- [Woman] Wheelan-Pressly funeral home and crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT has been serving Quad city families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or Memorial service.

- [Man] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

- COVID vaccines in the workplace.

One lawyer's effort to stop the mandates plus a return to the Honor Flight in the cities.

(bright upbeat music) We're seeing it in private businesses and government agencies, in schools, hospitals, police stations and to be honest in the places where I work, employees are facing mandates to prove they've received vaccinations against the COVID-19 virus or the possibility they will face sanctions that could lead to that worker losing their jobs.

The Liberty Justice center is a conservative public interest law firm based in Chicago that has filed suit in an Illinois courtroom to defend the rights of six Kankakee nurses who face being fired for, as they say, "they're conscientious refusal" "to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

We talked with Liberty Justice Center, managing attorney Daniel Suhr Liberty Justice Center filed a suit in Kankakee circuit court to defend those six Kankakee nurses.

Why?

- Yeah, these nurses are heroes Jim.

They have been on the front lines of this COVID pandemic day in and day out for the last 20 months serving their patients.

And Riverside Healthcare wants to throw all of that aside and fire these nurses because they refuse to compromise their convictions.

That's not just wrong, it's illegal.

Illinois law protects folks like these nurses to say that you can both hold onto your job and your deepest beliefs.

- Now Riverside's Chief Operating Officer, I'm quoting Kyle Binoy who says that "While we can't comment" "on specifics related to pending litigation," "we remain fully confident" "requiring our employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine" "will allow us to provide the safest environment."

Saying that "they had already given 75" full-time equivalent employees," "granted exemptions."

- So while Riverside is granted a few exemptions for employees who are in no way around patients, they've denied all exemptions for any employee, anywhere near patients.

And of course the health care Rights of Conscience Act, the law that's at issue here is designed to protect health care providers like these nurses.

The law exists to make sure that people can pursue a calling of vocation in healthcare while at the same time holding onto their religious beliefs.

And what Riverside has done is deny all of these nurses, the ability to live out their calling as nurses, because they're not willing to compromise their conviction.

- Now once again, you refer to the Illinois Healthcare, Right of Conscience Act and the chief of staff and Pritzker, Emily Bittner says it's being applied inappropriately.

She says "the administration supports efforts" "to clarify the law so it cannot be misinterpreted" "by fringe elements."

Do you consider yourself a fringe element?

- I don't consider these nurses to be anything other than who they are.

They are nurses who love their patients.

They show up every day for the past 20 months to serve their patients.

They've been on the front lines and they're just asking the government and their employer to respect their deepest held beliefs.

And as a society, that should be something we can all agree on.

This case isn't just important for these nurses.

It's important for every American.

Right now it's their beliefs, it's their values that are being tested but next time it might be your values, it could be somebody else's values, what they believe in that's being tested.

And so the law provides safety for all of us, regardless of what our beliefs are to ensure that we can hold on to those deepest convictions and never be forced to choose between our faith and our job.

- But you know full well that in businesses and in government all across this country, there are these mandates that are in place.

And in a lot of cases, the courts are backing them at this point.

Do you think that you really have a chance of changing the minds of the courts right now when so far they've really been seemingly on the side of both government and business.

- So Illinois has one of the broadest Right of Conscience Acts in the country.

And actually the only decision we have so far specific to the Illinois Right of Conscience Act is from Adams county and he cited the judge there sided with the healthcare workers who were denied the exemptions.

So Illinois made a choice several decades ago to be a state that respects the Rights of Conscience.

And that is still on the books today.

And I think it's telling the governor is looking to change the law because it really confirms that the law, as it's written today, applies to this situation and grants this protection for these nurses.

- Are you surprised at all that it's gotten to this point that we've gotten to the point of mask mandates and now vaccine mandates not only in schools, but in the marketplace, in the business world.

- Yeah, it really saddens me that we can't respect people's freedom to make these important choices for themselves.

Certainly as a society, we all have an obligation to keep one another safe.

And we know from the last months and years that there are many ways that we can take practical steps, like washing our hands or social distancing to keep one another safe.

And the fact that we've got this body of evidence now about the tools that we can all have should result in being able to protect people in their deepest held beliefs when it comes to these vaccine mandates by adopting these reasonable accommodations.

