It has been two years or so since 26 people -- most of them young children -- died in a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The shooter was 20-year-old Adam Lanza.
A report studying him was released late last year by Connecticut's child advocate office; it shows problems identifying and treating his mental illness.
"There were several missed opportunities to help Lanza," said longtime Speaker of the Illinois House Michael Madigan on the opening day of the new General Assembly.
Madigan, a Democrat, says he's calling legislators and mental health experts to serve on a task force, to study the Connecticut report "and then to tell us how we might be able to prevent Sandy Hook in Illinois."
"We should do all that we can to prevent kids like Lanza from falling through the cracks." he said.
The initiative comes even as Madigan, a Democrat, noted the tremendous budget pressures facing the state.
