When 6-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadee Alfayoumi was stabbed to death in October of 2023 in suburban Plainfield Township in an alleged hate crime, it was as though the Muslim community itself had been stabbed. That’s how Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, described the effect of
WASHINGTON – Several congressional lawmakers from Illinois are celebrating a resolution that was passed by the Senate to honor the memory of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Plainfield boy who was stabbed to death in a hate crime last year. Al-Fayoume and his mother Hanan Shaheen were targeted by their landlord, Joseph Czuba for their Palestinian
WASHINGTON – Senator Dick Durbin participated in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week focused on combating the rise of hate crimes in the U.S. The hearing examined threats facing marginalized communities and how the federal government can better protect the civil rights and safety of all including Jewish, Arab, and Muslim Americans.
URBANA – The deadly mass shooting at a Colorado nightclub was on the minds of Urbana churchgoers as they remembered transgender people who were violently killed. Nearly 50 people gathered Sunday night at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign. The vigil was already scheduled to remember transgender people murdered within the last year but had extra
Scattered Severe Storms Possible On Wednesday More Than 900,000 COVID-19 Tests Conducted in Illinois To Date CHICAGO – Illinois reported 1,614 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 122,848. There were an additional 113 new deaths in the last day, with the total fatalities now more than 55,525. The
Durbin Pushes For More Science Research Funding Senator Dick Durbin (D) Illinois wants to reverse a half-century decline in federal funding for science research with legislation he’s hoping will become part of the next budget. The Democrat supports bills to finance research in medicine, technology and agriculture with a mandatory five percent increase each