Springfield
News from the Illinois state legislature, governor and lawmakers in Springfield.
A former Illinois National Guard brigadier general, Tate-Nadeau was the first woman to lead the state agency. In 2023, the Sun-Times reported an IEMA executive assistant accounted for $240,761.30 in billings — double the salary of her boss between February and August 2023.
Lawmakers are looking at bills to keep the system going for some 18,000 kids in foster care as insurance companies pull out.
The redesign contest included 10 new designs, two former state flags and the current one. The current flag received more than 165,000 of the nearly 385,000 votes cast.
Lawmakers must address underfunding to avoid service cuts and keep buses and trains running on time, a UIC urban planning expert writes.
In all, 3,502 people died from an overdose in Illinois in 2023, which is 317 fewer than in 2022, data show.
If you’re an Illinois employee who started working after Jan. 1, 2011, you’re contributing a lot toward your pension. But you’ll get very little in return.
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah left intact the conspiracy conviction and other counts against the four defendants, convicted of an illegal effort to influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan as ComEd legislation moved through Springfield.
Health care, human services and public safety make up other core services that will get 9.1% less in real dollars than in fiscal year 2000, according to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
The investigation by Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino was already underway when Gov. JB Pritzker decided to nix the health care program for adults who lack legal status, ages 42 to 64, beginning July 1 — and a new report that estimates a $1.6 billion price tag since 2020 is giving fire to Republicans who want to see the program end immediately.
The governor traveled to Washington Tuesday to push for the release of frozen federal funds to Illinois and to warn of pending GOP budget cut to Medicaid affecting more than 700,000 Illinois residents.
The Illinois Commerce Commission has fined repeat offenders hundreds of thousands of dollars, but many of these fines go unpaid, while some bad actors continue operating by renaming their businesses. Two lawmakers hope new regulations in their bill can change that.
The former Illinois governor has been undergoing chemotherapy after a diagnosis last month, he told the Sun-Times.
“There’s a number of things that we have done that I think really changed the environment and have helped us get to the point that we’re at today,” Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch told columnist Rich Miller.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan would require school districts to develop policies that ban mobiles in the classroom. But some students say having or limiting phones won’t matter: ‘If someone doesn’t want to do their work, they’re going to find a way not to do it.’
Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III is accused of agreeing to limit the study of traffic enforcement systems to Chicago in exchange for $5,000 and money for an intern.
The utility will resume work on its long-delayed, over-budget program, but the Illinois Commerce Commission has ordered it to prioritize the highest-risk pipes and to bring in an outside monitor for yearly reports.
The release of the poll by Pritzker’s team shows the Democratic governor is prepared for a political fight ahead — both in terms of a potential third term for governor, or a 2028 presidential bid.
The Democratic governor also peppered his seventh budget blueprint — which Republicans derided as the largest in state history — with key policy proposals for the upcoming fiscal year.
The bill would create a commission that would make recommendations to redraw the Illinois-Indiana border. It would require approval by both state legislatures and Congress. “It’s not gonna happen,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says.
Most folks just figured that Mike Madigan had avoided the long arm of federal law by being extra-careful. And he may have been. But the arrogance of immense power apparently overrode his sense of self-preservation.
In the wake of Michael Madigan’s conviction, lawmakers can restore public confidence in government. One idea: Rein in campaign contributions from public utilities, which have been at the center of corruption scandals involving Madigan and others.
The people deserve government that works for them, not for political insiders.