And when employers or schools or others refuse reasonable, genuine requests from people out of their sincere beliefs, the law steps in to say, "No, we need to respect the Liberty," "the freedom of people to hold these beliefs" "without losing their job."

- You have seen that vaccinations are required either in government or in schools or in society, I don't know how to say this, but I mean, vaccinations are nothing new.

- Vaccinations aren't, but we should keep in mind what it is we're talking about.

We're talking about forcing someone to receive something in their body, a form of healthcare and the Illinois Right of of Conscience Act covers not only the provision of healthcare, right?

It doesn't only protects a pro-life doctor who doesn't want to provide abortions.

The law actually covers the reception of healthcare.

To say, if you have a religious objection to receiving a particular type of healthcare, we want to protect you as well, because we as a society, believe that conscience rights are that important.

- I think you thinks that there's going to be a Pandora's box involved in this.

And that's very understandable, but is this not just a one-off?

Is this not just COVID specific?

- No, I really think it's important that we respect the Rights of Conscience in individuals, deeply held beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are.

Our constitution and the first amendment has this principle that the government needs to be neutral, whether it's our political beliefs or our religious beliefs that that government can't pick and choose when or whose beliefs to protect, that's a foundational aspect of our law.

And so these nurses, you may disagree with them, you may not think that they're right in their religious beliefs, but next time if it's your religious belief on the line, you're going to want society to respect your religious belief and the same principle has to be true for these nurses here.

Our religious beliefs are deeply held, convictions are our own and we need to respect them as a society.

And the law guarantees that respect for the Rights of Conscience.

- In a way that US Supreme court has not really made any ruling they've just avoided other ruling, so to speak.

So in August when they ruled or didn't really rule, but didn't decide to say that Indiana University could not require vaccines or when they didn't take up the case of New York state requiring healthcare workers, or now the healthcare workers in Maine that the US Supreme court really hasn't taken a position on this.

Do you think that can last forever?

Is this going to end up having to be decided by the US Supreme Court?

- I do think this will reach the Supreme Court eventually, but actually what's important is after the Supreme Court that we ensure people receive the individualized consideration of their positions.

So on the federal level, a title seven, the Federal Employment Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination by employers based on religion, unless it creates an undue burden on the employer, and if there's no reasonable accommodation available.

And those are very specific individual assessments to make based on a person's job and based on their beliefs.

So there's a level at which this is going to have to be person by person, job by job.

But I think the Supreme Court needs to lay down sort of a nationwide standard that lower courts and employers can apply.

That's actually a little different than our case was still specifically with this Illinois statute, the Rights of Conscience Act that we've been discussing, which provides broader protection than federal law that says "We in Illinois as a society," "We so valued appreciate this principle" "of protecting the Right of Conscience," that we're going to guarantee it on a broad basis.

I think that issue will probably also reach the Illinois Supreme court sometime soon.

- And once it leaves the Supreme court, however decision it is either on the state or federal level, what recourse would you have if the decision is against the interests that you think they should be?

Would you expect legislation to clarify this in state by state or nationally through Congress?

- Yeah, absolutely.

My hope is that as a society, I think we value the Rights of Conscience.

We value individual freedom to choose our healthcare and that's actually a principle that is broadly shared by conservatives or liberals, wherever you are on the political spectrum.

We as Americans have always respected this individual freedom to choose our healthcare.

We believe these are decisions that should be made between doctors and patients and not something that the government comes in and mandates.

And so I think that's a broad social consensus and our laws should reflect that consensus.

- Daniel Suhr, managing attorney for the Liberty Justice Center.

In a moment, veterans back in the air are returned to the honor flight in the cities.

What's different this time around?

but first Laura Adams has ideas for you in the days ahead when you go out and about.

(silence) - Thank you Laura.

Lojo Russo is back on the stage, which is great because she says performing is a passion.

Whether it's at festivals or front steps, coffee houses, or concert halls.

She joined us at Molina BlackBox theater last year to perform one of her originals, Lojo Russo with Restless Soul.

(upbeat music) ♪ There's a sign down on the street ♪ ♪ Attracts me to a flame ♪ ♪ Nominating words saying thank you ♪ ♪ Please come back again.

