Carbondale Reporter

State Rep. Dave Severin recently reposted an Illinois Department of Natural Resources update post to his Facebook page.

“ILHuntHunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 50,300 deer during the first weekend of the Illinois firearm deer season between Nov. 19-21,” he posted. “Comparatively, hunters took 47,147 deer during the first firearm weekend in 2020. Muzzleloader only season is three days: Dec. 10-12.”

Late-winter antlerless-only and Chronic Wasting Disease deer seasons run from Dec. 30 through Jan. 2 and Jan.14-16, while archery deer season continues through Jan. 16, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Those interested in learning more can visit Illinois' deer hunting website.

The North Egypt News reported Severin has recently highlighted the rising number of drug overdoses taking place across the country stemming from a growing dependency on drugs like fentanyl.

The lawmaker recently shared a WSIL Facebook post that points to sobering statistics: “America’s drug epidemic is the deadliest it has ever been, new federal data suggests. More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States during the 12-month period ending April 2021.”

The new numbers are detailed in the latest data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, overdose deaths are up 28.5% from the same period a year earlier with opioids being the biggest drivers of the scourge and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl accounting for nearly two-thirds (64%) of all drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending April 2021.

According to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics report, the fentanyl-related death numbers represent a 49% jump from the year before. Over that same time, Johns Hopkins University reports another 509,000 people died from illnesses brought on by COVID-19.

"What we're seeing are the effects of these patterns of crisis and the appearance of more dangerous drugs at much lower prices," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN. "In a crisis of this magnitude, those already taking drugs may take higher amounts and those in recovery may relapse. It's a phenomenon we've seen and perhaps could have predicted."

Severin has also recently taken Gov. J.B. Pritzker to task over what he sees as his pattern of enacting bills that give him more power at the expense of parents across the state.

”Governor Pritzker has been allowed to manage the pandemic on his own as the House and Senate Democrats have sat idly by, yielding to his every demand, bowing to every Executive Order,” Severin said of a change to the Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act he argues gives Pritzker too much power versus lawsuits filed against his vaccine or testing mandates.

The amendment prohibits the HCRCA from being used as a tool to challenge the state's COVID-19 prevention measures.

 “I’ve been working to get our state back open, to get kids back in school, to get people back to work after the shutdowns," Severin said. "I have also encouraged people to get the vaccine if it makes sense for them. I have totally opposed the mandating of the COVID-19 vaccine, especially for our first responders, police, nurses, doctors, and EMTs. They were the ones helping us fight this pandemic from the very beginning. Now Gov. Pritzker and Illinois Democrats are threatening them with losing their livelihoods because of a deeply held conscientious or religious belief they hold. That is wrong."

At the same time, the House passed legislation paving the way for the elimination of the requirement that parents or guardians of minors be notified within 48 hours of the minor seeking an abortion (HB 370).

”Illinois House and Senate Democrats have now added the removal of the right of a parent or guardian to know if their minor child is about to have an abortion to their growing list of leftist progressive policy advancements,” Severin said. “This is a dangerous change in law that removes fundamental rights of parents to be made aware of serious medical decisions being made in their children’s lives.”