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Legislation curbing the cost of calls made by Illinois prison inmates has been signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner. It sets rates for inmates in Illinois correctional facilities at a maximum of 7 cents per minute for domestic calls. Sponsor and State Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) says that's about half the current rate. Rauner signed four other related measures at adult transition center in Chicago Monday.
A prison in central Illinois has been placed on lockdown while state officials investigate the assault of six employees by five inmates. The Pontiac Correctional Center is on lockdown following the incident Sunday and will remain on lockdown until the department has finished its investigation.
On the 21st: We discussed sexual assault on college campuses, and met the author of A Civil War Captain and His Lady: A True Story of Love, Courtship, and Combat. We also got a recap of the state fair and talked politics with Illinois reporters.
In 2008, the Great Recession helped to tip Illinois into a fiscal crisis it still hasn't recovered from. A new report from Standard & Poor's found that another even moderate recession would mean big trouble for the state's budget.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth says the country should lead an international coalition condemning the violence in Syria. She says if the country turns its back on victims like the 5-year old rescued from a partially destroyed apartment building in Aleppo, "we could potentially create a dialogue out there that America does not care about the victims of violence."
