Prairie State Wire

In Springfield, family ties bind lobbyists, lawmakers

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 11, 2019

It was a rainy February Tuesday evening in Springfield, and lobbyist Matthew O’Shea was treating State Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) to dinner.

'One big mushy gray area' when it comes to Illinois lawmakers cashing in on side deals, good government advocate says

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 5, 2019

Nearly non-existent prohibitions against state lawmakers making money on the side are the root cause of a string of recent corruption charges against lawmakers and investigations into their money-making schemes, a good government advocate says.

Court's showing of news report on fetal body parts harvesting hurts Planned Parenthood's case, lawyers say

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 24, 2019

Attorneys with the Chicago-based Thomas More Society were elated when a federal judge on Tuesday permitted jurors to view an ABC News “20/20” episode that defendant David Daleiden said was the inspiration for his own undercover films into the harvesting of fetal body parts.

Wirepoints: Raising Illinois taxes will drive even more taxpayers away

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 23, 2019

Bankrupt Illinois needs precisely what it has less and less of – taxpayers.

From East Central Reporter

Gloves will be off at Coles County hearing tonight over cooked up property tax assessments, watchdog says

By W.J. Kennedy | 28 days ago

Illinois’ leading government watchdog is predicting a showdown tonight during a legislative hearing in Coles County over a move by the county to increase its borrowing power by artificially inflating property values.

Illinois families of those allegedly killed by illegal immigrants are in Washington to demand change

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 23, 2019

Members of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC), a nationwide grassroots group that includes a number of Illinois residents, are in Washington D.C. this week, lobbying Congress for change – including closing loopholes that allow some alleged offenders, who are here illegally, to escape prosecution.

Investigation into aborted remains in the hands of pro-life Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 19, 2019

An Illinois pro-life leader said that he was encouraged that Will County authorities turned the investigation into more than 2,200 aborted remains discovered in abortion provider’s Ulrich Klopfer’s garage over to the Indiana Attorney General.

Plea deal discussed for immigrant in country illegally charged in hit-and-run death of Normal’s Corey Cottrell

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 12, 2019

The family of 39-year-old Corey Cottrell, the Normal resident who was struck and killed in June by a van allegedly driven by, Jose Rodriguez, who was in the country illegally, is alarmed that a plea deal could be in the works in the hit-and-run case.

Beware of Comptroller Mendoza’s 'phony budget' numbers, fiscal watchdog Mark Glennon says

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 10, 2019

Recent fiscal news from the Illinois’ Comptroller Susana Mendoza, the overseer of the state’s finances, seemed to give Illinoisans a glimmer of hope that the state was finally emerging from its fiscal abyss. A positive-sounding statement from Mendoza’s office surrounding the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 2018 showed that the state’s general funds budget was still running a deficit, but it was a deficit reduced by half over the previous year.

Former State Rep. Peter Breen pleads with voters to take the power over legislative maps out of Michael Madigan’s hands

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 6, 2019

Former State Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) is spearheading a grassroots effort, Fair Maps Illinois, to break House Speaker Michael Madigan’s iron control over the decennial reconfiguration of legislative districts.

Lawsuits against Sterigenics, other ethylene oxide users, legally and technically flawed, experts say

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 5, 2019

Personal injury lawyers behind a series of ethylene oxide (EtO) lawsuits are anchoring their cases on a gross distortion of law, and the selective targeting of EtO emissions over the similarly legal emissions of scores of other compounds by thousands of other companies, legal and air quality experts say.

Hinsdale District 86 silent on father’s allegation it promoted confused child’s gender switch

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 27, 2019

A spokesperson for Hinsdale District 86 had no response to a father’s claim that the high school district ignored the pleas of him and his wife to stop treating their 14-year-old daughter as a boy.

Hit-and-run driver charged with killing Normal’s Corey Cottrell a step closer to deportation, not prosecution

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 16, 2019

A McClean County judge increased the likelihood that Jose Rodriguez, 27, the immigrant in the country illegally charged in the June 22 hit-and-run death of Normal’s Corey Cottrell, 39, will be deported before facing prosecution.

Thomas More Society seeking clients to fight Illinois’ “exceptionally evil” abortion rights law

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 13, 2019

The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based public interest law firm, is looking for clients to challenge Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act, the nation’s most extreme abortion rights law rushed through the General Assembly and signed into law by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on June 12.

Man in country illegally who allegedly struck and killed Normal’s Corey Cottrell could be out on bail Saturday

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 8, 2019

The family of Normal hit-and-run victim Corey Cottrell, 39, is devastated with McLean County Judge Scott Drazewski’s ruling on Thursday to reduce bond for, Jose Rodriguez, 27, the man who is in the country illegally and charged with driving the van that struck and killed Corey on June 22.

Bail reduction hearing date set for Jose Rodriguez, man in country illegally charged with hit-and-run death of Normal’s Corey Cottrell

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 31, 2019

An Aug. 8 bond reduction hearing has been set for Jose Rodriguez, 27, the man in the United States illegally who has been charged in the hit-and-run accident that killed 39-year-old Normal resident Corey Cottrell on June 22.

Shaky science behind Durbin, Casten and Foster positions on climate change, environmental expert says

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 23, 2019

The positions of three Democratic members of Congress on climate change – including a proposal that the U.S. government sell climate bonds – are premised on faulty science, one climate expert says.

McSweeney to billionaires asking to be taxed more: why wait, write government a check

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 15, 2019

State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) has a solution for a group of billionaires – Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s relative Liesel Pritzker Simmons among them – pleading with the presidential candidates to tax them more.

Man in the country illegally who allegedly struck and killed Normal resident Corey Cottrell ordered held on $1 million bail

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 12, 2019

The prayers of the Cottrell family were answered Friday morning when Jose Rodriguez, 27, a resident of Bloomington who is in the country illegally, the alleged driver of a van that struck and killed 39-year-old Corey Cottrell of Normal on June 22, showed up for his arraignment.

Driver who struck and killed Corey Cottrell of Normal is in country illegally, ICE confirms

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 8, 2019

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed to Prairie State Wire that Jose Rodriguez, who struck and killed Corey Cottrell, 39, of Normal on June 22, is in the United States illegally. Border Patrol agents, in fact, issued the 27-year-old from Honduras an expedited removal order all the way back on April 17, 2013, according to a statement from ICE.