Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home

Sax Tiedemann Funeral Home and Crematorium in Franklin Park receives numerous bodies of homeless and poor residents from Cook and DuPage County morgues each year, officials say. Glueckert Funeral Home in Arlington Heights takes in the remains of poor veterans.While organizations like Catholic Charities donate graves for those who die without money to pay for a burial, someone still has to pay for a casket and outer burial container."We're trying our best to not turn people away because they and their families are part of our communities," Sax Tiedemann director Stephen Dawson says.Stepping upThe $9.3 million line item in the recently passed state budget is the first time the Illinois Funeral and Burial Program has been funded since 2014. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner discontinued the program, which paid families $1,103 for burials or $554 for cremations, in 2015.Dawson estimates Sax Tiedemann has absorbed about $50,000 in funeral and burial costs that previously would have been paid by the state.Jackie Glueckert describes a recent instance when Glueckert paid for a casket and burial suit of a Marine veteran, with local volunteers serving as pallbearers.The average cost of a funeral is about $7,000, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.The state funded funerals for 8,649 people in 2014.Target listThe Koch brothers' conservative advocacy group, Americans For Prosperity, is targeting suburban representatives on both sides of the aisle who voted to override Rauner's veto of the state budget earlier this month.They include Republicans Steve Andersson of Geneva, David Harris of Arlington Heights and Mike Fortner of West Chicago, and Democrats Deb Conroy of Villa Park, Anna Moeller of Elgin and Carol Sente of Vernon Hills. The group's campaign includes ads, mailers and grass-roots activities.Open to suggestionsSente is one Democrat who's open to changes on the education funding bill passed by the legislature that Rauner, calling it a bailout of Chicago Public Schools, says he'll veto.Sente said she doe... (Chicago Daily Herald)