Illinois drivers can now update their license plate sticker from the driver’s seat.

The state’s first drive-thru DMV kiosk opened this week at the Lombard driver services facility at 837 Westmore-Meters Road, offering 24/7 access to renew registrations and licenses, and to obtain license plate stickers.

“This creates a better environment for folks who visit our office, and just adds a new level of convenience for people to fit things into their busy schedules,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said ahead of Friday’s grand opening.

Other drive-thrus will eventually be launched in Chicago, Giannoulias said. More than 100 are slated to be installed statewide over the next 18 months.

Fifteen similar kiosks were installed inside grocery stores earlier this fall, including six in Chicago, but they’re limited to stores’ business hours.

The 24/7 drive-thru comes as part of this week’s reopening of the Lombard DMV, which relocated within the Eastgate Shopping Center. It has long been one of the state’s busiest facilities, with 134,000 vehicle transactions and 125,000 driver-related services completed last year.

It’s also the state’s latest “one-stop shop” DMV, with employees cross-trained on both driver and vehicle service, and with more payment stations for fewer lines. The first one in the Chicago area opened over the summer in Melrose Park.

The Lombard location will also host administrative hearings on suspended licenses, and is expected to launch 18 electric vehicle charging stations next year.

Appointments are required for driver services inside the building — not the drive-thru — and can be scheduled at ilsos.gov.

Richard Allen, the Indiana man convicted of killing two middle school girls in 2017, was sentenced to 130 years in prison on Friday, almost eight years after the children’s bodies were found near a hiking trail.

Allen, 52, was convicted of murder in November after a four-week trial in the deaths of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, in Delphi.

The bodies of the girls, who were close friends, were found near a hiking trail on Feb. 14, 2017, but their killings went unsolved for years.

Allen received the maximum sentence. Judge Frances C. Gull told him it ranks “right up there with the most hideous crimes.”

“These families will deal with your carnage forever,” the judge said.

Indianapolis State Police arrested Allen in October 2022. He was charged with murder after what the state police superintendent called a “long-term and complex investigation.”

Prosecutors said that Allen encountered the girls on the Monon High Bridge Trail and that, armed with a gun, he forced them down a hill and cut their throats.

A jury convicted Allen on Nov. 11 of four counts of murder: one count each of felony murder and murder for each victim.

Allen had faced a potential sentence of 45 to 130 years in prison.

His attorneys say they plan to appeal. “Richard Allen maintains his innocence,” they wrote in a sentencing memo ahead of Friday’s sentencing.

The killings shook the small town of Delphi, a community of around 2,900 about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Liberty had recorded a man who prosecutors allege was Allen in cellphone video that day. Prosecutors also said that an unspent .40-caliber round that came from Allen’s gun was found at the scene and that a black 2016 Ford Focus was seen on security video nearby — and that Allen owned the only such car registered in Carroll County when the murders took place.

Defense attorneys argued no one identified Allen as the man in the video or seen by witnesses. They also argued no forensic or DNA evidence connected him to the killings.

Prosecutors played an alleged confession made last year in a recorded jail call to his wife. In it, he says: “I did it, I killed Abby. I killed Abby and Libby.”

His wife did not appear to believe him and said his medication must be messing with his mind.

A former prison psychologist also testified that Allen confessed to her that he killed the girls, and prosecutors said he confessed to other prison staff members.

Allen’s defense attorney, Brad Rozzi, has attributed the confessions to a mental health crisis. Allen was being held in a maximum-security prison while he awaited trial. Defense attorneys have also argued he was kept in solitary confinement without due process.

Defense attorneys also wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Allen has a long history of mental health illness and that he had been treated for major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder throughout his life.

Allen, who was a CVS clerk at the time of the killings, was not a suspect until a file clerk organizing thousands of tips discovered a mislabeled “lead sheet” in September 2022.

The document, which had incorrectly been marked “clear,” showed that Allen reached out to investigators days after the killings and said he had been at the same location as the girls on the day they disappeared.

Defense attorneys have said that Allen often walked on that trail and that he voluntarily went to police because he wanted to help in any way he could.

A union vying to represent Amazon employees ignited the largest strike in the company’s history leading up to the holidays.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ strike started Thursday morning in four states, including neighboring Illinois.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price.”

Will the strike impact Amazon deliveries in Iowa this holiday season?

Will the Amazon strike delay deliveries to Iowa?

The strike isn’t expected to have any impact on Amazon’s operations, according to an email from an Amazon spokesperson to the Des Moines Register.

Nationwide, any delays would be minor and similar to winter weather delays, Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix, a software provider that tracks on-time delivery data for package shippers, told CNN.

Amazon has a lot of warehouses and very few are included in the strike, he said noting that the retailer could route packages through other facilities.

Why is Amazon on strike?

The strike of nearly 10,000 Amazon workers is aimed at fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer conditions at work, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union aims to put pressure on the online shopping retailer by threatening to delay deliveries during one of the busiest times of the year.

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in an email to the Register that the union doesn’t reflect its workers, who have not held an election to seek union representation.

“The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” Nantel said. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and thanks to them, we’re not seeing any impact to customers’ orders.”

Are there any Amazon strike locations in Iowa?

Strikes are expected to take place at Amazon sites in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Skokie, Illinois and Southern California. No strikes are planned at any of the facilities in Iowa.

Where are some of the Amazon warehouse locations in Iowa?

Ankeny is home to a new 150,000-square-foot same-day delivery Amazon warehouse. There are at least four Amazon warehouses around the Des Moines metro with locations in Grimes, Bondurant and Altoona.

Iowa City and Davenport are also home to Amazon warehouses.

Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17.