Illinois
WBEZ releases season 4 of “Motive” podcast

WBEZ has launched Season 4 of its investigative “Motive” podcast.
- Hosted by reporter Shannon Heffernan, this season explores Illinois prisons.
The origin: “It began with a tip a few man who died at Western Illinois Correctional Middle. We have been instructed he was overwhelmed by guards and commenced to research,” Heffernan tells Axios.
- “However the deeper we received into the story, the extra we realized this was not nearly one case — there had been allegations of abuse for years.”
The purpose: Look past just a few dangerous apples “to speak about the entire orchard — like what components of the jail system created circumstances the place this might occur?”
- “That set our workforce off on a 12 months’s lengthy journey, that landed us in some sudden locations: small-town parades, native political races, and a trove of emails between jail guards.”
Largest shock: “One thing known as the jail sweepstakes, the place small cities in Illinois competed within the ’80s and ’90s to ‘win’ prisons, and the roles that include them.”
Heffernan’s hope: “That folks with lots of totally different views on incarceration and crime will hear to those tales,” and be taught that prisons do not have to be this fashion.
? In the meantime, Heffernan says she is presently listening to the “Consider Her” podcast.
- “I additionally actually beloved ‘Someone’ from the Invisible Institute.”
?
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Illinois
Thornton Township, Illinois holds first meeting since brawl

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Illinois
Indiana wants to absorb 33 Illinois counties that voted to secede: 'Join us'

Indiana lawmakers propose redrawing state lines with Illinois
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston lays out the efforts to redraw the state lines between Indiana and Illinois.
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston says lawmakers are looking into a proposal to absorb parts of Illinois after multiple counties voted to secede.
According to Huston, seven Illinois counties voted in November to leave the state. Upon further investigation, it was determined by Huston that 33 counties in total voted to secede, which is roughly one-third of Illinois’ counties.
Rather than forming a 51st state, Huston suggests these counties could instead become part of Indiana. Most of the counties in question are in central and southern Illinois, spanning east to west. Some already border Indiana.
Historically, Illinois was once part of Indiana from 1800 to 1809 before being divided into a separate state.
What Needs to Happen:
For these Illinois counties to officially join Indiana, several legal steps must take place:
- Both the Indiana and Illinois legislatures would need to pass bills approving the change.
- A commission would be formed to work out the logistics of shifting state boundaries.
- Both states would have to approve the commission’s report.
- Congress would need to sign off on the proposal.
What they’re saying:
Huston believes Indiana offers an attractive alternative to Illinois, citing lower taxes, fewer regulations, and strong economic growth.
“We just think this is a great opportunity for people that are interested in Illinois that want to secede, but we say, ‘join us.’ Low taxes, low regulatory environment, a ton of economic development already taking place,” said Houston. “We’re kinda raising our hand to say ‘hey don’t start a 51st state, we’d love to have you in Indiana.’”
Big picture view:
The idea of redrawing state lines is not new. Similar proposals have surfaced in other parts of the country. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Illinois residents have already relocated to Indiana since 2021, suggesting a trend of migration regardless of state boundaries.
What’s next:
It remains to be seen whether lawmakers in both states will seriously pursue the idea, and whether Congress would entertain such a move.
The Source: Information from this article was provided by Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston.
Illinois
Romeoville, Illinois struggles with surplus of road salt

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CBS) — Transportation crews were spread out around the Chicago area Wednesday evening, dropping salt to prevent slick areas ahead of the coming freezing rain and ice.
But in southwest suburban Romeoville, there was a rather unusual problem — too much salt to store.
Crews loaded up and out the gates and hit the road to combat the coming freezing rain by about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Before that, grounds foreman Scott Norman spent the afternoon filling up the Romeoville fleet with salt.
But while they’ll need plenty of salt for that purpose, they have a salt surplus because they are buying less each year — and the mild winters leave them with larger stockpiles.
Romeoville Public Works Director Chris Drey said the village has a huge stockpile — 2,000 tons of salt in one of their two domes.
“We have normally been able to dial our salt in pretty well from year to year,” said Drey. “This is just a perfect storm of everything.”
Drey said Romeoville has typically bought 4,000 to 5,000 tons of salt each year. But the past two winters, they have dialed back to 2,000 or less.
The new salt trucks in Romeoville have the technology to turn on and off the spreaders automatically. The village also uses more pre-treatment brine — which saves on salt along with the new spreaders.
But the mild winters are what have the biggest effect.
“Just everything it seems to have either gone north or south of us,” Drey said.
Drey said Romeoville is still under contract to pick up another 1,500 tons of salt from the State of Illinois, but the village currently does not have the space to store it. The village is thus exploring the idea of third-party storage.
“There is a monthly fee for that, so it was not to our advantage to do that,” Drey said.
Drey said the third-party storage was costly.
“I don’t remember the exact dollar amount, but it was definitely not worth our effort to do that at the time,” he said.
Instead, the Village of Romeoville will clear out space near the wastewater slurry, and wait as long as possible to pick up the rest of this season’s salt.
Drey said in the past municipalities would borrow or sell salt, but he thinks a lot of their neighbors are in the same situation.
Their crews were expected to be on the road dropping salt until about midnight.
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