Traffic Stop Leads To DUI Arrest

On May 11, 2025, at approximately 1:10 a.m., Gibson County Deputy Eric Powell observed a vehicle traveling northbound at 95 mph in a 60 mph zone on US 41 near County Road 1025 South. Upon catching up with the vehicle near Deadmans Curve, Deputies Powell and Michael Bates initiated a traffic stop.

While speaking with the driver, 35-year-old Casey Denbo, Deputy Bates detected signs that the driver might be intoxicated. At that point, Deputy Bates began a roadside DUI investigation. Upon concluding the investigation, Mr. Denbo was taken into custody and transported to the Gibson County Jail, where he was charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and Reckless Driving.

Sgt. John Fischer assisted Deputies Bates and Powell in their investigation.

All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Mayor Offers 9th Street Construction Update

The 9th Street construction project in Mt. Carmel continues to progress. At Monday’s City Council Meeting, Mayor Joe Judge says crews continue to work on the new sidewalk approaches, noting a lot of time will be spent at 9th and Market as new stoplight poles will be added there along with the sidewalk work. Judge says he did talk with IDOT officials who do plan to come and fill potholes along 9th Street until the road can be resurfaced.  Judge says residents should continue to focus on the end result through the next few months.

Joe Judge 9th Street

St. Louis man sentenced to prison for unarmed bank robberies

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A district court judge sentenced a St. Louis man to 87 months in federal prison after he admitted to robbing four banks in less than three weeks in 2023.

Tyrone Leslie, 40, pleaded guilty in January to four counts of bank robbery. One count was charged in the Southern District of Illinois, and the other three were charged in the Eastern District of Missouri. The Missouri cases were transferred to southern Illinois to be prosecuted simultaneously.

“Bank robbers like Tyrone Leslie threaten the safety of the community, even when they are not carrying guns,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “It is no defense that Leslie used threatening notes instead of more violent means.”

According to court documents, Leslie robbed the U.S. Bank on Tesson Ferry Road in St. Louis of $2,740 on Nov. 14, 2023. On Nov. 17, he robbed the People’s National Bank on Hampton Avenue in St. Louis of $964. Leslie robbed the PNC Bank in St. Louis on Manchester Road of $5,050 on Dec. 2. He tried to take $4,125 from the FCB Bank in Caseyville, Illinois, on Dec. 4.

Following the FCB Bank robbery in Caseyville, Leslie led police on a high-speed chase.

The Caseyville Police Department led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Laura Reppert prosecuted the case.

Governor’s office cuts revenue projection by $500M in latest downward estimate

Move comes as lawmakers enter final two-week stretch of budget negotiations 

By BEN SZALINSKI
Capitol News Illinois
bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker’s office is now projecting state revenues to come in about a half-billion dollars below the baseline projections assumed during his February budget address. 

The latest downward revision comes as lawmakers are entering the final two-week stretch to approve a budget before their May 31 deadline amid increasing economic uncertainty.

While Pritzker’s office blamed changes made by the Trump administration for revenue shortfalls, the new fiscal reality is almost certain to make passing a budget more difficult as lawmakers are forced to consider approving new revenue streams or cutting state programs to make up the difference. 

The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget lowered revenue projections for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, by $536 million from its February estimate. It’s a 1% decrease that puts the state on track to finish FY26 with $54.9 billion in revenue. 

The change “is largely driven by the economic uncertainty and anxiety fueled by the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress,” Deputy Gov. Andy Manar said in a statement. 

“Their reckless economic policies have already triggered the first quarterly decline in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in three years and are driving up costs for working families,” Manar added. “This growing national instability poses a serious risk to Illinois’ continued economic progress and outlook.”

Income tax, federal funding changes

Projections for income and sales tax revenue in FY26 were lowered by 1% since February while corporate income tax expectations decreased by nearly 7%. 

GOMB’s projection more closely aligns with a revision issued earlier this month by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the General Assembly’s bipartisan forecasting commission. COGFA’s May 2 forecast projects FY26 will see $54.5 billion in revenue, compared to the $54.9 billion forecast by GOMB. 

The roughly $400 million difference between COGFA’s and GOMB’s is driven by the fact that GOMB’s latest estimate includes tax code changes sought by the governor that will raise revenue beyond what’s in current law. Pritzker proposed a tax increase on electronic gambling and table games at casinos, pausing a transfer of sales tax revenue from motor fuel sales to the road fund, and providing temporary amnesty for individuals making delinquent tax payments.

Read more: State revenue projections improve as economic uncertainty grows

Pritzker’s office decreased federal revenue expectations for FY26 by about 2%, but COGFA lowered expectations by more than 6%. 