♪ ♪ He reminds my restless soul then here too long ♪ ♪ Without a word or a whisper ♪ ♪ Going going go ♪ ♪ There was a girl back in Boston.

♪ ♪ Remember (indistinct) ♪ ♪ When I took everything for granted ♪ ♪ And giving it out away for free ♪ ♪ It reminds me of a time ♪ ♪ When I thought I could do no wrong ♪ ♪ And like a fading photo graph it's going going go ♪ ♪ I am tired of running ♪ ♪ For more the lies that I have sown ♪ ♪ Comes in time and a place when you stand face to face ♪ ♪ With the weight of that out.

♪ ♪ (indistinct) there's a sad to this story, ♪ ♪ No one has ever heard ♪ ♪ Is a sad that's the truth in a sad ♪ ♪ No one gets hurt ♪ ♪ And remember that history is written ♪ ♪ For those who are strong ♪ ♪ And like the ages turning to her ♪ ♪ Going going go ♪ ♪ I'm going ♪ ♪ I'm tired already ♪ ♪ For more I'm about to regret ♪ ♪ Comes in time and a place ♪ ♪ When you stand face to face ♪ ♪ With the wind (indistinct) ♪ ♪ As a sign of a head telling me it's time to come home.

♪ - Lojo Russo and Restless Soul performed on the of the BlackBox theater in Moline.

She'll be at Galena's The Grape Escape performing on Friday night, November 5th, starting at seven.

Well, the day before that will actually be a special one for dozens of veterans and the organization making their dreams come true.

The Quad Cities Honor Flights resumed after the COVID-19 pandemic kept the trips to Washington's military monuments grounded.

But beyond the resumption of flights, the trip on November 4th has even more meaning for the organization itself.

We talked with retired Lieutenant Colonel, Steven Garrington, director of the Honor Flight of the Quad Cities.

How important is it to have a return of the Honor Flight after all of these months of COVID?

- Well, it's thrilling to us and I think to the whole Quad Cities, they know that we're going to be able to celebrate these guys and the sacrifice they made, that's really important.

And we're really thrilled to do it especially during COVID to give us a little bit of smiles in midst of a lot of problems.

- Well, and let's be honest.

I mean the whole point of the Honor Flight was to make sure that these veterans were able to see the monuments that are dedicated in their honor to the wars in Washington, DC, before it was too late.

And we've gone what about 20 months?

It must have been too late for some of the people on your list.

- The last I looked, I think we had five men who were on the list to go on the flight who had passed away in between the time we had to cancel for COVID until now.

So we are exceedingly, sorry to see them.

One of them we're going to take his flag, the flag that usually is placed over the coffin.

And we will be taking that with us on the flight and bringing it back so that even though he wasn't able to go, his flag will go with us to Washington DC.

- Well, that you've done that in the past.

Not necessarily for a person who was supposed to be on that flight, but I was on one of your flights where you did take a flag and brought it back.

And wow, that's just as equally emotional because you present that flag when you returned to the Quad City airport and wow that has an impact.

- It's great for the families.

It's great for all the soldiers.

It's such a wonderful experience for everyone who's at the airport, watching the flag.

The flag leads us down, back to our families and it isn't emotional, but it's what we should be doing.

We should be honoring people living in dead.

- Let's talk about the return of the Honor Flights.

What did it take to get to this point?

Why is now a good time to resume the flights?

- Well, there are a lot of restrictions, a lot of work.

We've probably done twice as many hours in the office with all the volunteers coming in that we normally do, because there's so many other things that have to be done for as an example, in most places in Washington, D.C, if you're going to be inside, you must have a mask.

And so we have had to talk to the veterans and say, "You've got to be willing to wear a mask" "When we tell you to do so."

You got to follow orders and they have all agreed that they will wear a mask when they want to.

Now, there are a couple that said, "I don't want to do that," we said, "well we'll put you on the first flight" "where we don't have to do that."

And they said, "fine we'll wait until that flight comes along."

That's okay too, that's their prerogative.

And that certainly they can do that.

So just doing that, making sure everyone has their shots, making sure we're all ready to go.

And cause we're going to be crammed together on the airplane, we're going to be crammed together on the bus, we won't be crammed at the monuments.

