* Tribune…
Christopher Carter was 20 when he took part in the murder, armed robbery and kidnapping of a man whose body he helped dispose of on Chicago’s West Side in March 2001.
He was the youngest of three suspects charged in the crime. He argued that his role was comparatively limited and court records suggest that he didn’t commit the actual killing, but at trial testified that he participated in the crime because he was afraid of the two older men. All three were convicted, and Carter was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
More than 20 years into his incarceration, criminal justice reform advocates say Carter is among roughly 1,200 people in prison in Illinois who, under legislation being considered in Springfield, could be eligible for resentencing by a judge who takes into consideration their age and maturity level at the time the crimes were committed. […]
Last month, the bill, which so far has 27 House Democratic sponsors, passed 7-3 in the House Restorative Justice and Public Safety Committee, an early step in a lengthy legislative process. During the hearing, the bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Theresa Mah, testified that the legislation recognizes “children and young people’s brain development and unique capacity to mature and change.”
* Center Square…
The Illinois House has passed a bill which would allow medical providers in the state to continue prescribing abortion pills, even if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finds them to be unsafe.
Members voted Monday 67 to 39 in favor of state Rep. Dagmara Avelar’s House Bill 3637.
State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, asked Avelar, D-Bolingbrook, if her bill had been evaluated to see if it would violate federal law. […]
Speaking on the House floor Monday afternoon, Avelar said her bill would not override federal law.
“What I would say is that, FDA approval for medication abortion, if the FDA revokes that, we would still in Illinois be able to have these drugs,” Avelar said.
* Chalkbeat Chicago…
Teachers unions, including the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Illinois Education Association, alongside other public sector employee unions are advocating for state lawmakers to make a change to retirement benefits for newer educators. They say it is unfair to current educators who pay the same amount into the pension system but do not receive the same benefits and have to work longer. They also fear that the current system will deter new educators from entering the profession at a time when the state is struggling with a teacher shortage.
But there’s an even bigger issue: The lower tier retirement benefits could soon fall below what is provided by Social Security. […]
Illinois Sen. Robert Martwick, who has proposed legislation in the past and this year to change the teacher retirement benefits system, said it could get expensive for the state, local municipalities, and even school districts if the state’s pension systems do not comply with federal law. Martwick said the lower tier pension benefits could open school districts up to costly lawsuits — if teachers prevailed, settlements could eat into districts’ operating budgets.
“That would sink Illinois overnight,” said Martwick, adding that failing to correct the situation is not an option for the state. […]
State lawmakers filed House Bill 2711 and Senate Bill 2 to change part of Tier 2 in this spring’s legislative session. Martwick said his proposal in the Senate will ensure that the state is in compliance with federal law and will make some changes requested by state employee unions. However, he said the bill is likely to change before being voted on since there are ongoing negotiations around how to address the lesser tier pension benefits.
* I could see myself switching to a retro plate…
* WAND…
A Democratic plan in Springfield could create a student investment program in the Treasurer’s office to help young people refinance their private student loans.
It would also allow the Treasurer to work with financial institutions to expand loan options and lower interest rates.
State Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago) said the program will help students get cheaper loans. […]
The plan passed out of the House on a partisan 67-38-1 vote. It now heads to the Senate for further debate
* The Pantagraph…
The Illinois House on Monday approved legislation that would authorize the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District to sell treated wastewater to private businesses within 50 miles of the Twin Cities.
House Bill 1538, sponsored by state Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, would also allow BNWRD to accept wastewater for treatment from these outside entities.
It passed with no opposition and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
If granted, local leaders intend to use the authorization as an economic development incentive. Specifically, there has been interest from data center companies eyeing the region to use effluent for their cooling systems.
* WAND…
A bill heading to the Illinois Senate could create a more commonsense approach to apply restricted driving privileges for people convicted of multiple DUIs.
The proposal would still allow the Secretary of State’s office to revoke a driver’s license, but people could then apply for a permit if they agree to use a BAIID device.
Sponsors said this change would allow drivers to go anywhere they need to travel six days per week, twelve hours per day, and within a 200-mile radius of their home after they test for blood alcohol content. […]
Drivers would have to pay the Secretary of State’s office $30 per month to use the BAIID device. They would also have to pay a $100 installation fee and a monthly monitoring fee to ensure the device works in their car. […]
House Bill 2658 passed unanimously out of the House late Monday night and now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
* Rep. Carol Ammons…
Easing financial burdens for professional hair braiders, legislation introduced by state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, successfully passed out of the House, making professional hair-braiding a more accessible career path for Illinois residents by removing it from the list of the cosmetology professions that require state licensure.
