Afternoon News Update: Tuesday December 9
- State workers behind a challenge to an Illinois pension law that was declared unconstitutional are opposing the government's attempt to have it speedily heard by the state Supreme Court. Attorney General Lisa Madigan argues the government needs a decision quickly because if it can't implement the law, it would have to find a way to make up about $1 billion in savings.
- Authorities say three teenagers escaped from a car before it broke through the ice on the Rock River in Beloit and began to sink. Two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old girl drove to the Armstrong Eddy Park boat launch last night. The driver wasn't able to stop the car and it slid about 50 feet from the boat launch onto the ice. Officials tell the Janesville Gazette that the 17-year-old driver will be cited for endangering safety by reckless driving. The girl was taken to Beloit Memorial Hospital.
- The Beloit Police Department is withdrawing its offer to inspect homes for illegal weapons. The initiative was suggested as a way of helping the community deal with gun related violence, which has resulted in more than 51 shots fired incidents and six of eight homicides that occurred in the city so far in 2014.
- Federal prosecutors say they don't plan to call a friend of President Barack Obama's to testify in a trial over funds allegedly misused at the Illinois Department of Public Health. The decision not to call Dr. Eric Whitaker to the stand was announced Tuesday, one day after the judge called Whitaker a "hostile witness." He was listed as a witness in a trial involving Leon Dingle Jr., who's accused of diverting more than $3 million in grants for personal use.
- Governor Pat Quinn is responding to a newspaper's investigation about allegations of assaults, abuse and prostitution schemes at Illinois residential treatment centers for youth. The Chicago Tribune's ongoing investigation focuses on taxpayer-funded residential centers for disadvantaged youth. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services previously said it has imposed an "intake hold" on two of the troubled centers in Chicago.
- The University of Illinois' 360-member marching band is heading to Texas for the Christmas holiday. Director Barry Houser told students Monday the entire Marching Illini band and staff will take charter buses to the December 26th Heart of Dallas Bowl, where Illinois takes on Louisiana Tech. It's the band's first bowl trip since 2011.
- A Rockford bar has lost its liquor license after a shooting over the weekend. A 26-year-old was shot in the chest in the Sport’s Page’s parking lot. Our partners at Eyewitness News have learned that the bar’s owner believes the punishment is severe for a crime that occurred outside.
- A Love’s Park woman is facing charges after dozens of cats were found hoarded in her home. 77-year-old Sally Gaetjens has been charged with seven counts of animal care violations. 36 cats and 4 kittens were removed from her home on the corner of Tree Swallow Knotch and Hollowood Lane. The smell of cat urine and ammonia was so strong that authorities had to wear breathing masks.
- A jury has found a racetrack owner liable in a civil racketeering case that involved actions during Rod Blagojevich's time as Illinois governor. The jury in federal district court in Chicago awarded $26.3 million in damages to four Illinois riverboat casinos. The damages are tripled because the case fell under the civil racketeering statute.
- A state board will hear Canadian Pacific Railway's claim for compensation due to losses over a high-speed rail proposal abandoned by Governor Scott Walker. The company says it lost more than $500,000 when it helped the state prepare its bid for federal funding for the passenger rail line connecting Madison and Milwaukee. When Walker became governor, the state Department of Transportation withdrew its application for federal funding.
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