updated Wed. February 7, 2024
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WLS-TV
April 27, 2018
Governor Bruce Rauner is back from his European trade mission with an election year promise of thousands of new jobs coming to Illinois. The governor, accompanied by several members of his trade delegation, said that during their trip to Germany and Poland they had secured commitments for factoriesÃâà...
Chicago Sun-Times
April 27, 2018
We've said many times that Illinois' gun laws need tightening up, even as we respect the right of responsible men and women to own guns. But there's a follow-up point we probably don't make often enough: Our gun laws already on the books must be strictly enforced — especially those designed to keepÃâà...
The State Journal-Register
April 27, 2018
CHICAGO — A new amendment to proposed legislation in Illinois would require hospitals to train nurses in sexual assault care by 2021. The Chicago Tribune reports that a previous draft of the proposal gave hospitals until 2023 to have a specially trained medical provider present within 90 minutes of a sexual assaultÃâà...
The State Journal-Register
April 27, 2018
Illinois is not doing nearly enough to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic. In 2016, Illinois experienced 1,900 opioid overdose deaths. Next year, we may have more. The National Safety Council recently identified six key actions that states must enact to reduce overdoses and address the opioid epidemic.
The State Journal-Register
April 27, 2018
Thumbs Down: To Illinois legislative leaders for not allowing the Fair Maps amendment on the November ballot. Unless some miracle happens Friday, voters won't get to weigh in this fall on whether to change the way legislative maps are drawn. That's because it appears the Illinois House won't vote on aÃâà...
Illinois News Network
April 27, 2018
Illinois' most recent tax hike has the state inching closer to the bottom of the nation in an annual report of business friendliness. The free-market nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council's annual Rich States, Poor States report ranked Illinois at 48th in the nation in terms of regulation, taxes andÃâà...
The State Journal-Register
April 27, 2018
Elements of business and labor came together Thursday in support of a bill that would incentivize construction projects in the state. House Bill 5864, dubbed the Illinois Blue Collar Jobs Act, would give tax incentives to companies that make significant capital improvements in Illinois. The tax credit would be worth 50 percentÃâà...
Agri News
April 20, 2018
April 28 – Beginning Backyard Beekeeping: 9 to 11:30 a.m., Jefferson County Extension office, 4618 Broadway, Mt. Vernon, Ill., 62864. Kane County. April 28 – Backyard Chicken Workshop: 1 p.m., Garfield Farm Museum, Garfield Road north of Illinois 38, Campton Hills, Ill., 60147; 630-584-8485. KankakeeÃâà...
Illinois News Network
April 20, 2018
Illinois lawmakers are moving forward with a measure to better track who is actually working in the governor's office and how those people are getting paid. The term for what Illinois lawmakers are trying to fix is "offshoring." Gov. Bruce Rauner has continued a longstanding practice of paying people whoÃâà...
Governing
April 20, 2018
By Rick Pearson. A Downstate Republican lawmaker launched a third-party bid for governor on Thursday, exacerbating the challenges facing Gov. Bruce Rauner's re-election as he seeks to heal divisions within his party's base to take on Democrat J.B. Pritzker. Sen. Sam McCann of central IllinoisÃâà...
Effingham Daily News
April 20, 2018
Yet the state of Illinois doesn't allow municipalities to declare bankruptcy. Even as Illinois cities such as Harvey and others continue their respective free falls toward insolvency, state law prevents them from doing much of anything but cutting staff and raising taxes – even when it is obvious that taxpayersÃâà...
Corn and Soybean Digest
April 20, 2018
Slugs can be a difficult pest to manage when conditions are favorable for them, which has been the case often (particularly in southern Illinois) over the last couple of years. These mollusks can damage both corn and soybean early in the season, along with a variety of other crops; however, they have theÃâà...
WJLA
April 20, 2018
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Some Illinois lawmakers want to give extra money to schools that replace armed security officers with unarmed social workers and behavior therapists, an approach to safety that's far different than a national push to add police or arm teachers following a mass shooting at a Florida high school.
Illinois Policy
April 20, 2018
The Illinois Department of Employment Security released its monthly statewide employment data April 19 in conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And unfortunately for the Land of Lincoln, the state couldn't recreate the robust employment growth experienced in February. Instead, Illinois lost 2,100Ãâà...
U.S. News & World Report
April 20, 2018
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — In a story April 19 about an Illinois bill concerning school resource officers, The Associated Press misstated the name of a poverty advocacy group. It is the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, not the Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law. The AP also misspelled theÃâà...
U.S. News & World Report
April 20, 2018
The Chicago Tribune reports the Illinois House on Thursday approved the legislation and sent it to Rauner, whose spokeswoman called the vote "troubling." Illinois is among several states re-evaluating the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. Critics say the system doesn't properly protectÃâà...
