States Control: Illinois

School bans shirt: ‘Be happy, not gay’

An Illinois high school student is in federal court seeking the right to wear T-shirts that declare sentiments such as "Be happy, not gay."
Heidi Zamecnik, of the Chicago suburb Naperville, wants to wear the shirt at school the day after the "Day of Silence," a nationwide observance April 19 to protest harassment of homosexuals in schools, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Source: WorldNetDaily, March 22, 2007

District gags 14-year-olds after ‘gay’ indoctrination

Officials at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Ill., have ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar, after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents.
Source: WorldNetDaily, March 13, 2007

‘Nativity’ Booted From Ill. Holiday Fair

A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians.
Source: Breitbart, November 27, 2006

By 2016, cameras on ‘almost every block’

Security and terrorism won’t be an issue if Chicago wins the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games because, by that time, there’ll be a surveillance camera on every corner, Mayor Daley said Wednesday.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (online), October 12, 2006

Daley scorns cabbie dress code idea

"We’re trying to tell people they can’t eat certain foods. They can’t buy certain foods. They can’t ship certain foods in. Pretty soon, you can’t drink. Do you really want government to keep telling you every day what to do?" Daley said.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, September 16, 2005

Want to use the Web? Your fingerprint, please.

Soon, patrons of the Naperville Public Library – at least
those wanting to use the Internet – will need more than a library card.
They’ll give a fingerprint.
Source: Christian Science Monitor (online), June
2, 2005

Eye in sky may watch Parks workers

How do you keep your eye on Chicago Park District employees?
 Perhaps, from 12,000 miles up.
Space may be the next frontier for the district, under a plan that would use a satellite system to track some Parks employees.
Source: Chicago Sun Times (online), November 9, 2004

Mayor outlines elaborate camera network for city

From a hi-tech command center, the City of Chicago plans to monitor a vast security network. Thousands of surveillance cameras will be linked — and authorities will be alerted to crimes and terrorist acts. The Mayor unveiled the plans for this new security network at a news conference this morning.
Source: ABC7chicago.com (online), September 10, 2004

Man threatened with arrest after taking photos

Fletcher Parker said all he wanted was a few snapshots of the East St. Louis Police Department in action, a force he said he strongly supports.
Instead, he said cops seized his digital camera’s disc, which records the images, and threatened him with arrest.

Source: Belleville News-Democrat (online), March 2, 2004