Crime

Repeat offender involved in DUI crash

A man with an active warrant out for his arrest related to a prior driving under the influence charge was involved in a violent collision on the border between Forest Park and Maywood early on the morning of March 28 and arrested for aggravated DUI.

Officers were dispatched to the intersection of First Avenue and Bataan Drive around 4:30 a.m. and found two damaged vehicles — a Subaru station wagon and BMW SUV.

The driver of the Subaru was pinned in their vehicle and had to be extricated by first responders. The driver of the BMW was found on the curb next to the vehicle and “immediately” told officers, “I don’t know what’s going on right now. I f—d up, I know.”

Officers later identified the man as Ruben Vera, 36, of Chicago, and found that he had an active warrant for his arrest related to a previous DUI. He also had no valid driver’s license and no insurance for his vehicle.

At the hospital, Vera told officers he was working in Chicago until 7 p.m. Sunday night, at which point he had “two or three” beers and headed to Schaumburg, leaving the city around 1 a.m. He could not account for the three-and-a-half hours between then and the time of the accident.

Vera later submitted a blood sample and was found to have a blood alcohol content above the legal limit to operate a vehicle.

He was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence and was also given citations for failure to reduce speed, driving without a valid driver’s license, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

Man found dead on Blue Line train

Forest Park police were dispatched to the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line station, 711 Desplaines Ave., following a report of an unresponsive person on March 28 around 9:15 a.m.

Officers determined the 62-year-old man was deceased at the scene after failing to find a pulse. There were no obvious signs of injury or foul play. A capped hypodermic needle was found near the man’s feet and was photographed.

No official cause of death had been determined as of April 3, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Lost cellphone goes on spending spree

A man who said he inadvertently left his phone in a Walmart bathroom was dismayed to find that his phone had apparently been used to rack up $2,000 in purchases using an online payment app.

The man contacted Forest Park police on the evening of March 28 and said he was at the Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., several days earlier and had apparently left his phone in a toilet stall. Since then, the phone had been used by someone else to charge for “goods and services.”

The man’s bank requested that he file a police report and that Walmart review security camera footage in an effort to catch the culprit.

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Man loses bitcoin in Instagram scam

A police officer told a man “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” after the man was duped out of $300 in bitcoin and lost access to his Instagram account as part of an online scam.

According to a police report filed March 29, the man saw an advertisement on Instagram promising to give him $1,000 if he guessed a number correctly. The man did guess the correct number but was told he would have to turn over some bitcoin before he could collect the cash. In the process of doing so, the man was also somehow locked out of his Instagram account.

The man understood “the money is gone” but wanted to file a police report in order to regain access to his Instagram.

Intoxicated man irritates pool players

An man told police he was choked near a pool table at a bar in the 7600 block of Madison Street around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29.

The man, who told officers it was his birthday, met police outside the bar and began yelling at them while giving his statement. He told officers he was choked by a man in black clothing with an orange and black hat.

When officers went inside and spoke to a bartender, she told them the man, whom she believed was highly intoxicated, wanted to play pool but didn’t have any quarters. So he began grabbing the pool cues of paying customers. The other customers were upset by this, the bartender said, but she did not see any physical confrontation.

The man was sent home for the night and no one was arrested.

Large disturbance reported outside bar

Between 15 and 20 people were reportedly yelling and pushing each other outside a bar in the 7300 block of Madison Street, not long after midnight on Wednesday, March 30.

Officers were dispatched to the scene and saw several of the bar’s security guards attempting to disperse the crowd. The security guards later told officers that the incident began with a fight between two women inside the bar.

According to a police report, it took officers 20 minutes to eventually send the uncooperative crowd on its way. However, only a few minutes after the dispute was broken up, officers were sent to a nearby gas station where they observed some of the same people arguing at that location.

No citations were immediately issued and no one was arrested.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, March 28-30, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

Bill would require schools to o er vegan, vegetarian options

Bill clears Senate; will soon head to governor

By PETER HANCOCK

Capitol News Illinois

Public schools in Illinois may soon be serving a lot more vegan and vegetarian meals, thanks to a bill that cleared the General Assembly Tuesday.

