(The Center Square) – A new podcast series takes a look at the stories behind legislation introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives.
It’s called “Capitol Crimes” and it is a project spearheaded by House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna.
The first episode deals with Pam Knight, a child protection specialist for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, who was beaten while on duty in 2017 in Mount Carroll. She died five months later.
“I am pleased to get this podcast out into the world, to make sure people hear the story of Pam Knight, which will help garner support for essential legislation we must pass to make sure tragedies like this never happen again,” said McCombie.
As a result of Knight’s death, a law was passed in 2018 by the Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner requiring law enforcement agencies “to make all reasonable efforts to assist” DCFS investigators when requested.
McCombie said she has battled for five years to pass legislation that would better protect DCFS case workers from violence on the job, yet those bills have failed to pass and become law.
McCombie’s legislation would heighten the penalties against anyone who commits aggravated battery toward a person working as a DCFS employee or working under the Adult Protective Services Program with the Department on Aging.
“Supporting our DCFS workers does not just mean attending their funerals,” McCombie said. “It means doing everything within our power to make sure those funerals never happen in the first place.”
Illinois Senate Democrats also have a podcast called “Majority Report.”
In one recent podcast, Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, discussed his initiative to give families and children the chance to bring action against health care providers who use their own human reproductive cells during an assisted reproductive treatment without the patient’s written consent.
