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Funeral home regulations, police stop policies among 8 bills to know in Illinois

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Funeral home regulations, police stop policies among 8 bills to know in Illinois


The first two weeks of the spring session have wrapped up at the Illinois State Capitol — five days of legislative activity that have slowly began to reveal lawmaker priorities.

As in typical pre-State of the State address fashion, voting action came solely from committees with floor action in both chambers limited to resolutions and special recognitions. The legislative frenzy will pick up after Gov. JB Pritzker addresses the state legislature on Feb. 21, outlining his budget wish-list for the upcoming fiscal year.

Many of the early pushes are efforts years in the making.

Passing Karina’s Bill, which would permit law enforcement to remove firearms from a home when an order of protection has been filed, is a prime effort for Democrats.

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More: ‘We need to strengthen domestic violence laws:’ Advocates urge passage of Karina’s Bill

For Republicans, in the super-minority in both the House and Senate, it’s renewed calls for ethics reform ahead former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s October trial date. Bipartisan support is present in a bill modifying the estate tax threshold for Illinois farmers.

All told, more than 8,500 have been filed in the 103rd Illinois General Assembly.

Here’s a sampling of those bills to know before lawmakers return to Springfield on Feb. 20.

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Funeral home remains

When Dylan and Elizabeth Bricker turned to a Carlinville funeral home last year, they expected to receive the bodily remains of their deceased mother. Instead, they received the ashes of another person.

The Brickers were among the nearly 80 families affected by Heinz Funeral Home’s mishandling of human remains. Funeral home owner Albert “August” Heinz has since had his license to operate in the state permanently revoked by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

More: ‘Unimaginable:’ Family who got wrong remains from funeral home ponders next move

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Now, several local legislators are advocating bills they believe will keep failures like these from happening again.

Senate Bill 2643 from Sen. Doris Turner would establish a unique identifier tagging system for human remains and require documentation of where certain body parts are going and what services were provided. IDFPR along with the state Comptroller’s office and Illinois Department of Public Health would also be authorized to inspect businesses handling human remains.

“The status quo is not working,” Turner, D-Springfield, said during a Thursday press conference. “If we don’t establish a chain of custody and the unique identifier standard, we’ll be right back here in the same situation.”

At the same time, Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, with support from Reps. Mike Coffey, R-Springfield, and Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville, is moving forward with Senate Bill 3263. The bill would criminalize the mishandling of human remains as a Class 4 felony — carrying a potential prison time of one to three years.

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Turner has not taken a position on McClure’s bill. Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon is confident Turner’s bill will garner bipartisan support.

“We’ve got several family members here that have been affected by this,” he said. “And since day one when this happened, the question is ‘Why haven’t there been any charges filed? What’s going on with this?’”

Proposal for statues of Reagan, Obama at Capitol

Introduced by Sen. Tom Bennett, R-Gibson City, Senate Bill 2905 would allow the placement of two new statues of former President Ronald Reagan and former President Barack Obama on the Capitol grounds.

The bill would require the Office of the Architect of the Capitol to find placements for the statues and talk to the governor and General Assembly about the final choice. The bill plans that funds for this project can be collected through donations, so the bill requires a separate account to be set up to collect all donations from any source, public or private. The funds will also be used for placement and future maintenance of the statues.

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Pipelines and carbon capture

While several carbon dioxide pipeline projects stalled last year, Sen. Steve McClure is leading two bills that will establish new regulations on the carbon capture and sequestration industry.

Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions LLC pulled applications with the Illinois Commerce Commission in 2023, with Navigator ultimately cancelling its 1,350-mile pipeline.

Prior to its cancellation, Navigator had only received 13.4% of the easements to construct its pipeline in the state as of June. If it moved forward, the Nebraska-based company could have used eminent domain to secure the lands needed to build its pipeline. Senate Bill 2860 would keep pipeline companies from doing so.

“This bill protects our landowners,” he said during a phone interview Thursday. “These companies need to get buy-in from landowners.”

McClure is also heading up Senate Bill 3441, establishing a moratorium on the construction of new pipelines as the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Association drafts updated regulations. PHMSA announced it would create new guidelines following a 2020 pipeline burst in Satartia, Mississippi forcing the evacuation of more than 40 people.

