Illinois Eagle (https://illinoiseagle.com/category/sections/news/page/167/)
News from across Illinois
URBANA — A swastika was found in the bathroom of the English Building at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, local media reported Wednesday. It was the second incidence in a month. The News-Gazette of Champaign/Urbana reported that the swastika was found Monday drawn on a wall inside a men’s restroom at the English Building at 608 S. Wright St. in Urbana. No word on how long it had been there.
PEORIA — Peoria Pridefest is starting the planning for next year’s event with a meeting this Saturday, Dec. 8. From Peoria Pridefest’s Facebook post:
One Voice, your Central Illinois LGBT Alliance is trying to plan Peoria Pridefest 2019, and we need engaged and energetic PEOPLE to make that happen! I won’t sugar-coat our needs…and we NEED to get moving on this NOW. So here’s the facts:
…We have a meeting scheduled at the WTVP 47 Studios on State St.
SPRINGFIELD — A display from the Satanic Temple in Chicago has been added a Nativity scene and Menorah in the Illinois State Capitol rotunda. The State Journal-Register in Springfield reported Tuesday that the temple had applied to the secretary of state’s office to allow the display. From the State Journal-Register:
[T]he sculpture is called “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift,” and it depicts the forearm of a young woman extended, with a snake coiled around the arm, and the hand holding an apple. The whole structure, including the base, is about 4 1/2 feet tall, and the arm and apple statue is about 18 inches long. Lex Manticore of Chicago, a leader and spokesman for the group, said the arm represents that of Eve in the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge.
WASHINGTON — The Hill reported that a federal judge last week denied a request to limit or hold a ruling that stops the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on transgender people in the military. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in a decision that the court is not convinced the government will suffer irreparable harm without a stay of the court’s October 2017 preliminary injunction. From The Hill:
The government had asked for a stay pending any potential, future proceedings in the Supreme Court. Bypassing normal judicial order, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court last week to review the case before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Arguments before the appeals court are scheduled for Dec.
CARY — A man has been charged with trying to give a police officer HIV by biting the cop on the leg, according to a local newspaper. From the Northwest Herald:
A Cary man is due in court Dec. 14 on allegations that he tried to give a police officer HIV by biting him in the leg. Police were called at 8:19 p.m. June 19 to perform a well-being check on Christopher J. Seerden at his home, Cary Deputy Police Chief Jim Fillmore said. Fillmore declined to comment on the reason for the well-being check.
CARBONDALE — The Rainbow Cafe LGBT Youth Center in Carbondale took part in the southern Illinois city’s Lights Fantastic Parade this past weekend. The Lights Fantastic Parade is Carbondale’s annual Christmas parade and this year, the Rainbow Cafe had a float of their own. From the Rainbow Cafe’s Facebook page:
Our theme was Welcome to Wonderland, and we hosted a taco party for participants at RC afterwards. This was a huge accomplishment for our youth, who raised partial funds and worked on weekends all through November to finish construction. With gratitude, we recognize the people of the Rainbow Cafe for their contributions:
Our manager, Ashley Beard for helping with design, construction, paints, materials,and space; volunteer Emily Sands for design, construction, and scrounging materials; volunteer and Unconditional parent Sage Banks for donating time and space; Unconditional parent Jerry South for lending us the trailer; Unconditional parent Jill Adams for her support; Board Intern and Unconditional parent Mona M Miller for lending us the generator and walking with us; Board Intern and Unconditional parent Carrie Sinclair Vine for materials and support; Unconditional parent Christopher Vine for donating wood and other materials, working every weekend on construction, and driving the float; volunteer Lauren Orange for organizing the Culver’s Share Night Fundraiser; Board VC and Volunteer Chip Loghry for helping the youth make masks and balloon lights and for walking with us and taco duty …
PEORIA — The Peoria City Council this week issued a proclamation setting Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day in Peoria. Sid Ruckriegel, at-large councilmember, made the presentation to Jonathan Harwood, board member of Central Illinois Friends of PWA, and Deric Tucker Kimler, the executive director. “The proclamation schedule was set before I chaired the meeting,” Ruckriegel told the Eagle. “Having seen first hand the good work of Deric and his team, it is well deserved and helps to honor those that have been lost over the years.”
DECATUR — Decatur police said a man who was trying to stop two guys from having sex in a parked car was punched in the face on Saturday. The Decatur Herald & Review reported that the incident happened in Hyde Park Court on the south edge of Decatur off of U.S. 51 just before 3:30 a.m. Police officer Jeremy williams said the victim, described as a friend of the guy who punched him, had been asked to stop the the party in the car by the driveway’s owner. From the Herald & Review:
“…The homeowner of the residence did not like the fact that this was occurring in his driveway and advised (the victim) to notify his (friend, and the friend’s partner) to leave the property,” Williams said. Williams said the 21-year-old assailant then “became irate” before punching the victim in the head four times, leaving him with redness, swelling and bruising injuries police recorded with photographs. The man was booked on a preliminary charge of battery and is free after posting $1,000 bond.
ALBUQUERQUE — The family of a transgender Honduran migrant who died in ICE custody are saying the woman did not receive medical care and was abused. From the SF Gate:
Tennessee-based civil rights attorney Andrew Free released details of an independent autopsy this week that noted deep bruising along Roxsana Hernandez’s ribs that wasn’t evident externally, contusions on her back and injuries around her wrists that were likely caused by handcuffs. The autopsy also concluded that Hernandez likely died as the result of severe dehydration complicated by HIV. Free is working with the California-based Transgender Law Center to represent Hernandez’s family. He has filed a notice of intent to sue over her death, saying he has requested documents from various federal agencies about the conditions in which the woman was kept.