A new report shows that some of Illinois’ abortion clinics had not had an inspection from the state’s Department of Public Health in almost a decade.
The report from Illinois Right To Life says that 63 percent of the abortion clinics in the state had not received a health or sanitary inspection in three and a half years.
“The failure of the Department of Public Health to conduct regular health and sanitary inspections leaves women open to the prospect of unsterile surgical tools, dirty operating rooms, incomplete medical attention, infections, and possibly more deaths,” the group says.
The group discovered there is no inspection policy for abortion clinics regarding cleanliness or sanitation.
“It’s quite scary,” Emily Zender, the group’s executive director, says in the report. “While news reports warn of MRSA, urge flu vaccination, and praise hospital Ebola training, abortion providers are allowed to perform invasive surgical procedures in unsanitary conditions.”
The state’s five Planned Parenthood locations that perform abortions are not licensed and the state has not inspected them for sanitary conditions since 2000.
The state could not provide documentation that women who underwent abortions in the unsanitary clinics were warned about possible exposure to HIV or other infections and diseases because of dirty equipment.
An Illinois resident has been charged with plotting terrorism against Israel.
Adam Everett Livix, 30, has been charged with possession of weapons. Israeli police say that he intended to blow up various Jerusalem holy sites. Police said they have evidence that he turned down an officer from Palestinian officials to assassinate President Obama during his 2013 visit.
“He categorically denies the charges in the indictment,” Livix’s attorney Gal Wolf said. “He says it is nonsense.”
Livix reportedly had overstayed his visa in Israel for a year.
The Justice Ministry said Livix later cooperated with his roommate, a serving soldier in the Israeli military, to obtain 3 pounds of explosive material to blow up the unidentified Jerusalem holy sites. The ministry said police discovered the plot in October.
Livix had fled to Israel after facing criminal charges in Indiana.
A teenager is under arrest in Illinois after he attempted to join the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 19, was arrested Saturday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago as he waited to board a flight to Vienna, Austria. The teen’s travel plans were to carry him to Turkey where he would cross the border into Syria and join ISIS.
The FBI’s Join Terrorism Task Force said they searched Khan’s home and found handwritten notes of support for ISIS and jihad. There was a letter he had written to his parents that they were supposed to find after he left outlining his plans.
“My dear parents, there are a number of reasons I will be going to the blessed land of Shaam [Syria] and leaving my home,” it read, according to a federal complaint. “We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day. I do not want my kids being exposed to filth like this.”
Khan faces 15 years in prison on charges of providing material support to terrorists. He remains in custody.
Notorious late-term abortionist Dennis Christensen of Wisconsin is trying to find a replacement for him at his clinic as a law that is on hold because of a judge threatens to put his clinic out of business.
The law, passed by the Wisconsin legislature 2013 and signed by Governor Scott Walker, would require all doctors who end babies lives via abortion to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their abortion clinic. The law has been on hold because of U.S. District Judge William Conley pending a decision in the challenge to the law.
Christensen says that he and his partner Bernard Smith have been denied privileges at all the hospitals within 30 miles of their clinic, Affiliated Medical Services of Milwaukee. Should the judge refuse to strike down the law, the clinic would be forced to immediately close.
Christiansen says that he’s been turned down because he hasn’t treated an abortion patient in a hospital setting in over a decade. He told a judge that because his patients haven’t been in the hospital, it’s been a detriment to his gain privileges.
However, pro-life organization 40 Days for Life says the abortionist was lying to the judge. They have been tracking ambulance calls and say that nine times there were calls from the clinic. Four of the women who were then rushed to a hospital had to have emergency hysterectomies that they blame on the abortionist.
Christiansen’s other clinic in Illinois was shut down because the surgical equipment was sanitized and conditions were considered “not to be a sanitary environment.”
A group of nuns says it’s hard to focus on their worship of God when loud music is thumping through the walls.
The Sisters of St. Charles Booromeo have filed a lawsuit against the Club Allure strip club, claiming the thumping music is disruptive. In addition, the nuns claim the establishment is in violation of state zoning laws that require adult oriented businesses to be more than 1,000 feet from a place of worship.
The nuns have been in their Stone Park, Illinois convent for 70 years.
The nuns also say that an abundance of immoral behavior has descended on the area since the opening of the club.
“Public violence, drunkenness and litter, including empty whiskey and beer bottles, discarded contraceptive packages and products and even used condoms evidencing illicit sexual misbehavior either in the club or about its environs,” the nuns claim in their lawsuit.
The nuns also say they are praying daily for God’s intervention in the case.
If you purchased walnuts, hummus or dips in Missouri or Illinois between March and May 2014, you need to check some packaging.
Sherman Produce has announced an immediate recall of “Schnucks brand 10-ounce trays of walnuts” with the UPC code 00338390032 because the product could be contaminated with listeria. The USDA detected listeria in walnuts that were sampled at the production facility.
Consumers are used to throw them away immediately or seek a refund.
Hot Mama’s Foods has recalled almost 15,000 pounds of hummus and dip products because of Listeria. The items were sold at Target, Trader Joe’s and other retailers.
The listeria was discovered during a routine test by the Texas Department of Health. Customers are advised not to eat the recalled products and return them to the place of purchase for a refund. Customers can also call 1-877-550-0694 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Doctors say tests on an Illinois man who contracted the deadly MERS virus from an Indiana man who was the United States’ first victim of the virus is not able to spread the disease to others.
“The second round of test results from oral and nasal swabs show the Illinois resident is not infectious,” Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “What this means is, although the resident was infected at one time, if he sneezes or coughs, the virus is not in his nose or mouth and therefore cannot be spread to others.”
Health officials say the Illinois man likely contracted the virus from the Indiana patient during a 40-minute business meeting where the two shared nothing more than a single handshake. It is the first person-to-person transmission of the virus confirmed in the United States.
Dr. Hasbrouck said the virus is still so new that it’s not known all the ways the virus can be transmitted. He said that many other people also had contact with the Indiana patient and all of them have tested negative for MERS.
A Chicago judge has reduced the fine to an abortion clinic for violations of cleanliness and health issues from $36,000 to just $77.
The arbitrary decision by Cook County Circuit Judge Alexander White said that he reduced the fine because the abortion clinic’s owner closed the facility and there was only $77 left in the company bank account.
However, it’s been shown that while the other clinic was technically closed, the owner opened a brand new clinic in the same location using the same website as he previous clinic without doing anything to repair the health code violations.
The Illinois Department of Health conducted an inspection in 2011 of the Women’s Aid Clinic and found food in the same freezer as fetal tissue, dirty floors, medication cups with old medicine in them and staff re-using paper towels on patients.
The clinic also did not perform CPR on a patient who died while in their care.
While the state can appeal the judge’s action, the state attorney general has been a large supporter of abortion and observers believe nothing will be done.
Meteorologists looking at preliminary data say the EF-4 tornadoes that Washington and New Minden, Illinois could be some of the strongest to ever strike the state.
An EF-4 tornado has wind gusts between 166 and 200 miles per hour.
Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service said that Illinois gets violent tornadoes in November about every 7 to 10 years so the storms Sunday cannot be called rare but the strength of the storms is rare.
Illnois has had only 27 EF-4 and 2 EF-5 tornadoes since 1950 and before Sunday none of the strong twisters struck during November.
The storm devastated the town of Washington, Illlnois, cutting an 1/8th mile wide path of destruction through the entire town. Residents Phil and Carmen Jones lost their family home of 40 years in the storm and say they’ll have to start all over at age 75.
Carmen tried to look at the positives.
“We don’t have to rip that wallpaper off now,” she said.
