By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The biggest item on Illinois lawmakers’ agenda this spring is still a work in progress with six weeks left in the legislative session. Democrats are entering the home stretch of budget negotiations ahead of their scheduled May 31 adjournment while monitoring better-than-expected revenue growth alongside
By Jenna Schweikert, Brenden Moore, Ben Szalinski, and Nikoel HytrekCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois House approved legislation April 8 that would prohibit the federal government from operating a new immigration detention center within 1,500 feet of any home, school, day care center, park, forest preserve, cemetery or place of worship.
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com State education officials presented their case this week for a $10.9 billion budget to fund preK-12 public schools for the next fiscal year, saying the Evidence-Based Funding formula that has been in place for nearly a decade is now paying dividends. “Graduation rates are at
By Jacques Abou-Rizk and Medill Illinois News Bureau, Capitol News Illinois In downtown Chicago, people have been spotting Google’s Waymo automated vehicles testing and mapping the Windy City’s streets. For now, the autonomous vehicles must be driven by a human, as the industry seeks the endorsement of state lawmakers. For
By Jenna Schweikert, Nikoel Hytrek, Brenden Moore, & Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois House passed 264 bills out of committee this week ahead of Friday’s deadline, kicking the legislative session into high gear with two months to go before adjournment. While the committee passage of bills marks early progress,
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com A bill that would give the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to review and approve rates for both homeowners and automobile coverage is advancing in the General Assembly. Those two proposals, which started as separate pieces of legislation, were combined into a single bill that
By Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com It could be months before a Cook County judge decides whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and charge alleged abuses by federal agents during the Donald Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement campaign last fall. But the legal fight over the demand
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker is calling on agencies in his administration to set goals for increasing the number of adults in the state with college degrees or other postsecondary credentials. In an executive order issued March 13, Pritzker announced the formation of a working group that
By Erika TulfoMedill Illinois News Bureaunews@capitolnewsillinois.com Chicago’s steep new tax on sports betting is creating a backlash in Springfield that could lead to new restrictions on whether municipalities should have the power to tax gambling revenue. The highly contested tax charges sports betting businesses 10.25% on their net gambling revenue.
Republican voters in Illinois have once again chosen former state Sen. Darren Bailey as their candidate for governor, giving him a second chance to unseat incumbent Democrat JB Pritzker in November. Bailey, a farmer from southern Illinois and the party’s 2022 nominee, claimed victory Tuesday night in a four-way primary
By Gabriel Matias CastilhoMedill Illinois News Bureaunews@capitolnewsillinois.com As the Donald Trump administration moves to slash federal protections for waterways and wetlands, Illinois Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates are racing to finally pass a measure that would enact state safeguards. The Wetlands Protection Act was discussed in both chambers of the
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois Supreme Court began weighing arguments Tuesday in a case that challenges the state’s ability to prohibit people with nonviolent felony convictions from possessing a firearm. At issue is whether state laws governing the possession of firearms conflicts with the latest U.S. Supreme Court
By Maggie DoughertyCapitol News Illinoismdougherty@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois lawmakers are calling for an independent commission to investigate Illinois-linked crimes connected to international sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Democratic lawmakers Monday joined advocates for women and survivors of sexual abuse to introduce House Bill 5723, called the Illinois Epstein Files Investigation Act. The bill,
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Eighteen former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed a brief in federal court this week opposing the Donald Trump administration’s lawsuit that seeks access to sensitive personal information about every registered voter in Illinois. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Monday in U.S. District Court in
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker denied a since-recanted comment by former president Bill Clinton that Clinton thought the pair may have traveled together on a plane owned by convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. His denial was in response to a 90-second video clip of Clinton’s closed-door deposition
By Nikoel HytrekCapitol News Illinoisnhytrek@capitolnewsillinois.com Surrounded by states with abortion restrictions, Illinois has become a destination for patients from across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Illinois abortion providers took care of 23% of the approximately 155,000 Americans who traveled out of state
By Jenna SchweikertCapitol News Illinoisjschweikert@capitolnewsillinois.com As top legislators emphasize affordability this session, several lawmakers are taking aim at regulating algorithmic pricing that uses consumers’ personal data. Algorithmic pricing is a price-setting practice where companies use everything from mouse movements to website searches and messages to set unique, individualized prices using
By Maggie DoughertyCapitol News Illinoismdougherty@capitolnewsillinois.com The woman who once faced charges for assaulting Border Patrol agents after being shot five times is no longer on the defensive, now plans to launch her own civil lawsuit against Homeland Security and the agent who shot her. Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old Montessori school
By Jenna SchweikertCapitol News Illinoisjschweikert@capitolnewsillinois.com Capitol News Illinois has launched its revamped 2026 Election Guide to coincide with the opening of early voting throughout much of the state. The guide has a rundown of key dates, information on how to register and vote early, and a lookup tool to put
By Ben Szalinskibszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.comCapital News Illinois Who wants to manage Illinois’ checkbook as the State faces growing financial uncertainty? Three State legislators and the treasurer of one of the State’s largest counties have raised their hand. Incumbent comptroller Susana Mendoza — who has first took office in 2016 in the middle
