2013 case revealed technical loophole that could have prevented arrests

SPRINGFIELD - Late last year, a man who’d been legally declared a sexually violent person in Illinois, cut off his ankle monitor to evade authorities. When he was found, waiting on a train in St. Louis, he had a ticket in hand bound for Albuquerque, NM.

Police quickly worked to obtain an arrest warrant only to find a legal technicality in their way. The man in question wasn’t technically an escaped criminal. That’s because he’d been committed to state custody under civil proceedings -- not criminal proceedings.

So, when he crossed state lines, police were essentially powerless to use criminal laws to arrest him for hacking off the electronic monitor and thereby violating the terms of his conditional release.

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SPRINGFIELD - The Senate today passed a proposal out of its chamber that seeks to improve business retention in Illinois counties that border other states.

State Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) is the sponsor of the initiative that recognizes the unique business retention concerns specific to border communities.

As a lifelong resident of a border community, Bush knows all too well about the business-poaching practices of the states surrounding Illinois. Her proposal will improve the economic conditions of Illinois border communities, keeping them competitive with the states that they border.

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