A bill that would prevent statements and actions made by participants in restorative justice programs from being used in court proceedings passed the Illinois Senate on Wednesday in partisan vote.

Senate Bill 64, introduced by Chicago Democrat Sen. Robert Peters, would make “anything said or done” in the course of a restorative justice practice “privileged,” meaning it cannot be used “in any civil, criminal, juvenile, or administrative proceeding.”

The Illinois Senate advanced several bills to the House Wednesday, including one establishing a housing insecurity liaison for homeless college students and another allowing routine dental care to be provided at schools.

The preferred site for a new Mississippi River bridge at Chester is near the present structure.

The Chester Bridge Route 51 Environmental Study reports the preferred alternative site will be built about 75 to 100 feet upstream from the present bridge.

The date of the varsity football game between Carterville and Du Quoin has been changed.

Du Quoin High School athletics says to comply with IHSA rules, the game will be played Friday night at 7.

Illinois Republicans have added a new twist to their call for an independent redistricting commission in hopes of overcoming Democrats’ claims that their plan would likely be found unconstitutional.

The new twist, discussed Wednesday during a Statehouse news conference, would be to allow two different commissions – the one they are proposing in legislation, and the one mandated after a certain point under the Illinois Constitution – to work side-by-side to come up with new legislative and congressional district maps.

Some community leaders are expressing hope, after the  guilty verdict against former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin.  Father Joseph Brown, Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at SIU Carbondale,  says he tells  his students, this could lead to substantial improvements in policing.

An Illinois Supreme Court decision Wednesday clarified that the state election code prohibits a person from collecting signatures for both a party candidate in a consolidated primary and an independent candidate in the consolidated general election that follows.

The court interpreted the section of the election code that is referred to as the prohibition on “dual circulators.”

A House committee tasked with reviewing statues and monuments on state property held its first meeting Wednesday, hearing from professors and state government associations on what frameworks can be established to guide the review process.

Rep. Tim Butler, a Springfield Republican who serves as minority spokesperson on the task force, said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s creation of the review body is an “important and correct” decision.