Elimination of cash bail one of many changes taking effect Jan. 1 By Peter Hancock By now, almost everyone in Illinois has heard that Jan. 1 will mark the beginning of a significant change in the state’s criminal justice system – the elimination of cash bail. It’s an issue that
By Peter Hancock Victims and survivors of multiple mass shootings urged State lawmakers Monday, Dec. 12 to pass a ban on assault weapons, arguing that communities throughout Illinois have felt the pain of deadly mass shootings. “I was shot multiple times on the Fourth of July in Highland Park,” Lauren
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 Tammie Sloup,FarmWeek Rural communities are older, sicker, and poorer. “It’s a terrible marketing line,. but a great elevator speech when trying to communicate the uniqueness of rural communities,” said Alan Morgan, chief executive officer of the National Rural Health Association. Morgan, who has more than 31 years of experience
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 Peter Hancock Illinois voters will be asked in November to decide whether the right of workers to form unions and engage in collective bargaining should be enshrined in the State constitution. The first clause of the amendment contains two sentences. The first would establish a “fundamental right to organize
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 Peter Hancock Governor JB Pritzker announced Monday this week that Illinois taxpayers soon will start receiving rebates of their income and property taxes, either in the mail or by direct bank deposits. Speaking at a news conference in Chicago where he was flanked by other State officials and Democratic
By Peter Hancock Democratic Party governor JB Pritzker said Tuesday this week that abortion rights will be a central issue in the 2022 election, not just in his bid for reelection, but in races up and down the ballot. That includes races for Congress and the Illinois Supreme Court as
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 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
Aurora • RiverEdge Park, 360 N. Broadway, and McCullough Park, Illinois Avenue and Lake Street, music, games, food, kids activities, will start at 7 p.m.. Fireworks will be Monday, July 4 at 9:15 p.m. over the Fox River with viewing at McCullough Park and RiverEdge Park. • Fourth of July
By Jerry Nowicki A $400 million investment in broadband internet infrastructure approved by Illinois lawmakers in 2019 could pay for itself by added tax revenues alone within four years of completion of construction, according to a new study. That’s according to a report by the University of Illinois Project for
By Jerry Nowicki A pair of bills on governor JB Pritzker’s desk would expand a State roadway camera monitoring program to 22 counties while expanding the number of crimes the cameras can be used to investigate and the number of parties that can prosecute them. The measures, House Bill 260
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker signed his final first-term budget into law Tuesday, a roughly $46 billion spending plan buoyed by pandemic-driven revenue windfalls and a current-year surplus that helped the State pay down debts and offer temporary tax relief. Among the three budget-related bills signed Tuesday, House Bill
During and since my time as an active-duty officer in the U.S. Army, I have devoted much time and energy to protecting military service members from financial predators. Last year I focused on the passage of the Predatory Lending Prevention Act (PLPA), and the nationwide repeal of a Comptroller of
Illinois is known across the land for political corruption. I always get a hearty, knowing, chuckle when I tell Rotary Club luncheons that I have worked for three unindicted Illinois governors. True: Ogilvie, Thompson, Edgar. The other four across that era were all measured for striped suits: Kerner, Walker, Ryan,
By Peter Hancock A three-judge federal court panel has upheld the legislative redistricting plan that state lawmakers approved during a special session last summer, thus leaving in place the new maps that will govern state legislative elections for the next 10 years. In their 64-page opinion, released Thursday, Dec. 30,
By Beth Hundsdorfer Governor JB Pritzker signed a law recently that ends parental notification, a requirement that doctors notify the parents of a minor seeking an abortion. “With reproductive rights under attack across the Nation, Illinois is once again establishing itself as a leader in ensuring access to health care
By Peter Hancock Minimum wage workers in Illinois will see a boost in their hourly pay to $12 per hour starting January 1, 2022 while tenants in affordable housing units will be allowed to keep pets. Those are just some of the more than 300 new laws that take effect
