A swastika mowed into a front lawn in the tiny village of Alhambra, Illinois, prompted a hate crime investigation by Madison County authorities this week, local media reported, in the latest in a series of disturbing incidents where Jews have been the target across the United States.

Jordan Payne, who has lived in the 700-person village since 1987, discovered the giant Nazi emblem while out walking over the weekend.

He told First Alert 4 that he was “very surprised to see Nazi insignia carved into the lawn with a mower.”“It’s a slap in the face, a scar on our village,” Payne said.

The property owner, construction manager Mike Eaton, denied involvement and said he cut the grass as soon as neighbors alerted him to the existence of the symbol.

Alhambra’s city attorney and local police were determining whether the act met the legal threshold for a hate crime. Nearby residents expressed shock; one told St. Louis-based Fox 2, “We don’t want to see this kind of hate in our town.”

A swastika mowed into the grass of a lawn in Alhambra is now at the center of an investigation and drawing concern from advocates across the St. Louis region. https://t.co/sG5Zndathl

— KMOV (@KMOV) June 3, 2025

Helen Turner, the director of education at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, said that the vandalism fits a wider pattern.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes,” she told First Alert 4, warning that antisemitic rhetoric often “quickly escalates into violence.”

National climate of hate

The Illinois case emerged just days after an Egyptian national wielding a makeshift flamethrower wounded at least 12 people at a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado.

Federal prosecutors said the suspect shouted “free Palestine” and sought to “kill all Zionist people.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s 2024 audit recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents nationwide, the highest number since the organization began tracking this in 1979. 

Illinois alone saw a 74% jump between 2022 and 2023, with 211 cases ranging from harassment to assault.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also denounced the lawn vandalism, calling the swastika “a symbol of hate and genocide that has no place in a civilized society.”

CAIR-Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab urged authorities “to take the promotion of bigotry seriously and to address it whenever and wherever it occurs.”

CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper said the organization “stands in solidarity with all those challenging antisemitism, systemic anti-black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.”

‘We will prosecute’

Turner stressed the need for swift legal action. “It typically begins with words, but it very quickly escalates into violence. The only counter to that is for our society to say, ‘These actions have no place here. We will prosecute.’”

As Pride Month began on June 1, local LGBTQ+ advocates noted parallels between rising antisemitism and a documented 80 % spike in anti-LGBTQ+ threats since 2023, according to a new GLAAD report.

For now, investigators in Alhambra were still piecing together how the swastika came to be on the lawn.

Payne said that the hateful emblem did not reflect his hometown’s values: “This isn’t who we are.”

Plans for a high-speed rail route between Chicago and East St. Louis have moved forward after Illinois officials issued an update to a feasibility study into the project.

In a May update, the Illinois High-Speed Rail Commission said it was on track to publish the report by 2026—which includes a survey of over 6,000 residents in the state.

Newsweek contacted the commission via email for more information on the study’s progress.

The Context

A high-speed rail route connecting the largest city in Illinois to East St. Louis has been pitched by lawmakers for years, as it would provide huge levels of connectivity for the Midwest. The idea took a step toward reality when Illinois Governor JB Pritzker created the Illinois High Speed Rail Commission in 2021, to plan out what the route would need in order to work.

What To Know

The proposed route would go from Chicago to East St. Louis, a distance of around 300 miles, with trains running at a speed of 186 miles per hour.

The route currently being studied is split into three segments. The first, the Downtown Chicago area, connects to University Park and Joliet.

The middle stage of the potential route, the Chicago-Springfield Gateway, features stops at Peoria and Bloomington via Joliet, and Decatur and Champaign via University Park, before connecting all the stops to Springfield.

The final part of the route is a straight connection to East St. Louis from Springfield. Not all stops featured in the study may make it into the final design for the route, as the commission is still determining how much demand there might be for services in different parts of the state.

The commission said that it had held online meetings—which had been viewed by more than 7,500 people—and that the full verdict would be delivered to Illinois lawmakers in 2026.

According to the report update, a trip from Springfield to University Park on the proposed route would take around two and a half hours.

What People Are Saying

In a 2023 statement on the importance of high-speed rail, Governor JB Pritzker said: “Illinois is the only state where all seven of the nation’s largest railroads operate. That’s a unique economic advantage recognized by employers across the globe, helping our state attract and maintain quality jobs.

“By upgrading to higher-speed service on Illinois’ largest passenger rail line, we are solidifying our status as the transportation hub of North America. Investments like these do more than just connect cities—they allow our residents to access opportunities beyond their immediate neighborhoods, streamline regional collaborations, and open doors for new jobs and new businesses.”

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said: “This transformative endeavor, decades in the making, symbolizes our commitment to improving mobility, creating jobs, and fostering sustainable growth. From local communities to federal officials, countless individuals have contributed to its success, leaving an indelible mark on the Midwest and our nation’s rail operations.”

What Happens Next

Lawmakers are awaiting the results of the feasibility study before the next stage of planning can begin.