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Getting pipeline projects off the ground has proven to be a challenge especially since many residents are concerned of potential pipeline bursts. Illinois Manufacturers’ Association president and CEO Mark Denzler however sees opportunity for the industry to help the state meet its renewable energy goals.

“You can’t have sustainable aviation fuel without carbon capture and storage. You can’t have the hydrogen hub without carbon capture and storage,” he said during a Wednesday press conference. “If we’re going to decarbonize, we can’t hit our carbon goals without carbon capture and storage.”

Student loan tax credits

In June, President Joe Biden tried to implement a student loan forgiveness program, but it was eventually shut by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling that it was unconstitutional. This resulted in millions of people being blocked for up to $20,000 in federal student debt relief.

In response, several bills have been introduced creating tax credits for employers helping their workers pay student loans including Senate Bill 1313 from Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, and House Bill 4435 from Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville.

These bills would create an income tax deduction for any amount paid by a taxpayer on behalf of an employee of a taxpayer. This would be a part of an educational assistance program. The deductions would be limited to the first payment of $5,250, and if passed the bill would go into effect immediately.

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“What a great way to attract workers or keep your workforce by saying ‘You have $25,000 in debt, I will pay it off for you as long as you work for me,’” said Denzler of Cappel and Elik’s pieces of legislation. “You know, it’s a great opportunity to help those individuals struggle with college debt, so making sure we have a great workforce.”

More: Illinois lawmakers call for statewide child tax credit to help thousands of families

Political deepfakes

Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, robocalls circulated featuring President Joe Biden’s voice. The issue was it not actually Biden talking, but instead an altered message known as an audio deepfake. Several bills are now being considered by state lawmakers to counter the growing threat of political disinformation.

Through House Bill 4644, distribution of media falsely depicting a person with the intention of affecting voter behavior would be prohibited. Those who violate this provision would be subject to misdemeanor charges.

Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Bridgeview, is sponsoring the bill which clarifies that it does not apply to clear parody or satire or to media outlets that air deepfakes if they are questioning its authenticity or have made a “good faith effort” to determine an ad is not deceptive.

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House Bill 4933 from Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, would similarly seek to prevent political deepfakes by allowing victims to take legal action against perpetuators.

Lawmakers passed deepfake legislation last year, permitting legal action against those that disseminated deepfake revenge porn online. It originally applied to all forms of deepfakes but was amended to account for First Amendment concerns in political ads of some lawmakers.

Fertility treatment

There have been a few bills that have been introduced that are working to help make fertility treatments more accessible. Senate Bill 2639 introduced by Sen. Mike Hastings, D-Frankfort, would help provide health insurance coverage for fertility treatments that have been recommended by a medical expert.

If a physician were to recommend any treatment including in vitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and zygote intrafallopian tube transfer, then there must be insurance coverage without any restrictions or requirements.

“It’s for those insurance companies that think that they know what’s best for someone else’s family planning,” said Hastings. “This bill will help women and families across Illinois and hopefully set an example for other states to follow.”

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Police stop policies

One bill drawing the ire of Republican lawmakers and law enforcement agencies alike is House Bill 4603. The legislation from Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, would prevent officers from stopping a driver for several reasons including driving up to 25 miles per hour over the speed limit, failing to wear safety belts or operating a vehicle with an expired registration sticker.

Already opposed to legislation ending cash bail in Illinois, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood said the bill “takes the pro-criminal cake.”

“How many lives will be lost if we can’t stop dangerous drivers?,” he said in a statement. “Such a law will only benefit lawbreakers, and common sense must have taken a vacation when this bill was drafted.”

The legislation currently sits in the House Rules Committee, often a proverbial graveyard for bills that will never advance to a full chamber vote.

Online age verification

Introduced by Rep. Jed Davis, R-Yorkville, House Bill 4247 is aiming to help protect minors with more online safety measures.

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It would require any commercial entities that produce harmful material for minors, to verify that the people using the websites and platforms are 18 and older. The verification must be done through a commercial database used by businesses or governmental entities. If any entities were to violate the act they would be subjected to civil liabilities for damages for a minor accessing the material. 

The bill so far has been assigned to the House Judiciary Civil Committee and several co-sponsors have been added to the bill.

Contact Hope Gadson: hgadson@gannett.com; Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter





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Illinois

Western Michigan wins 72-70 against Northern Illinois

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Western Michigan wins 72-70 against Northern Illinois


Associated Press

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Chansey Willis Jr. had 18 points in Western Michigan’s 72-70 win over Northern Illinois on Tuesday night.

