On August 23, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced a total of $2,125,000 in federal funding for Illinois housing non-profits from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The funding comes from the Fiscal Year (FY23) Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Second- and Third-Year Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) grants. Continuing the funding these organizations secured in FY21 and FY22 FHIP competitions, today’s PEI grants will support private, non-profit fair housing enforcement organizations that meet statutory requirements to conduct testing, investigate violations and obtain enforcement of the rights granted under the Fair Housing Act. These grant recipients support and assist individuals who are the victims of housing discrimination.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today participated in a roundtable discussion with leaders from Southern Illinois Healthcare, Shawnee Health, the nursing program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the Egyptian Health Department to discuss his “Roadmap to Grow Illinois’ Rural Health Workforce”. This partnership organized by Durbin with hospitals, community health centers, medical and nursing schools, community colleges, dentists, physicians, and nurses will coordinate efforts and provide new funding to address health care workforce shortages and staffing crises in rural Illinois. The Roadmap focuses on: (1) pipelines to recruit middle/high-school students into health careers; (2) expanding capacity of clinical education programs; and (3) enhancing recruitment to rural areas.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul called for immediate action from the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant work authorization permits for immigrants who have been allowed to enter and remain in the United States temporarily.
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) today announced the recipients of the Megasites Investment Program funded through Rebuild Illinois Capital Funds. Through the program, the state will leverage $23 million in grants to generate $144 million total investments in 9 projects across the state.
On August 17, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke at the Department of Justice’s annual Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) National Joint Training Conference.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul charged a Williamson County man with alleged possession of child pornography. The case is part of Raoul’s ongoing work, in collaboration with federal law enforcement agencies and local law enforcement officials throughout Illinois, to apprehend offenders who download and trade pornography online.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined officials from Iroquois Memorial Hospital to announce that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved “Critical Access Hospital” (CAH) status for the Watseka health care facility. The designation pays certain rural hospitals a higher Medicare reimbursement rate, helping to stabilize and provide a critical financial boost for hospitals like Iroquois Memorial.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus is continuing its cause against a Springfield YMCA that sided on behalf of a male identifying as a female who was allowed to use a girl's locker room during swim practice. The Freedom Caucus has said the YMCA lied about the girl, Abigail Wheeler, who said she was kicked out of the facility and off her swim team after surfacing the complaint.
Illinois residents pay 67 cents in state taxes per gallon on the gasoline they purchase, the second highest level among the 50 states, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation.
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said the Illinois Sate Supreme Court ruling upholding Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s gun ban will likely be overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Illinois’ pre-kindergarten education system ranked in the top 20 in a new Wallethub study that analyzed states’ early-education programs, based on criteria such as the share of school districts offering pre-K education and spending per child.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus is celebrating after a law allowing individuals to sue crisis pregnancy centers under the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act was temporarily blocked.
On Aug. 3, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill to create the Farm to Food Bank Program, making a 2021 pilot program a permanent one. In the two year pilot, more than two million pounds of food were donated to local food banks.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus has accused the American Library Association (ALA) of undermining Constitutional rights and attacking the country's moral foundation, citing the ALA's hostility towards religious Americans and promotion of gender ideology to children.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed several bills to expand protection for Native Americans in the state on Aug. 4. Those bills established procedures for handling remains in gravesites and returning them to Native American Nations; one allows students to wear cultural regalia as graduation attire; and another requires teaching Native American history in Illinois public schools, according to the Aug. 4 news release on these bills.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus highlighted a recent meeting between The Sound of Freedom’s Tim Ballard, and State Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) and U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL).
Illinois Policy Chairman John Tillman is pointing to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial noting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s lavishing on state sector unions as a reason people are leaving the state.
The Illinois Senate Republican Caucus has raised strong concerns over the dysfunction within the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a shocking audit report unveils a staggering $5 billion in unaccounted-for unemployment payments.