Debby Hernandez

The Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act was approved in the Illinois Senate on May 17 and awaits action in the House. A 35 to 18 vote victory came following a rally in which advocates asked for an equitable school funding formula. Sponsor of SB1, Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said the new distribution model […]

The rally began as students and faculty gathered around Illinois’ Statehouse Rotunda, chanting “Fund our futures” and “Do your Job,” calling on Gov. Bruce Rauner to fund higher education. It continued outside the Statehouse by the Abraham Lincoln statue with speakers firing up the crowd about the effects of the budget impasse on higher education. […]

On March 24, supporters of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, breathed a sigh of relief. This came after Republican U.S. House leaders withdrew the American Health Care Act, which would have repealed and replaced the ACA. The Republican health care act had failed to get enough support to pass. Local supporters of the […]

Two bills were introduced to increase Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 per hour. Rep. Mary Flowers-D, Chicago, sponsor of an immediate $15 per hour minimum wage increase, said people should have a livable wage. “When I looked at all the people that were against this bill I was really appalled, because none of them could […]

When Springfield resident Jerry Rabbe learned his mother had Alzheimer’s disease, he began to search for facilities to treat her condition. Rabbe took his mother to the Villas Senior Care Community in Sherman. However, Rabbe’s mother, Mary, would reside in three other nursing homes in less than two years. Mary resided in the Villas for […]

On March 8 women gathered at the State Capitol Rotunda around the Illinois Welcoming the World statue of a woman extending her arms, which reads “commemorating the work of the women of the state of Illinois.” Maryam Mostoufi, from the Islamic Society of Greater Springfield, a nonprofit Islamic organization, began her speech chanting the chorus […]

Under Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new budget, pre-k through 12 education would receive a funding increase over last year, but using the current school funding formula. Rauner’s budget proposal includes a $250 million increase for elementary education, with $50 million going to early childhood and a $30 million increase toward general state aid. Rauner also proposed […]

Proposed legislation would provide “safe zone” locations to immigrants by requiring state and local law enforcement agencies to issue a warrant prior to investigating, detaining or arresting people for violating the federal immigration law. Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside, sponsor of the bill, said during a press conference the bill does not require Illinois to become […]

On Feb. 3 the Funding Illinois’ Future coalition, an advocacy organization for a new school funding formula, urged lawmakers in a press release to pass bipartisan legislation to provide “adequate and equal” school funding. The coalition called for legislation that “recognizes individual student needs, differences in local resources, (and) closes funding gaps in five years […]

President Trump’s immigration executive order, which banned refugees from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States, mobilized the Springfield community to organize a rally on Monday at the Old State Capitol. The executive order bans entry for 120 days to permanent residents and visa-carrying refugees from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen who […]