University of Wisconsin Badgers
April 20, 2018
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin's first outdoor match since early October was a tough pill to swallow. The Badgers played fantastically against an elite No. 8 Illinois team but a string of crucial points down the stretch proved to be the deciding factor in the match. UW came up just short on Friday afternoon inÃâà...
Bloomington Pantagraph
April 3, 2018
SPRINGFIELD — Voters have chosen agricultural breakthroughs, high-tech triumphs and life-saving ideas as the top inventions and innovations in state history as part of the ongoing Illinois Top 200 project. Winners in the online voting include the steel plow, which opened the prairies to agriculturalÃâà...
The Southern
April 3, 2018
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White on Monday unveiled a new advertising campaign highlighting the law. His office says more than 6.4 million people are registered to become organ and tissue donors in Illinois. About 4,700 people are on the waiting list and about 300 people die annually waiting forÃâà...
nwitimes.com
April 3, 2018
Last year, federal law enforcement officials seized $1 million from Columbia Liquors in Hammond, which was alleged to have bought booze from three Indiana distributors and sold it under the table for cash to liquor stores across the south suburbs in Illinois, where the excise taxes are substantially higher.
Chicago Tribune
April 3, 2018
Brian Duncan, an Illinois hog farmer, had hoped the tough trade talk in recent weeks between President Donald Trump and China amounted to saber-rattling. On Monday, he discovered otherwise, when the Chinese government imposed tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including pork and various fruits,Ãâà...
U.S. News & World Report
April 3, 2018
Southern Illinois conservation partners will be able to map the spread of invasive species on their smartphones through a new information-sharing system. ... Researchers with the University of Illinois at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Pope County have been working with the forestry agencies toÃâà...
Chicago Tribune
April 3, 2018
The main bank serving Illinois medical marijuana companies is pulling out of the industry, leaving operators with few options other than dealing in cash. Bank of Springfield sent a letter to its cannabis clients late last month informing them that their accounts will be closed May 21. The decision is tied to theÃâà...
Chicago Tribune
April 3, 2018
The investigation leading to the arrests began last week after Illinois State Police gave Chicago police information about someone who had experienced adverse side effects after using synthetic pot purchased at King Mini Mart. An undercover officer was sent into the store and bought synthetic pot. After theÃâà...
ProPublica
April 3, 2018
I was in the 44th precinct of Chicago's 13th Ward, where Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan usually racks up some of his biggest vote totals, helping him keep the legislative seat he's held since 1971. I wanted to ask voters a simple question: Why do you still support him? But the address for theÃâà...
NBC Chicago
April 3, 2018
In one of the biggest synthetic marijuana outbreaks in Illinois, nearly 20 new cases since last week including two deaths were confirmed, officials said Monday. They are still trying to track down the exact orgin of the synthetic pot which they say came from the Chicago area. In all, 56 people have been sentÃâà...
The State Journal-Register
April 3, 2018
CHICAGO — A change in Illinois law aims to improve how police respond to sexual assault allegations by requiring officers undergo new training to improve sensitivity toward victims and learn about trauma. The law also requires police take reports for every allegation, no matter how much time has passedÃâà...
Chicago Tribune
March 27, 2018
A Chicago-based medic in the Illinois National Guard was killed when an ambulance he was in crashed near Rockford on Sunday morning, according to authorities. Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. Marcos Leonardo Gudino, 30, was a passenger in a military ambulance that crashed in the eastbound lanesÃâà...
WTOP
March 27, 2018
MIAMI (AP) — Crews from the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Park Service are looking for a 57-year-old man who didn't return from a 10-day kayaking trip into the Florida Everglades. The Coast Guard said in a Tuesday morning news release that James Matthew Soltis of Lockport, Illinois, didn't returnÃâà...
Illinois News Network
March 27, 2018
New polling from Southern Illinois University found 73 percent of state voters think the state spends too much money on incarceration and not enough on education and treatment. John Jackson, a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and co-director of the polling operation at the PaulÃâà...
pv magazine USA
March 27, 2018
While Illinois waits with bated breath for Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approval of the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) Long-Term Renewable Resource Procurement Plan, the IPA has announced successful bidders of the first procurement of renewable energy credits (RECs) from solar projects in 2018.
Columbia Journalism Review
March 27, 2018
IN HIS 20 YEARS as an Illinois statehouse reporter, the Associated Press' John O'Connor has exposed corruption at nearly every level of Illinois government. His reporting on lies and government waste across five administrations have been one of few constants in a statehouse press corps that, like mostÃâà...
Quad-Cities Online
March 26, 2018
Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, has introduced a proposal to amend the Illinois Constitution. Spain would take redistricting away from self-interested lawmakers and give it to a bi-partisan commission of non-elected Dems, GOPers and Independents appointed by state Supreme Court justices. In the other chamber,Ãâà...
