Capitol Briefs: State Police report fewer deaths on Illinois highways in 2023
Leaders credit stepped up enforcement for lower fatalities and shootings across the state.
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Illinois House speaker assembles lawmakers to recommend help for migrant crisis
About 38,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago. They come on buses largely at the behest of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said he is lifting the burden from small border towns in his state.
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Freezing temperatures complicate Chicago’s struggles to house asylum-seekers
For more than a year, Chicago has wrestled with how to house new arrivals until shelter space is free, with measures city leaders insist are a stopgap.
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Medicaid unwinding is causing people with disabilities to lose coverage with devastating consequence
Since the pandemic-era freeze on Medicaid disenrollment ended this spring, millions across the country –– including eligible recipients –– have lost their coverage for administrative reasons. Paperwork errors, system glitches, long wait times and outdated notices are kicking people off the rolls and vexing those caught up in the process. For people with disabilities, the…
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Some states with abortion bans saw slightly more births, new analysis finds
Abortion bans may have led to an increase in birth rates in some states, a new report suggests. Three university researchers closely analyzed 13 states that prohibited abortion in nearly all situations by the end of 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated a federal right to abortion. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics published…
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Your college student is back home and you want to talk mental health? Keep this mind
Mental health experts say the holidays provide an opportunity for parents to check in on their children’s psychological wellbeing as thousands of college students are back home. “This is an important time of year because you’re going to be spending more time with your kids,” Rhonda Randall, UnitedHealthcare’s chief medical officer, said. Having conversations about…
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New federal requirements aim to fix chronically understaffed nursing homes
At the Prairie View skilled nursing home in Sanborn, Iowa, the cafeteria was noisy on a recent Thursday. But not far from the sounds of conversation among dozens of residents is a unit that sits quiet and empty. Wendy Nelson, Prairie View’s administrator, used a code on a keypad to enter into what used to…
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Losing sleep over binge watching shows and online shopping? New survey finds 75% of U.S. adults do
More than three-fourths of Americans lose sleep because of digital distractions, according to a new survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Experts say that can be harmful for people’s health. More than 90% of the adults surveyed said they have lost sleep due to binge watching television and 75% said they have lost…
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After pushing for law targeting ‘crisis pregnancy centers,’ attorney general backs off legal fight
Bill sponsor calls Kwame Raoul’s decision ‘heartbreaking’ and a ‘gut punch’ to women.
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Sickle cell experts say a cure without care jeopardizes the freedom promised by new gene therapies
Two new, cutting-edge cures for sickle cell disease, a debilitating genetic blood disorder, have been approved on Friday. The sickle cell community is cautiously hopeful as questions around access and comprehensive care loom large. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Exa-cel, also known by its commercial name Casgevy. It’s a gene-editing therapy that uses…
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Racial covenants limited housing options for Black residents in Champaign; a local group aims to repair that harm
Racial covenants restricted almost 800 pieces of land in Champaign County from being owned by anyone who wasn’t white. The Champaign-Urbana Reparations Coalition is starting to advocate for reparations for this for African Americans in the area.
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After Dobbs, doctors say more people are turning to permanent contraception
Sitting in the living room of her Cleveland home, 30-year-old Grace O’Malley reflects on when she ruled out having kids of her own. O’Malley has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that weakens the body’s connective tissue, and can get much worse postpartum. About three years earlier, when she was in her mid-twenties, her condition worsened….
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For at least 6 months, state failed to act on Carlinville funeral director that mishandled remains
State regulators allowed a Carlinville funeral director to operate for months despite a complaint filed by a local coroner who found a decomposing body in his funeral home and alleged the care of the remains was “unacceptable and criminal in nature.” While trying to assist a local family with retrieving cremated remains in March, Morgan…
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Illinois scraps plan for building migrant winter camp due to toxic soil risk
With the coldest winter weather just ahead, hundreds of asylum-seekers are still awaiting placement at airports, police stations and other locations.
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The White House is urging schools to address a rise in fentanyl exposure among teens
Narcan, also known by its generic name Naloxone, is a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses. But in two-thirds of adolescent overdose deaths, the medication wasn’t used even though there was someone nearby. The main driving factor behind these overdose deaths is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is so potent even a tiny amount can…
