As the deadline looms for Congress to agree on a budget plan that
would avoid an automatic series of spending cuts, a coalition of
worker rights', veteran and anti-poverty advocates convened at Federal
Plaza Thursday to voice their concerns over the potential negative
impact such a move would have for the most vulnerable Americans.
More than $1 trillion in cuts over the next decade, known as sequestration, are set to go into effect March 1. According to a report
released last September by the White House Office of Management and
Budget, reductions would be made across the board, impacting more than
1,200 agencies and programs.
Singing such tunes as “Stop in the
Name of Love”, some 40 to 50 protesters stood in the cold to give what
organizers described as a “Valentine’s Day message” to both Illinois
Democrat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk to preserve
funding for the country’s social safety net.
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Alejandro Morales has dreams of becoming the Marines’ first Latino commandant. But, having been carried across the border at only seven
months old, Morales is an undocumented immigrant and thus cannot enlist
in the military.
The chilly November weather didn’t keep about 75 people from
gathering at the Thompson Center in what would turn out to be an
election night victory party for President Barack Obama.
Shortly after election polls closed Progress Illinois checked in on
the candidates in Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, where the race
turned nasty through 
It wasn't even 10 a.m. and election site manager Jeff Cohen, 44, had barely had a second to take a break from his poll watching duties at
Highland Park High School since the doors opened at 6 a.m.
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary for the repeal of the U.S.
military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy for gay, lesbian and bisexual
service members, an occasion gay rights advocates said should serve as a
reminder of the work still needed to be done to ensure full equal
rights for LGBT military personnel and their families. 