Honoring our veterans

This Veterans Day, let us come together to celebrate our United States service members for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. We must also honor the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The men and women who serve in our military are nothing short of American heroes, and they deserve our utmost respect and gratitude.

If you are currently serving or did a tour of duty in the past, thank you for your service. Your bravery and dedication to protecting American families and our greatest ideals is incomparable.

For those who aren’t veterans, today is a time to reach out to veterans you know to pay your respects and thank them for their service. You can also send a message to an individual or to the home staff at one of our Illinois Veterans’ Homes by clicking here.

There are many resources available for our veterans. For more information, visit the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs or locate your closest Veteran Service Officer. You have fought for us, and now we will fight for you.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Copyright 2022 - Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus - All Rights Reserved

Van Pelt condemns shooting in Garfield Park, sympathizes with victims

GARFIELD PARK – On Halloween night, a tragic drive-by shooting in Garfield Park injured 14 people, including three children, in addition to a woman who was hit by the driver while trying to escape the shooting. In response, State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago) issued the following statement:

“I mourn with my community after yet another senseless shooting. It pains me that on Halloween night, a group of peaceful individuals could not even hold a vigil for their late loved one without fearing for their own safety."

Read more.

Glowiak Hilton: Check and replace smoke detector batteries while updating clocks for daylight saving

OAKBROOK TERRACE – With daylight saving time ending this past weekend, State Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton is reminding households to also check and change their smoke detector batteries as needed.

“It’s time to fall back, and daylight saving also serves as an important reminder to make sure your smoke detectors are working,” said Senator Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs). “This is a helpful habit to ensure your household is safe.”

Read more.

Stadelman celebrates West State Street reconstruction

ROCKFORD – State Senator Steve Stadelman is proud to announce the third and final phase of reconstructing West State Street was completed this week, thanks to his support of the Rebuild Illinois program and the joint effort between the city of Rockford and the Illinois Department of Transportation on this project.

“The reconstruction of West State Street has been transformative to the area,” said Stadelman (D-Rockford). “From improving accessibility features for pedestrians, mitigating traffic delays, and making the route to downtown more convenient, this project will be beneficial to residents of Rockford. I look forward to utilizing these improvements when I am driving around the district.”

Read more.

Sound of the State: A new episode on the CROWN Act

On this episode of Sound of the State, State Senator Mattie Hunter discusses the importance of the CROWN Act in Illinois, efforts toward its adoption at the federal level, and her own experiences with discrimination based on her hairstyles over the course of her professional careers.

Listen here.

In case you missed it

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Copyright 2022 - Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus - All Rights Reserved

BUFFALO GROVE – As daylight saving time ended this weekend, State Senator Adriane Johnson is reminding Illinois residents to test, inspect expiration dates, change the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and replace any broken or expired devices.

In 2014-2018, the National Fire Protection Association reports almost three out of every five home fire deaths in the U.S. resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or non-working smoke alarms.

“Fires can happen in the blink of an eye and result in abrupt, tragic loss,” said Johnson (D-Buffalo Grove). “Proper preparation can be pertinent to survival and fire prevention.”

A 2017 Illinois law requires ten-year sealed smoke alarms to be installed in all homes built before 1988 or that do not have hardwired smoke detectors by Jan1, 2023. Programs like “Be Alarmed!” provides ten-year, concealed battery smoke alarms to Illinois residents through their local fire departments and staff can aid with obtaining and installing these required alarms.

The program focuses on fire safety education and smoke alarm installation and is administered mutually through the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance and the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal “Be Alarmed!” emphasizes education for Illinois residents on the dangers of residential fires and how to prevent fires from occurring in the home. The program also offers demonstrations on how to properly install smoke alarms.

“Functioning smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms have been proven to save lives,” said Johnson. “As winter approaches, now is the time to ensure that your CO and smoke alarms are operating properly.”

Learn more about the “Be Alarmed!” program visit here. 

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ELGIN – The Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund has doubled the amount of assistance it is offering to eligible homeowners, and State Senator Cristina Castro is urging households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to apply.

“This program will provide crucial security to even more homeowners in Illinois who have struggled financially during the pandemic,” said Castro (D-Elgin). “Families facing debt and foreclosure due to circumstances out of their control – especially in communities that have been disproportionately impacted – deserve support and recovery.”

ROCKFORD – State Senator Steve Stadelman is proud to announce the third and final phase of reconstructing West State Street was completed this week, thanks to his support of the Rebuild Illinois program and the joint effort between the city of Rockford and the Illinois Department of Transportation on this project.

“The reconstruction of West State Street has been transformative to the area,” said Stadelman (D-Rockford). “From improving accessibility features for pedestrians, mitigating traffic delays, and making the route to downtown more convenient, this project will be beneficial to residents of Rockford. I look forward to utilizing these improvements when I am driving around the district.”

West State Street, also known as U.S. Business 20, was rebuilt and widened between Independence and Day avenues, eliminating a bottleneck while enhancing a downtown entry point to encourage redevelopment on the city’s west side. Other upgrades included new sanitary and storm sewers, modernized traffic signals and accommodations for pedestrians with disabilities. These changes were driven from extensive community input and planning to redefine and remake West State Street over the last two decades, and is just the beginning of improvements coming to Rockford as a part of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.

OAKBROOK TERRACE – With daylight saving time coming to an end this weekend, State Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton is reminding households to also check and change their smoke detector batteries as needed.

“It’s time to fall back, and daylight saving also serves as an important reminder to make sure your smoke detectors are working,” said Senator Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs). “This is a helpful habit to ensure your household is safe.”

If you find an alarm that is not working or is expired, replace the alarm immediately with a new 10-year sealed battery alarm. It’s also a great time to review your family’s fire escape plan.

BUFFALO GROVE – In her efforts to support continued education and youth programs, State Senator Adriane Johnson was recently honored alongside State Rep. Rita Mayfield in advocating more than $2 million in grant funding for two YouthBuild Lake County programs.

YouthBuild Lake County in North Chicago and Youth Conservation Corps in Waukegan provide programs to assist youth ages 17-24 in further developing education and trade skills. The programs offer High School diploma attainment, career readiness and life skills support, and construction training.

“While the construction workforce expands in Illinois, it is imperative that diversity and representation is included in the process,” said Johnson (D-Buffalo Grove). “I want women and people of color to be encouraged to step into this career path knowing that YouthBuild is dedicated to ensuring that they have the tools they need to succeed.”

SPRINGFIELD – To alleviate obstacles to affordable and accessible healthcare in Central Illinois, State Senator Doris Turner is calling on the governor’s office to use its statutory authority to defend people’s right to accessible and affordable care.

About a year ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois cut Springfield Clinic from its network, devastating more than 55,000 Blue Cross customers, many who are still struggling to find new doctors or file continuity of care requests with Blue Cross.

“Residents in the Springfield area have the right to affordable and accessible healthcare,” said Turner (D-Springfield). “A year later, I am still hearing from families, local businesses and individuals that matters are getting worse. It appears like the Blue Cross providers directory is out of date and that they are a significantly inadequate provider network to meet the health needs of Central Illinois residents.”

Turner sent a letter to the governor’s office asking for them to find a remedy to take quick action regarding BCBSIL’s provider directory and failure to meet network adequacy regulations or prohibit the company from selling inadequate plans for the 2023 plan year.