SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers on Tuesday 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 this week before lawmakers adjourn for the year….
Dems claim electoral mandate for broad criminal justice reform, GOP claims they’re ‘frozen out’ SPRINGFIELD – Changes may yet come to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform before its Jan. 1 effective date, but some of its major proponents in the General Assembly said the results of the Nov. 8 general election have signified that…
SPRINGFIELD — Embattled Illinois State Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, is set to lose his powerful legislative committee chairmanship in the new session of the General Assembly next year, Senate President Don Harmon told WBEZ. Harmon’s move comes after Hastings was accused of physical abuse by his ex-wife, according to police and divorce-court records. Hastings has…
WASHINGTON — The Congress that takes office next year will feature a Senate with a narrow Democratic majority and a House that, so far, has a slim Republican majority. What’s not clear is how that split in control will affect one of the biggest pieces of legislation on the agenda next year: the Farm Bill….
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump is drawing criticism for dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. The meeting came days after Trump launched his third campaign for the White House. Trump had dinner Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, who is now known as…
SPRINGFIELD – People walking through downtown Springfield on Monday morning looked up to an unusual sight – a helicopter hovering over the Old State Capitol, dropping a rope and lifting away the flagpole that sat atop the bronze-colored dome. “We took off the flagpole of at the Old State Capitol today in preparation for a…
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who recently announced he has the support for another term as House speaker, says he looks forward to governing with an even larger supermajority than he had during his first two years. “Expanding our caucus was definitely a priority of mine,” he said during an interview with…
SPRINGFIELD – Senate Minority Leader-elect John Curran will take over a caucus that’s more than doubled in size by the majority-party Democrats. His goal: “Bring balance to state government.” “Because we’re going to produce better results with that balance for working families throughout all Illinois communities,” Curran said in an interview with Capitol News Illinois…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who shattered the “marble ceiling” to become the first woman to lead the U.S. House — announced Thursday she will step down from party leadership. “With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress. For me the hour has come for a…
SPRINGFIELD – Changes may yet come to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform before its Jan. 1 effective date, but some of its major proponents in the General Assembly said the results of the Nov. 8 general election have signified that the ship has sailed drastic amendments to it. “I will say, when it came…
SPRINGFIELD – Republicans chose new leadership for their caucuses in the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday night, while the two Democratic leaders have each announced they have the votes to maintain their positions. House Republicans elected Tony McCombie of Savanna and Senate Republicans chose John Curran of Downers Grove. The change in leadership comes after…
SPRINGFIELD – 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 that the ballot measure had support on an estimated 53 percent of the total ballots cast in the election, with more than 95 percent of the…
URBANA — State Representative Chris Miller of Illinois’ 110th district won re-election in last week’s midterms. He ran unopposed and will soon serve his third term in office. Miller, the Coles County Republican, attended the “Save America” rally in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, which preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. A…
SPRINGFIELD – Mary Jane Theis was sworn in as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court on Monday in a public ceremony, becoming the fourth woman to hold the gavel since the court was created in 1818. By next month, the Democrat will find herself presiding over a new historic first for the court, as…
DANVILLE — Last summer’s demolition of the Cannon school building in Danville destroyed a notable reminder of Joseph G. Cannon, the longtime Danville congressman and House Speaker. Now there’s a campaign to name another Danville building after Cannon. A citizens committee submitted more than 500 petition signatures last week, asking the Vermilion County Board to…