During a recent trip to Chicago, Illinois’ Senior Senator Dick Durbin (R-Ill.) had a close call with gunfire on Lakeshore Drive.… MORE
The COVID vaccine for kids ages 5-11 is on its way.… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Behavioral health. Addiction treatment. Professionals in these fields are harder to find. “Historically, when we have lost staff, we have lost staff to our partners in the law enforcement realm,” Joel Johnson, CEO of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC), told a Senate committee. “Typically, we lose staff to better-paying…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – As the mercury goes down, the costs go up. Citizens Utility Board executive director David Kolata told a Facebook Live audience Thursday, “Our natural gas heating system is increasingly unaffordable. It really isn’t sustainable on environmental grounds, but it isn’t sustainable on economic grounds, either. It is driving large parts…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Senators Wednesday used the police memorial on the Capitol grounds as the backdrop – and a Champaign police widow as the testimony – for a plea for controlling Democrats to consider anti-crime legislation. “Trust me,” said Amber Oberheim, “my husband’s killer did not stop to ask him if he was…… MORE
The battle over legislative district maps continues in Springfield as a federal court threw out a legislative map passed in May that favored Democrats on Tuesday.… MORE
Republicans are again calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to quit using executive orders to run the state’s covid mitigations.… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Illinois could be on the verge of enhancing its reputation as a haven for women who want to end their pregnancies. It’s possible lawmakers will try to repeal the state’s Parental Notice of Abortion act. State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) says that makes no sense. “To think that parents’ consent…… MORE
It’s time to talk about booster shots, especially for Illinoisans 65 and up.… MORE
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…