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Durbin, Cramer Introduce Bipartisan Bill Addressing Shortage Of Doctors, Nurses

1 year 11 months ago
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), today introduced bipartisan legislation to quickly address our nation’s shortage of doctors and nurses. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would recapture 25,000 unused immigrant visas for nurses and 15,000 unused immigrant visas for physicians that Congress has previously authorized—providing a desperately needed boost to our health care system in rural and urban areas. U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) will introduce companion legislation today in the House of Representatives. “Over the years and during the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant nurses and doctors have played a vital role in our health care system, and their contributions have undoubtedly saved countless lives,” Durbin said. “It is unacceptable that thousands of trained, highly qualified doctors currently working in the U.S.

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EU Tries To Slip In New Powers To Intercept Encrypted Web Traffic Without Anyone Noticing

1 year 11 months ago
The EU is currently updating eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services), an EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. That’s clearly a crucial piece of legislation in the digital age, and updating it is sensible given the fast pace of development in the sector. But […]
Glyn Moody

Duckworth Announces More Than $400,000 In Congressionally Directed Spending To Boost Workforce Development In Illinois

1 year 11 months ago
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that $413,000 she secured through a Fiscal Year 2023 Congressionally Directed Spending Request will be sent by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to Kaskaskia College in Centralia for its development of a mobile manufacturing and training lab focused on workforce development and career training initiatives. This Duckworth-secured federal funding will increase Kaskaskia College’s efforts to offer skills training for good-paying jobs for Illinoisans. “Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s one of the things Congressionally Directed Spending allows us to do,” said Duckworth. “I’m so proud I was able to secure this critical support for Kaskaskia College, and I’m dedicated to ensuring Illinois continues to build upon our career training efforts. Investing in workforce

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Illinois State Police Squad Car Struck While Handling A Crash

1 year 11 months ago
SKOKIE – On October 31, 2023, at approximately 3:01 a.m., Illinois State Police (ISP) officials investigated a two-vehicle traffic crash involving an ISP officer’s squad car that was hit by a motorist who failed to move over on Interstate 94 southbound just south of Old Orchard Road in Cook County. On the above date and time, an ISP Troop 3 trooper was stationary in the left lane of Interstate 94 southbound with emergency lights activated and flares in the roadway behind the squad car which were set to indicate a lane closure ahead. The trooper was handling a previous weather-related traffic crash when a 2003 Toyota Matrix, traveling southbound, failed to move over, striking the right side of the ISP squad car. The Trooper was outside of the squad car at the time of the crash and was uninjured. The driver of the Toyota, 28-year-old Fadil Sanni of Chicago, IL, was also uninjured. Sanni was issued citations for Scott’s Law – Improper Passing of a Stationary Emergenc

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IDPH Launches New Provider Phone Line In Response To Alarming Increase In Babies Born With Congenital Syphilis

1 year 11 months ago
CHICAGO – Acting to address a sharp increase in congenital syphilis cases among newborns, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is urging healthcare providers to conduct more testing for the sexually transmitted infection in advance of birth and is launching a new phone line to provide clinical consultation for providers who treat pregnant patients and newborns. The service called the Perinatal Syphilis Warmline (at 1-800-439-4079) comes in response to an almost tripling in the number of congenital syphilis cases in Illinois since 2021. There were 29 cases in the state in 2020, 50 cases in 2021 and 84 cases in 2022. Calls will be answered within a day. “The best way to protect Illinois’s babies from congenital syphilis is for pregnant people to get tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections before birth,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “These rising rates of congenital syphilis are alarming, and IDPH is responding with new

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Gov. Pritzker Celebrates New Pump Station, Drainage Upgrades At Flood-Prone Lake Forest Intersection

1 year 11 months ago
LAKE FOREST— Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) were joined today by local officials and community leaders to celebrate a new $18.3 million pump station and other safety upgrades at Deerpath Road and Skokie Highway (U.S. 41) in Lake Forest, a project made possible by the Rebuild Illinois capital program. The improvements address longtime flooding issues, provide more resilient infrastructure, and enhance regional mobility. “When I took office almost five years ago, it was time to put the past behind us and modernize the basic foundations of our state,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Thanks to a more than $18 million investment made possible by Rebuild Illinois, we have entirely relocated and reconstructed the existing pump station, built two new detention ponds to handle any excess flow from the pump station, in addition to making multiple safety improvements that alleviate flooding and guarantee access to this major roadway.

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Man Pleads Guilty to Mailing Threats to Blow Up the Courthouse Downtown St. Louis

1 year 11 months ago
EAST ST. LOUIS – An inmate already serving a federal sentence entered a guilty plea to new charges Thursday, admitting he threatened to murder a federal judge and former federal probation officer and blow up a U.S. District courthouse. Richard L. Russell, 57, pled guilty to two counts of retaliating against a federal official, two counts of mailing threatening communications and one count of threatening to destroy a building by fire or explosion, namely the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis. U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe spoke out strongly against Russell's charges: “Threats against the lives of federal judges and probation officers will be met with equally severe punishment. “The defendant intended to disrupt operations and endanger workers at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse, and I commend the U.S. Marshals Service for their work investigating and thwarting the threats.” According to court documents, Russell was serving a 112-month

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