Of course they'll all scatter for a while, but we do want to be safe and let's face it, their help at the (indistinct).

And they're all my age, some a little older, some a little younger and we gotta be careful.

- Well, you do visit the air and space museum.

- We do.

- I forgot the airport helped me out.

- Dulles.

- Thank you, at Dulles, I cannot believe, I couldn't remember that.

At Dulles airport not downtown at the national mall.

And so there is some close quarters at times, that is a huge facility.

- That is, there are three air and space museums.

And we do the one at Dulless, which is the move our hazy aerospace museum.

- Very cool.

Cause it's got the shuttle and it's got so many war planes.

It is very cool.

- Oh yeah.

And it has planes from both from Vietnam and from Korea and from world war two.

So our veterans can go to the area that they feel most comfortable.

And one of the greatest things I remember we had a mechanic from the Korean war and he was in a wheelchair and he had his guardian had pushed him up by an F86, a fighter plane from a war in Korea.

And he was saying, "I used to work on these."

And there was a bolt that was hard to get at.

And I had to lay on my back and slipped back in there.

And pretty soon there were 20 or 30 people all around him listening to him like he was-- And he was just in heaven that they were all paying attention to all this story he had to tell about working on the in F86 in Korea.

- Because he did have a story to tell.

- Oh, he did.

They all have a story to tell, every single one.

And one of the things we like to do is ask them questions to get their stories and then to remind them when they get home to their families, to tell the story again, not just tell it to our guardian who love to hear it, but also you need to tell it to your families.

- It's a living history.

- They need to hear it as well.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

Also this flight is very important for the organization as well.

It's in the honor of your founder.

- It is.

Bob Morrison was the founder of the honor flight.

He came up with... did all the work to get it started, came up with a group of 12 men and I was honored to be on it.

And Mike Haney and Dave Woods we're still on the board, were also members of that at that time.

And we're Bob passed away just a little while ago.

And so this flight is in his honor and we are having two of his sons go on the flight as guardians.

- Oh that's great.

Cause I know Bob always didn't want to go on the flight and replace a veteran because he felt since he wasn't a veteran in that sense that he didn't deserve a place, but I know that he was able to finally go on the flight.

I mean, what a spectacular man he was.

- Yes, he was really great and a great organizer.

He really got things going and got it started and put it together.

But of course none of us do any of this alone.

It's really a committee, a tremendous number of volunteers.

We were on the board are just the tip of the iceberg.

We worked together with many, many volunteers and that's what really makes it a all Quad city things.

We have volunteers from Galesburg and from Sterling, and from Tipton, and from of course, each of the Quad Cities, but distance is way as well.

They all worked together.

We all worked together to really make this a wonderful time for our veteran.

- So we know the flight's coming up on November 4th.

Tell me about 2022, because I know you got a lot of plans already, but you have a whole nother year coming up where hopefully things start getting a little closer to normal.

- We're certainly hoping, I think the whole world is hoping (indistinct) but yes we're certainly hoping that things get closer to normal.

And we're planning for four flights in 2022, two in the spring and two in the fall.

Summer is too hot winter is too cold.

So we're planning on four flights then and we've got to of course take care of all the logistical things, rent the airplane and contract with the bus and the food and make sure Arlington is open at that particular time and all those things and make sure we scheduled with the park police and all there are so many people you have to contact and say, "Is this okay?

Is it right this bait?"

And then we go ahead and we start calling veterans and guardians.

- And usually you're looking for extra guardians.

Are you not though those chaperones?

I know sometimes you're in short supply.

- We are, we have a list of guardians, but you start calling them.

And some of them have to work.

Some of them have other commitments that they have to take care of.

And so it's nice to have about three times as many guardians as you really need.

And it's all that.

Now the guardians do pay $400 for the privilege of going along on the trip.

They make a donation of $400, I should say, and that's really a wonderful thing, but I'll tell you what, I've never met a guardian yet who didn't think it was worth it.

- Lieutenant Colonel Steven Carrington, director of the Honor Flight of the Quad Cities on the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us.

As we talk about the issues on the cities.

(bright upbeat music) - [Woman] Wheelan-Pressly funeral home and crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT has been serving Quad city families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Man] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health.

And we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.