Western Michigan took the lead for good with 2:28 remaining on a layup from Max Burton to make it a 67-66 game. James Dent Jr. missed a 3-pointer for Northern Illinois to end it.

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Willis had seven assists for the Broncos (5-13, 2-4 Mid-American Conference). Javaughn Hannah added 17 points while shooting 6 for 12, including 3 for 6 from beyond the arc while they also had six rebounds and five assists. Donovan Williams shot 4 of 8 from the field, including 2 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 7 from the line to finish with 15 points.

Dent Jr. led the Huskies (4-14, 0-6) in scoring, finishing with 18 points, two steals and two blocks. Quentin Jones added 17 points, seven assists, two steals and two blocks for Northern Illinois. Ethan Butler also had 13 points and three blocks. The loss is the sixth in a row for the Huskies.

Williams put up 13 points in the first half for Western Michigan, who led 39-27 at halftime.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Illinois joins several states filing suit over Trump order ending birthright citizenship

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Illinois joins several states filing suit over Trump order ending birthright citizenship


Illinois joined a list of states filing a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s new executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced the lawsuit Tuesday, arguing Trump’s order violates the constitutional rights to which all children born in the U.S. are entitled.

“That one of Donald Trump’s first day[s] in office as president should be so diametrically opposed to our values as Americans is incredibly disappointing, though not surprising. The children born in the U.S. to immigrants are entitled to the rights and privileges that go along with U.S. citizenship,” Raoul said in a statement. “We need to discuss bipartisan commonsense immigration reforms, but denying birthright citizenship, which dates back centuries and has been upheld twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, is not the solution. As Attorney General, and as the proud son of Haitian immigrants, I will continue to stand with my fellow attorneys general to defend the constitutional rights of all children born in this country.”

Attorneys general from more than a dozen other states also sued to block Trump’s move.

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The order would end a decades-old immigration policy known as birthright citizenship guaranteeing that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status.

Trump’s roughly 700-word executive order, issued late Monday, amounts to a fulfillment of something he’s talked about during the presidential campaign. But whether it succeeds is far from certain amid what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle over the president’s immigration policies.

Here’s a closer look at birthright citizenship, Trump’s executive order and reaction to it:

What is birthright citizenship?

Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. People, for instance, in the United States on a tourist or other visa or in the country illegally can become the parents of a citizen if their child is born here.

It’s been in place for decades and enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, supporters say. But Trump and allies dispute the reading of the amendment and say there need to be tougher standards on becoming a citizen.

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What does Trump’s order say?

The order questions that the 14th Amendment extends citizenship automatically to anyone born in the United States.

The 14th Amendment was born in the aftermath of the Civil War and ratified in 1868. It says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump’s order excludes the following people from automatic citizenship: those whose mothers were not legally in the United States and whose fathers were not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; people whose mothers were in the country legally but on a temporary basis and whose fathers were not citizens or legal permanent residents.

It goes on to bar federal agencies from recognizing the citizenship of people in those categories. It takes effect 30 days from Tuesday, on Feb. 19.

What is the history of the issue?

The 14th Amendment did not always guarantee birthright citizenship to all U.S.-born people. Congress did not authorize citizenship for all Native Americans born in the United States, for instance, until 1924.

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In 1898 an important birthright citizenship case unfolded in the U.S. Supreme Court. The court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country. After a trip abroad, he had faced denied reentry by the federal government on the grounds that he wasn’t a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act.

But some advocates of immigration restrictions have argued that while the case clearly applied to children born to parents who are both legal immigrants, it’s less clear whether it applies to children born to parents without legal status.

What has the reaction to Trump’s order been?

More than a dozen states, plus the District of Columbia and San Francisco, sued in federal court to block Trump’s order.

Raoul and multiple other states said the executive order means, for the first time since the 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868, that babies born each month who would have been citizens will no longer enjoy the privileges and benefits of citizenship.

“If allowed to stand, the infants stripped of their United States citizenship under the executive order will lose their most basic rights and will be forced to live under the threat of deportation. They will lose eligibility for a wide range of federal benefits programs, including their ability to obtain a Social Security number and, as they age, to work lawfully. They will also lose their rights to vote, serve on juries, and to secure passports. Despite the Constitution’s guarantee of citizenship, thousands of children will – for the first time – lose their ability to fully and fairly participate in American society as a citizen,” Raoul said in a statement.

