Illinois Court Reporters Association

Behind The Scenes With WGBH’s Media Access Group On Super Bowl Sunday

Think stenography is just for the courtroom? Think again! Captioners, such as ILCRA's very own Past-President Kathryn A. Thomas, work to expand accessibility for millions of people! The possibilities within this profession are endless.

wgbh.org WGBH’s Media Access Group provided closed captioning services for the nearly 400,000 deaf and hard of hearing viewers watching Super Bowl LIII.

ILCRA is extremely proud of our member Lorie Kennedy who won the Gary L. Sonntag Speed Contest last month in Springfield! Thank you, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, for shedding some light on just how incredible our competitors are. Congrats, Lorie!

Polo Community School District

Career Day at PCHS today

Court (reporting) is in session

"There is a growing shortage of court reporters, not only in Texas, but across the nation and if you're looking to make more than $80,000 a year, it could be for you."

Curious about how to get started as a stenographer in Illinois? Message us and we'll be happy to get you connected with a reporter or A to Z program starting in your area!

kristv.com If you are looking to start a career or looking to change careers, Del Mar College has a program for you: court reporting. There is a growing shortage of court reporters, not only in Texas, but across the nation and if you're looking to make more than $80,000 a year, it could be for you.

It is an honor to be recognized by the Illinois Secretary of State for the work that Illinois stenographers are doing with the Veterans History Project! We are so proud of our ILCRA member Jill Storm Layton for all the hard work she puts into this!

Today, #ILSOS, State Librarian and Archivist Jesse White hosted “Preserving Their Memories” to honor veterans and their contributions to the Illinois Veterans’ History Project at the Illinois State Library in Springfield. With nearly 6,500 records documented, the Illinois Veterans’ History Project honors Illinois veterans by documenting and preserving their experiences.

White, who served as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, was also a member of the Illinois National Guard and a reservist.

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/public/veteransproject.html

Illinois Court Reporters Association
The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs
Glenwood High School
Titan Fever Show Choir

Court reporters in high demand across the U.S.

wsiltv.com There are more than 50 court reporter vacancies across Illinois, which prompted the circuit to hold 'first-steps' classes in order to introduce people to the profession.

Central Illinois courtrooms continue grappling with void of court reporters

Illinois court reporters making headlines all over the place! Here is ILCRA treasurer Donna Banks photographed for an article by Decatur's Herald & Review!

https://herald-review.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/central-illinois-courtrooms-continue-grappling-with-void-of-court-reporters/article_368063bc-9b5b-590c-9115-1cbdace483e6.html

herald-review.com Officials say an influx of new court reporters is needed quickly. The National Court Reporters Association estimates a shortage of 5,000 court reporters throughout the United States.

ISU grad a 'rising star' of court reporting

Illinois' own Isaiah Roberts making headlines again!
We are so proud to claim this young court reporter as our own and appreciate the exposure he's brought to the profession. We all benefit from his efforts!

https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/isu-grad-a-rising-star-of-court-reporting/article_4d0382d3-842e-5487-aae9-511a6e7b7a4b.html?fbclid=IwAR2OBiVkvoI8Si5bBVGzKriAvpReDJqKKBLC9FMVtMhp0gDjGyDa4lY36NY

pantagraph.com Isaiah Roberts chuckles when he hears it, but still remains humble and proud, when people call him “a rising star in the court reporting world.”

media2.giphy.com

Many thanks to everyone who made ILCRA's 2019 Annual Convention another success, including all of our attendees!
Special thanks to our NCRA dignitaries, Jason Meadors and Doreen Sutton. It was such a pleasure to have you both.
Please be on the lookout for some quality photos that Jason took over the weekend. They're professional grade!
We will circulate a survey soon and we welcome your feedback. It empowers us to bring you what you want for next year.
See you next time!

media2.giphy.com

media2.giphy.com

In case there was any confusion!
The Town Hall meeting Saturday at 7:30 a.m. will also encompass the business meeting at that time.
We are looking forward to seeing you all there!

media2.giphy.com

ilga.gov

Yesterday, the Governor signed SB 397, which allows state-paid court reporters to be paid more than what is currently set in statute, and allows court reporters of individual circuits to unionize in lieu of bargaining on a statewide basis.
http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/101/PDF/101-0581.pdf

ilga.gov

[08/24/19]   BREAKING: SB 2128, the bill to add voice writers to CSR testing and licensure, has been fully vetoed by the Governor. We will discuss it in depth at this year's Town Hall in Springfield and start preparing for next year. Register at www.ilcra.org .

