Illinois
Illinois man arrested after punching election judge at polling location
A man in Illinois punched an election judge at a polling location and was arrested on Sunday, two days before the climax of the US presidential race, according to authorities.
The man, identified as 24-year-old Daniel Schmidt, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a victim over 60, two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, and five misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and one count of disorderly conduct.
His case follows numerous attacks on the voting process and threats of violence, the purpose of which often is to create fear and distrust around voting, according to extremist experts.
Election officials across the US say voting is safe, and voters should not be deterred from casting their ballots in Tuesday’s presidential race.
In Schmidt’s case, police say they responded to reports of a man causing a disturbance in the voting line at the township office of Orland Park, Illinois.
Officers arrested Schmidt after learning that he had allegedly entered the building and attempted to cut in front of other voters in line for early voting.
An election judge at the entrance instructed Schmidt to go to the back of the line and wait his turn. But authorities say that Schmidt refused.
At that point, another election judge was called to assist, police said – and Schmidt was again instructed to go to the back of the line.
According to the police, Schmidt then attempted to push past that election judge who stopped him from entering alongside several other staff members.
Schmidt then reportedly began yelling profanities and punched the election judge in the face, knocking the official’s glasses off. At that point, several other patrons jumped in and restrained Schmidt until the officers arrived.
Authorities added that, while being arrested, Schmidt also resisted Orland Park officers.
Schmidt was held overnight on Sunday and transported to Bridgeview courthouse for a detention hearing on Monday morning.
Ahead of this year’s election, election offices around the country have strengthened their security measures in anticipation of potential violence at the polls, in part in response to a rise in threats and harassment directed at election workers after the 2020 election that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Trump is running in Tuesday’s election against Kamala Harris.
Many offices have also trained their workers on de-escalation techniques and conducted drills for active shooters as well as other kinds of attacks.
In the last week alone, the US has already experienced multiple attacks on the voting process, threats of violence and extremism, including bomb threats, ballots being burned and more.
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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