School district opposes sex ed mandates
An Illinois school district is speaking out against legislation being debated in Springfield that would force schools to teach sex education beginning in kindergarten.
The measure would amend the current state law, which allows entire districts to abstain from the National Sex Education Standards, to only allow individual students or their parents to opt out of the curriculum. The St. Charles school board has gone on record opposing the measure and urged residents to contact their local lawmakers.
State testing wastewater for COVID-19
The Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Department of Public Health have announced a new website that tracks the levels of COVID-19 in wastewater samples in cities across Illinois.
On the site, visitors can search by city or county for up-to-date figures from any one of 75 wastewater treatment plants around the state that are voluntarily collecting samples of raw sewage to be screened for the coronavirus. Officials said monitoring wastewater for the virus has been proven to be an accurate and cost-effective way to measure COVID-19’s presence in a community.
EMS workers charged with murder
Two Springfield emergency medical services workers have been charged with first degree murder in the death of a restrained patient.
Prosecutors said Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan work for a private ambulance company, and were called in December to pick up a man who was experiencing a hallucinatory episode.
The Sangamon County coroner classified the death as a homicide from asphyxiation because he was restrained face-down on a stretcher by the two EMS workers.
