Gov grants 5 clemency petitions, rejects 197
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted five petitions for clemency and denied 197 others.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board said Friday the granted cases involve attempted burglary, theft and drug charges.
A petitioner granted clemency is allowed to go to court to seek expungement of a criminal record. Each person granted clemency has undergone a background check.
In December, Rauner announced had eliminated a backlog of thousands of clemency requests inherited under previous governors.
Rauner’s office says the clemencies announced Friday mark the 17th set of petitions the Republican has reviewed since taking office in 2015. AP
Class- action lawsuit against Illinois college is certified
A federal judge has certified a class- action lawsuit against Oakton Community College that alleges a professor was wrongfully fired.
U. S. District JudgeMatthew Kennelly’s decision last week could open the lawsuit to include some of the 79 former employees who had been receiving payments from the State Universities Retirement System, the Daily Herald reported.
The college’s disputed 2015 hiring policy came after it was fined for violating part of Illinois’ return- to- work law, which aims to prevent retirees from working in a public sector while collecting a pension.
Public colleges are penalized when its teachers are paid more than 40 percent higher than their pre- retirement salary while collecting pension payments of more than $ 10,000 annually.
Former instructor Barry Dayton filed the lawsuit after the policy was implemented. He alleged the policy violates age discrimination laws.
Dayton’s attorney, Nathan Eisenberg, said about 20 former employees expressed interest in joining the lawsuit. More former employees could join the suit in the next 45 days. He argued the college’s policy doesn’t determine how the return- to- work law affects employees on an individual basis.
The lawsuit seeks reemployment and payments for damages. AP
Mankilled when cement truck wheel falls on him
A 66- year- old man died Thursday when a cement truck wheel fell on him in the West Town neighborhood.
BillyMorris, of the Avondale neighborhood, was working on the truck about 3: 15 p. m. in the 800 block of North Peoria Street when the wheel fell on him, according to Chicago Police. JacobWittich
Mensue S. Barrington church, allege sex abuse
Two brothers are suing Willow Creek Community Church in suburban South Barrington and say they were allegedly sexually abused over several years by a youth minister at the church.
The complaint, filed Thursday under the aliases John Doe and Joe Doe, claims Brian Wongkamalasai, 30, sexually abused the two men beginning in 2009 when they were 16 and 14 years old and Wongkamalasai was 22.
Wongkamalasai was convicted of sexually abusing a 16- year- old in 2013, and is a registered sex offender currently living in Denver, Colorado, Illinois State Police records show. Matthew Hendrickson
Mancharged with shooting in South Shore
Bond was set at $ 300,000 Friday for a South Side man charged with shooting another man in the South Shore neighborhood.
MalonMoore, 28, faces felony counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm on an occupied vehicle and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to Chicago Police.
About 12: 45 p. m. Wednesday, Moore walked out of a gangway in the 2900 block of East 79th Street and shot a 39- year- old man in the legs, police said.
Officers saw the shooting and chasedMoore into a home in the 7900 block of South Escanaba, where they arrested him, police said.
The 39- year- old was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and his condition was stabilized, police said. Mitchell Armentrout