The State Journal-Register
March 26, 2018
Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series exploring third parties in Illinois. Today's story explores the Illinois Constitution Party and the Democratic Socialists of America. Some call third-party candidates spoilers, ruining the chances of a mainstream candidate in a close race. Love them or hate them,Ãâà...
Gizmodo
March 26, 2018
Illinois' Cook County, which includes Chicago and surrounding areas, is joining the legal fight against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica over the misuse of data scraped from social media profiles, claiming that both companies violated state fraud law. The lawsuit claims that Cambridge Analytica, whichÃâà...
Energy News Network
March 26, 2018
Energy experts and consumer groups are monitoring the recent Illinois decision to allow ComEd to build a microgrid and recoup the $25 million cost from a broader group of ratepayers. But while a bill to authorize similar cost recovery is in motion in Pennsylvania, most observers plan to wait for details onÃâà...
Bloomington Pantagraph
March 25, 2018
Editor's note: The weekly Illinois Bicentennial series is sponsored by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors and Illinois Press Association. More than 20 newspapers are creating stories about the state's history, places and key moments in advance of the Bicentennial on Dec. 3, 2018. Stories publishedÃâà...
The Southern
March 25, 2018
Editor's note: The weekly Illinois Bicentennial series is brought to you by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors and Illinois Press Association. More than 20 newspapers are creating stories about the state's history, places and key moments in advance of the Bicentennial on Dec. 3, 2018. StoriesÃâà...
FOX Illinois
March 23, 2018
A resolution was signed Thursday by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois NAACP State Conference. "This is great Abraham Lincoln's hometown, but we want to make race relations better," Illinois NAACP State Conference President Teresa Haley said. "It starts with communication and itÃâà...
STLtoday.com
March 23, 2018
The ballooning deficit, as measured on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, underscored the cost of an impasse between Illinois' Republican governor and Democrats who control the Legislature. That tussle left the state without complete budgets for an unprecedented two straightÃâà...
WGN-TV
March 23, 2018
ATLANTA – Leave it to March to weave storylines that scream Hollywood, yet really only end up intersecting by chance. That's what went down over the course of 80 minutes of basketball in the South Region semifinals at Philips Arena, when a few Illinois connections came together to create quite a storyÃâà...
High Times
March 23, 2018
The results of an election in Cook County yesterday show that Illinois voters support marijuana legalization. The ballot asked the electorate to decide if recreational cannabis should be legalized in the state. Tallies released this morning, with 98 percent of ballots counted, indicate that voters overwhelminglyÃâà...
The Economist
March 23, 2018
MONEY did not talk during the Democratic and Republican primary elections held in Illinois on March 20th—it screamed. The incumbent Republican governor, Bruce Rauner (pictured), who splashed out some $50m on his campaign, saw off a strong challenge from a right-winger, Jeanne Ives. He will faceÃâà...
Illinois News Network
March 23, 2018
After failing to override the governor's veto of a similar bill last year, Illinois House Democrats are again trying to create a state-funded workers' compensation company, but businesses most impacted by the state's high costs say the plan is not what they're looking for. Earlier this month, the House Labor andÃâà...
CNN
March 22, 2018
There were just under 1.3 million votes cast in the Illinois Democratic primary Tuesday to just over 700,000 in the Republican primary. Put another way, 64% of the votes cast were on the Democratic line, compared with only 36% on the Republican line. Now, Illinois is a blue state, but even taking that intoÃâà...
Brookings Institution (blog)
March 22, 2018
The recent primaries in Illinois were the second set of party primaries held this year. As the year goes on, these elections will tell us a great deal about the future of American politics in both parties which is why, here at Brookings, we are studying every congressional candidate in every congressionalÃâà...
The Southern
March 20, 2018
CARBONDALE — Illinois voters support vigorous government action regarding two major issues on Illinois' policy agenda — that is the conclusion of a recent statewide poll of 1,001 registered voters released by Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
WLS-TV
March 20, 2018
According to federal investigators, the 47-year old ringleader Michael Hari enlisted two other residents of Clarence, Illinois--Michael McWhorter, 29 and Joe Morris, 22 in a bombing plot at two Midwestern locations. Last August the trio drove to Bloomington, Minnesota and blew up a mosque there, courtÃâà...
NBC Chicago (blog)
March 20, 2018
As polls officially open across Illinois, elections officials are preparing for a large number of voters to cast their ballots Tuesday. Sandra ... With thousands expected to cast their votes Tuesday in Illinois' primary election, which features a number of hotly contested races, take a look at everything from pollingÃâà...
NBC Chicago (blog)
March 20, 2018
Voters head to the polls Tuesday to select the Illinois' chief legal officer, with a wide field of Democratic candidates seeking to replace outgoing Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Madigan's announcement in September that she would not seek re-election sent shockwaves through the state's political circles,Ãâà...
