Illinois
Ranked-choice voting could come to Illinois in 2028
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WIFR) – While more than a third of the country cast their 2024 primary ballots on Super Tuesday, a task force of Illinois lawmakers meets today in Springfield with their sights set on possible changes to the 2028 election.
Ranked-choice voting is already established in other states, like Alaska and Maine, but the system is in effect in 60 jurisdictions across 24 states.
Voters have the opportunity to rank the candidates from favorite to least favorite.
The election is over if one candidate has more than 50% of the first-place votes. If not, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and that candidate’s voters are moved to their second choice, continuing the process until someone gets majority support.
“There’s a big reason we’re always electing D’s & R’s. The system favors them. Whoever has the most votes wins and that favors the two major parties,” said St. Edwards University political science professor Brian Smith. “Any kind of reform like this is going to cut into their say.”
State Representative Maurice West is the co-chair of Illinois’ ranked-choice and voting systems task force. Although ranked-choice voting will not be put in place for this year’s election, West says the 2028 election could be a possibility.
“Ranked choice voting, in my words, is to ensure that your vote is counted, no matter what,” West said. “The ranked-choice voting that we are trying to implement here in the state of Illinois is focused on presidential primaries. We are working together with people on both sides of the aisle, we are collecting all the facts to see what the appetite is here in the state.”
Although West feels ranked-choice voting has advantages, he says it also has disadvantages, like updates to voting machines and informing state residents of what the system is and how it differs from the process we use now.
Copyright 2024 WIFR. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO (CBS) — The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has been getting a lot of buzz for an entertaining video it posted on periodical cicadas.
On Wednesday of last week, the forest preserve district featured “The Life Cycle of a 17-Year Cicada,” in which district ecology supervisor Tom Velat explained how cicadas emerge from the ground, crawl out of their exoskeletal shells, and acquire their dark brown to black color, orange wings, and red eyes after a few days.
The video also describes the mating cycle – with the help of a man in a cicada costume beating bongos and tossing out a pickup line as he sat in a tree. Actual male cicadas use their tymbals to generate sounds in hopes of attracting a female mate, and make a lot of noise in doing so.
Another actor had a few interesting tasks in playing a larval cicada.
This past Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert—an alum, of course, of Chicago’s The Second City—noticed the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County video on “The Late Show.”
“Let me just say when I was struggling for acting work in Illinois, I would have killed for the part of cicada in larval stage,” Colbert said in his monologue. “But just like everything else, the part would have gone to Steve Carell. He just had that certain je ne sais-cada.”
This did not escape the notice of Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, where President Daniel Hebreard posted a whimsical message to Colbert on Thursday.
“I have a once-in-a-lifetime offer for you. We want you to be a part of our sequel – ‘Informational Cicada Video II, After Emergence!’” Hebreard said in the video, as a mock title card appeared showing what appeared to be an AI art approximation of Chicago being set upon by an apocalyptic storm of fire and swarming insects, along with one 17-year cicada hovering upfront.
Hebreard emphasized that this was a “limited-time offer,” as the cicada emergence is about to begin. In some places, it already has.
“So if you want to join us, we’re waiting,” Hebreard advised Colbert, “but if you’re too busy, we can always bring in Steve Carell.”
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (KFVS) – Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed to have hit southern Illinois during severe storms on Wednesday, May 8.
According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, at least three tornadoes touched down on Wednesday.
Storm survey teams found an EF1 tornado in Cora and Jackson County in southern Illinois. The tornado lasted from 12:01 p.m. to 12:03 p.m. The maximum wind speeds were 108 mph with a path length of 1.25 miles and a width of 100 yards. At this time, there is one reported injury and no reported fatalities.
An EF0 tornado was confirmed to be in the Lake of Egypt area in Williamson County. The tornado lasted from 4:04 p.m. to 4:11 p.m. The maximum wind speeds were 80 mph with a path length of 6.61 miles and a width of 25 yards. At this time, there are no reported injuries or fatalities.
On the Jackson/Williamson County line, an EF1 tornado was confirmed. The tornado lasted from 3:10 p.m. to 3:26 p.m. The maximum winds were 90 mph with a path length of 4.58 miles and a width of 50 yards. At this time, there are no reported injuries or fatalities.
We will continue to update as more information becomes available.
Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.
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SPRINGFIELD – Advocates for community-based after-school programs say as many as 40,000 youths statewide could lose access to tutoring services, recreation and other extracurricular activities this summer unless Illinois lawmakers approve an infusion of funds to keep them going.
“The time is now for legislators to act to save after-school (programs),” Susan Stanton, executive director of Afterschool for Children and Teens, or ACT Now, said at a Statehouse rally Tuesday. “We literally only have weeks left before programs have to shut their doors. Staff will be laid off and families will be in crisis.”
ACT Now is a coalition of groups such as local YMCA chapters, Boys & Girls Club, and other community-based organizations that provide academic enrichment activities and other services during non-school hours for children and teens, particularly those attending high-minority, low-performing schools.
The programs that are at risk receive federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.
That money flows through the Illinois State Board of Education, which awards competitive grants to local programs. Those grants are made in three-year or five-year cycles. At the end of that cycle, the grants can either be renewed or the organization can reapply through a new competitive grant process.
The problem facing many programs whose grant cycles are expiring is that in 2023, ISBE miscalculated how much money was available and made commitments to award more grants than the state could fund. As a result, many programs whose grant cycles are expiring cannot get them renewed because there is not enough funding available. Advocates are seeking $50 million in state funding to make up for the anticipated shortfall.
Stanton said programs serving about 6,000 students were forced to close at the end of the previous fiscal year, and without an injection of state funds, another 40,000 students will lose access to services after June 30 this year.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, has proposed legislation that would commit $50 million a year in state funds for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
“It’s not enough for us to say we support quality, safe and vibrant learning environments for our youth. We have to provide funding for that to happen,” Villivalam said. “I believe … that investing in childhood education is an investment in our future communities, and not something we should take lightly.”
Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget proposal calls for about $234 million for after-school programs, most of which would come from federal money. But Stanton said that is a different program that sends funds for after-school programs directly to school districts, not to the community-based organizations that receive 21stCentury Community Learning Center funding.
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