“Rolling back hair braiding licensing regulations restores opportunity for a handful of women and men, young and old, who have been hindered from growing their business professionally because of financial burdens when seeking licensure,” said Ammons. “This bill effectively removes that barrier by getting rid of the requirement that hair braiders have to be licensed to practice, opening a door that was previously closed for many residents.”
House Bill 3356 removes hair-braiding from the list of licensed cosmetology professions, allowing individuals to self-start in the hair braiding profession without having to pay the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) a licensing fee. […]
House Bill 3356 passed unanimously out of the House Chamber on Monday and awaits bicameral action.
…Adding… Capitol News Illinois…
Nursing home industry officials are urging Illinois lawmakers to increase the rates they receive from the state’s Medicaid system, arguing the current rates are outdated and are forcing many facilities around the state out of business.
“We’ve expressed our concerns that closures will happen. We’ve been saying that for years, and it’s actually happening now, and it will continue to get worse,” Jonathan Aaron, co-president of the industry lobby group Health Care Council of Illinois, said during a recent interview. […]
The proposed legislation would give each facility nine years’ worth of inflation adjustment to the support services component of their rate structure, reflecting the increase in the consumer price index from September 2016 through September 2025.
That language is contained in Senate Bill 1606, sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and House Bill 2858, sponsored by Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island. Both bills have attracted bipartisan support.
“It’s basically a matter of trying to keep up with the costs,” Koehler said in an interview. “The current rates right now are all based on 2017 pre-pandemic costs. A lot has changed in terms of inflation today. So we’re just trying to keep up with that and make sure that the nursing homes are getting what they need so we don’t have any more closures.”
Although lawmakers are struggling with tight revenues this year, Koehler said the reimbursement increase can be accomplished without straining state resources. The increase would be paid for, he said, through the state’s nursing home bed tax — a tax levied on each Medicaid-funded resident day in Illinois nursing homes. The money generated by that tax is then used to draw down federal matching funds, which would then be used to fund the higher reimbursement rates.
- CornfieldCowboy - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:07 am:
If you still possess these old plates would you be allowed to reregister them in the SOS system?
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:25 am:
I vote that HB 3391 be amended to create replicas of all known styles of old license plates. Especially for the people with antique vehicles from the days of the annual plate era with different color styles per year. Plus if people wanted a retro style plate used in the year they were born, graduated HS, etc.
https://www.ilsos.gov/publications/pdf_publications/vsd934.pdf
Also I vote that legislation be written to require those who submit Witness Slips in any position for, against, or neutral to bills give at least short explanations for the reasons for their support, opposition, etc. This might cut down on the spam witness slips too during controversial bill debates.
- Steve - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:29 am:
Rep. Theresa Mah appears to think 20 year olds are children. But, they can vote and sign contracts and change their genders. Can’t have it both ways.
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:30 am:
Seeing that picture of an old license plate sure brought back some nostalgic memories.
Can we go back to the license fees too?
$49 is also nostalgia.
- Captain Obvious - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:40 am:
Mr Carter is exactly where he belongs and should stay. 20 is plenty old and mature enough to understand right from wrong and face the consequences of your actions. As for other cases if you were tried as an adult and lawfully sentenced upon conviction, your sentence should stand.
- It's always Sunny in Illinois - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:44 am:
But there’s an even bigger issue: The lower tier retirement benefits could soon fall below what is provided by Social Security.
“Could soon fall below”……this needs to be verified by independent actuaries……not political wooda….shoulda….coulda…..maybe….
- Center Drift - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 9:50 am:
Ok, finally a new plate option that doesn’t look like a failed pre-school project. I’d get one.
- Garfield Ridge Guy - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 10:01 am:
==Drivers would have to pay the Secretary of State’s office $30 per month to use the BAIID device. They would also have to pay a $100 installation fee and a monthly monitoring fee to ensure the device works in their car. ==
I wish these setups were unconstitutional. Making people jump through hoops is one thing, but making them pay a lot of money to do so is another. These costs should obviously be a taxpayer expense (or, ideally, we’d just do away with all post-incarceration punishments).
