Afternoon news update: June 18, 2015

Comcast must identify a subscriber who posted an anonymous comment in a Freeport newspaper suggesting a political candidate molests children. The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling in a defamation lawsuit Bill Hadley filed against the commenter who used the online name "Fuboy." The comment was posted in 2011 when Hadley was running for the Stephenson County Board.
Flooding has washed out parts of Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois, with around five feet of water covering the main parking lot. Park superintendent Kerry Novak says most trails at Starved Rock remain open, but the trails to Jacob's Ladder and the La Salle Canyon are closed. The park is bordered by the Illinois River, which is under a flood warning.
From agriculture to infrastructure, climate change is expected to have a wide-reaching impact on Illinois, and a new report says the solution is a statewide climate action plan. A new report urges state government to get Illinois ready for the effects of climate change. The study from the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs emphasizes no matter what's done on reducing global carbon emissions, average temperatures are going to rise by at least a few degrees. That will lead to more severe storms in spring, longer droughts in summer, higher electricity costs, and lower crop yields. One of the report's authors, Don Fullerton, says a statewide climate action plan must be discussed now for Illinois to be prepared for these problems. "We need to step up the efforts is really the point here," Fullerton said. "It's going to cost millions of dollars, potentially billions of dollars, before Illinois is finished dealing with these infrastructure problems." Water infrastructure may have to be dealt with first, Fullerton says. That includes new aqueducts, water storage facilities, and new irrigation systems on farms. Fullerton says the debate on whether the climate change is real is over, even if experts can't predict exactly how high temperatures will rise and how severe the storms and droughts will be.
Rockford’s police union is gearing up for a fight with Chief Chet Epperson. Union president Terry Peterson says the ruling of the fire and police commission clearing Epperson of any wrongdoing in a 2013 welfare check has hurt department morale. The union believes the commission caved to political pressures from the mayor’s office. The union says it won’t accept the ruling, but hasn’t formally decided if it will appeal the decision.

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