Bill Text: IL HR0327 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Congratulates the Chicago Tribune for winning the 2016 Worth Bingham Prize and receiving 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist recognition for Investigative Journalism.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Passed) 2017-04-25 - Resolution Adopted [HR0327 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-HR0327-Introduced.html
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate the
Chicago | ||||||
| 4 | Tribune for winning the 2016 Worth Bingham Prize and receiving | ||||||
| 5 | 2017 Pulitzer Prize
Finalist recognition for Investigative | ||||||
| 6 | Journalism; and
| ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The Chicago Tribune received the prestigious | ||||||
| 8 | recognition from Harvard for its three-part
series, "Suffering | ||||||
| 9 | in Secret"; the result of a yearlong investigation into the | ||||||
| 10 | abuse and neglect of
adults with disabilities in Illinois; and
| ||||||
| 11 | WHEREAS, The report identified 1,311 cases of documented | ||||||
| 12 | harm since July of 2011, and determined at least 42 deaths | ||||||
| 13 | linked to abuse or neglect in group homes or their day programs | ||||||
| 14 | over
the last seven years; and
| ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, Tribune reporters, Michael J. Berens and Patricia | ||||||
| 16 | Callahan, revealed mistreatment inside
Illinois | ||||||
| 17 | taxpayer-funded group homes and their day programs; and
| ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, The Tribune articles came to light thanks to the | ||||||
| 19 | Murray Parents Association, which worked
with the newspaper to | ||||||
| 20 | expose the abuse and neglect which took place in group homes | ||||||
| 21 | throughout
the State; and
| ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | WHEREAS, In the course of their reporting, Berens and | ||||||
| 2 | Callahan worked with more than 100
Freedom of Information Act | ||||||
| 3 | requests, thousands of pages of court records, investigative | ||||||
| 4 | files from
multiple agencies, state email records, law | ||||||
| 5 | enforcement reports, and medical records to identify
cases and | ||||||
| 6 | patterns of abuse; and
| ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The Chicago Tribune staff worked as a team to | ||||||
| 8 | produce the series which includes
reporters, Michael J. Berens | ||||||
| 9 | and Patricia Callahan; investigations editor, George Papajohn; | ||||||
| 10 | watchdog
editor, Kaarin Tisue; photographer, John J. Kim; copy | ||||||
| 11 | editor, Colleen Kujawa; digital design and
presentation | ||||||
| 12 | editor, Rebecca Halleck; assistant data and graphics editor, | ||||||
| 13 | Ryan Marx; and visuals
editor, Andrew Johnston; and
| ||||||
| 14 | WHEREAS, The 2016 Worth Bingham Prize will be presented to | ||||||
| 15 | the Chicago Tribune on May 4,
2017 at the Nieman Foundation for | ||||||
| 16 | Journalism at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; | ||||||
| 17 | this year
marks the 50th anniversary of the prize, which many | ||||||
| 18 | of the country's best investigative reporters
have won since | ||||||
| 19 | the award was established in 1967; therefore, be it
| ||||||
| 20 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 21 | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 22 | recognize the Chicago Tribune staff for winning the
2016 Worth | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | Bingham Prize and receiving 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist | ||||||
| 2 | recognition for
Investigative Journalism; and be it further
| ||||||
| 3 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 4 | presented to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago
Tribune reporters, | ||||||
| 5 | Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan, and the Murray Parents | ||||||
| 6 | Association as a
symbol of our esteem and respect.
| ||||||
