By Raymon Troncoso The Senate Education Committee advanced several bills Tuesday, May 4, including measures addressing special education, hairstyle discrimination and teaching Asian American history in public schools. Those were among more than a dozen bills to pass the committee, the majority of which passed unanimously without debate or discussion....
By Tim Kirsininkas and Raymon Troncoso Governor JB Pritzker declared health care “a right, not a privilege” Tuesday when he signed a massive reform bill backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, the last of four policy pillars introduced as part of an anti-racism agenda last year. The “Illinois Health...
By Raymon Troncoso Illinois will provide Medicaid benefits to eligible mothers for up to 12 months postpartum, a major extension from the previous 60-day limit. Governor JB Pritzker made the announcement Tuesday after a waiver submitted in 2019 by the State to the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
By Raymon Troncoso Illinois reported its third consecutive day with more than 100 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday. Meanwhile, most statistics the State uses to measure progress in combatting the coronavirus ticked up slightly. Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 5,644 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois,...
By Raymon Troncoso Several State-regulated utilities have voluntarily extended a moratorium on disconnections into next year after requests from the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC announced that Nicor Gas and Liberty Utilities have agreed to halt shutoffs due to missed or late payments for all residential customers until March...
By Raymon Troncoso The Illinois Department of Human Services said the State is poised to have one of the top census response rates in the country despite two tumultuous months of changing deadlines as determined by the Donald Trump administration. Illinois sits at a 69.1% self-response rate as of Thursday,...
By Raymon Troncoso More than 200 federal agents will head to Chicago this week when State and local officials take a more measured tone of acceptance after railing against a potential federal surge earlier in the week. That’s because the Donald Trump Administration has offered assurances that the Illinois operations,...
