Six candidates say students should learn African American history and the history of racism. The seventh, business owner Mark Holm, declined to be interviewed.
State Representative Mike Marron is one of many Republicans critical of Governor J-B Pritzker’s ambitious budget proposals to add new state spending for education, childcare, and anti-poverty efforts. But the Vermilion County lawmaker is still working to make sure state funding for infrastructure projects reaches his 104th House district. Marron announced three bills for three…
U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski visited the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign on Thursday. But first, the central Illinois Democrat stopped in Decatur, where more than 400 pharmaceutical plant workers had been abruptly laid off by Akorn Pharmaceutical.
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday released a blueprint for transforming what the state acknowledges is a confusing patchwork system for families who need greater access to mental health care for their children at a moment of overwhelming need both in Illinois and across the country. The current fragmented system, compounded by a workforce…
An Indiana bill that would ban all gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, passed the state Senate public health committee 8-3.
MOLINE — Congress has a tight deadline to approve a new farm bill. Central Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., is part of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee that recently reorganized at the start of the 118th Congress in late January. Listen to this story here. Sorensen said it will take compromise to meet the needs…
The Open Field announced Tuesday that former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s “Renegade: My Life in Faith, the Military, and Defending America from Trump’s Attack on Democracy” is scheduled for on release Oct. 17.
URBANA — Paul Faraci has completed his first month as a state senator. The Champaign Democrat was appointed by party leadership in Champaign and Vermilion counties to replace his friend Scott Bennett, who died suddenly in December at the age of 45. Faraci says he’s enjoyed his new job despite the circumstances leading to his…
Governor JB Pritzker has submitted an Executive Order to change the official name to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security.
Azark David Cobbs is making his second run for mayor of Champaign, running against incumbent mayor Deborah Frank Feinen and former mayor Don Gerard.
Braver Angels conducts workshops across the US with the goal of to bringing Democrats and Republicans together to understand each other.
Carter, a Democrat, became the 39th U.S. president when he defeated former President Gerald R. Ford in 1976. He served a single term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Illinois has paid out millions in pensions to ex-lawmakers who have admitted criminal wrongdoing or are awaiting trial. CHICAGO — Illinois state senator-turned-government mole Terry Link infamously asked “What’s in it for me?” while wearing a wire in a 2019 federal bribery sting that snared a corrupt legislative colleague. Link played the role of undercover…
Preschool, child care investments top list of proposed spending increases.
SPRINGFIELD — Building on a “remarkable” fiscal rebound, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a $49.6 billion state budget Wednesday, prioritizing increased spending on everything from early childhood initiatives to education to reproductive health care. In the first big swing of his second term, Pritzker also underscored his work the past four years in stabilizing Illinois’…