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state
New Illinois state laws took effect on January 1 Minimum wage workers in Illinois will see a boost in their hourly pay to $12 per hour starting Jan. 1, while tenants in affordable housing units will be allowed to keep pets. Those are just some of the more than 300 new laws that take effect in the new year. The minimum wage increase is actually the result of a 2019 law that phases in a state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. This year, it will increase by one dollar to $12 an hour. The law allowing public housing tenants to keep pets is the result of Senate Bill 154, by Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, and Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego. It provides that tenants of multifamily housing units that are acquired, built or renovated with money from the Illinois Affordable Housing
Trust Fund may keep up to two cats or one dog weighing less than 50 pounds. It applies to residents of housing units that are designated as affordable housing for low- and very-low-income families. The bill passed both chambers in its final form on May 30 and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it into law Aug. 6. Other new laws include: Vehicle taxes: SB58 raises the private vehicle tax, which is a sales tax paid on the purchase of vehicles, by $75 for each model year where the purchase price is less than $15,000 and by $100 for vehicles priced above that amount. However, the registration fee for trailers weighing less than 3,000 pounds will drop to $36 instead of $118. College admissions: HB226, establishing the Higher Education Fair Admissions Act, prohibits public col-
leges and universities from requiring applicants to submit SAT, ACT or other standardized test scores as part of the admissions process, although prospective students may choose to submit them if they wish. Drug prices: SB1682 requires pharmacies to post a notice informing consumers that they may request current pharmacy retail prices at the point of sale. FOID card changes: HB562 enacts several changes to the Firearm Owner Identification card law. Among other things, it provides for a streamlined renewal process for FOID cards and Concealed Carry Licenses for people who voluntarily submit fingerprint records. It also allows the Illinois State Police to issue a combined FOID card and Concealed Carry License to qualified appli-
by peteR hancocK
systems and keep each other as safe as possible.” Lawmakers typically meet from January through the end of May, with a short veto session that is usually held in October or November. This year, however, they originally planned to meet only from Jan. 4 through April 8 for a session that would focus mainly on passing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. That was meant to leave them time to campaign ahead of this year’s primary, which was pushed back to June 28 due to delays in last year’s redistricting process. Since late October, however, Illinois has seen a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, driven in part by the new Omicron variant, with daily case counts now far exceeding their November 2020 peaks. In January 2021, lawmakers convened a lame duck session primarily to consider a legislative package of education, criminal justice and health care reforms being pushed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. During that
session, the House met in a convention center in downtown Springfield, several blocks from the Statehouse, while the Senate continued to meet in the Statehouse under strict testing, masking and social distancing protocols. When lawmakers convened the regular session later in January, both chambers adopted special rules allowing committee meetings to be held remotely and for some members to participate in floor debate and vote on legislation remotely. “We continue to monitor the situation in an effort to protect our colleagues, our staffs and everyone else who is part of a legislative session day,” Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park said. “We have work to do, and we’ve proven that we can do it, minimize exposure and keep people healthy and safe. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the vaccines and booster shots available to protect themselves and those around them.”
