Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Anybody who doubts whether the Illinois General Assembly can handle more than one important issue at once can rest assured: in addition to a state budget, lawmakers during the final weekend of the spring session also approved Bacon Day in Illinois.

By the time the vote came, the commemorative day was 24 days in the past, but that concern is secondary to the celebration of the state’s pork producers.

“A giant thank-you to our pig and hog farmers,” proclaimed State Rep. Mary Beth Canty (D-Arlington Heights), who declared that she had eaten bacon that very day. After assuring State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park), a Rockford police detective, that the resolution had nothing to do with law enforcement, Canty was asked by State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) to squeal like a pig.

She did so in a way difficult to convey via the written word, but her performance satisfied Ford – and everybody else, apparently, as the House vote was unanimous.