Illinois
Illinois Democrats praise former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger for making DNC speech
A partisan United Center crowd delivered its booming adoration to former six-term Illinois Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger for delivering a rousing, never-Trump message tonight.
The former member congressman who once represented Will County and a large segment of northern Illinois carried an important symbolic role for Democrats, who positioned him a few speakers ahead of presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump, served on the House January 6th select committee and is now backing Harris’ candidacy – resume entries Democrats were all too eager to highlight in a bid to draw independents and displaced Republicans away from Trump.
“The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance — from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself,” Kinzinger said.
“Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong,” Kinzinger said, unleashing a huge roar from the crowd.
“He is a small man pretending to be big,” Kinzinger said to another roar. “ He is a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He is a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim. He…puts on quite a show. But there’s no real strength there.
Kinzinger was one of several Republican never-Trumpers to take the stage at the convention this week. They included Georgia’s former lieutenant governor, an Arizona mayor and a one-time White House press secretary for Trump.
Even though they once were on opposite ends of the political spectrum, members of Illinois’ congressional delegation are praising Kinzinger for speaking his conscience even if it’s meant becoming a pariah in a big swath of the GOP.
“I can’t thank him enough for his courage, for his steadfastness, his support for democracy and his principles. I’m so grateful to him,” U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky told WBEZ.
Democratic Congressman Sean Casten respects that courage, too, and said the Trump-led GOP’s response to Kinzinger is truly grievous.
“To my mind, the tragedy of Adam Kinzinger is that by voting to defend democracy, he was excommunicated from his own party,” Casten said.
Dave McKinney covers Illinois politics for WBEZ and was the longtime Springfield bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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