Residents can protect their identities by shredding confidential documents

PALOS PARK – Area residents are invited to protect themselves from identity theft by taking advantage of a free document shredding event in Palos Park Friday, July 13.

State Senator Bill Cunningham and State Rep. Fran Hurley are co-hosting the service, which will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at Palos South Middle School, 7700 W. 127th St.

Residents can bring confidential documents that are printed with personally identifiable information to be safely shredded. This includes old bank statements, old pay stubs, tax returns older than 7 years, bills, receipts, invoices, credit card applications and outdated medical records. (More details about what will or won’t be accepted can be found below.)

Some restrictions apply:

• The service is free and available to residents of the 18th Senate District and the 35th House District. No commercial document shredding available.
• Participants are limited to two boxes per car.
• Paper clips, staples and other bindings should be removed from all documents before shredding.
• Cardboard boxes may not be left at the event site.
• Shredding will be done until the shred trucks reach capacity.

In addition to helping people protect their personal information, shredding documents helps keep paper out of landfills.

For more information, call Senator Cunningham’s office at 773-445-8128.

Shred event guide

It’s difficult to provide a comprehensive list of every acceptable or unacceptable document, but the following is a basic guide.

ACCEPTABLE AND OPTIMAL: White office paper (copier, computer, legal, letterhead, loose-leaf, cash receipts, memos and other types of white paper) with any colored ink.

ACCEPTABLE: Mixed paper – colored copier paper, windowed or windowless envelopes, yellow legal pads, manila and colored file folders, message pads. Also, flyers, pamphlets and brochures.

NOT ACCEPTABLE: Newspapers, magazines, plastic bags or sleeves, bubble-insulated envelopes, license plates, cardboard (including hardcovers of books and composition folders), three-ring binders, notebook spirals, plastic file covers, hanging file folders, accordion folders, paper towels, napkins, tissues, CDs, disks, X-rays, blueprints, Styrofoam, prescription medicine bottles, and no electronics or hard drives of any kind.

STAPLES AND PAPER CLIPS: Small staples and small, plain metal paper clips on documents are OK. Please remove plastic binder clips and large metal or plastic fasteners.

Cunningham: ‘This is the result of Gov. Rauner’s obsessive attacks on public workers’

CHICAGO – State Senator Bill Cunningham expressed disappointment in this morning’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to weaken collective bargaining rights for average workers who depend on unions to amplify their voice in the workplace.

“This is the result of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s obsessive attacks on teachers, police officers, firefighters and all the other public employees who do difficult work on behalf of taxpayers every day,” said Cunningham, a Democrat representing Chicago and the southwest suburbs.

“The middle class is shrinking in our nation, and it is in large part due to the loss of union jobs. Those losses will accelerate with the Janus decision. It’s both shameful and telling that the governor will count this set-back for working families as one of the few ‘accomplishments’ of his tenure.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark Illinois public employee union case Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 overturns unions’ ability to collect fees from non-members to cover the costs of collective bargaining and enforcement of labor contracts. These fees are known as “fair-share” or “agency fee” payments.

Rauner filed suit over fair-share fees in 2015 shortly after becoming governor. The Supreme Court’s ruling, which overturns a 1977 decision, has implications for collective bargaining units all over the country.

Timeline of Janus v. AFSCME

May 23, 1977 — A U.S. Supreme Court decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education legalizes the collection of union fair-share fees from non-members for costs related to negotiating and enforcing labor contracts. Fair-share fees could not be used for lobbying and political expenses by unions.

Feb. 9, 2015 — Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, in office less than a month, issues an executive order suspending the deduction of fair-share fees from state employees’ paychecks and sending the money to unions. He also files a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of fair-share fee collection, contending it violates the First Amendment.

Sept. 13, 2016 — A federal judge in Chicago dismisses Rauner’s lawsuit, saying the governor does not have standing in the case.A state worker, Mark Janus, later is allowed to intervene in the case, saying he objects to fair-share fees being deducted from his paycheck to be sent to a union. J anus’ legal representation is provided by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Liberty justice Center.

March 21, 2017 — An appellate court affirms the federal judge’s 2016 decision to dismiss the case. Janus appeals the appellate ruling to the Supreme Court.

Sept. 28, 2017 — The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the Janus case.

Feb. 26, 2018 — Oral arguments are presented to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Gov. Rauner is present for the arguments and speaks to the media afterward.

June 27, 2018 — U.S. Supreme Court hands down its ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.

During the past few years, I have worked with Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton and 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea to hold CSX Railroad accountable for the frequent traffic delays it creates in our communities.

In 2016, the City of Chicago and the Village of Evergreen Park initiated legal action against CSX related to ongoing public safety and quality-of-life issues arising from the repeated blockage of grade crossings by stopped trains or malfunctioning gates on CSX’s Elsdon Line. This particular rail line runs north and south (mostly parallel to Sacramento Avenue) before angling northwest and crossing Kedzie just north of 95th Street.

In 2016, the City of Chicago and the Village of Evergreen Park initiated legal action against CSX related to ongoing public safety and quality-of-life issues arising from the repeated blockage of grade crossings by stopped trains or malfunctioning gates on CSX’s Elsdon Line. This particular rail line runs north and south (mostly parallel to Sacramento Avenue) before angling northwest and crossing Kedzie just north of 95th Street.

As a result of this legal action, CSX is required to file monthly reports with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) regarding use of the line through June 2018.

As the STB reporting period draws to a close, I’d like to ask residents to comment on their experiences with the Elsdon Line during the past 12 to 18 months. Please note: this does not include the recent closing of the 95th and 103rd Street crossings, which was part of a regularly scheduled reconstruction project. Complaints should focus solely on delays or other issues caused when the line is operating under normal circumstances.

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