(The Center Square) – On Monday, Matthew Unglesbee, a 37-year-old Quincy resident, was charged with mailing threatening letters to multiple members of the state’s congressional delegation.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of Illinois, Unglesbee mailed four letters, postmarked in Springfield on Oct. 19, in plain envelopes with handwritten addresses, including the return listing his name and address.
The letters were received at the offices of four members of the delegation, including Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley, who have both gone public about their offices receiving the letters.
According to a statement from one FBI agent, an interview with Unglesbee revealed that he had filled the envelopes with salt and he claimed the letters were sent as a joke.
Feds look into Sox stadium plans
The Federal Railroad Administration is now planning to conduct an environmental assessment of a railyard near residential areas in Bridgeport, which is proposed to become a new Amtrak maintenance facility.
The project, which has faced backlash from residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, is a $915 million proposal to relocate the Amtrak facility in favor of plans to build a new Chicago White Sox stadium.
Both would be at least partly funded and entirely developed by future majority owner of the team and billionaire Justin Ishbia.
After originally being granted a categorical exclusion for an environmental review of the project, the federal government heard the concerns of local elected officials that moving forward without a full environmental review could present a multitude of issues for hundreds of residents nearby the site.
$11.4M saved after back-to-school tax holiday
Following a 10-day sales tax holiday for back to school shopping across the state in August, the state announced that residents saved a combined $11.4 million, more than the originally estimated $10 million.
Of the state representatives who voted in favor of the holiday as part of the annual state budget package, Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said that economic uncertainty will remain at the forefront of lawmakers’ minds going into the upcoming fall veto session next month, and the tax holiday was proof the state can provide relief to families in the state.
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