Springfield
News from the Illinois state legislature, governor and lawmakers in Springfield.
Harmon came under attack by Democratic allies during the spring legislative session. He worked things out without looking to retaliate.
The toll system hasn’t had cameras for years, despite warnings to drivers about photo-enforced speed limits in work zones. Such signs are on the Kennedy, too, though it hasn’t had any speed cameras since its current construction project began last year.
Pritzker, who has made early education a focal point of his second term, said the state agency is intended to help simplify an overcomplicated process for parents.
He’s investing in an insurance brokerage while serving as the General Assembly’s Insurance Committee chairman. That can’t be good for Illinoisans.
State Sen. Napoleon Harris III chairs the Illinois Senate’s Insurance Committee and has partnered with two men who run an insurance brokerage.
Republican Party elders have done what they could to defeat right-wing insurgents. People who spend their lives yelling “No!” and trying to tear things down rarely learn to say “Yes” and build things up.
Two measures to further protect transgender people are awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature. But advocates say there’s more the state can do to help the LGBTQ+ community.
During a three-and-a-half–year tenure, state GOP Chairman Don Tracy proved unable to stanch a hemorrhage of Republican support in Chicago’s suburbs, a once-reliable well of fiscally conservative, socially moderate GOP votes that’s dried up with the rise of Donald Trump.
Napoleon Harris III, chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Insurance Committee for several years, recently became an “investor” with insurance brokers in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. He denies any conflict of interest.
A total of $364 million is earmarked for Interstate 55 upgrades on 49 bridges from Wolf Road to the Chinatown feeder ramp, highlighted by full rebuilds of the Harlem and Cicero Avenue interchanges that are among the busiest in the state.
Metra is blowing tens of millions of dollars, with terrible oversight, on a warehouse in Harvey it bought in 2020. This is why transit agency reforms are a must.
A bill headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk would add Duchenne to the state’s newborn screening requirements. Not testing for it at birth means most kids miss out on treatments to live longer, more mobile lives.
La oficina del Secretario de Estado de Illinois lanza una unidad móvil para acercar los servicios de una oficina física a los lugares de trabajo y a las comunidades.
The Illinois secretary of state’s office launches a mobile unit to bring the services of a brick-and-mortar office closer to workplaces and into communities.
The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Monday that the new Transgender and Gender Diverse Wellness and Equity Program will provide organizations with comprehensive and medical care for transgender, gender-diverse and LGBTQ+ people.
Illinois has become a haven for abortion care, with nearly a quarter of Planned Parenthood patients coming from 41 states over the last two years, up from 3% to 5% of patients prior to the 2022 Dobbs decision.
The winner bought her ticket via the app and wants to remain anonymous. She said she hasn’t told her mother that she’s won the jackpot, but she’s planning to share the winnings ‘and enjoying life with my family.’
GOP candidate Jay Keeven, believed to be the target of the law essentially designed to prevent Republicans from putting candidates on the ballot after the March primary, could still be tossed off the ballot when the Illinois State Board of Elections meets next month.
Democrat and Republican lawmakers mostly had opposing views of the fiscal year 2025 budget that Gov. Pritzker just signed. Meanwhile, the real problem with state finances is a structural deficit caused by tax policy that doesn’t fit a modern economy.
In one case, the CHA revoked a rent voucher for a woman accused of getting fraudulent loans through the Paycheck Protection Program that a broker on Facebook offered to arrange. And six fired Illinois state workers also said they kicked back some of their loans. But the people arranging them escaped punishment.
Carlos Acosta, a former state welfare case worker, was found guilty last year of endangering the life and health of a child in the 2019 death of 5-year-old A.J. Freund. Acosta ignored evidence of physical abuse before A.J. was beaten to death by his mother.
This year’s budget was no easy feat, and next year’s is expected to be even more challenging as the state nears a looming fiscal cliff.