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Around that time, after media reports circulated on the arrest, a woman in her 30s came forward and told police that as a child she had been assaulted over several years by Villanueva, according to prosecutors. The woman previously wanted to disclose the alleged abuse, authorities said, but had been told by a family member that the statute of limitations had expired.

Shortly after the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine received federal emergency use authorization Oct. 26, Chicago Public Schools announced it would cancel school on Nov. 12, for what officials dubbed “Vaccination Awareness Day.” They touted it as a way to get parents thinking about the issue and, more practically, to give them time to get shots for themselves and their children.

However, DePaul University law professor Alice Setrini said federal laws such as the ADA or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act could also help employers deal with workers balking at a vaccine order. For instance, if an employee, citing a religious exemption, goes to federal court for their refusal to get vaccinated, the employer could be allowed under the law to require the worker to get tested or wear a mask.

Rukstales’ lawyer, David Benowitz, has argued for probation, saying his client had no intention of “jump-starting a revolution” when he traveled to Washington to attend a rally by then-President Donald Trump. A devout Christian and a charitable family man, Rukstales’ public and professional demise has already served as a tough penalty, Benowitz said.

Kim Wasserman, executive director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, joins other activists with Unete La Villita, El Foro Del Pueblo and Mi Villita Neighbors near the former Crawford power plant site in Chicago on July 26, 2021, to voice their displeasure at a large warehouse opening on the former site. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

In August 2020, Rittenhouse — a 17-year-old from north suburban Antioch — crossed state lines and volunteered to patrol downtown Kenosha amid turmoil surrounding the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. Carrying an AR-15-style rifle that police say a friend illegally purchased for him, Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and injured a third.