The Chicago Bureau

 

November 14, 2013

 

 

From The Chicago Bureau:

For Chicagoan Darrell Hairl, a $20 cut from a monthly SNAP allotment is no small change. The 44-year-old is unemployed and has been supporting himself through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since 2010.

 

But with the Nov. 1 expiration of some recession-era legislation, his monthly stipend was cut from an already meager $200 down to $180. Now, the House and Senate are facing off on the long-debated U.S. Farm Bill, legislation that could cut up to $40 billion in additional funding from SNAP, affecting thousands of Chicagoans and their children.

 

The SNAP program was a nutritional mainstay for more than 2 million Illinois residents — until Nov. 1, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which increased SNAP benefits by 13.6 percent in 2009 and has sustained families ever since, became null and void, despite the millions of people who are not yet “recovered” from the economic downturn. While Congress further the debates the farm bill, under which SNAP falls, local agencies and nonprofits are struggling to pick up the pieces.

 

“Any amount is a large amount,”said Hairl. “When that deduction happened, it cause some hardship. A lot that I was depending on could have been toiletries, bus cards. I was devastated. It put me in a frantic situation, asking what is going to happen at the end of the week ?”

 

The reductions will affect about 886,000 Illinois children, a group already vulnerable to hunger and poverty, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. For families of three, SNAP benefits will be cut by $29 a month, bringing the allotment for an average meal per person to less than $1.40. The cuts will in turn impact soup kitchens and food pantries, which will see more families coming in earlier in the month because their stamps will run out sooner.

 

Kimberly Drew, policy associate at Chicago non-profit Heartland Alliance, said it’s her organization’s job to move people out of poverty—a job that becomes much harder when family food budgets are diminished. People are much more likely to seek education or employment when their families are fed. But for the 16 percent of the Illinois population receiving reduced SNAP benefits, difficult decisions will need to be made.

 

“The cuts to SNAP will mean making decisions between buying dinner or buying a bus ticket to get to work,” said Drew. “For a mother with two children that $29 translates to about 16 fewer meals per month. We know that parents might choose to go without food to feed their kids.”

 

Children may be the hardest hit by these cuts if their parents cannot afford the nutrient-rich foods they need, said Penny Roth, chief of the bureau of family nutrition for the Illinois Department of Human Services. Roth also spearheads Women, Infants and Children, a program run through IDHS which serves as a second line of defense for pregnant mothers, infants and children up to age five.

 

WIC is exclusively funded by the federal government, and is still recovering from the complete loss of funding during the 16-day government shutdown. Unlike the SNAP program, which allows participants to buy “just about anything that qualifies as food,” the WIC program provides designated food coupons for nutrient-rich items that children and infants need, such as iron-rich cereal, peanut butter and canned beans.

 

 

 

Read More »

 

Huffington Post

 

October 22, 2013

 

 

From Huffington Post:

Let’s take a moment to breathe a collective sigh of relief. After 16 days spent bickering over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress finally reached a truce and the law, which mandates that all Americans must have access to affordable care, remains intact. And while the government is resuming full operation this week, those in poverty are still left reeling. For them the shutdown wasn’t merely an inconvenience, it was a threat to their stability.

The current agreement funds the government through January 15, with the debt ceiling raised only enough to last through February 7. So while the government’s doors have been reopened, the problem hasn’t been solved, we’ve just kicked the can down the road. In 2011 we had a similar conflict. Congress couldn’t agree on how to raise the debt ceiling, squabbling while shutdown loomed and putting funding for emergency support programs for those in poverty on the line. Fortunately, a deal was struck just hours before the government was set to close and those programs continued unabated, but to say it was a close call is an understatement.

This time, the arguments centered on implementation of the ACA, but there was no last minute deal. The government shut its doors for the first time since 1985 and the programs families rely on to meet their basic human needs hung precariously in the balance. WIC, a feeding program for women and children, stopped accepting applications, meaning weeks of extra lag time for those already unable to afford to feed their families. Disability benefit applications were affected in much the same way. TANF, a program that provides emergency cash to those in poverty, was on the edge as well. By many estimates, states would run out of money to fund this program — as well as programs providing energy assistance, free lunch, and pre-kindergarten education — in November without federal funding.

