Tag Archives: Illinois

Illinois talk radio station WMIX reports: A former youth pastor of a Patoka church pleaded guilty Thursday in Fayette County Court to five of ten felony charges stemming from his involvement in a child pornography ring in Vandalia. Ferrell Kissiar, a former assistant pastor at the Pentecostal Church in Patoka was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison …

Illinois talk radio station WMIX reports: A member of what investigators have called a child pornography ring in Vandalia filed a jury trial waiver Friday morning and is now scheduled to change his plea in the case later this month. Former Patoka pastor Ferrell Kissiar is the third person charged in Fayette County Court as playing a role in the …

The Hill reports: Former Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey is launching a bid to take on Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) for the state’s 12th Congressional District. Bailey was endorsed by former President Trump last year in the GOP gubernatorial primary but later lost to Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Bailey officially filed on Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: A former Catholic priest has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a boy more than two decades ago at an Evanston hotel. Kenneth Lewis, 62, entered the plea Thursday to a felony count of aggravated sexual abuse in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw other charges against him …

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports: A man accused of possessing and disseminating child pornography worked at a Geneva-area church from 2016 until March. Rejoice Lutheran Church hired the Rev. Michael C. Willis to lead its youth ministry in 2016, according to the church’s Facebook page. Willis was ordained as a pastor in 2022, according to records on the website …

Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports: A Lake Barrington man with a revoked FOID card shot himself while having a dream that an intruder was breaking into his home, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. Deputies found Mark Dicara, 62, with a wound to his leg, authorities said. Deputies applied a tourniquet to stop the blood loss and he was then …

Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports: Governor JB Pritzker signed historic legislation Monday that would ban libraries from banning books. The law is the first of its kind in the nation, and would cut off funding to any libraries that remove books currently on the shelf. The law was pushed by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is also the state’s librarian, …

Block Club Chicago reports: A man with a gun, a flamethrower and a Nazi flag was surrounded by police Friday evening during a more than eight-hour standoff in Humboldt Park. For weeks, neighbors have complained of a swastika flag being hung on scaffolding on the roof of a building in the 4100 block of West Chicago Avenue. Police closed off …

From the Justice Department: A Prophetstown, Illinois, man, Philip J. Buyno, 73, has been arrested and charged by federal criminal complaint with attempting to use fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce. Danville, Illinois, police officers arrested Buyno on Saturday, May 20th, and he is scheduled to appear in federal court in Urbana today at 1:15 pm before …

The New York Times reports: More than 450 credibly accused child sex abusers have ministered in the Catholic Church in Illinois over almost seven decades, the office of the state’s attorney general, Kwame Raoul, said Tuesday in an investigative report. That is more than four times the number that the church had publicly disclosed before 2018, when the state began …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined for now to block a new law in Illinois that bans assault-style weapons such as the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, which has been used in multiple mass shootings. The decision in a brief unsigned order means the Illinois law enacted in the wake of a July 4 shooting in the city of …

Politico reports: Illinois is poised to become the first state to punish public institutions that ban books. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has said he supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state’s 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, and Pritzker is …

The Springfield News-Leader reports: During debate Tuesday on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Missouri State Senator Mike Moon suggested children as young as 12 should have the right to marry with parental permission. “Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” Moon said in response …

Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports: Brandon Johnson will be out thanking voters after becoming the projected winner in the Chicago mayoral election. With 99% of precincts reporting, Johnson has 51% of the vote with 286,647 votes, with Paul Vallas having 49% of the vote with 270,775 votes. The 47-year-old Cook County commissioner won the race to become the mayor of Chicago …

The State Journal-Register reports: A Petersburg man was arrested Wednesday on child pornography charges, bringing an end to a four-month investigation. The Athens Police Department said that Adam L. Power, 29, was charged with possession of child pornography, a class 2 felony. The investigation began in December when APD learned that someone was using an online platform in the area …

“We’re not having a climate crisis, but what we are having is a crisis of common sense. If you think about it, CO2 – man-made CO2 – collectively adds up to one-one-hundredth of one percent of the atmosphere around the globe. “If you think about the entire CO2, it’s about four-one-hundredths of one percent. And there’s one thing that I …

Religion News Service reports: Mark Rivera, a former lay pastor in a conservative Anglican denomination who was convicted in December of felony child sexual abuse and assault, was sentenced on Monday afternoon (March 6) to 15 years in the department of corrections. Judge John Barsanti of Illinois’ 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Kane County granted Rivera the minimum sentences for …

Peoria’s NPR affiliate reports: Jeffrey Reinking of Morton was sentenced Friday to 18 months in state prison for illegally returning an AR-15 rifle to his son Travis, who was mentally ill. The gun was later used by Travis in a deadly 2018 mass shooting at a Nashville, Tennessee Waffle House that left four people dead and four others wounded. He …

The Associated Press reports: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for re-election Tuesday, ending her historic run as the city’s first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve in the position. Lightfoot, a Democrat, failed to get enough votes in the nine-person race to move on to an April 4 runoff election. Paul Vallas, a former CEO …

Illinois Public Radio reports: A Normal man was sentenced to 88 years in prison on Wednesday for criminal sexual assault of a minor and possession of child pornography. Michael D. Schneider worked as a staff member at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Bloomington before his arrest in June 2021 on the felony charges. The victim, now a college student, struggled …