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state plans to “fight back.”

“Here in Illinois we are going to stand up, we are going to fight back. We are going to follow the law and we are going to make sure they are following the law,” he said.

New Jersey Democratic Attorney General Matt Platkin said Tuesday that presidents might have broad authority but they are not kings.

“The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence, period,” he said.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a U.S. citizen by birthright and the nation’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal for him.

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“The 14th Amendment says what it means, and it means what it says —- if you are born on American soil, you are an American. Period. Full stop,” he said. “There is no legitimate legal debate on this question. But the fact that Trump is dead wrong will not prevent him from inflicting serious harm right now on American families like my own.”

Not long after Trump signed the order, immigrant rights groups filed suit to stop it.

Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts along with other immigrant rights advocates filed a suit in New Hampshire federal court.

The suit asks the court to find the order to be unconstitutional. It highlights the case of a woman identified as “Carmen,” who is pregnant but is not a citizen. The lawsuit says she has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has a pending visa application that could lead to permanent status. She has no other immigration status, and the father of her expected child has no immigration status either, the suit says.

“Stripping children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a grave injury,” the suit said. “It denies them the full membership in U.S. society to which they are entitled.”

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Other states that have filed suit include California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.



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List of school closings: More than 100 Chicago-area schools closed due to dangerous cold

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List of school closings: More than 100 Chicago-area schools closed due to dangerous cold


More than 100 schools, colleges and daycares across Northeastern Illinois have announced closures or shifts to e-learning Tuesday as dangerously cold wind chills as low as -30 sweep across the Chicago area.

The closures range from the city to the suburbs, including elementary, middle and high schools in Palos Hills, Oak Lawn, Lyons, Calumet City, Crystal Lake, Elgin, Carpentersville, Antioch and Grayslake.

According to Chicago Public Schools 2024-25 calendar, CPS students had an already scheduled day off Tuesday for “Teacher Institute Day.”

Multiple private schools and daycares were also closed, the Emergency Closing Center reported. The latest list of closures can be found here (NOTE: If you are accessing this link from our app, please go to your mobile browser).

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The cold also forced Amtrak to cancel some trains lines in and out of Chicago, including The Wolverine, The Borealis and the Hiawatha, and led to more than 40 cancellations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

NBC 5 reporter Lisa Chavarria early Tuesday said inside the airport, it didn’t feel much warmer.

“Employees even have their coats, hats and gloves on,” Chavarria said. “With it being -7 here, it’s frigid inside.”

As of 5:20 a.m., temperatures across Northeastern Illinois were below zero, the NBC 5 Storm Team said, with readings ranging from -5 to -10 degrees. Wind chills were even colder, NBC 5 Meteorologist Alicia Roman said, with “feels-like” temperatures of -29 in DeKalb, -27 in DuPage and Morris, -24 in Waukegan and -20 in Kankakee.

“Bundle up from head to toe” NBC 5 Meteorologist Alicia Roman said early Tuesday morning. “The Arctic cold will peak this morning….We are in the heart of the brutal cold right now.”

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According to the National Weather Service, an extreme cold warning was in effect until 12 p.m. for Lake, McHenry, DeKalb, Kane and LaSalle Counties in Illinois, and Kenosha County in Wisconsin. In those parts, dangerously cold wind chills around 30 degrees below zero “could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.”

In DuPage, Cook, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee Counties in Illinois and across parts of Northwest Indiana, a cold weather advisory was in effect until 2 p.m., the NWS said.

“The coldest wind chills are expected through this morning,” the NWS said. “Winds chills down between -20°F to -35°F can be expected area wide under this arctic air mass. If you must go out: cover all exposed skin as frostbite can occur in under 20-30 minutes.”

Tuesday’s high temperature in the afternoon will be in the single digits for most areas, Roman said, with wind chills easing up slightly, between -10 and -20. Some relief was on the way Wednesday, with highs in the 20s, Roman said.

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“A high of 25 will feel a lot warmer than the -25 we are feeling right now,” Roman said, of Wednesday’s conditions.

Wednesday could also see chances for scattered snow showers “at any point of the day,” Roman said, though totals aren’t expected to be more than an inch

By the weekend, temperatures will be above-average, Roman said, climbing into the 30s.





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