Catholic Social Services of So. IL may join lawsuit

Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois will find out today if it will be allowed to join a lawsuit against the state over foster placements to gay couples.

Peter Breen is executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm based in Chicago. He is an attorney representing Catholic Social Services in its lawsuit against the state.

Breen says the diocese based in Belleville wants to join the dioceses in Springfield, Peoria and Joliet in the suit because there is a question whether the judge's order would cover Catholic Social Services.

“They wanted to make sure that we have a consistent result across the state, and so we’re glad to have them join. They’ve always been in support of a lawsuit, but had not joined officially up to this point,” Breen said.

The Department of Children and Family Services ended its foster-care and adoption services with Catholic Charities July 1st because it says the group discriminates by not allowing gay couples to take kids.

Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt has ruled that the foster-care contracts must stay in place until an August 17th hearing.

Brad Palmer, WSIU

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Illinois abolishes death penalty

CARBONDALE, IL (WSIU) - A new law took effect Friday that abolished the death penalty in Illinois.

Southern Illinois attorney Tim Capps of Carbondale was one of the first to join an elite group of trial lawyers in the state who were judged competent to handle death cases.

He says the new law will have a financial impact because the cost of trying murder cases will now fall on individual counties instead of the Capital Litigation Trust Fund.

Capps says it might be a good idea for the state to establish another fund to help counties pay for the cost of these cases.

“In order to have the best and most fair possible, you still have to have experts, you still have to have qualified attorneys. Now all of those safeguards that we been put in to place to protect innocent people from getting on death row … those aren’t going to be available to people who are facing non-death murder cases, which will be everyone who is charged with murder from here on out,”Capps said.

Capps says the average cost of a capital murder case ranges from $500 to $700 thousand, with some costing over a million dollars. He says judges will not allow murder cases to go that high now because counties will have to foot the bill.

The $420 thousand left in the capital litigation trust fund is supposed to go toward counseling for families of murder victims.

Brad Palmer, WSIU

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New federal air standards proposed for mercury

Tougher new federal air standards proposed for toxins like mercury would provide huge benefits in Illinois, according to a new report from the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

It says those benefits range from healthier kids and lower healthcare costs for businesses, to being able to eat fish from local streams, rivers and lakes.

The feds held hearings on the proposed new standards last month, and are expected to finalize them over the next few months. Howard Learner of the Environmental Law and Policy Center says in Illinois, protecting children's health needs to be a priority.

"It's time for both industrial boilers and for coal plants to clean up, reduce the amount of mercury pollution that's going into the environment and lead to safer water in the Great Lakes, in our rivers and streams, and protect kids' health," Learner said.

Learner says Illinois made progress in reducing mercury pollution after a 2006 agreement required coal plants in the state to install mercury controls. But he adds the federal standards would be the first to reduce mercury from industrial facilities as well as coal plants.

Some members of Congress have vowed to fight the proposed rules, saying they will hurt business and cost jobs.

Jennifer Fuller, WSIU

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Disaster assistance available in Cairo

CAIRO, IL (WSIU) - Disaster assistance advice is available in Cairo and other areas in southern Illinois.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Spokesman Sam Ventura says those who want damage assistance should apply by phone or on-line (www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance or by phone at 800-659-2955) before visiting the Disaster Recovery Center in Cairo.

"They're calling because they have had damages because of the flooding. And now that the counties have been declared disaster areas by the President, they can qualify for federal assistance," Ventura said.

Residents of the following counties are eligible for individual assistance: Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, White and Williamson.

One center is located at Emerson Elementary School, 3101 Elm St. in Cairo. Hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily (including weekends) through June 21, and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily (including weekends and July 4) from June 29-July 6.

Another disaster recovery center will open on Thursday in Junction at Gallatin School, 5175 Route 13.

Jennifer Fuller, WSIU

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Illinois officials begin flood assessment

CARBONDALE, IL (WSIU) - Officials from the state and federal levels arrived in southern Illinois Monday to begin documenting damage to homes and businesses from this spring's flooding.

Staff from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration say information gathered during the damage assessment will be used by the state of Illinois to support a request for federal assistance.

IEMA director Jonathon Monken says five teams of state and federal officials will conduct damage assessments in about a dozen counties.

"Basically what they are focusing their attention and time on is counties that actually reported having private homes or significant private property damage in the course of the flood," Monken said. "So this is really the phase that we are really working on right now is the individual assistance phase, which is geared specifically towards those private properties."

Monken says he expects the damage assessments to be completed by the end of the week.

He says the assessments will be very thorough.

