In the News
The big budget standoff continues in Washington, but there is some news out of the Beltway: The number of local congressmen who aren't accepting pay until the fight is over is now at four.
As of the moment, two Democrats and two Republicans from the Chicago area have put out statements or otherwise confirmed that they'll do without while much of the federal government remains shut in a fight over Obamacare and related matters.
Two Illinois House members have plans for the salary they will earn during the government shutdown — and it's not to keep the funds.
Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL,13) says he will donate his salary to the Northern Illinois Food Bank.
Imagine if a law enforcement agency insisted on incarcerating a certain number of prisoners, every day, every year, regardless of how many of those prisoners actually needed to be there; what the actual crime rate was; and whether there was another, cheaper way to keep track of them.
Imagine if Congress mandated that an arbitrary number of jail cells be filled with prisoners -- regardless of the crime rate. Authorities would be required to incarcerate people, no matter the circumstances or the affront to human rights. That's basically the state of immigration detention in the U.S.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL,11) discussed the positive impact immigrants have on the housing market and the overall economy.
PITTSBURGH -- When you're driving in circles, searching in vain for a parking space, do you wish your car could fold into a scooter?
There are now places where you can try your hand at making that scooter. In fact, someone's already working on it.
Welcome to TechShop Inc. -- your dad's basement workshop on steroids. A TechShop is packed with equipment -- plasma cutters, milling machines, 3-D printers and "iron workers" capable of drilling neat holes in thick steel -- and open to anyone with some ambition and $1,400 for the annual membership fee.
After collecting 2,200 postcards from local residents backing immigration reform, a group from Joliet's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church delivered them Aug. 30 to U.S rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville.
The members of Nuevo Horizonte, or New Horizon, want sweeping changes in the current immigration system. They gathered many of the cards this summer during visits to Catholic parishes in Foster's 11th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Aurora, Bolingbrook, Darien, Joliet, Montgomery, Naperville, New Lenox, Shorewood and Woodridge.
U.S. Congressmen Bill Foster (D, IL-11) and Ted Deutch (D, FL-21) want immigrants protected from fraudulent and unethical legal representation.
Tatiana Jimenez left her native Guatemala seven years ago to escape an abusive relationship and begin a new life in America.
But she endured a different kind of abuse after she arrived in Washington, D.C., and sought legal help on her immigration status. With little knowledge of the system, she turned to an unscrupulous lawyer who had her sign a contract to pay $2,800 and charged her hundreds of dollars for immigration documents the federal government provides for free.
The problem is all too common in Texas and especially the Rio Grande Valley — so much so that the state attorney general's office has a special office to deal with it, and periodically conducts special sweeps to arrest those who fraudulently promise to process immigrants' documents.