Year: 2025

Memorial highway honoring SFC Theodore Katsoolias

State Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, joined veterans organizations, community members, and fellow legislators Saturday to support dedicating a section of Illinois State Route 59 honoring Sergeant First Class (SFC) Theordore Katsoolias, a beloved West Chicago serviceman who made the ultimate sacrifice while deployed. Highlighted through an ongoing House Joint Resolution,

Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, from Chicago South Side

By Beth HundsdorferCapitol News Illinoisbhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com As the red velvet curtains at the Vatican parted, a priest realized that his college pal from the South Side of Chicago that he knows as “Bob” had been elected the first American pope. “Oh, dear God,” the Very Rev. Anthony Benedetto Pizzo, the prior

Authoritarian: Martial law disguised as law and order

By John & Nisha Whitehead “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”—James Madison We are being frog-marched into tyranny at the end of a loaded gun. Or rather, hundreds of thousands of loaded guns. Let’s not mince words: President Donald Trump’s

State revenue projections improve, economic uncertainty

By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The General Assembly’s independent forecasting commission has improved revenue projections for the upcoming fiscal year despite growing economic volatility. That’s good news for state lawmakers who are in the final weeks of crafting the fiscal year 2026 budget set to take effect July 1. But

Push for minimum nurse staffing in hospitals

By Grace FriedmanMedill Illinois News Bureaunews@capitolnewsillinois.com Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being. Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for