Pritzker in February proposed a $55.2 billion spending plan that would be fueled by $55.5 billion in revenue, including the proposed revenue changes. But now lawmakers must work to fit their spending priorities into a smaller window that was already tight. Pritzker’s introduced budget called for 1% spending growth in most areas of the budget outside education, pensions and health care costs.

Senate Democrats’ budget leader, Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, said he believes the governor’s office’s adjustment keeps with its recent tradition of “responsible and conservative revenue estimating” and that Pritzker was not too aggressive when he introduced his budget in February. 

“It was looking at the information available at the time,” Sims said in an interview. “He made an adjustment call. After having more real data, he changed the estimate to reflect that.”

House Republicans’ budget leader, Rep. Amy Elik, R-Godfrey, said Pritzker’s adjustment was “sensible,” but he should have been aware of President Donald Trump’s plans and accounted for their effects when he introduced his budget. She added the state budget has also relied too much on federal funds to pay for state programs. 

“We are now in a situation where we have so much reliance on the federal government that any little cut feels like a very big deal to Illinois,” Elik said in an interview. 

Special session needed?

The Trump administration has made the budgeting process “much more difficult,” Sims said, and it is possible lawmakers will need to come back later this year to make changes to any budget passed this month. 

“We have no idea what the federal government is going to do,” Sims said. “This is the most uncertainty we’ve had in a very long time. So it’s possible. Is it the preferred outcome? Absolutely not, but is it a possibility? Sure.”

Both Sims and Elik said lawmakers need to look closely at what the state is spending to make decisions about how to balance the budget with minimal revenue growth and without hurting key services. 

"We’re looking at every line,” Sims said. “This is that point of the session where we gather information.”

Some Republicans are seeking to slash significant portions of the state budget. Rep. Jed Davis, R-Newark, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, suggested the budget could be reduced by $10 billion, but many of his recommendations eliminate capital projects that are not part of the $55 billion general fund budget. He also suggested reducing  pension contributions that are required by law. 

Elik was more measured when discussing potential cuts. 

“You can’t just do an across-the-board reduction of state spending,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend that in any way. So I think you go department by department and line by line.”

Projections for the current FY25 budget that ends June 30 remain largely in line with expectations on the revenue end, although spending has outpaced revenues. 

Both COGFA and GOMB expect the state will close the year with $53.9 billion in revenue, though corporate and sales tax income will end slightly lower than expected. 

Spending for the year is so far trending 4% higher than what lawmakers budgeted for, according to GOMB, but nearly all of this comes from higher-than-expected pension payments. Recently enacted state law allows the comptroller to “pre-pay” pensions, meaning the comptroller can make pension payments earlier in the fiscal year. Generally speaking, that means spending could fall more in line with revenues as the fiscal year progresses.

Further cuts from Congress?

Congressional budget talks taking place this month could mean further cuts to federal funding for the state. 

Congress is considering a plan that includes some substantial cuts to Medicaid and federal health care programs, including a 10% cut to the federal matching rate for states that provide health care coverage for undocumented immigrants.

Read more: State on track to end health coverage program for immigrant adults

Pritzker proposed eliminating a health care program for noncitizens ages 42-64 to save the state $330 million in FY26, but a $132 million program covering seniors remained in his proposal. 

Pritzker has long warned the state will not be able to make up for any significant Medicaid cuts approved by Congress. 

“The Governor has made it clear: he will only sign a balanced budget,” Manar said. “At the same time, he has warned of the devastating impact on working families if Trump and Congressional Republicans succeed in their cruel cuts (to) Medicaid, SNAP, and other critical safety net programs.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.  

Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, speaks to Capitol News Illinois about the status of state budget negotiations. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Campbell)

Safety reforms could be coming for Chicagoland transit, but funding still up in the air

Officials quiet on other reform plan details, funding options for transit agencies 

By ANDREW ADAMS
Capitol News Illinois
aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com

With just over two weeks to go before their spring adjournment, lawmakers in Springfield are facing a tight deadline to pass major reforms to Chicagoland’s transit system — but officials have released few concrete details of the plan they say is taking shape.

Influential lawmakers said one major element will be addressed: safety. 

“We need to make sure that there are safety mechanisms that are implemented by transit security, that there are transit ambassadors for customer service and nonviolent situations, and there are social services for those that are in need of mental and behavioral health services,” Senate Transportation Committee Chair Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said at a Thursday news conference. 

Villivalam said transit safety reform should be rooted in data and “law enforcement expertise.” He cited the Los Angeles transit system, which he said has a similar number of riders as Chicago-area transit. 

