Open Newswire

(The Center Square) – State and federal taxpayers are poised to spend more than $600 million on homeless prevention efforts in Illinois during the current fiscal year. A report released earlier this month by the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness said overall homelessness declined 6% between 2025 and 2026 while chronic homelessness rose 28%. Home Illinois, the state’s plan to prevent and end homelessness from July 2026 through June 2029, said state agencies will manage more than $619 million in fiscal year 2027, including more than $563 million in funding from state taxpayers and over $56 million from federal taxpayers. The Center Square asked state Sen. and task force member Li Arellano, R-Dixon, why the state is spending so much taxpayer money when the homelessness problem does not appear to be getting better. “That’s a great question,” Arellano said. Arellano said, even though overall homelessness went down, the problem is worse in many ways. “When you dig into the numbers, I think you find one of the reasons homelessness went down overall is because the self-induced migration, both legal and illegal, crisis that was happening in Chicago started to ebb,” Arellano said. The Dixon Republican said homelessness roughly tripled in Chicago during the illegal immigration surge under the Biden administration. “In my communities, my 12 counties, there was a lot of resentment that their property taxes are high, overall tax burdens are high, and they're shifting more money into Chicago,” Arellano said. The Illinois State Board of Education identified 63,873 school-aged children as experiencing a form of homelessness during the 2024-25 school year, a 30% increase from 2023. Among those identified, 81% were “doubled up,” living temporarily with family or friends. Arellano said the increase was tied to migration. “We know it affected the cost of special education because English as a second language is special education. It's very costly, but it also impacts school-age homelessness. If they are stacking into homes at a rate higher than the state would prefer and thus triggering those metrics, they get fed into the homelessness category,” Arellano said. Arellano said he would like to see more emphasis on economic solutions. “Instead of investing more directly into homelessness and maybe seeing mixed results, making sure we're changing economic policy to prevent homelessness in the first place, get more to the root of the cause." Arellano said people in Illinois have higher property taxes without the economic growth of surrounding states. Illinois’ projected $619,936,152 in spending on homelessness spread across 15 state agencies. The state’s investment in homelessness programs increased by $16 million from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2027.

(The Center Square) – An Illinois parental-rights organization is raising concerns about how student information could be handled through BEACON, a state behavioral health portal that Awake Illinois describes as a follow-up service connected to the state’s upcoming school mental health screening mandate. Shannon Adcock, founder of Awake Illinois, said documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, including a technical design document and a “master eligibility algorithm,” raise questions about how student information could be used to determine which state programs are offered to a child. “We're asserting that the end goal here is for a multi-agency record,” Adcock said in a social media presentation discussing the organization’s concerns. Adcock said the state has indicated that data will be stored in a private Google Cloud environment controlled by the state and that Google does not have access to the contents. “So, Google may have a consumer-style window into a kid's chart, yet the matching engine still runs on Google infrastructure the state rented,” she said. The BEACON portal was developed with Google and multiple Illinois state agencies as part of the state’s effort to create a centralized entry point for children and families seeking behavioral health services. A state report describes BEACON as a single access point that can connect families with behavioral health resources and resource coordinators. Adcock said parents may not understand how information collected through school-based mental health screenings could intersect with the state’s broader behavioral health systems. “I think there are some understandable concerns on the part of parents and anybody who could have control over your children's data in this portal,” she said. “I don't think a lot of families understand the follow-up service and how your children's data gets wrapped into this portal that the state oversees and controls.” The concerns come as Illinois school districts prepare for a new mental health screening requirement beginning in the 2027-28 school year. Under Public Act 104-0032, districts must offer an annual mental health screening to students in grades 3 through 12, but only in years when the state supplies a qualifying self-report screening tool at no cost to districts. Awake Illinois has released model guidance urging school boards to adopt an opt-in policy requiring affirmative written parental consent. Adcock said the organization intentionally did not focus heavily on BEACON in its initial model policy because it wanted to keep the guidance straightforward, but she said the screening and any subsequent services should be treated separately. “Effectively, the screenings will have a consent or a policy surrounding that, but then the BEACON consent will be separate,” Adcock said. “That is how it is going to have to be instituted in the school districts.” The organization argues that agreeing to a mental health questionnaire should not automatically constitute permission for a child’s information to be entered into a state behavioral health portal or for the child to receive follow-up services. “Opting in does not equate to consent for BEACON, the follow-up service provider with the Google Cloud and the state agency portal and state agency records,” Adcock said. The Illinois State Board of Education issued guidance in August regarding implementation of the mental health screening law. The law directs ISBE to provide model procedures addressing issues including confidentiality, privacy, communication with families, data sharing and storage, and follow-up resources. Awake Illinois also pointed to an Aug. 26, 2026, letter from the U.S. Department of Education regarding parental rights under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, or PPRA. Adcock said the federal guidance has significant implications for Illinois schools. “PPRA implications are huge,” she said. The organization also questioned the role of Google in the state system. “Why hire Google if no service is being performed on the data?” Adcock said, referencing questions raised in an Illinois Times report. Adcock said parents and school board members should have access to information about the agreements and technology behind BEACON. “We assert that boards and parents should know what's in this contract,” she said. The organization said its model policy separates three components: the statutory requirement that districts offer screenings, the screening tool itself, and clinical follow-up or connections to behavioral health resources. Adcock said parental consent to complete a screening should not automatically be interpreted as consent to treatment, a behavioral health portal or other services. The Illinois law requires districts to offer the screenings; it does not require every student to participate. The U.S. Department of Education's Aug. 26 letter addressed federal parental-rights and student-privacy requirements, including PPRA provisions governing certain surveys and evaluations involving sensitive information. Awake Illinois is urging local school boards to adopt policies that require affirmative parental consent and clearly distinguish screening from any subsequent behavioral health services or data systems.

