By Jerry Nowicki State lawmakers Tuesday, Nov. 29 announced a bipartisan plan to use State revenues to pay down the remaining $1.4 billion in debt taken on by the State’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the agreement is expected to move through the General Assembly...
By Peter Hancock Illinois voters have approved a State constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining. Estimates compiled by multiple media outlets projected Tuesday, Nov. 15 that the ballot measure had support on an estimated 53% of the total ballots cast in the election,...
By Peter Hancock Democratic Party governor JB Pritzker was crisscrossing the State Monday, Nov. 7 and his Republican Party challenger, State senator Darren Bailey, focused on the Chicago suburbs. They both made their final pitches to voters ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election. Pritzker, along with other Democrats...
By Jerry Nowicki & Peter Hancock In the Tuesday, Nov. 8, election, Illinois voters will cast a ballot on a State constitutional amendment, every statewide constitutional office, every seat in the General Assembly and, in 12 counties, a spot on the State’s Supreme Court. For more information about voting, including...
By Jerry Nowicki Early voting hours and locations greatly were expanded across the State this week as the campaign season entered its final two-week stretch. Polling places opened across the city of Chicago as well. Information on early voting for each election authority can be found on the Illinois State...
By Jerry Nowicki Much of the talk from supporters of the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform has in recent days centered on how it will or will not be amended before January 1, 2023 when cash bail will be abolished in Illinois as part of a provision known as the...
By Peter Hancock Attorney General Kwame Raoul accused his Republican challenger Thomas DeVore of making “dangerous” remarks, while DeVore accused the Democratic incumbent of failing the State’s school students by not challenging governor JB Pritzker’s COVID-19 mitigations. The charges and countercharges came during a nearly hour-long debate organized by the...
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker announced a plan Tuesday, Sept. 27 to reduce a $1.8 billion Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund deficit by $450 million through an infusion of unemployment-related revenues. The trust fund is the pool of money paid into by employers to provide a social safety net for...
By Jerry Nowicki The Illinois government Tuesday this week announced the award of the first electric vehicle manufacturing-targeted tax incentives made possible by a law signed by governor JB Pritzker last year. The incentives come from the Reimagining Electric Vehicles (REV) Act, which passed nearly unanimously and became law in...
By Peter Hancock Five years ago this month, Illinois lawmakers passed legislation that overhauled the way public schools in the State are funded. The so-called Evidence Based Funding formula, or EBF, was designed to calculate the actual cost for each district to provide the kind of education the State expects,...
By Jerry Nowicki In a series of downstate news conferences coinciding with the Illinois State Fair, governor JB Pritzker this week gave an update on the possibility of a special session, outlined new State infrastructure investments, and announced a new program for some Illinoisans over age 55. Although the governor...
By Peter Hancock Democratic Party governor JB Pritzker said this week that he is actively reaching out to businesses in Indiana and other states that recently have passed restrictive abortion laws in hopes of luring those companies to Illinois. “Well, all ready I’ve reached out to companies that are affected...
By Jerry Nowicki Ten months after Illinois lawmakers passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act which set a goal of putting one million electric vehicles on State roads by the end of the decade, State agencies are engaged in a flurry of regulatory planning aimed at meeting those goals. The...
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker issued a public health emergency declaration and declared Illinois a disaster area in response to the monkeypox virus Monday this week, a move his assistants said would help mobilize resources. The governor’s office personnel said the proclamation will aid in moving vaccines to the...
By Jerry Nowicki Illinois Democrats are vying to make Chicago the host city for the Democratic National Convention in 2024 while considering who will lead their party for the next four years. Meanwhile, the State’s Republican Party is hearing calls for a censure of one of its sitting congressmen, Adam...
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home, his office personnel announced Tuesday, July 19three days after he spoke at a gathering of Democrats in Tampa, Fla.. Pritzker’s press office indicated he is experiencing mild symptoms and has received the anti-viral medication...
By Peter Hancock The Illinois State Police (ISP) announced Monday it will start using a broader definition of what constitutes a “clear and present danger” when reviewing a person’s Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card. That’s a factor ISP considers when deciding whether to grant someone a FOID card or to...
By Peter Hancock In the wake of a July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park that left seven persons dead and dozens more injured, governor JB Pritzker is calling for a ban at both the State and national levels on military-style assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. The governor made those...
By Peter Hancock Governor JB Pritzker and top Democratic Party leaders in the Illinois General Assembly said Tuesday , July 5that although they still plan to call a special session this year to strengthen abortion rights, they expect to take the “remainder of the Summer” to craft policies before lawmakers...
By Peter Hancock A federal judge in Chicago handed down a one-year prison sentence Tuesday for a former State senator who once was chairperson of the Senate Labor Committee. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of embezzlement for receiving salary and benefits...