lawmakers prepare for shortened 2022 session
Capitol News Illinois
The 2022 session of the Illinois General Assembly will be even shorter than originally planned due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Democratic leaders announced. The session was originally scheduled to start this week with three meeting days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But leaders announced last week that they will meet only on Wednesday this week and likely will cancel all in-person meetings the following week, Jan. 11-13. In an announcement released Thursday, Dec. 30, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said COVID-19 cases in Illinois had increased 130 percent over the previous two weeks while hospitalizations were up 50 percent.“This pandemic is not over,” Welch said in a statement. “We must take necessary precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus, reduce the burden on our health care
cants, and it establishes a new Violent Crime Intelligence Task Force to take enforcement action against people with revoked FOID cards. Student mental health: HB576 and SB1577 allow students in Illinois up to five excused absences to attend to their mental or behavioral health without providing a medical note. Those students will be given an opportunity to make up any work they missed during the first absence and, after using a second mental health day, may be referred to the appropriate school support personnel. Official flags: HB605 requires state agencies and institutions to purchase Illinois and American flags that are made in the United States. Hair styles: SB817 prohibits discrim-
ination in schools against individuals on the grounds of wearing natural or ethnic hairstyles, which include dreadlocks, braids, twists and afros. Lemonade stands: SB119 prohibits public health authorities from regulating or shutting down lemonade stands or similar operations that are operated by children under the age of 16. Known as “Hayli’s Law,” it was inspired by 12-year-old Hayli Martinez, whose lemonade stand in Kankakee was shut down by local officials. Juneteenth: HB3922 recognizes June 19, or “Juneteenth,” as an official state holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. In June, President Joe Biden also signed a bill designating Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
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state
Court upholds state legislative redistricting plan
by peteR hancocK
Capitol News Illinois
A three-judge federal court panel has upheld the legislative redistricting plan that state lawmakers approved during a special session last summer, thus leaving in place the new maps that will govern state legislative elections for the next 10 years. In their 64-page opinion, released Thursday, Dec. 30, the judges said the plaintiffs in the three separate lawsuits had failed to show that the redistricting plan violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution by diluting Latino voting power in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs or Black voting power in the Metro East region on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan area. “In the end, we find that the boundaries for Illinois House and Senate districts set out in SB 927 neither violate neither the Voting Rights Act nor the Constitution,” the panel wrote. “The record shows ample evidence of crossover voting to defeat any claim of racially polarized voting sufficient to deny Latino and Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in the challenged districts.” Last year’s redistricting process was complicated and slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed release of data from the 2020 U.S. Census. Lawmakers initially passed one set of maps during their regular spring session in May, even though the census data had not yet been released, in order to meet the Illinois Constitution’s June 30 deadline for lawmakers to pass a plan before handing over the process to a bipartisan commission. Republican leaders in the General Assembly, as well as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, quickly filed suit, arguing the maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle because the districts were not close to being equal in population. The Census Bureau eventually released the detailed population data on Aug. 12, and lawmakers convened a special session later that month to adjust the maps. Those maps passed the General Assembly on Aug. 31 and Gov. JB Pritzker signed them into law Sept. 24. MALDEF and the Republicans challenged those new maps as well, arguing that they actually reduced the number of Latino-majority districts in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, even though Latinos were one of the
fastest-growing demographic groups in Illinois over the previous 10 years. Separately, the East St. Louis Branch of the NAACP, along with other civil rights groups, challenged the way lawmakers had redrawn three House districts in the Metro East region, saying the new maps broke up the area’s Black voting population in order to protect two white Democratic incumbents, all to the disadvantage of the region’s only Black House member, Rep. LaToya Greenwood. Democratic leaders who had approved the new maps argued that they were not drawn for the purpose of racial gerrymandering but, instead, to protect Democratic majorities. They also pointed to recent elections of Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Secretary of State Jesse White, both of whom are Black, as well as Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who is Hispanic, and even former U.S. Sen. and former President Barack Obama to show that white majority voters will cross party lines to elect minorities. Citing previous U.S. Supreme Court cases, the judges said that in order to prevail, plaintiffs had to prove three things – that a minority group is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a singlemember district; that the white minority group must be “politically cohesive;” and that the majority must vote sufficiently as a bloc to enable it usually to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate. But the plaintiffs failed to make that case, the judges wrote, particularly with regard to the third factor because white Illinois voters do not necessarily vote as a racially-cohesive bloc. They also ruled that partisan gerrymandering may be unfair, but is not illegal under federal law or the Constitution. They noted that a 2016 effort to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to establish an independent redistricting commission received popular support, but the initiative was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court because it exceeded the scope of citizen initiative power. “These are matters for the people of Illinois to continue debating,” the court wrote. “Levers other than federal courts are available to them, whether they are state statutes, state constitutions, and even entreaties to Congress, if they wish to change the current process. … Our role as federal judges is limited and does not extend to complaints about excessive partisanship in the drawing of legislative districts.”
