North Cook News

Republican state representative candidates Mark Albers and Vincent Romano will host a Meet the Candidates Open House in Skokie. 

The event will be held on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 3 until 6 pm at El Fuego Mexican Restaurant, 8018 Lincoln Ave. The event is free and open to the public. 

"This is a great opportunity for community residents to speak with candidates and share concerns about what matters most to them,” Helen Levinson, Chapter Chair, Awake Niles Township, and newly formed, Moms for Liberty Cook County, told North Cook News. “Change cannot happen until we vote to elect people who genuinely care about their community."

Romano is running to represent House District 16 (Lincolnwood, Skokie), and Albers is running to represent House District 15 (Morton Grove, Forest Glen).

Awake Illinois is coming off a recent victory in which the Downers Grove Library canceled a Drag Queen Bingo event. The event aimed at children included a drag performance by a man better known for a raunchy late-night act. After the event was announced, Awake IL, according to Dupage Policy Journal, launched a "call of action" campaign, urging residents to attend the library board meeting and contact their representatives in local government. The library cited threats when canceling the event.

According to Patch, "a former Illinois man commented on a Facebook post about the Drag Queen Bingo Event and wrote, 'Bring weapons.'" 

Another Patch report said the library received harassing phone calls.

Parents are also speaking out in opposition to what they claim is the needless sexualization of curriculum intended for young children. SB 818, Illinois' recently passed comprehensive sex education bill, has made it mandatory for children to understand gender identity as early as second grade.

Awake IL’s founder Shannon Adcock has also pointed to learning loss due to COVID protocols in schools as a looming issue for an entire generation of Illinois students. 

“Pre-Covid, approx 30% of Elmwood Elementary students were not proficient at reading and math," Adcock told DuPage Policy Journal. "Post-Covid, Naperville parents are understandably worried about the learning loss from virtual learning as well as activism replacing academics. Studies show that districts which implement social justice and equity plans tend to result in a downward trend in academic performance over time.”