Stories by Molly Parker — Capitol News Illinois

In response to the uproar over a Proud Boys message displayed on a billboard near Central Community High School, the United Methodist Church has a simple message: “Hate Divides, Love Unites.”

Clinton County Board Chairman Brad Knolhoff said the county had no legal authority to regulate the billboard’s content, but he and many others contacted the company, expressing their outrage.

The sign is located at Old U.S. Route 50 and St. Rose Road, about 1,000 feet from the entrance to Central Community High School. It lists a local phone number for people to call.

The bill’s future is uncertain as it draws fierce opposition from homeschool families, a threat against its sponsor prompting a police investigation and shaky support from Democrats.

Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, agreed with legal advocates who argued that the state still hasn’t met its decade-old promises to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live outside large institutions.

The Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center abruptly closed on Dec. 31. The judge who ordered the closure said staffing shortages made it difficult to meet state standards for caring for youth in custody.

State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change.

The department’s about-face on Choate’s top leader follows months of reporting on poor conditions at the facility by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica.

At Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, 37 employees have been fired, resigned or face pending disciplinary action after a state watchdog found that they defrauded a federal pandemic-era small business loan program.

Congress intended for the loans issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration, most of which were later forgiven, to keep small businesses afloat and their employees on the payroll as COVID-19 resulted in lockdowns and interrupted commerce.