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More than 300 Illinois far-ranging statutes will become laws in the new year, including prohibitions on book bans and enshrining the right to sue for "deepfake porn."
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The efforts to remove books from school libraries started with parents in local school districts and eventually led to state legislatures. After two years of controversy, one school librarian says her colleagues are leaving the profession because it has become too painful.
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For the median homeowner in Collinsville, whose home is worth $182,000, there will be an estimated increase of $9.38 in property taxes next spring. In Fairmont City, where the median home is worth $100,000, there will be an increase of $4.95, according to district documents.
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The number of bans and restrictions in the U.S. rose 33% in the last school year, according the report from free speech group PEN America. Florida had more bans than any other state, followed by Texas and Missouri.
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias told the U.S. Senate panel that public libraries have become “thunderdomes of controversy and strife” across the country.
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Citing a “vitriolic strain of white nationalism,” Gov. JB Pritzker signed the measure withholding state grant money from libraries if they ban books.
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The rule include prohibiting libraries from giving materials to minors without parental permission, and banning “age-inappropriate” displays from children’s areas. Libraries risk losing state funding if they don’t comply.
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Missouri is one of a growing number of places where government funding is being deployed as the newest weapon in the fight over books. Beginning May 30, a new state rule could deny state funding to libraries over books deemed inappropriate for young readers — although it's not clear how it will be enforced.
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Missouri library leaders say a plan by state legislators to strip state funding for public libraries across the state would weaken rural libraries.
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Representatives were racing to beat a Friday deadline to get bills out of the chamber, with about two months left in the spring legislative session.