Illinois
Illinois is ‘beacon of hope’ for LGBTQ community, says state lawmaker from Peoria
PEORIA (25News Now) – A town hall meeting Monday night featuring some high-profile community leaders addressed issues including violence prevention and issues impacting the LGBTQ community.
Speak Out Illinois organized the event at the North Branch of the Peoria Public Library.
The panel included Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos and Peoria City Councilmembers Mike Vespa and Bernice Gordon-Young.
On issues concerning the LGBTQ community, equal marriage rights have been recognized in Illinois for more than a decade and was one of the first six states in the nation to allow same-sex couples to enter into a civil union, leading us to where we are today.
“I think Illinois is a beacon of hope for a lot of people that are looking for these kinds of freedoms,” Koehler said.
The Senator was one of the original sponsors of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, signed into law in 2011. He says the Human Rights Commission at the state level works hard to protect everyone’s rights.
“We need to be an open and tolerant society, and so we try to do that in Springfield by passing laws and make sure that we are affirming of people and their lifestyle choices,” said Koehler.
In Peoria, several organizations are providing services to promote equality.
Central Illinois Friends received a $75,000 grant last month to open a new health clinic and community center to expand its services. Plus, Peoria Proud uses education and social outreach programs aimed at unifying the city.
“These are all things that, as a community, there’s no one solution. It’s not law enforcement, it’s not the police, it’s not the courts, it’s the community that’s going to help solve these problems,” said Hoos, who is Peoria County’s chief prosecutor.
Hoos says her office pledges to legally protect LGBTQ members from discrimination, too.
“If somebody has a crime that’s been committed against them and they’re in a particular class, then we can elevate that. We can make it a higher sentence, make it a higher felony to give them better protections than just your average run-of-the-mill case,” said Hoos.
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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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