ALTON, Ill. (AP) – The school board in the Mississippi River city of Alton has approved a two-year contract with teachers, ending concerns about a possible strike. The (Alton) Telegraph reports (http://bit.ly/1QvecN6) the school board approved the agreement Tuesday. Alton Education Association members had approved the deal last week. The agreement includes wage increases and maintains…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – A coalition has more than two-thirds of its goal of 600,000 petition signatures to put a measure on the ballot creating a special commission to draw state legislative districts. The Independent Maps coalition announced Monday that more than 400,000 Illinois residents have signed petitions to put the proposed state constitutional amendment…
Since 2010 Illinois has received 169 Syrian refugees
( KTRS ) Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley says he’s joined other Democrats in creating a task force to help ensure equal rights for transgender people. The Transgender Equality Task Force will analyze some of the challenges facing the transgender community, including violence, homelessness, housing discrimination and unemployment. Quigley says the group also will recommend legislation to address…
WASHINGTON PARK, Ill. (AP) – Police in southwestern Illinois are investigating as a homicide an 84-year-old man’s death from a fire that began in his car. Howard Brown died early Sunday after the fire sparked a gas tank explosion and then spread to his home. Washington Park Police Chief Tony Tomlinson tells the St. Louis…
( KTRS ) Illinois authorities are urging hunters to be safe as firearm deer-hunting season gets underway. The seven-day season starts Friday for a three-day period. A final four-day period starts Dec. 3. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says there were 20 hunting accidents in all of 2014, with two deaths. Ten of the incidents…
CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago-based immigrant rights groups and advocates are blasting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s decision to temporarily stop accepting new Syrian refugees in Illinois in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris. The Arab American Action Network says the decision creates a “fictitious link” between those fleeing war and violence and those responsible for…
( KTRS ) St. Clair County is upping the ante in the competition with Missouri for a federal spy agency’s new regional headquarters. County officials on Monday said they would more than double the amount of free land adjacent to Scott Air Force Base available for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency relocation project. The county is offering…
Rauner is one of several U.S. governors who say they will stop allowing Syrian refugees into their states
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) – Authorities are investigating the death of a 3-month-old boy in East St. Louis. Officers were called late Thursday to a home where an infant was reported unresponsive and not breathing. The boy was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Hubbard says…