“We can look at their system and say these are how many officers they have, these are how many transit ambassadors they have and so forth,” Villivalam said. 

Villivalam made the announcement alongside Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, a high-ranking House Democrat. Earlier this year, the two sponsored a transit reform proposal backed by more than 30 labor organizations. That bill outlined the creation of a new police force overseen by the Regional Transportation Authority. 

“There’s no police presence. It makes no sense,” Evans said of the current Chicago transit landscape. “Across the world, not just this country: New York City? Dedicated police. Washington, D.C.? Dedicated police. Boston? Dedicated police presence. London? Dedicated police presence. Germany? Dedicated police presence.” 

No final agreement has been reached for the expected reform bill. A spokesperson from the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, one of the advocacy groups involved in the transit negotiations, said that discussions dealing with public safety were scheduled for Thursday. 

Late last month, two other lawmakers involved in the transit reform negotiations said Springfield insiders were nearing a deal that would resemble the labor-backed bill. 

Read more: With 1 month left in session, lawmakers near deal on public transit reform

But that proposal doesn’t include a plan for funding the beleaguered Chicago-area agencies. While lawmakers have repeatedly stressed they are going to pass reforms before providing transit agencies new funding, agency heads and activists have consistently asked for financial support. 

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, speaking to Capitol News Illinois on Thursday, didn’t commit to any details of the reform package, but did echo the need for safety reforms 

“We have to have reforms before we even talk about revenue. We have to improve the ridership experience,” Welch said. “We have to improve rider safety. We have to improve safety for the employees on these trains and on these buses.” 

Welch also pointed to a group of House lawmakers he convened who are “getting close on agreements.” 

Chicagoland transit agencies — Chicago Transit Authority, Pace Suburban Bus, Metra commuter rail service and the RTA oversight agency — face a collective $770 million budget shortfall beginning this summer. 

The RTA says that unless the state steps in with funding help, that budget gap will grow even as the transit agencies will have to make massive cuts to service in the region. 

But that funding might not come from the state. 

Villivalam said Thursday that conversations are continuing around how to handle the issue and declined to provide specifics. Instead, he pointed to past proposals from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and RTA without indicating what options, if any, lawmakers will adopt. 


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.


A couple of passengers ride a southbound Red Line “L” train in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

Plan to limit scope of ‘crime-free housing’ ordinances clears Illinois Senate committee

Advocates say measures have been overused in some municipalities

By JADE AUBREY
Capitol News Illinois
jaubrey@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — A Senate committee on Wednesday advanced a measure aiming to limit the circumstances under which tenants can be evicted due to local “crime-free housing” ordinances. 

The measure was backed by housing advocates who argued the crime-free ordinances have been used to evict people in instances where the actual residents of the homes in question committed petty offenses or no crimes at all. But law enforcement and municipal groups countered that limiting local authority to enforce crime-free or nuisance ordinances would take away policies that can be used to revitalize neighborhoods.

The Senate Executive Committee approved Senate Bill 2264 on Wednesday, which cracks down on crime-free housing policies after a recent investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and The New York Times. It found that there were more than 2,000 cases in 25 Illinois cities where crime-free housing ordinances were enforced from 2019 to 2024, with about 500 of those cases involving evictions.

The investigation found that only a third of those 2,000 violations were for serious crimes like drug charges or felony convictions. The other approximately 1,300 violations were due to misdemeanors or noncriminal offenses, “many of which were never pursued by prosecutors,” according to the reporting.

Crime-free housing ordinances in Illinois municipalities began cropping up in the early 1990s in attempts to remove violent criminals, drug dealers and nuisance tenants who frequently disturb their neighbors at rental properties. While the local ordinances have been used to achieve those goals, advocates say they are sometimes abused to apply to people who aren’t even accused of crimes, much less convicted of them. 

In recent years, many cities have enforced the laws so aggressively that virtually any contact tenants have with law enforcement has been used as a reason to bring violations against tenants, according to the news reporting. That includes evictions of tenants who called the police to request assistance, which led housing advocates to push for the new bill.

In 2015, Illinois lawmakers passed a law prohibiting the ordinances from being used to evict victims of domestic violence. At the time, some cities were counting calls to police made by victims of domestic violence as nuisance calls, resulting in the eviction of the victims, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

If enacted, SB 2264 would bar municipalities from penalizing tenants for calling the police to request assistance from law enforcement officers. It would also prohibit nuisance and crime-free ordinances from being applied to tenants who are not themselves accused of crimes and would block ordinances from being applied to tenants based on who they associate with, unless the association itself is a crime. 

