Ben Wolf, Associate Legal Director and Director of the Institutionalized Persons Project and Children's Initiative will named "Public Citizen of the Year" by the National Association of Social Worker’s Chicago District Chapter on Thursday March 24th. The award is granted to:

an outstanding member of the community whose accomplishments exemplify the values and mission of professional social work. The award recipient must 1) make a significant contribution to an area or population of concern to the social work profession such as at-risk or vulnerable populations, quality of life in communities; or social issues 2) Act with courage 3) Demonstrate outstanding leadership, and 4) Exemplify social work values and ethics.

We think that's a pretty good description of Ben and his work here at the ACLU! Congratulations on an honor well-earned.

Last week, the Senate and House responded to the imminent expiration of the Patriot Act by voting to extend the act for another three months, effectively putting off a making a decision. Allie Bohm, at the ACLU's Center for Democracy writes:

The good news is we now have another three months to convince Congress to finally do the right thing and reform the Patriot Act to ensure that it can no longer be used to violate the rights of everyday people who have nothing to do with terrorism.

Read the full article on the ACLU national website and take action to stop any further extensions of the Patriot Act!

A petition signed by 500 supporters of the ACLU's call for a moratorium on the placement of new surveillance cameras was mailed to Chicago mayoral candidates this afternoon.

ACLU Intern Maura Ross mailing petitions to mayoral candidates

The petition reads:

Recently the ACLU of Illinois released a comprehensive report on the extensive and integrated surveillance camera system in Chicago. The surveillance system has been expanded in recent years with little community input and insufficient guidelines to protect privacy in the City.

I urge you to adopt the ACLU's call for a moratorium on the placement of new cameras in Chicago until a full review has been completed, including ample opportunity for community input and consideration of whether to remove some cameras.

Also, surveillance cameras should not be used without new privacy guidelines.

Whichever candidate wins next Tuesday's election, let's hope they heed the calls for a moratorium on new cameras, an open and thorough review of the camera surveillance system and stronger regulation of existing cameras.