National Court Reporters Association

Congratulations to the 2019 CASE Award of Excellence winner Margaret (Peg) Sokalski-Dorchack, RMR, a court reporting program director for MacCormac College in Chicago, Ill.!
http://ow.ly/tAFs50vEz4l

Court Reporting Services - State of Illinois

We are so sad to share the news that our longtime colleague and friend, Judy Loro, passed away on August 19, 2019. She was diagnosed with ALS and put up a good fight. We thought everyone could enjoy Judy’s fun spirit with these photos from past seminars and in our office. FYI - that was a seminar session on assault weapons back in 2007, and they let us play with guns!

Today, we celebrate Judy’s legacy within this office, and in life in general. She will be very missed! ❤️

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/springfield-il/judith-loro-8826339

Baby powder, computer fans and flying fingers: Welcome to the Olympics of court reporting

denverpost.com The cream of the captioning crop competed Wednesday to be named the fastest, most accurate court reporter in the nation during the annual National Court Reporters Association convention and expo in…

[08/01/19]   Update on SB 2128: The IDFPR is pushing back against the bill, claiming testing voice writers would have to pay exorbitant fees due to the small amount of expected applicants. We're continuing to monitor the progress of this bill, and we'll talk about it in-depth at our upcoming convention, September 6-7 in Springfield. Register today! ilcra.org

media.tenor.com

Whoops!!! If you experienced any 404 messages from ILCRA.org earlier today, we apologize!
Our website is back up and running, so if you haven't registered for convention yet, now is a GREAT time!
Looking forward to seeing you in September!

https://ilcra.org/sitepage.asp?page=Convention

media.tenor.com

ILCRA is aware of SB 2128 and has been in touch with our lobbyist since its introduction.
ILCRA's board members have been in constant contact regarding this bill, and we plan to address the details of our efforts at the Town Hall at the 2019 convention in Springfield, September 5-7.
Registration through our website is available below, as well as the full bill we will discuss in September.
Know someone who is not member of ILCRA? Encourage them to join and attend our convention!

http://www.ilcra.org/sitepage.asp?page=Convention

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2128&GAID=15&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=120299&SessionID=108&GA=101

Illinois Court Reporters Association's cover photo

Illinois Court Reporters Association's cover photo

First Steps | Become a Court Reporter!

illinoisofficialcourtreporters.com Find out more about how and why you should become a court reporter! We provide a FREE introduction to court reporting course which will tell you all you need to know to get started, and where this exciting career can take you!

ocr-illinois | North

illinoisofficialcourtreporters.com The Administrative Office for Official Court Reporters in the Illinois Courts.

Hey, we know this guy in the picture! And he'll be talking about captioning Coachella at our upcoming annual convention. Save the date -- September 6-7 in Springfield!

There’s no doubt about it: NCRA members take on some exciting, fascinating, and inspiring work. NCRA has launched a new Web page as part of our NCRA 2.0 effort to capture some of these stories highlighting our members.
http://ow.ly/e4US50uxbhi

[05/15/19]   Past President Jill Layton is looking for volunteers to report Veterans' interviews for the Veterans' History Project in Springfield on Friday, July 12th at the American Legion Convention. Please let her know if you are interested either through Facebook or at Jill.LaytonCSR @ gmail .com. Thank you!

[05/15/19]   Our neighbors in St. Louis have an official job opening: Position open for an Official in St. Louis City, 22nd Judicial Circuit, for The Honorable Calea Stovall-Reid. Position needs to be filled in mid-late July. Busy circuit reporting criminal & civil cases.
Qualifications: Real-time capable & Missouri CCR. If you don’t have the CCR, it has to be obtained within a year.
Please message Jennifer Dunn for salary & questions. Email resumes to jdunncourts @ yahoo.com.

Local court reporter lobbies lawmakers for reauthorization of training grants

Region 2 Representative Kim Cottrell attends NCRA's Boot Camp! https://www.whig.com/20190513/local-court-reporter-lobbies-lawmakers-for-reauthorization-of-training-grants

whig.com A certified shorthand reporter with the Illinois Eighth Judicial Circuit was in Washington last week advocating for the profession at the National Court Reporter Association's 2019 Leadership and Legislative Boot Camp.

10 reasons I love my career as a court reporter

thejcr.com The intention of this article is not to convince you to become a court reporter or that court reporting is a great career. My intention is just to share with you some points about what has made court reporting a great profession for me. Here are the top 10 things I love about being a court reporter:

Sunrise Rotary learns about Veterans History Project

Past President Jill Layton is featured in this article about the Veterans History Project.

https://www.effinghamdailynews.com/community/sunrise-rotary-learns-about-veterans-history-project/article_f43580b5-c80e-5593-aa57-49f57103e705.html

effinghamdailynews.com Jill Layton is the official court reporter in Cumberland County and is a lifelong member of the American Legion Auxiliary. Her father, brother, son and other family members are military

8th graders learn, network at Career Conference at Lake Land

Know of a career day coming up? Follow in Courtney's steps and share with students all of the opportunities a career as a stenographer can provide!