For the people these programs serve, what had once been a lifeline became instead a ticking time bomb. In just two weeks November will be here, and with it funding for the programs they rely on to feed and house their family would have disappeared. Imagine your family in a similar situation, knowing that in two short weeks the support you rely on to help you pay for rent, electricity or food could vanish. Without the resources to stay afloat, families in poverty had few options but to watch and hope that Congress would remember that as they hammered out a deal, their families hung in the balance.

In the new year, Congress will once again be forced to deal with these same issues. And as we anticipate these conversations, I and many of my colleagues wonder — can we count on them to keep families in poverty from falling into hunger, homelessness, and danger in the middle of winter? Or will this partisan bickering continue at the expense of those in poverty?

At Heartland Alliance, the leading antipoverty organization in the Midwest, where I work, we are faced with the reality of poverty on a daily basis. Millions of families rely on the support that government benefits provide and when these programs unexpectedly and indeterminately shut down, they need somewhere they can turn. For more than 125 years we have been happy to serve these families, but it’s patently unfair and unacceptable for the government to deny the needs of its most vulnerable citizens.

 

Read More »

Huffington Post

 

October 7, 2013

 

 

From Huffington Post:

After years of debate, on October 1 our nation realized a tremendous milestone in how we provide health care in America — the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It’s one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent history and the largest overhaul of our health care system since the creation of Medicare. Despite the challenges and controversy, the struggle has been worth it — the ACA is one of the most significant pieces of anti-poverty legislation passed in decades.

In the most basic sense, the law mandates that quality health care must be available to all Americans, regardless of income. The deeper value, however, is much greater. In passing this law, we as a nation made a decision to validate the belief that health care is a human right. We made the decision that no one should have to choose between heart medications and keeping the lights on, and no one should have to watch their children become ill, knowing they can’t afford care for them if they’re going to pay rent that month. This is the reality for millions of Americans living in poverty today.

We at Heartland Alliance, the leading anti-poverty organization in the Midwest, where I work, know this fact too well. For 125 years, we’ve provided health care services to those who have been forced to make those choices and who are suffering under the weight of complicated chronic illnesses. We know that a life of poverty is one on the edge, with lack of comprehensive health care acting as a major contributor.

The time we as a nation have spent in our recent squabbles over the ACA ignores this fact — that the lack of care is trapping people in poverty and putting lives on the line. It also ignores the fact that the ACA can help resolve this via newly expanded Medicaid eligibility. Until the passage of the ACA, low-income individuals with no dependent children or disabilities were ineligible for Medicaid coverage. The ACA gives states the right to open their Medicaid programs to this often overlooked group and receive Federal funding for the costs. Illinois has taken advantage of this option, leading the way in providing comprehensive, reliable health care for all.

With the ACA in place, we in Illinois and across the country have a historic opportunity to move from emergency care to prevention on a nationwide scale. Diabetes, for example — a condition prevalent in low-income and poor communities — costs approximately $13,700 per year to treat. On the other hand, a preventative screening for diabetes costs approximately $65 at many local health care clinics. Through both the new ACA insurance plans and Illinois’ expanded Medicaid coverage, this once unaffordable screening can become a potentially life-saving reality.

Better health isn’t the only outcome we can expect, however. At Heartland Alliance, we’ve learned that poverty is a vicious cycle and that good health is inextricably linked to other basic human needs. Without a safe place to sleep at night, your health is at risk on a daily basis. Without good health, it’s nearly impossible to get and keep a good job. And without a job, it’s nearly impossible to get and keep a home. That vicious cycle can be broken, but people need support on all levels and simply placing them into a home and handing them the number to a clinic isn’t enough.

We’ve learned that good health requires both acute and preventative care, resolving life-threatening emergencies. At the same time, we provide counseling and education — as well as housing and job preparation services — to teach our participants how to use opportunities such as the new health insurance marketplace and expanded Medicaid eligibility to receive the medical services they need. With health and stability on their side, they’re able to prepare for their future, healthy, housed, and employed.