House Bill 4089 requires school districts to provide a plant-based lunch option that complies with federal nutritional requirements to any student who submits a prior request to the district asking for such an option.

Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, the lead Senate sponsor of the bill, said the proposal was meant to accommodate students with certain religious, cultural or health concerns.

But the bill drew some opposition from Republicans who called it an unfunded mandate on schools and argued that it could lead to even more dietary mandates.

Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said schools already have the authority to offer plant-based food options because there is nothing in state law prohibiting it.

“And so if we’re going to embrace the notion of local control in allowing our local units of government to make their own decisions, here lies an example of where we can put that to work,” he said.

Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, pointed out that earlier in the day, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 4147 that would require schools to offer halal food options. That’s food deemed permissible under Islamic law.

“It makes you ponder, could you then have a Jewish kosher school-required option, or one that is specific to any religious following,” she said. “So it seemed to us, the Republicans in the Education Committee, that perhaps a task force to study this and how much it costs for a school district to do this, how much of a need there is, should be explored.”

But Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago, argued that plant-based diets are generally healthier for people and that passage of the bill could help promote healthier lifestyles.

“It doesn’t matter what ethnic group, what your religious background is. The fact of the matter is, it’s simply healthy eating,” she said.

Koehler said the impact of the bill might be minimal because there may be some districts in which no students ask for plant-based option. He also said there is little difference in the cost of plant-based foods compared to meat-based meals.

The bill previously passed 96-7 in the House on March 4. It passed the Senate Tuesday, 42-10, and next will be sent to Gov. JB Pritzker for his consideration.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Lawmakers pass ban on withholding college transcripts

Similar bill on high school records awaiting action

By PETER HANCOCK

Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — Graduates from Illinois colleges and universities may soon be able to access their transcripts even if they still owe money to the school they attended.

The Illinois House on March 29 gave its approval to a bill that had already cleared the Senate prohibiting higher education institutions from refusing to provide copies of student transcripts either to the current or former student or that student’s current or prospective employer.

The proposed change in Illinois comes as the Biden administration is considering limited changes to federal guidelines that have long encouraged colleges and universities to withhold transcripts from anyone who is delinquent on repaying certain student loans.

Senate Bill 3032, dubbed the Student Debt Assistance Act, would go further than the Biden administration’s proposal by prohibiting the withholding of transcripts, or charging a higher fee for accessing those transcripts, on the grounds that the student owes the school any debt.

Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, the chief House sponsor of the bill, said schools have not limited the practice just to collecting student loan debt but sometimes use transcripts as leverage to collect any debt, including library fines and parking tickets.

“It’s estimated that 6.6 million people in the country cannot get a copy of their transcript because they owe a debt to their college, sometimes as little as $25,” he said. “Twenty-five dollars is keeping them from getting access to their transcripts.”

He said that can prevent students and graduates from being able to get a job and earn the money it takes to pay off their school debt.

The bill originally passed the Senate without opposition, 55-0. But Republicans in the House raised concerns that the bill has no cap on the amount of money someone could still owe a school while still being able to access their transcripts. That, they said, could make it more difficult for schools to collect money owed to them, which could force them to raise tuition and fees on other students to make up for the loss.

“And that’s precisely what this is doing because somebody has to pay for that cost,” said Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville. “And if those debts are outstanding, somebody has to pay for it in the meantime. In the long term, you know, they may pay it 10 years down the road or 20 years down the road, they may pay it off. But in the short term, current students are going to be paying that cost.”

Morgan, however, said the bill does not forgive a person’s debt, nor does it prohibit schools from using other methods of collecting what’s owed to them.

The bill passed the House 74-33 but was sent back to the Senate for concurrence with a minor technical amendment.

Meanwhile, a similar bill is pending in the Senate that would prohibit public high schools from withholding a student’s grades, transcripts or diploma because of an unpaid balance in the student’s school account.

House Bill 4243 passed out of the House 66-36 on March 4 and passed out of the Senate Education Committee March 29 on a 10-4 vote. If it clears the Senate, it would also have to be sent back to the House for concurrence with a minor amendment.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government that is distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.