"Courtney Goodner, an official court reporter with the Illinois Court Reporters Association, said the career conference provides a good opportunity to promote this profession to students.

Goodner said court reporters can work in courtrooms, travel as freelancers to take depositions, provide Communication Access Real-time Translation services to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing, or work with closed captioning for television programs.

"You can really get a job anywhere while doing this work," Goodner said."

jg-tc.com MATTOON — Eighth graders are young, but they likely have already developed positive character traits and talents that they could promote in coming years when they apply for their first

**Please see Nancy Varallo's clarification in the comments!**
On March 23rd, Doreen Nimmo Sutton presented at ILCRA's Marathon seminar regarding Project Steno. Project Steno is working with Stenograph to supply new and promising court reporting students with brand new Mira machines at no cost to them.
In conjunction with Stenograph and Project Steno, state associations are being given the opportunity to get involved by sponsoring a machine for a student.
In half a day and with less than 100 present, Marathon attendees (and those who phoned a friend!) raised $1400 altogether! We are now just $600 away from becoming the second state in the country to partake in this wonderful effort to get court reporting students enrolled and graduated!
If you were an attendee and/or donator, thank you, you rock stars, and please comment and share!
If you haven't donated yet, please visit https://projectsteno.org/donate-online/ and give, even $5. There is no donation amount too small!
Remember, it is grassroots efforts exactly like this that will help guard the future of our profession. Thanks in advance!

Big thanks to Region 1 Representative Mary Ann Casale for developing this fabulous and educational graphic!

Thank you to all the attendees who brought WINE for the ILCRA fundraiser last Saturday! And thank you to Melanie Sonntag for facilitating it!

HUGE SHOUT-OUT to this wonderfully accomplished and impressive group of professionals, who took the time to discuss with Marathon attendees how having a CART provider has impacted their lives. Thank you LeAnn for organizing and to Cathy for providing the captions!

[03/25/19]   We're collecting examples of DR/ER fails for Illinois. If you learn of any confirmed incidents of DR fails in Illinois, please send the information to ILCRA board member Kim Cottrell (her email is listed on ilcra.org).

Kathy Dittmeier is such a great example of grassroots efforts! She has started www.bestcareeryouneverheardof.com, a website that outlines careers and training, and offers testimonials and links about the court reporting profession.
Please share!!!

Cubs used auto-generated captions for their YouTube channel. A deaf fan's concern is prompting them to change that.

Thank you for listening to your Deaf consumers, Cubbies! #ChicagoCubs #EverybodyIn

chicagotribune.com After a deaf fan complained about captions on its YouTube videos, the Cubs are fixing the captions on the videos on its new YouTube channel.

Bring your favorite wine to Marathon! Melanie Sonntag is collecting pledges to donate bottles of wine at the Marathon seminar on March 23 as a fundraiser for ILCRA, and you can buy a ticket and win a bottle of wine! If you're not registered yet for the seminars, please do so at ilcra.org today! See you on March 23!

Choosing a Court Reporter—The Advanced Course

miglioreassociates.com Stenographic court reporters are the most technologically advanced individuals in courtrooms and deposition suites across the country.

You Cannot Afford a Take 2

miglioreassociates.com Digital recorders can’t play the part of a stenographic reporter. The many failures of digital recording systems in our nation’s courtrooms are getting...

2/14 - One Minute

Illinois Representative Rodney Davis speaks about Court Reporting and Captioning Week in Congress.

c-span.org 2/14 - One Minute

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB2128

BREAKING NEWS: ILCRA has just been made aware that a bill has been submitted to the Illinois Senate to allow voice writing as a certifiable method of court reporting. We will post updates as we have them.
The full bill is here:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2128&GAID=15&GA=101&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=120299&SessionID=108

ilga.gov Legislation listing for the Illinois General Assembly

National Court Reporters Association

2019 Court Reporting & Captioning Week was recognized on Capitol Hill yesterday. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis from Illinois delivered a speech from the floor of the House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. John Shimkus from Illinois recognized the week in a written speech submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives’ official record.
http://ow.ly/CtDc50ltO0s

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Captioning Compared to Human Stenographic Captioning

For anyone who thinks a computer on its own can do what we do...

youtube.com For Court Reporting and Captioning Week 2019, I am sharing a video that compares automatic speech recognition to a human stenographic captioner. This is just...

Debbie Weaver, President of Alaris Litigation Services, hosts a Court Reporting And Captioning Week happy hour. President-Elect Georgia Beth Long was in attendance.
Debbie gave a speech thanking all of us and everything we do. Thank you, Debbie!

Protect Your Clients: “Digital” Recorded Depositions Unmasked

blog.sfbar.org   Recently, some agencies offering court reporting services have sent an unlicensed individual to depositions (“digital reporter”) in lieu of a highly trained, Certified Shorthand Reporter (CS…