 

Read More »

Crain’s Chicago Business

 

September 19, 2013

 

 

From Crain’s Chicago Business:

(AP) — New U.S. census figures show that Illinois’ poverty rate held stubbornly at nearly 15 percent last year, signaling what anti-poverty activists say is worrisome proof that any economic recovery has not reached those struggling with low income.

In the Chicago metropolitan area, 14.5 percent of the residents were classified as in poverty last year as the region’s median household income was $59,261, in both cases not statistically different from the previous year. In southwestern Illinois’ St. Clair County, which includes long-suffering East St. Louis, 19.7 percent were below the poverty line in 2012, from 19. 4 percent the previous year.

The latest federal data show that 14.7 percent of Illinoisans — 1.85 million people or one in seven residents of the state — were in poverty last year, down slightly from the 15 percent, or 1.88 million, in 2011. The national rate also remained discouragingly stuck at 15 percent — affecting 46.5 million Americans and marking the sixth year in a row the U.S. rate failed to improve.

For the past year, the official poverty line was an annual income of $23,492 for a family of four. The latest figures show that the median income for the nation’s households was $51,017, also unchanged from the previous year after two consecutive annual declines.

Illinois was one of just four states where the median household income rose last year, while Missouri and Virginia were the only ones that saw a decline. That income level in Illinois rose 1.4 percent to $55,137, while neighboring Missouri’s fell 1.6 percent to $45,321.

Amy Terpstra of the Heartland Alliance’s Social Impact Research Center, a Chicago-based nonprofit that pushes for policy changes to help the poor, said the latest numbers partly underscore Illinois’ need to raise the minimum wage. Gov. Pat Quinn recently revived his pursuit of that despite fierce opposition from business groups, which have argued that hiking the benchmark hourly wage would mean fewer jobs and even higher poverty rates.
“I think what it shows is that poverty still is at nearly unprecedented levels,” Terpstra said. “Ultimately, I think it shows that the recovery has not trickled down to the people at the bottom of the economic ladder.”

The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2012, when the unemployment rate averaged 8.1 percent after reaching an average high of 9.6 percent in 2010. Typically, the poverty rate tends to move in a similar direction as the unemployment rate, so many analysts had been expecting a modest decline in poverty.

Illinois saw such a slight easing, coinciding with a drop in the state’s unemployment rate to 8.9 percent last year from 9.7 percent in 2011 and 10.4 percent in 2010, when Illinois’ jobless ranks were the highest since 1983, according the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Illinois’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 9.2 percent.

The breadth of Illinois’ poverty on a local level remains murky, given that census figures released Thursday only focused on counties with populations of at least 65,000, which in Illinois number just 23 of the state’s 102 counties. Those did not include most counties in largely rural southern Illinois, where high unemployment and poverty have notoriously deep roots.

Terpstra called raising Illinois’ minimum wage — at $8.25 an hour, the highest among Midwestern states — “a key piece” to potentially easing the poverty, noting that a person working 40 hours a week at that income makes roughly $16,000 a year. But boosting that benchmark wage hasn’t gotten much traction in the Statehouse despite Quinn’s continued push to raise it to $10 an hour.

 

Read More »

The American Institute of Architects

 

September 13, 2013

 

 

From The American Institute of Architects:

Landon Bone Baker’s renovated SRO affordable housing project gives recently homeless residents access to supportive services and urban agriculture.

By Leigh Franke

 

A roof over your head is a crucial first step to getting back on your feet, but too often, supportive housing does not aspire much beyond that. The west side of Chicago’s 89-unit Harvest Commons Apartments, however, does just that and more.

 

Landon Bone Baker Architects’ recent single-room occupancy (SRO) conversion took the historic but blighted Viceroy Hotel (“for transient guests,” as advertised out front) and turned it into a permanent home for those who need it most: the recently homeless. Today, the Art Deco terra cotta building has been restored to its full architectural glory—and with a program the neighborhood can be proud of. Inside the Viceroy, the architects restored the original arched ceilings and column layout, refinished the terrazzo at the stairwell, and recreated historic tile. To reconstruct the historic façade, over 20 terra cotta pieces were replaced after an extensive search for the right manufacturer. Rather than replace historic ornamentation with real brass that might be attractive to thieves, LBB used aluminum.

