Illinois Quick Hits: Ex-suburban school board president indicted in fraud scheme
(The Center Square) – The former president of the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education is charged with three counts of fraud in an alleged kickback scheme.
U.S. government attorneys said Annette Johnson, 63, directed $1.3 million to a company for which she was the chief financial officer in exchange for taking acts in her capacity as president to approve the purchase of air purifiers from a school district vendor.
According to the indictment, District 131 paid for the air purifiers using COVID-era federal grant funds.
Illinois Supreme Court rules in pretrial detention case
The Illinois Supreme Court has affirmed rulings by circuit and appellate courts in a case involving the continued detention of a defendant under the Pretrial Fairness Act portion of the SAFE-T Act.
In People of the State of Illinois v. Jesse Post, a man charged with sexually assaulting children challenged a circuit court’s decision to keep him detained after he said his circumstances had changed.
The state supreme court found the appropriate standard of review to be the manifest weight of the evidence and said the trial court must assess the unique, factual question of whether the defendant is a real and present threat to the community based on the specific facts of the case or to prevent his willful flight from prosecution.
Chicago joins Cook County weapons ban before Supreme Court
The city of Chicago has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Cook County’s ban on assault weapons.
The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Viramontes v. Cook County on Dec. 2.
Plaintiffs argue that the Second Amendment protects their right to own rifles covered by Cook County’s ban because they are commonly used for lawful purposes such as self-defense.
Alton man with 14 felony convictions sentenced
An Alton man with 14 previous felony convictions has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors said Nathan A. Johnson, 41, had previous convictions for aggravated domestic battery, aggravated battery and domestic battery in Madison County state court.
Groups step up opposition to gas utility’s rate hike request
The Citizens Utility Board says consumer and environmental groups will deliver more than 10,000 public comments calling for state regulators to reject a proposed $144 million rate hike request from Peoples Gas.
CUB said in a press release issued on Thursday that the gas utility’s parent company, WEC Energy Group, recorded a 43.5% increase in third-quarter profits.
Earlier this month, two Illinois Commerce Commission judges proposed lowering the Peoples rate hike to $66 million.
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