SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers on Thursday passed a long-awaited amendment to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform’s provisions that will eliminate cash bail when the calendar hits 2023. The measure expands the list of crimes for which a judge can order pretrial detention, adds to what a judge can consider when determining if a defendant is…
President Biden will host a joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron on Thursday as a part of the French president’s three-day state visit. The joint press conference is set to begin at 11:45 a.m. ET. Watch it live: Traditionally leaders have answered two questions each at joint press conferences; topics that could come up include…
Democrats say they hope to pass the massive legislation, which comes in response to the Highland Park shooting, in the lame duck session in January. SPRINGFIELD — Illinois House Democrats plan to introduce a massive gun control bill that would outlaw the sale of assault weapons and prevent most residents under 21 from legally buying…
It was fitting that the weather was cold for a ceremony Wednesday, dedicating a plaque that commemorates former President Barack Obama’s key campaign moments at the Old State Capitol in Springfield. Obama launched his White House bid on Feb. 10, 2007. He spoke to thousands who braved freezing temperatures to see and hear the then-U.S….
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House gave final passage Wednesday to a bill aimed at prohibiting state investment in assets tied to Russia and Belarus in retaliation for their participation in the war in Ukraine. House Bill 1293, by Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, urges the state’s five retirement systems to divest their holdings in companies domiciled…
WASHINGTON — New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries has been elected House Democratic leader and will become in the new year the first Black American to lead a major political party in Congress. Democrats met Wednesday behind closed doors for the internal party elections as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team step aside. House Democrats are…
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…