Any municipality enforcing crime-free housing policies would have to hire a crime-free housing coordinator, who would handle cases where law enforcement informs a landlord that a tenant should be evicted. The coordinator would review cases and decide whether the tenant’s action warrants eviction.

Tenants would be given the right to challenge enforcement action in circuit court, and municipalities would be required to create a hearing process for those facing enforcement actions. 

Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Kenny Winslow, who previously served as Springfield police chief, called the city’s crime-free housing laws a “usual crime prevention crime reduction tool.” His organization opposed the measure, which passed with only Democratic support. 

“When utilized right, it can be a revitalization tool for a neighborhood,” he said.

Michael Banske, director of the Illinois Crime Free Association, disputed claims that the ordinances are overused. 

“We do not displace families for domestic violence situations, for excessive calls for the police to come there,” he said in committee. “Nuisance abatement is completely separate. Oftentimes in a municipality, both of those are handled by the same officer or the same division, but they are, in fact, separate.”

The measure still needs approval from the full House and Senate before it would head to the governor for consideration. 


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Emily Coffey, senior counsel of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, speaks beside Sen. Karina Villa, D-Chicago, during a Senate Executive Committee in the Statehouse on Wednesday. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)

Lawmakers seek to reverse Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel

Uphill battle for legislation this session comes as Israel faces protests for its war in Gaza


By SIMON CARR

& SONYA DYMOVA

Medill Illinois News Bureau

news@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — A growing number of state lawmakers are moving to repeal a 2015 Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians.

Amid concerns about Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, lawmakers in Springfield supporting human rights for Palestinians have increasingly signed on to legislation opposing the decade-old anti-boycott law. But so far, these bills have stalled.

Illinois’ 2015 law prohibits state pension funds from investing in companies engaging in the Boycott, Divest, Sanction, or BDS, movement against Israel, making Illinois the first U.S. state to enact such legislation, with dozens of other states following suit. The measure, signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, was modeled after similar post-9/11 measures restricting Illinois’ pension funds from investment in companies that engage in business with the governments of Iran and Sudan. 

When boycotting Israel became grounds for blacklisting, Illinois lawmakers established the Illinois Investment Policy Board, tasked with investigating companies' investment choices. Opponents of the laws have warned they curtail free speech. Israel is the only country for which boycotting is penalized in Illinois by the board. 

To repeal this policy, Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Bridgeview, introduced House Bill 2723, and Sen. Mike Porfirio, D-Bridgeview, introduced Senate Bill 2462 earlier this year. Since then, some 22 co-sponsors were added in the House and Senate, while two of those later had their names removed.

“This is about the right for people to advocate for what they believe — in this particular case, for human rights advocacy — without the state telling you what you have to believe and how you have to act,” said Rashid, the first Palestinian-American to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. “It is a matter of making sure that Illinois is on the right side of history — not participating in the oppression of the Palestinian people – but it is also about making sure the Illinoisans and companies that do business in Illinois are not being forced and bullied and retaliated against because they chose to stand for human rights.”

Thirty companies are currently on the Illinois Investment Policy Board’s prohibited entity list for boycotting Israel. 

In 2021, Unilever, for example, was added to that list after its subsidiary — ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s — announced it would stop selling its products in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as defined by the United Nations. While remaining a supporter of Israel, the company said it did not support “an internationally recognised illegal occupation.”

Chicago-based investment firm Morningstar narrowly avoided state divestment in 2022, when the Illinois Investment Policy Board accused the firm’s subsidiary, Sustainalytics, of having an anti-Israel bias. The company then commissioned an independent report that found evidence of anti-Israel bias in Morningstar’s standalone product, Human Rights Radar. Morningstar agreed to accept a series of recommendations, including discontinuing the Human Rights Radar and no longer taking input from the United Nations Human Rights Council, in order to avoid state divestment.

Wavering support 

While President Trump-supporting Republicans and right-wing activists rail against a bipartisan national bill that would toughen penalties for boycotting Israel’s government, Illinois’ Democratic supermajority legislature appears hesitant to put an end to its 2015 anti-boycott law, which passed unanimously in both houses.

Rashid’s and Porfirio’s bills have stalled in committee despite the initial support from about one-fifth of the Democratic caucus, including the leaders of the Latino, Black and Progressive caucuses.

Thousands of bills, the vast majority of those proposed, get stuck in the Rules Committee every year for various reasons. In HB 2723’s case, the holdup can be attributed in part to the political costs of supporting the bill, advocates said.

Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, was listed as a cosponsor on March 20, and Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, signed onto the bill on April 2, but both had their names removed on April 8. Neither senator responded to a request for comment on their reasoning. 

