Illinois

A special prosecutor in southwestern Illinois will review a levee district's repeated use of an auto body shop owned by its president. Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons is seeking the independent review of the business relationship between the Metro East Sanitary District and Andy's Auto Body & Towing, a Madison company owned by district president Andy Economy. The district's executive director crashed his government-owned SUV five times in the past three years.

Three insurers have sued Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs over an attempt to seek records on life insurance policies. Frerichs said Monday an audit was sought to find unpaid death benefits because returning unclaimed property is part of his office's mission. Frerichs says beneficiaries might be unaware policies exist. The information received would be checked against a federal death database. The lawsuit filed last week in Sangamon County argues the treasurer doesn't have such authority; benefits are paid if there's a claim and proof of death. The insurers are Chicago-based Kemper Corp.

A Cook County judge says he will rule Nov. 6 in a custody battle involving a central Illinois woman who's fighting a state agency's decision to take away her three children. Illinois child-welfare workers took Amanda Ware's three children last year after learning that in 2003 three of her other children drowned. Those children _ ages 6, 3, 2 _ died when the car they were in rolled into a central Illinois lake. Ware, then known as Amanda Hamm, served five years in prison for child endangerment. Her then-boyfriend Maurice LaGrone was convicted of their murders and is serving a life sentence.

A judge has found a central Illinois man fit to go to trial on charges he left his 6-month-old baby daughter to die by abandoning her in a bean field. Champaign County Judge Tom Difanis entered the finding Tuesday for Thomas Boitnott. It means he is now able to understand the charges against him and work with his attorney on his defense. The 24-year-old St. Joseph man was charged in June with attempted murder, child abduction and possession of a stolen vehicle. Authorities say he snatched the baby girl from her mother's St. Joseph apartment. She reported the baby missing.

Peoria police have arrested two more suspects in the slaying of a 14-year-old Peoria boy who was shot to death during a home invasion this month. 18-year-old Kiangelo G. Marshall and a 17-year-old whose identity was not released because of his age were arrested Thursday in Fulton County by the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Both were charged with murder and home invasion - the same charged facing four other suspects who had previously been arrested. The other suspects have appeared in court and their bonds were each set at $2 million. Tommie T.

A 50-year old man arrested for soliciting an underage boy for sex in Decatur is a recent applicant to be McLean County Coroner. Police reports indicate Vincent C. Peters was arrested after allegedly posting an ad on Craiglist seeking a young male for sex. Peters was arrested after an on line conversation with a Decatur Police Detective posing as a fifteen year old boy led to a physical meeting.

Officers say Peters acknowledged he intended to meet the boy for sex. His current residence is in Clinton but he listed a Bloomington residence last year on his application to be Coroner.

By a roughly 7 to 1 margin, United Auto Worker members have ratified a new contract agreement with Mitsubishi Motors North America. The final vote talley was 697 "Yes" to 103 "No."

A federal appellate panel has upheld a lower court ruling that the NCAA needs to provide full scholarships for student athletes, including meals and cellphone expenses.  But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel struck down another ruling requiring schools to pay athletes up to $5-thousand annually for the use of their name, likeness, or image.

University of Illinois Labor and Employment Relations Professor Michael LeRoy calls this part of the decision a ‘significant victory’ for the NCAA.

An American kestrel that the University of Illinois used as an educational bird of prey has been found after escaping last week. The bird, named Thistle, has one eye and can't survive in the wild. She escaped Sept. 23 from a handler at the University of Illinois Wildlife Clinic.

The clinic said Tuesday that Thistle was found in west Champaign and entered her travel crate ``to eat a meal hungrily.'' The Wildlife Medical Clinic and the College of Veterinary Medicine posted online that staff are ``rejoicing'' in Thistle's return and are grateful for the community's help finding her.

Construction at a major Interstate 74 junction has given Tazewell County a windfall: $1.2 million over three years. County Administrator Wendy Ferrill says the revenue from 4,600 tickets for speeding and using cellphones in a work zone softens the blow of the state budget standoff. Tickets for speeding went from eight per month in 2012 to 74 per month in 2013, and 129 per month last year. This year, motorists are getting fewer citations: the monthly average is nearly 100 speeding tickets. Ferrill says some of the money could go toward a new squad car for the sheriff's department.

Lawmakers have quietly made it tougher for smokers to find a public place to light up.  A committee of lawmakers has tweaked a definition in the Smoke Free Illinois Act to ban smoking in any public place with a floor and ceiling, whether or not the walls are retractable or permeable.

Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has stopped paying health care claims for at least 146,000 state workers because of the budget mess. The Department of Central Management Services has halted funding for claims covered by the state's self-insurance plans. But payments will continue to private companies operating managed-care plans for another 158,000 workers.  

It's unprecedented for the state to stop paying claims. It's unclear whether health care providers will demand upfront, out-of-pocket payments.  

A leading child advocacy group says even if state lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner end the budget impasse, the damage is already done to numerous services, like afterschool programs and efforts to prevent infant deaths. Voices for Illinois Children has released a report outlining more than 60 programs and services being affected. Advocates say it represents at least $3.5 billion.  

The Democratic-controlled Legislature and the first-term Republican governor remain deadlocked on a spending plan for the July 1 fiscal year.