“They look for a lot of things. The water level in the house. How high it ultimately reached. Whether or not it hit the electrical system or affected the electrical systems. Whether or not basic life support functions are still there, meaning life support in terms of water, electricity, heating, air conditioning, things like that. And then they also look at whether or not there was any structural damage to the home itself,” Monken said.

The documentation of damage comes as the Ohio River continues receding, having threatened Cairo and swamped parts of Metropolis.

The Ohio River's retreat meant that a highway bridge linking Cairo to Wickliffe, Kentucky has reopened, and the curfew in Cairo was lifted Monday.

Governor Pat Quinn issued a state disaster declaration for the southern Illinois flooding on April 25th.

Brad Palmer, WSIU

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Inmates assist flood relief effort

CARBONDALE, IL (WSIU) - Inmates with the Illinois Department of Corrections are helping with the flood relief effort in southern Illinois.

Donald Gates is the Deputy Director in charge of the region’s prisons. He says inmates from half of the area’s 13 correctional centers are helping battle the flooding.

“At this time we’ve put about 414 offenders out in the field doing various duties of putting sandbags together, and stacking sandbags, and responding to the call,” Gates said.

Gates says so far inmates have bagged about half a million sandbags and contributed 30-thousand man-hours to the flood relief effort.

Gates says it’s honorable for the offenders to be able to come out and assist the communities in need. He says they feel good about helping.

Jeff Williams, WSIU

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Illinois Fire Marshal providing assistance for flood relief

The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office is doing its part to help with flooding in southern Illinois.

Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis says there aren’t any fires to fight but there’s plenty of support that they are able to provide to those directly involved in the flood relief.

“We’ve provided a tent for our mutual aid system for 210 troopers up in Marion. We’ve provided approximately 20 light towers that are spread all over the southern end of Illinois at this point right now,” Matkaitis said. “In addition to that, we’ve put our de-con units about so that the National Guard troops can clean up after they’re done on the levees and the rest of that.”

Matkaitis says there are 45,000 volunteer and career firefighters in Illinois who are standing by to help communities in need of help with flood relief.

Jeff Williams, WSIU

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Governor Quinn considers mandatory evacuations

MARION, IL (WSIU) - Residents in several southern Illinois communities are voluntarily evacuating as flood waters continue to rise to potentially historic levels.

During a visit to the State Command Center in Marion Thursday, Governor Pat Quinn says depending on how high the flood waters get, he would not rule out mandatory evacuations for severely flooded areas in southern Illinois.

“We have to make sure that the levees hold if they are in any danger of breaching. And if water is coming towards people in a way that’s life threatening, we will have mandatory evacuation. That’s why we deployed more National Guard service members,” Quinn said.

Quinn activated an additional 200 Illinois National Guard Troops on Thursday to help in the flood fight. That means over 320 guardsmen have been activated throughout southern Illinois...with a heavy emphasis on Alexander and Gallatin counties.

Brad Palmer, WSIU

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Illinois Senate President like performance based funding

CARBONDALE, IL (WSIU) - Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he believes performance based funding is a good idea.

Cullerton's comments came during a stop Tuesday at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he toured an autism center that receives about 4-million dollars a year in state funding.

Cullerton says he was impressed with how the autism program utilizes its state funding.

The Senate President says the legislature will need to provide the state's public universities with some leeway under a performance based funding model. Cullerton says the last thing he wants is for public universities in Illinois to have to raise tuition to make up for potential funding losses as a result of a performance based model.

He says Workers Compensation Reform is the most important thing the General Assembly can do this year.

Cullerton says it's also the best thing the state can do to improve Illinois' business climate. He admits changing workers comp will be extremely difficult, but it needs to be done, especially the fee schedule that is second highest in the country.

Cullerton says any meaningful change will require bipartisan support. He says it is difficult for Democrats to vote against doctors, hospitals, unions and lawyers... but it must be done and the Republicans will need to meet them half way.

Governor Quinn is proposing cutting payments to medical providers who treat people injured on the job. The governor estimates that alone could save the state 500-million dollars.

The proposals come amid a federal investigation into possible Workers Compensation abuses at the Menard Correctional Center and into the actions of arbitrators.

Cullerton says he hopes the General Assembly will be able to provide the governor with a line-item budget this year.

The past two years lawmakers have succumb to partisan bickering and have not been able to agree on a budget plan... instead giving the governor a lump sum and letting him determine how to prioritize spending.

Cullerton says, right now, both Republicans and Democrats are actively involved in the budget process.

Cullerton says Senate Democrats believe the governor needs to cut about one-billion dollars out of his FY'12 budget proposal. At least one Republican plan is calling for about five times that amount.

Jeff Williams, WSIU

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