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Phone: 815.4246.24241 >> Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FAX: 815.4249.2415 email: classifieds@enterprisepublications.com IN PERSON: Enterprise Publications >> 2241556 Andrew Rd. >> Plainfield, IL
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real estate SHERIFF’S SALE OF REAL ESTATE of 193 Brandon Court, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 (Single Family ). On the 6th day of January, 2022 to be held at 12:00 noon, at the Will County Courthouse Annex, 57 N. Ottawa Street, Room 201, Joliet, IL 60432, under Case Title: AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC Plaintiff V. Jason Lenski aka Jason C. Lenski, Unknown Owners and Non-Record Claimants Defendant. Case No. 19 CH 0814 in the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, Will County, Illinois. Terms of Sale: ten percent (10%) at the time of sale and the balance within twenty-four (24) hours. No judicial sale fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. All payments shall be made in cash or certified funds payable to the Sheriff of Will County. In the event the property is a condominium, in accordance with 735 ILCS 5/15-1507(c)(1) (H-1) and (H-2), 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(5), and 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1), you are hereby notified that the purchaser of the unit, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and legal fees required by subdivisions (g)(1) and (g)(4) of Section 9 and the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act. Pursuant to Local Court Rule 11.03 (J) if there is a surplus following application of the proceeds of sale, then the plaintiff shall send written notice pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/15-1512(d) to all parties to the proceeding advising them of the amount of the surplus and that the surplus will be held until a party obtains a court order for its distribution or, in the absence of an order, until the surplus is forfeited to the State. For Information Please Contact:
real estate ANSELMO LINDBERG OLIVER LLC. 1771 W. Diehl Rd. Suite 120 NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS 60563 P: 630-453-6960 F: 630-428-4620 PURSUANT TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT YOU ARE ADVISED THAT THIS LAW FIRM IS DEEMED TO BE A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. Published 12/15, 12/22, 12/29
real estate IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE 12TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS U.S. Bank Trust National Association, as Trustee of Yurt Series IV Trust, PLAINTIFF, Vs. Walterine Myers; Sherry Myers; LVNV Funding, LLC; Unknown Owners and Non-Record Claimants, DEFENDANT(S). Case No. 2021CH000283 NOTICE BY PUBLICATION NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU: Sherry Myers Unknown Owners and Nonrecord Claimants That this case has been commenced in this Court against you and other defendants, praying for the foreclosure of a certain Mortgage conveying the premises described as follows, to-wit: LOT 4 IN MUNROE’S SUBDIVISION OF LOT 5 OF PATRICK LYNCH’S SUBDIVISION
real estate OF LOT 7 OF THE ASSESSOR’S SUBDIVISION OF THE EAST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 10, TOWNSHIP 35 NORTH, RANGE 10 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN AND SUB LOT 11 OF LYNCH AND STEVEN’S SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTH PART OF LOT 7 AND THE EAST 83 FEET OF LOT 8 OF SAID ASSESSOR’S SUBDIVISION OF THE EAST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 10 AFORESAID ACCORDING TO THE PLAT OF SAID MUNROE’S SUBDIVISION RECORDED SEPTEMBER 1, 1903 AS DOCUMENT NUMBER 224146 IN WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS. COMMONLY KNOWN AS: 621 Jerome Ave. Joliet, IL 60432 and which said Mortgage was made by: Walterine Myers the Mortgagor(s), to Mortgage Electronic Systems, Inc., acting solely as nominee for Lehman Brothers Bank, FSB, a Federal Savings Bank, and recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of WILL County, Illinois, as Document No. R2008028406; and for other relief; that summons was duly issued out of said Court against you as provided by law and that said suit is now pending. NOW, THEREFORE, UNLESS YOU file your answer or otherwise file your appearance in this case in the Office of the Clerk of this Court, Andrea Lynn Chasteen Clerk of the Will County Circuit Court 100 W Jefferson Street Joliet, IL 60432 on or before, January 28, 2022, A DEFAULT MAY BE ENTERED AGAINST YOU AT ANYTIME AFTER THAT DAY AND A JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRAYER OF SAID COMPLAINT. YOU MAY STILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR HOME. DO NOT IGNORE THIS DOCU-
real estate MENT. By order of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the 12TH Judicial Circuit, this case is set for Mandatory Mediation on February 3, 2022 at 1:00 P.M. at the Will County Courthouse, located at via ZOOM Video Conference (Meeting ID # 398 048 4152; Password 732739). You will meet with the Mediation Administrator to see if you qualify to continue in the mediation program to discuss options you may have and to pre-screen you for a potential mortgage modification. SOTTILE & BARILE, LLC 1415 West 22nd Street, Tower Floor Oak Brook, IL 60523 (312) 883-2810 Pleadings E-mail Address: illinois@sottileandbarile.com NOTE: This law firm is a debt collector I3184085 Published 12/29/21, 1/5/22, 1/12/22
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