 

In 2010, Heartland Housing, a branch of the Chicago-based anti-poverty organization Heartland Alliance, won the contract from the City of Chicago to develop the building into affordable housing. But the group knew it wanted to offer more than just an apartment to call one’s own, explains Nadia Underhill, associate director of real estate development for Heartland Alliance. “It’s been an interest of folks on staff for a long time to really push the envelope on what we consider green living,” says Underhill.

 

In addition to traditional support services, Harvest Commons boasts a community garden, test kitchen, chicken coop, and an on-site cafe as well as a full-time nutritionist and gardener to work with residents. “It’s definitely not something most people would have expected when they were moving through the social systems that got them to the building,” says Underhill.

 

 

Making it happen

 

The real challenge to including innovative programs in affordable housing happens once cost comes into play. Landon Bone Baker (LBB) knew that it would have to get creative to make the $22 million Harvest Commons renovation possible. LBB senior associate Jack Schroeder, AIA, says that sacrificing programs for pricier design choices was not an option. “The urban farm and kitchen piece—we’ve heard [of] those things presented in other projects, and they tend to go by the wayside,” he says. “But [Heartland] just had a really singular focus on making sure that it happened.”

 

And it was fun. To design the project, LBB had to learn about food infrastructure in ways that that most architects don’t. “We got to design a chicken coop and learn about beehives,” says Schroeder. “We’ve gotten to become experts on compost. Every piece of it was exciting,”

 

 

 

Read More »

Report: Suburbs have as much poverty as the city

The Daily Herald

 

September 5, 2013

 

 

From The Daily Herald:

As poverty skyrockets in the suburbs, a new report says the suburbs now have as many poor people as the city of Chicago.

The “Poverty Matters” report, released today by the Heartland Alliance’s Social IMPACT Research Center, says the suburbs accounted for 34 percent of the area’s poor in 1990. Now, the suburbs are home to 50 percent of the area’s poor.

It’s part of a trend researchers call “the suburbanization of poverty.”

“We were pretty shocked that it balanced out to 50-50,” said research associate Jennifer Clary. “It definitely flies in the face of the image of affluence in the suburbs.”

The shift of poverty from the city to the suburbs is not unique to Chicago — it’s a nationwide trend, Clary said.

Poverty is defined based on the 2011 federal figures: income of less than $11,484 per year for a single person, or less than $23,021 for a family of four.

In sheer numbers, the poor population in the suburbs nearly doubled from about 323,000 in 1990 to 630,000 in 2011, far outstripping overall population growth in the suburbs.

A separate Daily Herald analysis of Illinois State Report Card data showed poverty rates in suburban schools increased an average of 18 points between 2000 and 2012, creating educational and financial obstacles for some local schools.

Increasing poverty also has left some social service agencies struggling to keep up with need.

Since poverty is a complex problem, the Heartland Alliance report states there is no single reason for the shift. Causes include growth in low-wage work, stagnating wages and shifts in policies for low-income housing, according to the report.

But while the shift has occurred over decades, the suburbs don’t yet have the extensive social services and infrastructure in place — things like easy access to public transportation — to help the growing poor populations.

In the suburbs, the poverty rate increased by 33 percent for foreign-born people, 26 percent for native-born whites, 31 percent for native-born Latinos, and 12 percent for native-born blacks from 1990 to 2011.

The report encouraged suburbs to take stock of social services and housing and transit programs for the poor.

“We do really need to keep in mind poverty is detrimental to everyone,” Clary said. “It really is in everyone’s best interest that there’s an adequate safety net for people so they don’t fall into poverty.”

 

 

Read More »

 

WIFR

 

August 22, 2013

 

 

From WIFR:

 

CHICAGO — Governor Quinn has signed a new law protecting Illinois renters in foreclosed multifamily properties. The new law requires those acquiring foreclosed residential property to honor existing leases or give tenants adequate time to make a safe move. This legislation is meant to protect Illinois families and help them fight foreclosure.

 

“The foreclosure crisis has been devastating to homeowners as well as many families living in rental homes who are at risk of losing their home due to no fault of their own,” Governor Quinn said. “As families in our communities continue to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, this law will ensure renters are protected from sudden forced moves that can be costly and disruptive to their lives.”

