BPT - Families in poverty often spend over 80% of their income on food, housing, childcare and healthcare, leaving little room for essentials like winter clothing. Unfortunately, many children miss school or cannot fully participate because they do not have warm coats or shoes. This lack of warm clothing has a ripple effect and is one of the reasons 32% of children in the poorest school districts are chronically absent.
A new partnership between the national nonprofit Operation Warm and Subaru is helping to provide these essentials, offering brand-new, high-quality coats, shoes and socks for children in need.
The Subaru Loves to Help initiative will help over 630 Subaru retailers deliver winter clothing to underserved communities across the country.
Subaru retailers will also host on-site gifting events or coordinate drop-off deliveries based on the community's needs. Events will provide children the opportunity to select brand-new coats, shoes and socks.
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SPRINGFIELD - Illinois could become the first state to fully decriminalize sex work among consenting adults, under a new proposal introduced by two state lawmakers.
The legislation, unveiled Monday by State Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago), seeks to remove criminal penalties for adults engaged in consensual paid sex. It would also expunge arrest and conviction records for sex workers, establish a sex workers’ bill of rights, and create protections against abuses by law enforcement.
Currently, Illinois law classifies prostitution as a misdemeanor, with penalties for both sex workers and their clients. The proposed measure would not alter existing laws that make solicitation of minors a felony.
If enacted, Illinois would go further than any other state in decriminalizing sex work. While Nevada allows prostitution in licensed brothels in certain counties, and Maine recently decriminalized the sale of sex but not its purchase, no state has fully decriminalized the industry as Illinois lawmakers are advocating.
Supporters of the legislation, including advocacy groups such as 
The students named below earned recognition for their academic performance and attention to excellence at Unity High School. Congratulations to each on their exceptional scholastic effort in the first semester.
