By Rebecca Anzel Four Republican lawmakers implored the co-leaders of a bipartisan, bicameral and multi-branch panel designed to present ethics and lobbying reform proposals to restart meetings that have stalled since the novel coronavirus outbreak. The call, made during an online news conference Monday by the Joint Commission on Ethics...
By Rebecca Anzel Ten frustrated Republican Party senators demanded governor JB Pritzker allow State offices tasked with processing unemployment claims to reopen in a letter sent exactly five months after Illinois’ first stay-at-home order was issued. The Department of Employment Security was widely reported to struggle with the historic influx...
By Rebecca Anzel Statues of two slave-owning men with historical ties to Illinois will be moved from the Statehouse grounds in Springfield to a secure storage site, a panel of four officials voted Wednesday, Aug. 19 morning. The decision comes almost six weeks after house speaker Michael Madigan asked the...
By Rebecca Anzel A group of Commonwealth Edison ratepayers asked a federal judge Monday to force the utility company, House speaker Michael Madigan, and others to pay “at least” $450 Million to be split among all those affected by an alleged extortion scandal. The number of affected ratepayers could rise...
By Rebecca Anzel The Illinois Supreme Court announced last week that it approved a change to rules governing eviction proceedings that will simplify the process for both landlords and tenants. The rule change mandates that property owners must file all related documents simultaneously when they file a complaint. That includes...
By Rebecca Anzel State regulation of the number of persons allowed at gatherings does not violate Illinoisans’ First Amendment rights, the attorney general’s office argued in a court document. A lawsuit filed June 15 by the State’s Republican Party alleged governor JB Pritzker’s executive order limiting gatherings to 10 residents...
By Rebecca Anzel The structural change demanded by protestors around Illinois will come from nonviolent demonstrations coupled with policy reforms, governor JB Pritzker said Tuesday. Speaking at a blended-income housing development in Chicago called KLEO Art Residences, the governor said “community activism and peaceful organizing and faith” are the keys...
By Rebecca Anzel All of Illinois is “on track” to move into the next phase of governor JB Pritzker’s plan to reopen the state safely, he said Tuesday during his daily update teleconference in Chicago. The current phase of the plan allows residents to visit golf courses and State parks,...
By Rebecca Anzel The Illinois department tasked with the State’s economic development launched a program Tuesday providing grant funding to community governments for capital projects. Its aim, said Michael Negron, assistant director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), is to return skilled laborers to work on road...
By Rebecca Anzel Governor JB Pritzker Tuesday announced a five-step, regional plan to reopen Illinois after months of restrictions put in place to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. The governor’s Restore Illinois plan comprises of five phases that health regions, the 11 districts the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH)...
By Rebecca Anzel Illinois ballot eligibility requirements will be loosened for third-party candidates affected this election cycle by State efforts to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. In a lawsuit filed April 2, the State’s Libertarian and Green parties said social distancing and stay-at-home orders instituted by governor JB Pritzker made...
By Rebecca Anzel Illinois officials announced Tuesday the largest single-day increase of novel COVID-19-caused deaths in the State. The 73 new fatalities in 14 counties: Champaign, Christian, Cook, DuPage, Ford, Kane, Kankakee, Lake, Madison, McHenry, Monroe, Tazewell, Will and Winnebago, bring Illinois’ total to 380. Coles, Lawrence, Richland and Shelby...
By Rebecca Anzel Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas, a former placekicker with the Chicago Bears, will retire from his seat on the bench effective February 29. He plans to join the Chicago-based Power Rogers law firm, which successfully represented him in a defamation suit against the Kane County Chronicle...