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 10:18 am:
=Christopher Carter was 20 when he took part in the murder, armed robbery and kidnapping of a man whose body he helped dispose of =
Has Rep. Theresa Mah asked the family of the man they killed? I wish the restorative justice wing of the the Dem party had a much compassion for the crime victims and their families as they do for the perpetrators.
- Steve Rogers - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 10:23 am:
I’m curious about this student loan refinance bill. I currently have a daughter who graduated from a college out of state, but she has returned to Illinois to work. After reading the bill, I don’t think she is eligible.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 10:28 am:
=Ok, finally a new plate option that doesn’t look like a failed pre-school project.=
Back to the future - I would for sure get one of these retro plates. Just don’t let Alexi get any idea of asking residents to submit new plate designs - the flag debacle was bad enough.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 10:54 am:
Those old plates, along with our current flag are as aesthetically pleasing as a McDonalds.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:02 am:
=They say it is unfair=
Tier 2 has been in place since 1/1/2011. If the teachers hired since then did not do thier research and understand the system they signed on for then that is their mistake. The system is “fair”. It may not be great, but there is absolutely nothing unfair about it.
I don’t think it is unfair that I will pay for health insurance in retirement even as I prepaid while an educator even though other state retirees get free health care. I knew what I was getting into and signed on anyway.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:05 am:
I love the old license plates and would definitely get one. At least it’s easy to identify where you are from. Also, licenses plates are for identification and not some art project.
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:07 am:
=Also I vote that legislation be written to require those who submit Witness Slips in any position for, against, or neutral to bills give at least short explanations for the reasons for their support, opposition, etc.=
The SOS staffer submitting the witness slip, if she had to provide a reason, could have at least said under my idea, “It’s too hard for the DMV to do” and that can suffice as an acceptable opposing answer.
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:09 am:
I wonder if proposed plate numbers criticizing the unauthorized use of “DMV” in Illinois will eventually make it to the “banned” plates list.
- scurvydog - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:13 am:
Do the retro plates arrive pre-rusted? The rust on my old ones is the only thing that made them interesting.
- Near Westside - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:17 am:
I would definitely opt for the retro plate. It is clean and simple. The current plate design is bad.
- Google Is Your Friend - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:19 am:
==* I could see myself switching to a retro plate…==
SOS opposition is because the proliferation of special plates had to be curtailed for the decal method and this circumvents that.
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:29 am:
= the flag debacle =
It was not good.
To the plate, I do wish Illinois had a great license plate. We do not. Honestly never have. I would love a design battle to get us something worthwhile.
In the meantime, I support being able to get this plate again. Shocking that this boring piece of metal is prefered to the existing plate.
- City Zen - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:34 am:
==make some changes requested by state employee unions==
Why are elected officials giving away pension enhancements? I thought we were a collective bargaining state. They can bargain for some pension enhancements if they really want them. How much are they willing to pay?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 11:36 am:
===They can bargain for some pension enhancements ===
Pensions are not part of bargaining. For good reason.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 12:06 pm:
=“I’m 13 years in now, and I still have 35 more years to go,”=
I sort of find it funny that folks in Tier 2 complain about impacts (compared to Tier 1) in reaching the nirvana of full retirement benefit at age 67. Lots of individuals in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 can never reach that – if they started in the career late, or come in from out of state, or from teaching at a Catholic school for part of their career. If you are in Tier 2, then I would suggest looking at supplementing your retirement savings through a defined contribution retirement plan, such as a 403(b) or 457(b) teachers typically have access them.
- Jane - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 12:10 pm:
“Although lawmakers are struggling with tight revenues this year, Koehler said the reimbursement increase can be accomplished without straining state resources. The increase would be paid for, he said, through the state’s nursing home bed tax — a tax levied on each Medicaid-funded resident day in Illinois nursing homes. The money generated by that tax is then used to draw down federal matching funds, which would then be used to fund the higher reimbursement rates.”
This is why Medicaid is at risk of having its funding cut — too many instances of state legislatures gaming the system to get more federal money rather than the shared funding model the system was designed for. It happens repeatedly and across the country and boosts federal Medicaid costs (and the federal deficit) substantially.
- Louis G Atsaves - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 12:12 pm:
Last year one of my vehicles passed an emissions test. When I entered their office for a new vehicle plate sticker I was informed that my plates would have to be replaced with the modern ones, and paid for a sticker marked “T” (temporary) until the new plates arrived.
