SPRINGFIELD - Governor Bruce Rauner announced today he has appointed an Inspector General of the Illinois Tollway, and made judicial appointments to the Illinois Court of Claims and the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.

Name: TJ Hengesbach

Position: Inspector General - Illinois Toll Highway

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed TJ Hengesbach as Inspector General of the Illinois Tollway. He has nearly 15 years of experience from the Illinois and City of Chicago's Inspector General offices and has been a practicing attorney since 1991.

Most recently, Hengesbach was the Deputy Inspector General in Chicago's Office of Inspector General. He was part of the team that provided legal support and solutions to all sections of the oversight agency. He also provided legal counsel and policy guidance on internal personnel decisions, and external investigative, audit and compliance activity. He worked for the City of Chicago from October 2005 to April 2015. Prior to this, he was the general counsel for Illinois' Office of Executive Inspector General. In this role he developed investigative protocols and participated in investigations of allegations of fraud, waste and misconduct.

Hengesbach is a Certified Inspector General from the Association of Inspector Generals and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Hengesbach earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from Indiana University-Bloomington. He lives in Chicago.

Name: Peter G. Karahalios

Positions: Judge - Illinois Court of Claims

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Peter G. Karahalios to the Illinois Court of Claims. Karahalios brings 40 years of experience as an attorney in both the private and public sectors to the bench.

Currently, Karahalios is the Chief Legal Counsel and Sworn Deputy Treasurer in the Cook County Treasurer's Office. He oversees the compliance of state statutes and county ordinances on real estate tax collection and coordinates litigation with the Cook County State's Attorney and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He has held this position since 2007. It's a return to the Cook County Treasurer's Office because he previously worked there from 1998-2003 as the Chief of Staff and Sworn Chief Deputy Treasurer. Karahalios has worked in private practice, as well.

Karahalios earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his law degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was also a member of the Illinois National Guard from 1970-1976. He lives in South Barrington.

Name: Robert Steffen
Position: Judge - Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Robert Steffen to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. He brings over 23 years of legal experience to the board.

Steffen currently serves as Court of Claims Judge for the State of Illinois. He was appointed to the post in 2004. He is also the owner of Steffen Law, P.C., a law firm in Elgin which he started in 2000.  Prior to his own law firm and time on the bench, Steffen served as an assistant state's attorney in the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. Over the course of his eight years with Kane County, he prosecuted countless crimes and petty offenses.

Steffen earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and a law degree from John Marshall Law School. He lives in South Barrington.

Star-Studded event to encourage Latinos to support Children's Miracle Network Hospitals' campaign "Salvé Un Angelito...¡Te Toca!"

Los Angeles, Calif. (Nov. 5, 2015) - Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, in partnership with Azteca America, will host a six-hour "Salvé Un Angelito...¡Te Toca!" live television fundraising event on Nov. 14th starting at 2 p.m. PST/5 p.m. EST at the Ricardo Montalban Theater, 1615 Vine St., Los Angeles, Calif. Celebrities, including Children's Miracle Network Hospitals cofounder Marie Osmond, and Azteca America's talent will encourage Latinos to support the "Salvé Un Angelito...¡Te Toca!" campaign featuring patients, families and doctors from Children's Miracle Network Hospitals across the country. Other celebrities expected to participate are Ana Barbara, Chiquis Rivera, Veronica Del Castillo, Yahir and Tania Rincon and Azteca America's top on-air personalities.

The community is invited to attend the live telecast as members of the audience to watch celebrities and special guests perform during this one-night event to support this great cause. Admission is free while seats are available.  All funds raised during the televised campaign will be distributed to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals in supporters' communities, where they will be used to fund treatments, purchase specialized equipment and provide charitable care..

"We hope everyone will tune in on Saturday, November 14th to help us raise much needed funds so our network hospitals can continue to ensure sick and injured kids receive the care they deserve," said John Lauck, President and CEO of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. "We are grateful to those who are showcasing their talents on this night - for the kids." 

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals partnered with Azteca America to encourage Latinos to support the "Salvé Un Angelito...¡Te Toca!" (I saved a little angel, now it's your turn) fundraising campaign to benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. The 90 day campaign began on Aug. 24, presenting 60 individual stories of pediatric patients treated at Children's Miracle

Network Hospitals told through 5- to 7-minute segments which aired daily during Azteca's national newscast Hechos Nacional Tarde.  The campaign will culminate on Nov. 14 with the televised live six-hour event. 

"It has been an honor for Azteca America to serve as the media partner for this important event and share the incredible stories of these courageous children and their families with our audience over the past three months," said Manuel Abud, president and CEO, Azteca America. "The commitment, dedication and mission of the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals is unparalleled and it is vital that our community continue to support their efforts on this special night and beyond."

# # # #

About Children's Miracle Network Hospitals

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds and awareness for 170 member hospitals that provide 32 million treatments each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada. Donations stay local to fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment and charitable care. Since 1983, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity's Miracle Balloon icon. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit's mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible. Find out why children's hospitals need community support, identify your member hospital and learn how you can Put Your Money Where the Miracles Are, at CMNHospitals.org and facebook.com/CMNHospitalsLatino.

Leaked Memos detail plan that would Circumvent Injunction against Administrative Amnesty

DHS Considering Granting Work Permits to Illegal and Unqualified Immigrants

WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee members are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to explain internal documents revealing plans to grant work permits to foreign workers in the country - potentially including illegal immigrants - who have been sponsored for a Green Card by their employer.  Incredibly, the memos expressly state that a benefit of the new executive action would be to "authorize the presence of certain individuals who are not here lawfully and address the needs of some of the intended deferred action population," indicating that the proposal is calculated to evade a federal court injunction on such action.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and his colleagues on the committee are calling on the department to explain the origin and status of the internal memos.  They are also requesting that the department explain its reasoning for ignoring legal requirements governing work-related immigration petitions.

In February, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an injunction prohibiting the department from "implementing any and all aspects or phases" of its planned program to defer the deportation of approximately 4 million persons in the country unlawfully and to grant them work permits. The memos outline an agency proposal that would skirt the court order by granting work permits to any immigrants physically in the United States, regardless of their legal status, so long as they have been sponsored by an employer for a Green Card within the last year.

The memos also outline plans to change the immigration regulations in order to allow foreign workers to get a Green Card based on sponsorship by an employer, even if the sponsorship has been withdrawn.  Under current law, however, work-related Green Card petitions can be filed only by a U.S. employer that intends to employ the immigrant. The memos do not square that clear requirement with the Administration's proposal to let foreign workers get Green Cards when the employer no longer wishes to sponsor the worker.

Grassley's letter was also signed by senators David Vitter (R-La.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Full text of the senators' letter to Johnson

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.