Porfirio, the Senate bill’s chief sponsor, and its chief cosponsors — Karina Villa, D-West Chicago; Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, and Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet — all declined or failed to respond to requests for comment.

“Even though it had quite an impressive list of sponsors and cosponsors, it's a controversial piece of legislation that is likely to engender a lot of debate that most legislators don't want to vote on, because they either have Jewish or Palestinian constituents, or both,” said Dick Simpson, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and former Chicago alderman. “Why should they vote on something that isn't going to pass and then cause some constituents to be mad at them?”

But Deanna Othman, member of the Chicago chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, said HB 2723 is urgent, citing both a humanitarian crisis and a crisis of free speech.

“Unfortunately, it's more relevant now than ever, because we've seen all of the crackdown on student protesters and people who engage in boycott and people who are just voicing their First Amendment rights,” Othman said. “If I cannot stand up for the rights of my fellow Palestinians, whose rights can I stand up for?”

‘It’s impossible to tell if this bill will ever pass’

Activists say they are hopeful a repeal of the anti-BDS law will pass in 2026 if it continues to stall this year. But it remains an uphill battle, even as they point to a steady decrease in American popular support for Israel.

About 53% of Americans express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, according to a Pew Research Center study conducted last month. This is an increase from March 2022, when that figure was 42%. 

The survey found the share of Americans with little or no trust in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do the right thing for global affairs” increased significantly from 2023 to 2024. Since Oct.  7, over 52,000 people in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas’s attacks on Oct.  7, 2023, and around 250 Israelis were taken hostage.

The pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group J Street does not oppose boycott initiatives “that explicitly support a two-state solution and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” according to a statement of its policies. “It is critical to maintain the distinction between boycott efforts that work against the interests of Israel, and initiatives which are limited to opposing the occupation. We neither oppose nor call for these initiatives,” the group said in a statement.

But J Street does oppose the broader Global BDS Movement, which advocates for three tenets: That Israel should stop policing the border on and occupying legally Palestinian land, that Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel should have full equality with Jewish citizens and that Palestinians be allowed to return to their homes, as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Lesley Williams, an activist with Evanston Ceasefire who has been lobbying to repeal Illinois’ anti-BDS law, said the three tenets don’t mean “Israel needs to stop existing.” 

“That doesn't mean that non-Palestinians should be forced to leave Israel,” she said. “It just says the Palestinians should have equal rights in that territory and that Israel should be following United Nations resolutions.”

The original sponsor of the 2015 anti-BDS law in the House, then Rep. (now Sen.) Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, declined several requests for comment. However, when a 2022 Crain’s Chicago Business op-ed criticized Feigenholtz’s legislation, arguing it was “raising the specter of McCarthy-like scrutiny.” Feigenholtz issued a statement defending her law.

“Israel is the singular democracy in the Middle East that has historically been a consistent ally to the United States,” Feigenholtz said at the time. “Boycotts of Israel, like Ben & Jerry’s/Unilever, are intended to harm and weaken Israel.” She added, “No one’s free speech is curtailed.”

Ben and Jerry’s co-founders Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who no longer run the company, denied the boycott was anti-Israel or antisemitic in a 2021 op-ed. They said it was merely a rejection of Israeli policy, and that Ben and Jerry’s was in fact advancing justice and human rights, both “core tenets of Judaism.”

Given the controversy surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian divide, many political obstacles to these current bills passing will probably remain next year. Politicians are less likely to discuss controversial issues like the BDS movement when there’s a supermajority of one party — in Illinois’ case, Democrats — for fear of factionalizing, said Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University.

Even if a repeal of the anti-BDS law makes it through the legislature, Gov. JB Pritzker may still be an obstacle, Burge added. 

“Pritzker is going to try to run for president in 2028, and he doesn't want anything to happen in the GA that could be used as an albatross on his neck when he runs for the primary in a couple years,” Burge said. Should anti-BDS legislation reach Pritzker’s desk, “The Governor will carefully review this piece of legislation,” the governor’s press secretary, Alex Gough, said in an email.

“It’s impossible to tell if this bill will ever pass, and the reason for that is it's impossible to predict where the Israeli and Palestinian war will be next year,” Simpson said. “I don't know, if Israel does carry through on its threats to move all the Palestinians out of Gaza and to permanently take control, that might provide enough anger to cause it to pass. But it is just predicting.”

Simon Carr and Sonya Dymova are students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and are fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.


Students at DePaul University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment face counter protesters in May 2024. This encampment was one of at least 130 similar campus protests last year, which highlighted concerns that Israel was engaging in human rights violations. (Medill Illinois News Bureau photo/ Simon Carr)