Joins IDOT to “Go Orange” during Transportation Work Zone Safety Awareness Week

SPRINGFIELD – To help increase awareness of the avoidable dangers in work zones and to honor those workers who have died in work zones accidents throughout Illinois, State Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) reminds drivers to be more aware during the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Work Zone Safety Awareness Week.

Bridges and buildings throughout the state will be turning orange this week to honor those who have died in work zones and to raise awareness as IDOT signals the start of another construction season.

“Imagine a line of vehicles driving through your work place at 60 mph or higher, possibly on uneven pavement—this is a high risk situation,” Holmes said. “Lower speed zones and signs are there for your protection as well as workers’, so please stay alert and keep your speed down while driving through these work zones.” 

In 2019, 842 people were killed and 39,100 injured in work zone crashes. Illinois averages 6,400 crashes in work zones each year, resulting in 1,700 injuries and 34 deaths. More than 9 out of 10 deaths are someone other than a worker, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Visit IDOT’s Work Zone page for more information.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator John Connor (D-Lockport) is promoting Work Zone Awareness Week in an effort to remind Illinoisans to take extreme caution as the Illinois Department of Transportation begins a new construction season.

“We’re no strangers to construction projects in the Joliet area, and it’s easy to become impatient when those projects are ongoing or we have to drive through a work zone on a day to day basis,” said Connor. “We have to stay alert, though, because even one moment of inattention can cost someone their life.”

Work Zone Awareness Week is meant to honor of those who have died in work zones and to raise awareness going into the summer construction season. Joliet is one of many cities across the state undergoing major construction projects beginning this summer, and residents are encouraged to continue to be wary of work zones even after the close of Work Zone Awareness Week.

SHOREWOOD – State Senator Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Shorewood) is offering congratulations to over 200 local high school students who were named 2021-22 Illinois State Scholars by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

“Over the past year, our students were faced with more things working against them than they deserved,” Loughran Cappel said. “Despite these obstacles, they excelled through a global pandemic, and I am so proud of their progress.”

Illinois State Scholar winners rank in approximately the top 10% of the state’s high school seniors from 676 high schools in all 102 counties. Selection is based on a combination of standardized test scores and class rank or unweighted GPA at the end of the student’s junior year. ISAC works in conjunction with the students’ high school guidance counselors to determine the winners.

Scholars from the 49^th District include students from five area high schools, including Oswego High School, Joliet Catholic Academy, Plainfield Central High School, Plainfield East High School, Plainfield North High School.

“As a mother and former educator, I know just how crucial quality schools are to a young person’s growth,” Loughran Cappel said. “We are lucky to live in an area served by schools with such an excellent track record fostering successful students.”

Recipients of the award will receive a congratulatory letter from ISAC, and a Certificate of Achievement will be sent to their high school. State Scholars will also receive a digital badge issued by ISAC that can be displayed on online profiles, exhibited on social media, and shared with prospective colleges and employers.

More information about the State Scholar program can be found at ISAC’s website.

MARYVILLE – The Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity announced a $7.5 million investment to construct a manufacturing training academy downstate, and State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) applauds the department’s decision to locate the new facility at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.

“The pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of manufacturing in our country,” Crowe said. “This investment in SWIC’s manufacturing program supports workforce development and puts our region on a path to equitable recovery.”

Expanding upon the school’s existing manufacturing training facilities, SWIC’s Belleville campus will soon be home to a new manufacturing education hub. The Advanced Manufacturing Center is expected to break ground later this year and begin welcoming students by fall 2022.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate has passed legislation sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) that would ensure local sales tax revenue approved by Winnebago county voters is used for mental health and substance abuse resources.

“The voters spoke. They said they want this money to go to mental health and substance abuse treatment. I want to make sure it does,” Stadelman said. 

In March of 2020, the residents of Winnebago County passed a referendum that increased the county’s sales tax rate. The additional revenue from the increase is meant to go to community-based mental health and substance abuse resources and support. This legislation requires counties that have approved this sales tax referendum to create seven-member boards made up of health advocates and professionals to help administer the funding produced by the referendum, as the taxpayers intended.

The county expects to see up to $14 million in additional revenue a year for these programs.

“This legislation eliminates barriers to mental health and substance abuse treatment by supporting private sector and non-profit alternatives to handling these public health crises. It does so by creating a greater number of access points to treatment. It allows counties to gap-fill specific services and shape mental health and substance abuse treatment according to the needs of the community, rather than through an arbitrary statewide mandate that will help the communities most in need,” said David Gill, President of NAMI Northern Illinois.

Senate Bill 2278 passed the Illinois Senate by a vote of 56-0 and now heads to the Illinois House of Representatives for further consideration.

SPRINGFIELD – Two measures introduced by State Senator Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) that would assist school social workers with earning and paying off their degrees passed the Illinois Senate today.

“Illinois schools face a shortage of professional, culturally competent social workers,” Gillespie said. “We must make it easier for our future social workers to finish and pay off their education so that schools can hire the positions they desperately need to fill.”

Senate Bill 661 would require the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) to award up to 250 Post-Master of Social Work Professional Educator License scholarships each year. Scholarship recipients would be required to work at a public or not-for-profit P-12 school in Illinois for at least two of the five years immediately following their graduation.

Though the work of fully implementing the laws will take years – perhaps decades – the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ year-long effort to cleanse Illinois’ government systems of racism is officially the law of the land. The fourth and final pillar of their agenda – health care and human services – was signed by the governor in late April.

When George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer sparked worldwide protests, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Chicago) – who was chair of the Black Caucus – called together her colleagues to take advantage of that anger and energy to enact real change.

The caucus gathered and decided that rather than focusing solely on police reform, they would push forward with an ambitious agenda. The goal was to confront problems they had been trying to solve for the entirety of their careers – problems that had held them back, their children back, and so many others in the Black community, problems that were baked into the very fabric of American society.

They decided to go back to the very beginning and examine Illinois’ laws for inherent racist policies born out of the eras when they were written. They also looked at societal problems confronting Black Illinoisans (and often by extension Brown or lower-income Illinoisans) to try to figure out if different government policies could be used to improve people’s lives.

SPRINGFIELD – In effort to support new employees of Illinois’ educational system, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) is working to create a New Teacher Induction and Mentoring Program and a New Principal Mentoring Program. 

“Ensuring all new educators receive support while developing essential knowledge, skills, and experience will result in a high-quality education for all students,” Lightford said. “A mentoring program would be a great way to build our new educators’ confidence and teaching strategies, helping create a great learning environment and experience for Illinois’ diverse learners.”

Senate Bill 814 would enable the state to invest in high-quality mentoring and induction programs for new teachers and leaders, which can increase retention, accelerate novice teachers’ and leaders’ professional learning, and improve student achievement.