By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com State lawmakers will face a projected budget deficit and slowing revenue when they return to Springfield in January 2025, but a new report shows fiscal decisions made in recent years have put Illinois in a better position to handle a recession than any time in
By Beth HundsdorferCapitol News Illinois Four years before police said he caused a crash that killed a DeKalb County sheriff’s deputy, Nathan Sweeney pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and having 44 grams of heroin in his car – an offense that, if properly reported to the secretary of
By Beth HundsdorferCapitol News Illinois Four years before police said he caused a crash that killed a DeKalb County sheriff’s deputy, Nathan Sweeney pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and having 44 grams of heroin in his car – an offense that, if properly reported to the secretary of
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Education officials from five statewide organizations are pushing for fundamental changes in the way student achievement is measured each year and how schools are held accountable for meeting the state’s academic standards. In a new report entitled Vision 2030, organizations representing local school boards, superintendents,
By Amalia Huot-MarchandMedill Illinois News Bureaufor Capitol News Illinoisamaliahuor-marchand2025@u.northwestern.edu A state watchdog has identified at least $7.2 million in fraudulent claims and more than 275 instances of misconduct by state employees accused of bilking a federal program designed to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2022, the Office of
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com A long-awaited bill to stop Illinois organizations from paying subminimum wage to workers with disabilities will soon head to governor JB Pritzker’s desk after being approved by the Senate Thursday. The Senate took a bipartisan 43-11 vote to pass the legislation that supporters dub the
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The conservative group Judicial Watch is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case filed by U.S. representative Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, challenging Illinois’ law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted 14 days after the election. Under Illinois law, ballots postmarked by Election Day can
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com During Donald Trump’s first term as president, Illinois governor JB Pritzker and Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly spent much of their time enacting laws and policies in direct opposition to the conservative agenda they saw coming from the White House. Those included the 2019
By Andrew AdamsCapitol News Illinoisaadams@capitolnewsillinois.com With nearly half a million dollars of state funding, a new electric vehicle charging station opened in Joliet on Monday. It is the first of hundreds of charging stations set to be installed over the next 18 months as part of a state-funded grant program.
By Ben Szalinskiby A week after ballots were cast, former Illinois governor Pat Quinn said the November 5 election results show voters are willing to support a graduated income tax structure to provide property tax relief. Quinn, who left office in early 2015, made a stop at the Illinois Capitol
By Jerry NowickiCapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com The first extensive public look at next year’s State finances contains a warning to lawmakers from the governor’s office: “The ability to fund new programs will be severely limited” next fiscal year. That comes from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, which projected a
By Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Commonwealth Edison’s top attorney was busy preparing for the General Assembly to take up major legislation the utility had spent months negotiating when ComEd’s top in-house lobbyist stopped by his office in late October 2011. A little more than 13 years later, the attorney, Tom
By Andrew AdamsCapitol News Illinoisaadams@capitolnewsillinois.com Lawmakers in Illinois are asking voters to weigh in on three hot-button issues on their ballots this year: Election interference, income taxes, and reproductive health care. Voters in Illinois are being posed three “advisory” questions that ask voters whether they support a specific policy, but
By HANNAH MEISELCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois surpassed $2 billion in tax revenue last year from all types of gambling and the state lottery – a record bolstered by continued growth in video gambling, sports betting and the opening of several new casinos. But that growth comes at the expense of
By Hannah Meisel and Andrew Adams Illinois governor JB Pritzker is set to join state legislative and business leaders on a trade mission to Japan next week to explore clean energy, manufacturing, life sciences, quantum, and other “key growth industries,” according to the governor’s office. Members of the delegation will
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell came under fire for his hiring practices after he employed a deputy with two DUI convictions, who is now accused of the murder of an unarmed black woman in her kitchen. But it wasn’t the first time he chose to hire someone accused of drunk
By Peter Hancock and Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinois The Illinois Supreme Court last week vacated a lower court ruling and reinstated a statute that authorizes the state to revoke a person’s Firearm Owners Identification card once they’ve been charged with a felony, even if they haven’t yet been convicted. The
By Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A federal judge on Thursday declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked in their deliberations over whether former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza bribed longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan via a no-work contract for the speaker’s political ally. After nearly 15 hours of
By Andrew AdamsCapitol News Illinoisaadams@capitolnewsillinois.com Approximately 4.6 million records associated with Illinoisans in more than a dozen counties, including voting records, registrations and death certificates, were temporarily available on the open internet, according to a security researcher who identified the vulnerability in July. The documents were available through an unsecured
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com One year after Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail, the impact on the state’s criminal justice system appears to have been far less dramatic than people on either side of the debate had predicted. That, at