 

Sponsored by State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), Senate Bill 56 requires anyone who is acquiring residential property through a foreclosure to honor their tenants’ existing leases or provide a minimum of 90 days for renters to secure new housing. Approximately 40 percent of families impacted by foreclosure are renters who may not be aware their landlord has failed to make mortgage payments.

 

“A consistent commitment to housing rights protects tenants as well as homeowners,” Senator Collins said. “No one should be evicted on short notice and lose access to a safe place to live because of the financial circumstances of the landlord.”

 

“As we strive to reduce poverty and crime in our communities, the foreclosure crisis threatens our efforts by unfairly uprooting families,” Representative Cassidy said. “This new law will help strengthen the rights of tenants by allowing them to maintain a stable living condition, even though their rental property is in foreclosure.”

 

The law extends, clarifies and strengthens key provisions of the federal Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act that is set to expire in 2014. The bill was strongly supported by the Heartland Alliance, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and other advocacy groups.

 

The new law takes effect in 90 days.

 

“Illinois remains one of the states hardest hit by foreclosure. This bill provides protections that will keep renters impacted by foreclosure in their homes and afford them enough time to make safe moves for themselves and their families,” Jeremy Bergstrom of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law said.

 

“This bill is a major step forward. It will help ensure that renters living in foreclosed properties are not pushed into homelessness and that communities are not devastated by vacant properties,” Samantha Tuttle, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Heartland Alliance said.

 

Since taking office in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, Governor Quinn has worked to keep Illinois families in their homes. To help families fight foreclosure, Governor Quinn launched the Illinois Hardest Hit Program in September 2011, an initiative which provides monthly mortgage payment assistance and reinstatement assistance to households that are struggling with income loss due to unemployment or underemployment. So far $201 million has been committed to more than 8,400 homeowners in 95 of the 102 counties in Illinois. Each month, the state approves 400 to 500 new families who can keep their homes.

 

 

Read More »

Affordable Housing Finance

 

August 1, 2013

Congratulations to Heartland Housing for their nomination in Readers’ Choice Awards for the nation’s top developments of 2012 and 2013 by Affordable Housing Finance.

 

From Affordable Housing Finance:

After falling into disrepair and closing nearly a decade ago, Chicago’s landmark Viceroy Hotel on the West Side has undergone a historic and green rehab.

Heartland Housing, Inc., and First Baptist Congregational Church, who partnered on the rehab of the 89-unit Harvest Commons Apartments, focused on sustainability, healthy living, and community engagement.

The $22.3 million project, which is pursuing Enterprise Green Communities certification, features geothermal heating and cooling, a solar-thermal domestic hot water system, native landscaping and rain gardens, high-efficiency lighting and water fixtures, and energy monitors.

A highlight of the project is a roughly 4,000-square-foot urban farm. A part-time farm coordinator will maintain the area and engage the residents. It will feature raised beds with vegetables, a small orchard, a chicken coop, and bees. The project also includes a teaching kitchen with a part-time licensed dietitian.

A public cafe will be operated by St. Leonard’s Ministries.

“The idea is to engage residents around food so they can learn about healthy eating habits and get some exercise,” says Hume An, director of real estate development for Heartland.

Eighty of the units are for residents earning 60 percent or less of the area median income (AMI) while the remainder will be for residents earning 30 percent or less of the AMI. The majority of the units are for formerly homeless or those at risk, while 17 units have been set aside for formerly incarcerated individuals. The Chicago Housing Authority awarded 89 project-based vouchers.

Read More »

WBEZ Chicago

 

July 22, 2013

 

 

From WBEZ Chicago:

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Monday that will make up to half a million uninsured residents eligible for health care coverage through Medicaid Expansion. The expansion is part of the Affordable Care Act and will kick-off in about six months. But Cook County residents have already gotten a taste of the program through a pilot called “CountyCare.”

We spent an evening with Heartland Alliance healthcare outreach workers to see what some of the big lessons from CountyCare have been so far. You can read them below, or walk through one applicant’s process in the audio above.

