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Originally published Dec. 11, 2023, by Belleville News-Democrat

Illinois’ two U.S. senators and a metro-east congresswoman have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate how decades of flooding and exposure to sewage have affected Cahokia Heights residents’ health.

U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski made the request for a public health assessment Monday in a letter to the federal agency in response to BND reporting. Hazardous Homes, a special report the BND published in November, revealed local and state health agencies failed to provide essential health services after residents’ homes repeatedly flooded with sewage.

Continue reading U.S. lawmakers ask CDC to assess health risks in Illinois city where sewage floods homes

Originally published Dec. 11, 2023, by Belleville News-Democrat

State Rep. Kevin Schmidt has called on the Illinois Department of Public Health to investigate the health risks of sewage regularly spilling into homes in Cahokia Heights.

“I urge you to make the health of this community the priority it needs to be,” Schmidt wrote in a Nov. 14 letter to Illinois Department of Public Health Director Sameer Vohra.

Schmidt, who represents Cahokia Heights in the Illinois General Assembly, requested the investigation a day after publication of Hazardous Homes, a special report from the BND that revealed local and state health agencies failed to provide essential health services after residents’ homes flooded with sewage.

Continue reading IL lawmaker calls for investigation of health risks from sewage exposure in Cahokia Heights

Originally published Nov. 13, 2023, by Belleville News-Democrat

CAHOKIA HEIGHTS —  Yvette Lyles has twice been infected with a bacteria more common in developing countries that lack basic sanitation. But she hasn’t traveled.

Her son has had the same infection. So have over a dozen other people in Cahokia Heights, where residents have been exposed to sewage for decades.

If it doesn’t back up in a toilet, sink or bathtub, floodwater brings it inside. Sewage-contaminated water saturates crawl spaces and basements, inundates HVAC systems and soaks the floors and walls of living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms.

Some, like Lyles, are sure these living conditions made them sick.

The water brings the threat of mold, as well as bacteria, parasites and viruses from human waste into homes.

But the local and state agencies responsible for handling serious public health threats like exposure to sewage have done little to nothing for residents over the years, a BND investigation found.

Continue reading Illinois health officials fail to help desperate residents as sewage floods their homes

Originally published Jan. 2, 2022, by Belleville News-Democrat

It was common knowledge in the nursing home business, but perhaps not to the families trusting those facilities with a loved one’s care.

For years before the coronavirus pandemic, the industry and government regulators knew that nursing home workers repeatedly made errors that could potentially spread germs and cause infections among their patients.

In the metro-east, 40% of the nursing homes had been cited multiple times since 2017 for the same errors during inspections, and they continued to make those mistakes during the pandemic, a BND investigation found.

Local workers struggled with what regulators describe as the fundamentals of “infection prevention and control” requirements. They didn’t always clean their hands, put on personal protective equipment like gloves and face masks or change out of gear that could have been contaminated.

And the mistakes persisted despite rules dictating how workers should act to prevent infections and state inspections that were supposed to hold them accountable for failure.

Continue reading Southwest Illinois nursing homes with COVID infection errors had same issues for years

Originally published Jan. 27, 2020, by Belleville News-Democrat

GRANITE CITY — An 83-year-old man was in the hospital with lung cancer when he learned he could be kicked out of his apartment.

It was early 2017, a few days after Laurence Madden’s 19-year-old grandson was arrested for disorderly conduct at Madden’s Granite City apartment. He received a letter from the police officer who enforces the crime-free housing policy, the city’s rules for renters.

The message said the apartment complex’s owner had to evict Madden over his grandson’s criminal charge or else the city could revoke the business license the owner needed to rent out apartments in the future.

About a month later, the charge against Madden’s grandson was dismissed. But the eviction case against Madden continued.

Like Madden, nearly half of the more than 500 people who faced eviction under Granite City’s crime-free housing rules over a five-year period weren’t accused of a crime, a Belleville News-Democrat investigation found.

Continue reading Granite City crime-free housing rules displace hundreds — even those not accused of crime

Originally published Jan. 27, 2020, by Belleville News-Democrat

A 27-year-old man called 911 to send an ambulance to his home when his girlfriend passed out.

He didn’t know what was wrong but told the dispatcher it could be an overdose.

About a month later, he received a letter saying the city wanted his landlord to evict him.

In Granite City, renters can be kicked out after calling for help for someone overdosing on drugs because of the city’s crime-free housing ordinance. Even if no one is arrested or charged with a crime, the drug use breaks Granite City’s rules for renters.

Continue reading Granite City renters face eviction over drug overdose 911 calls during opioid epidemic

Originally published Jan. 27, 2020, by Belleville News-Democrat

Groups across the state, from nonprofits to real estate associations, have been calling for changes to cities’ policies for renters because they say the rules that are meant to prevent crime violate tenants’ and landlords’ rights.

Continue reading It’s not just Granite City. There’s statewide attention on crime-free housing rules.

Originally published Feb. 12, 2019 by Belleville News-Democrat

It was the week after his birthday when a 15-year-old died with a bullet in his back at a hospital near Cahokia, where he’d been shot at a relative’s home.

When bullets fly in the metro-east, sometimes they hit a teenager, a 10-year-old, even a baby, a Belleville News-Democrat investigation found.

And often, it’s another young person pulling the trigger and facing criminal charges — including some who aren’t old enough to legally own a gun.

Continue reading In Illinois, kids have been fatally shot at 10, faced gun charges at 12, prison at 16

Originally published May 31, 2018, by Belleville News-Democrat

Sometimes Emily Halasey feels as if she’s in zero gravity with objects flying at her, but she can’t move.

“You just know if you move or if you dodge, there’s another rock that’s just going to hurl at you,” the 18-year-old from Collinsville said, describing her anxiety. Depression is like that, too, except those objects are pushing her down — at least that’s how it feels to Emily.

Emily thinks she’s had anxiety and depression for most of her life. But she only recently found out they were mental illnesses she could cope with and start planning for her future.

A year before she sought help, Emily tried to kill herself. She was 16.

Continue reading There are signs your teens may think about suicide. Here’s how you can get them help.

Originally published March 12, 2017, by Belleville News-Democrat

Editor’s note: On April 4, St. Clair County voters will decide whether they support a 1 percent sales tax increase for school facilities and whether they support a 1 percent sales tax increase for public safety. Madison County also will be considering the school facilities sales tax. This is the second story in a series of five.

In Smithton, some students take their classes in a trailer that has no running water or bathrooms.

Superintendent Susan Homes said that’s because Smithton School District 130 has added more than 150 students since it last expanded its building 15 years ago.

Continue reading Here’s how schools would use money from proposed sales tax hikes