Springfield

News from the Illinois state legislature, governor and lawmakers in Springfield.

Closing the facilities for an extended period would all too likely disrupt and potentially destabilize the prison system, the executive director of Council 31 writes.
Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise for nearly a decade designed to enhance his political power and generate income for his allies and associates. The Southwest Side Democrat left office in 2021 and was indicted in March 2022.
In Meta’s latest flex, it’s threatening to cut news from Facebook because a bill in the Illinois Senate wants megaplatforms to give news outlets their fair cut of ad revenue. Our head of audience engagement has some words to share.
Niemerg’s Republican primary opponent, Jim Acklin, also faces nasty claims in the 102nd District race.
The plan still requires legislative approval and places the governor at odds with AFSCME Council 31, the union representing 10,000 corrections employees.
The daughter of one mayor and sister to another, Mrs. Martino “had extraordinary experiences,” Monsignor Kenneth Velo said. “And yet ... she was ordinary. She was down to earth.”
The initiative, the first of its kind in the country, would automatically seal or redact details about someone’s reproductive health detailed in court documents.
The progressive superstar’s backing in the contest to unseat appointed state Sen. Natalie Toro could be a boon in a district widely considered one of the most left-leaning in Illinois.
Legislation is being proposed in Springfield that would require the total price of goods and services, especially extra fees, to be disclosed before customers try to pay.
One day after the Bears offered to spend $2 billion in private money to help build a publicly owned dome near where Soldier Field sits now, Friends of the Parks board member Fred Bates was not appeased by the team’s sketchy promise to create nearly 20% more open space.
The more attention this proposed $325 million tax cut receives, the less time reporters will have to flesh out the governor’s fast move on the income tax.
Illinois House OKs deal approved by the Senate that would put 10 of 21 school board seats up for election this November. Mayor Brandon Johnson will appoint the rest, including the board president.
With the current teachers contract expiring in June, Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates listed her goals Tuesday in upcoming negotiations with CPS.
Senate passage of the plan came after the mayor urged Illinois Senate President Don Harmon to support an election for 10 seats this year. The mayor will appoint the other 11 members.
“Wouldn’t it be unbelievable for our city if you were to see two amazing facilities for these great sports teams built at once?” said Curt Bailey, president of Related Midwest, which oversees the vacant 62-acre site where the White Sox hope to build.
Early voting sites include one in each Chicago ward and at 53 village halls, courthouses, community centers and other suburban venues.
Fires sparked by batteries, plus a now-derailed plan to haul garbage downstate on a barge, show clearly: It’s time to be smarter about how communities dispose of their trash.
Pensions costs as a percentage of the budget are declining, former state rep. Mark Batinick, a Republican, notes. But he also cautions that much of the money for new spending comes from fixing the pension problem, not ‘budget magic.’
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s appointment of Christian Mitchell to the McPier Board puts a close confidante in a key role just months before Chicago hosts the Democratic National Convention.
The “medical aid in dying” measure would give mentally capable patients who are terminally ill an option of ending their own lives, an end-of-life doula and educator writes. Another bill would allow the use of psilocybin, which research shows can reduce end-of-life distress.
If you want to know if I think J.B. Pritzker, in his second term as Illinois governor, will one day run for president, I do. It’s nothing he said. I’m just reading the tea leaves.
The governor’s 2025 budget has good ideas for raising revenue, but his fixes to help Illinois’ underfunded pensions fall short, budget analyst Ralph Martire writes.