Lessons from CountyCare:

1. Importance of outreach and education:  People who’ve never had health care before often don’t know how to use it.  Healthcare workers at a local outreach shelter said that many rely solely on emergency rooms.  The National Institute of Health estimates about 14 to 27 percent of ER visits could be handled by a primary physician. That costs taxpayers big bucks and often doesn’t result in the best long-term care for patients.

Dr. Ram Raju, CEO of Cook County Health and Hospitals System said, “It is drilled into people’s minds for 80 years that they should receive care at the emergency room, our job is to change their opinion.”

Medicaid is hiring people to help newcomers learn how to use insurance.

2. Lack of dental and vision coverage: The biggest challenge most health outreach workers said they’ve faced with CountyCare is the lack of dental and vision care. Medicaid used to provide adult dental care in Illinois. But in 2012, in an attempt to cut costs, it cut adult dental care except for some emergencies. That cut will remain after Medicaid expansion.

Ed Stellon is the director of Heartland Alliance Health. “We want to get away from compartmentalizing the different parts of the body. Oral health care is related to health care. Often the manifestation of a larger health issue is first identified by a dentist in a routine check up,” Stellon said.

3. Long wait times for application approval: Many applicants and outreach workers complained about the gap between when an application was sent in and when it was approved.

“There are some people that it’s been taking 8 weeks and they have everything they need turned in. You know we have people with diabetes who haven’t been able to properly check their blood sugar,” said health outreach worker Cat Schwab.

Schwab says that the long wait times come from the demand. A staggering 74 thousand people have been recruited to CountyCare in just 6 months. The state recently tripled the number of staff who approve applications.  It expects to enroll 115 thousand people before the start of next calendar year, when Medicaid Expansion kicks in statewide.

Read More »

Bloomberg Businessweek

 

July 22, 2013

 

 

From Bloomberg Businessweek:

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois became the latest state Monday to implement a central part of President Barack Obama’s health care law by expanding Medicaid to cover low-income adults who don’t have children at home.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed the state legislation into law, which will allow an estimated 342,000 Illinois residents to enroll by 2017.

“Some would call it Obamacare. I call it ‘I Do Care,'” said Quinn, surrounded by health care advocates at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s not a privilege to have decent health care; it’s a fundamental right.”

About half of U.S. states are moving forward on expanding the health care program for the poor and disabled, which is a provision in the Affordable Care Act approved in 2010. Last summer, a U.S. Supreme Court decision made it optional for states to take it up. More than a dozen Republican-led states have opted out.

In Illinois, and other states expanding Medicaid, enrollment begins Oct. 1 and coverage begins next year. Up to half a million uninsured will be newly eligible for coverage with the federal government footing the bill the first three years.

The intricate measure was closely watched in the president’s home state and went through, at times, heated debate. A last-minute amendment that gives more flexibility to the state’s mental health institutions created ripples. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, popped in during the floor debate as some Republicans expressed worries about future funding and long-term sustainability.

The tone was starkly different Monday as members of the Illinois Hospital Association, anti-poverty groups, AARP and sponsoring lawmakers — state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and Sen. Heather Steans — called it an historic measure that would give better access to health care and take advantage of federal money.

Some said the move would lessen the use of emergency rooms as a primary source of care, while others said it would improve efforts to prevent illnesses.

“The passage of this bill really is going to change the health trajectory of hundreds of thousands, the most vulnerable in our state,” said Nadeen Israel of the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance.

The expansion will cover those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or just under $16,000 each year for an individual. After the first three years, states would gradually pick up a percentage of the costs.

Illinois has lagged slightly behind other Democrat-led states in carrying out Obama’s cornerstone domestic achievement.

For three years, Quinn had hoped that Illinois could take over the health insurance marketplace, an online insurance shopping site that is available Oct. 1. However, Illinois lawmakers adjourned earlier in the summer without voting on the proposal. Unless lawmakers approve a plan in the fall, the state will partner with the federal government beyond the first year.

Quinn pushed the Obama connection to Illinois on Monday and said he wanted to sign the bill ahead of the president’s scheduled visit to the state. Obama is expected to speak Wednesday at Knox College.

“I’m going to bring this bill on Wednesday to Galesburg and say to the president, ‘We got the job done,'” Quinn said.

__

The bill is SB26.

Read More »