Savoy Bars Cannabis-Related Businesses Ahead of Legalization
SAVOY – The Savoy Village Board voted Wednesday night to bar any cannabis-related businesses from opening within their borders. With one trustee absent, the board voted 5 to nothing to prohibit all cannabis businesses in Savoy. The trustees said most residents they heard from opposed allowing the businesses, and that it would hurt Savoy’s reputation as a family-oriented community. In Champaign County, Rantoul and Fisher have also banned cannabis businesses. Meanwhile, medical dispensaries in Champaign and Urbana are preparing for recreational marijuana sales in 2020. – Jim Meadows, Illinois Newsroom
State Board Of Education Bans Seclusion Rooms And Restraints
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday amended emergency rules that banned the use of certain physical restraints in schools. Those rules had been enacted two weeks ago in response to an investigation published by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica documenting thousands of incidents where children with special needs were put into seclusion rooms at school. The board reacted by banning not only seclusion rooms, but also the use of restraints that can make it difficult for children to breathe or communicate normally. Some schools told the board that physical restraints can be the only means of preventing children from harming themselves or others. Some private facilities in Illinois and elsewhere even threatened to dis-enroll Illinois students if the new rules were enforced. The amended rules also require a second layer of review when physical restraints are used more than once on the same child in the span of a month. – Dusty Rhodes, NPR Illinois
Chicago Cop Who Had Officers Babysit His Son Is Demoted
CHICAGO — Chicago’s interim police superintendent demoted a commander whom the city’s inspector general accused of directing on-duty officers to babysit his son with special needs. Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck’s demotion of Commander Anthony Escamilla to captain is one of his first moves since Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday that she was firing Superintendent Eddie Johnson because she said he lied to her about his behavior the night in October when he was found asleep in his running vehicle. – Associated Press
Boeing Chief Engineer Who Defended Max Airliner Is Retiring
CHICAGO – The Boeing engineer who has played a key role in the company’s response to the grounding of the 737 Max is retiring. Boeing says John Hamilton planned to retire last year but stayed on to help get the Max back into service. In October, he appeared before Congress alongside CEO Dennis Muilenburg to defend and explain the design and production of the Max, which has been grounded since March following two deadly crashes. Hamilton will be replaced by Lynne Hopper, vice president of engineering for Boeing’s commercial airplanes business. – Associated Press
