Illinois Politics
SPRINGFIELD — A federal judge in Chicago handed down a one-year prison sentence Tuesday for a former state senator who once chaired the Senate Labor Committee. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of embezzlement for receiving salary and benefits from Teamsters Joint Council 25 as a purported…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – In a 4-3 decision with a blistering dissent from the Republican minority, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to rule on a question of whether Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Act is unconstitutional. It was the second time the case of the People v. Vivian Brown came before the court and the second time the court declined…
Read Full Article IDES tries to blame lack of controls on Trump administration SPRINGFIELD – A state audit found nearly $2 billion in federal money intended to help unemployed Illinoisans during the pandemic was lost to fraudulent claims in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Employment Security blamed “insufficient and flawed federal guidance” and a lack of controls on…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The Adams County Board is reviewing more requests for projects to utilize funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Adams County has received $12.7 million in ARPA funding from the federal government. Finance Committee Chairman Bret Austin said the county has spent roughly $6.5 million has another nearly $4.8 million in pending…
Read Full Article A newly unsealed search warrant in the ComEd bribery probe centered on former House Speaker Michael Madigan provides the greatest detail yet about an alleged behind-the-scenes effort to kill an energy bill supported by Madigan’s daughter, the then-Illinois attorney general. “We got — we’ve gotta kill it. Period,” Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, allegedly told…
Read Full Article A new poll from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago radio station WBEZ shows downstate state Sen. Darren Bailey with a 15-point lead on Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin in the GOP governor race, a major reversal with 18 days to go before polls close on Tuesday, June 28. Irvin’s campaign had earlier in the week pulled…
Read Full Article Public health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike was front and center nearly every day during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now she is CEO of a top state medical contractor. Did Dr. Ezike’s quick switch violate the state Ethics Act? CHICAGO — The state’s former public health director – a well-regarded advisor to…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – A new survey released this week suggests Illinoisans are more moderate on the issue of abortion than the current Democratic-controlled General Assembly, but it is unclear whether that will cost Democrats votes in November. The poll by the Chicago-based firm Ogden & Fry – which is owned by a Republican candidate for Cook…
Read Full Article Cash bail will be eliminated in Illinois as of Jan. 1, 2023, due to a criminal justice reform passed in Jaunary 2021, and the Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force is planning a series of town halls beginning in two weeks to give an update on what the new pretrial detention system will look like.…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Congressman Rodney Davis received the endorsement of many Quincy and Adams County Republican leaders over the weekend. Those who threw their support behind Davis include Adams County Board Member Raquel Sparrow, Quincy Mayor Mike Troup, State Senator Jil Tracy, Quincy Director of Administrative ServicesJeff Mays, State Representative Randy Frese, Adams County Republican Central…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Police announced Friday that all sexual assault evidence is being processed within the 180-day timeframe outlined in state law – bringing to zero the number of legally “backlogged” cases that rose as high as 1,815 in March 2019. It’s the first time all such evidence is being processed within 180 days as…
Read Full Article Things got a bit chippy Thursday night when the six Republican candidates took the stage together for the first time for a debate in Chicago. For the most part, candidates aimed criticisms at the man who has recently had a slight polling lead, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. Darren Bailey, a state senator from Xenia best…
Read Full Article The average Illinois worker needed a pay raise of $5,360 to keep up with inflation this past year. That worker only got a little more than $3,164. So that $3,164 pay bump was actually equivalent to a nearly $2,200 pay cut. When you add up all of the price increases because of inflation, Illinoisans are…
Read Full Article Brett Retherford drives 80 miles round trip daily to his job in Riverdale, Iowa, from Annawan, Illinois. Illinois’ second-highest in the nation fuel prices drive his fuel purchases across the border, too. “I went to the Shell gas station that is less than a block from my house and gas was $4.49 a gallon. When my wife and…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – The six Republican candidates for Illinois governor faced off Tuesday night in Chicago, albeit on two separate debate stages, hours after a shooting at a Texas elementary school that dominated a large portion of the debates. A scheduling conflict between two TV networks – WGN and NBC 5 – had the candidates split…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday that he is asking President Joe Biden and the federal government to increase Illinois’ share of federal funding to reflect the results of a recent Census Bureau study showing the state was very likely undercounted in the 2020 census. The news release from the governor’s office proclaimed, “Updated census data…
Read Full Article MISSOURI INDEPENDENT — A company accused of operating illegal gambling machines in Missouri made six $40,000 donations this week to a constellation of political action committees run by its lobbyist. Wildwood-based Torch Electronics cut the checks Monday to MO Majority PAC, Missouri Growth PAC, Missouri C PAC, Missouri Senior PAC, Missouri AG PAC and Conservative…
Read Full Article Legislation awaiting the governor’s signature aims to increase access to prostate cancer screening without co-pays or other cost-sharing in Illinois. House Bill 5318 would require private insurers in Illinois to provide all qualifying male policyholders with an annual prostate cancer screening upon the recommendations of a physician. Alison Manson, vice president of government relations for the…
Read Full Article The six Republican candidates for Illinois governor faced off Tuesday night in Chicago for the first time, but a scheduling conflict made it so that the candidates were split between two debates that began one hour apart on two different networks. The dueling debates came as both NBC and WGN in the Chicago area scheduled debates on…
Read Full Article Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was recorded on a wiretapped phone call in 2018 discussing with lobbyist confidant Michael McClain a plan to arrange secret payments to a close political ally who had been implicated in a sexual harassment scandal, newly released court documents show. Madigan has always denied any involvement in the scheme…
Read Full Article SPRINGFILED — Owners of firearms that do not have serial numbers – referred to as ghost guns – will have 180 days to take them to a federal firearm dealer to have them serialized or they will risk being charged with a misdemeanor. Gov. JB Pritzker signed the measure containing that provision, House Bill 4383, into…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The primary elections in Illinois are more than a month away, and a recent poll shows more than a third of likely Republican voters who responded haven’t made a choice for who their candidate as governor. That is why Aurora mayor Richard Irvin was in Quincy Friday. Irvin met with about 30 people…
Read Full Article