They arrived nine months later. In the meantime, the “T” sticker was stolen twice by those in society whose job it is to make other lives miserable. Each time I paid an additional $20.00 for a replacement sticker.
This year another vehicle I own passed the emissions test. When I entered the office to purchase my new sticker, I paid for a “T” sticker and was told it would take a minimum of 8-9 months for those brand spanking new replacement plates to arrive by mail.
Last week, THAT “T” sticker not so mysteriously vanished from the old plate. I just paid $20.00 for a replacement sticker for THAT vehicle.
A return to those old retro plates sure is looking good right about now.
Wild suggestion here. Just have owners pay for a regular sticker to place on the old plates, and stop the harvesting of “T” stickers by miscreants.
And don’t get me started how after 45 years of practicing law, my renewal application as a Notary remains lost in the weeds somewhere in their Springfield office. The old one expired four months ago. That application is now nine months of whatever is being done to that one.
My wife’s drivers license came with a mail renewal form. She could do it online in minutes and not stand in line no less. Except that after multiple attempts she kept getting some unable to process message and to call the SOS office.
After calling the SOS and being put on hold for 45 minutes, she was given an appointment for 6 weeks out. Her license would have been expired for a week by then. After a great deal of haggling, they moved up the date. She then spent over two hours in line.
Nothing like modernizing the SOS office I guess. After reading press release after press release that all this would be so simple it would be like purchasing a soda from a vending machine, I am beyond jaded here. And this office also registers voters? There is a joke in there someplace.
Bring back those retro plates already.
Sheesh.
- TJ - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 12:38 pm:
ngl, my first reaction yesterday was that pushing for retro plates was kind of dumb, but it’s rapidly grown on me. Just wish that they allowed for retro plates going way back in time, not just back to the 80s and 90s.
- scurvydog - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 1:38 pm:
== the “T” sticker was stolen twice by those in society whose job it is to make other lives miserable.
Pro Tip: I worked with someone a long time ago who had a similar problem with stickers getting stolen from plates. He said he would put the sticker on the plate, then take a razor blade and slice it into tiny squares. Then when someone tried to lift it, they would just get little flecks and move on.
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 2:17 pm:
@Flyin ELvis - While we are at it someone can tell McDonald’s corporate to go back to their old bright red and yellow color scheme.
The current McD’s cold, corporate aesthetic of overwheling gray makes me as a customer even more depressed about the choice to patronize McD’s.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 3:09 pm:
what is the line for children? age? cause people can join the armed forces at age 17 with parental consent, can vote at age 18. are we not supposed to trust them? victims matter. running with a crime that leads to murder at age 20 is not getting my sympathy
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 3:19 pm:
=@Flyin ELvis - While we are at it someone can tell McDonald’s corporate to go back to their old bright red and yellow color scheme.=
I’d prefer that McDonald’s go back to their old brown unpainted brick building design common from the mid-70s through the 90s. Those made McDonald’s sure feel like home and very nostalgic for kids who came of age during the “1983-2001 license plate era.”
While we’re evoking nostalgia of the Thompson, Edgar, and Ryan years, is it too late to see if Willie Nelson might be available for at least one more State Fair gig? Even if just in the beer tents?
- old guy - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 3:28 pm:
Can I get the proposed flag design that I liked to use as a license plate?
- @misterjayem - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 3:55 pm:
Can we replace the Illinois flag with the retro plate?
– MrJM
- Mike Sorensen - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 3:56 pm:
The license plate thing is almost certainly a GenX push (a demo I’m solidly living in). Our generation (some of us, somehow) have expendable cash, and nostalgia products are massive. That’s why you see a resurgence of toy lines, for example, that came up in the mid- to late-80s.
I can also attest that my first thought on seeing this news was “yeah, I’d go for that!” giving just one more anecdotal note that it’s GenX’s fault.
- Sean Tenner - Tuesday, Apr 8, 25 @ 4:38 pm:
As the owner of the Blues Brothers’ Bluesmobile license plate (BDR 529) I heartily support HB3391, which I, admittedly, am just learning about now. Would love to trade in the modern / fancy design for the original in the movie. As for advocacy on HB3391, its 106 miles to Springfield, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of witness slips, its dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses - etc.