Practicing optometrist and State Representative Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) was awarded the Illinois Optometric Association’s top award, "Legislator of the Year" earlier this week.

Jacobs, a southern Illinois native, has been a practicing optometrist for more than 40 years in the Marion, Carbondale, and Union County areas. Jacobs offered the following remarks to attendees at the annual Illinois Optometric Association’s annual conference held in Springfield at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center on Saturday, October 5, 2024.

Domestic violence is a reality that affects millions of people and families each year. Understanding the signs is crucial for early intervention and prevention.

Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical, emotional, psychological, and financial abuse. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), nearly 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence, which can lead to injury or even death. Understanding the dynamics involved in abusive relationships and recognizing the signs is crucial and can even be life-saving.

In October, we recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a time to raise awareness about this disease that affects millions of individuals and families across the nation. In Illinois alone, approximately 12,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. This statistic shows the urgent need for education, early detection, and support for those affected.

One year ago on October 7, 2023, Hamas militants initiated a deadly surprise assault on Israel, slaughtering entire families in their homes and taking more than 250 people hostage. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Israel’s history.

In response to eyewitness accounts and video evidence of the atrocities, Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie voiced her support for Israel and issued the following statement:

“The Israeli people and Jewish Americans deserve our unequivocal support against threats to their very existence and the grotesque antisemitism displayed by groups here at home and in the Middle East.”

It’s been more than a week since Hurricane Helene made landfall. It is now the fourth deadliest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. mainland since 1950 and the deadliest since Katrina in 2005.

Those impacted in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama need shelter, water, food and health care. Across the Southeast, hundreds of people are still reported missing. Entire communities were destroyed by fast-moving water and tens of thousands of homes have been affected.

CORRUPTION
Mike Madigan, once Illinois' most influential powerbroker, now faces federal corruption trial. The former Illinois house speaker quietly wielded power in Springfield for decades while developing a reputation as a reclusive political wizard, well-schooled in the playbook of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. His trial begins Tuesday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

The dreaded data breach notification letter has just landed in your mailbox. You know -- the letter from your medical provider, government, insurance agency, employer or even your car dealer --  explaining your data was included in a recent data breach. The letters have become so ubiquitous that fake versions are now being sent by criminals in an effort to steal your information.