“It's a community thing that's been going on,” said Janet Mason, a Lodi resident who attended the Grape festival on Sept. 19. Lodi Grape Festival brings a carnival and a Taylor Swift tribute is a story from Stocktonia News, a rigorous and factual newsroom covering Greater Stockton, California. Please consider making a charitable contribution to support our journalism.

A novel effort to build more affordable student housing has resulted, so far, in the construction of over 9,000 more beds across California.

Кыргызстандын футбол боюнча 17 жашка чейинки кыздар курама командасы CAFA U-17 Women’s Championship аталышындагы эл аралык мелдешинде алтын байгеге ээ болушту.

Hatua hiyo iliyotangazwa Jumamosi, Septemba 19, inakuja baada ya Ankara kukataa kumrudisha mwanablogu wa Uganda ambaye amekuwa akiishi uhamishoni nchini Uturuki kwa angalau miaka mitano. Fred Lumbuye, ambaye ni mkosoaji mkubwa wa utawala wa Rais Museveni, ambaye ana wafuasi 150,000 kwenye chaneli yake ya YouTube, anakabiliwa na mashtaka 15 nchini mwake.

Gasteizko Udalak debekatu egin dio Salburu auzoko Burdinbide auzo elkarteari bere egoitzan migratzaileei lo egiteko espazioa uztea, egoitza itxi eta dirulaguntza guztiak kentzeko mehatxupean. Iragan neguan hasi ziren 20-25 maliar inguru elkartearen egoitzan lo egiten, Salburuko Harrera Sareari esker, hainbat hilabetez Espainiako Poliziaren komisaria aurrean egunak eta gauak igaro ostean. Maliko gerratik ihesi heldutako pertsonak dira, asilo eskaera bideratu nahian –eta ezinean– ari direnak. Auzo elkarteko kideekin eta asilo eskatzaileekin hitz egin du ARGIAk. Debekua salatzeko ekimena antolatu dute ostegunerako.

Autoridades russas informaram, neste domingo (20), terem contido o maior ataque com drones já registrado contra Moscou. A ação ocorreu entre sábado (19) e domingo (20). O governo russo afirma tratar-se de uma tentativa de perturbar as eleições parlamentares, que devem fortalecer o controle do poder pelo Kremlin após quatro anos e meio de guerra […] Fonte

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El actor estadounidense ha llegado a Donostia acompañado de Inés de Ramón y ha sorprendido a los cientos de seguidores que esperaban desde primera hora. Pitt presentará fuera de concurso En el corazón de la bestia, su nueva película dirigida por David Ayer.

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Две недели назад сокрушительная победа ультраправых в Саксонии-Анхальт потрясла Германию. Партия канцлера Мерца потерпела тяжелое поражение. В это воскресенье, 20 сентября голосование проходит еще в двух регионах — Мекленбурге-Передней Померании и Берлине. Плохие результаты ХДС могут ускорить политический календарь в то время, когда положение канцлера Фридриха Мерца становится все более шатким.

بریتانیا به جنگ زن‌ستیزی می‌رود؛ از مدارس تا فضای مجازی

Jumla ya wakimbizi 3,752 wa Rwanda wamerejea nchini mwao kutoka Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo tangu mwanzoni mwa mwaka huu. Idadi hii ilitolewa na Shirika la Umoja wa Mataida linalohudumia Wakimbizi (UNHCR).

После российских ракетных ударов три крупнейших металлургических завода Украины остановили работу, поставив под угрозу всю сталелитейную отрасль страны. Об этом пишет Financial Times в статье о том, как атаки РФ сказываются на украинской экономике.

台灣勞動部長洪申翰於當地時間周日下午搭機赴南京參加亞太經合組織（APEC）人力資源發展部長會議。他在抵達桃園機場後，面對記者的詢問，僅揮手致意，表示大家辛苦了，未發表談話。