Politics
Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed into law a measure that will allow for the limited development of new nuclear power generation technology in the state. The measure, House Bill 2473, does not allow new large-scale power generation facilities like the six plants that are already operational in the state, but rather allows for new smaller-scale…
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CHICAGO – Certain detainees leaving Cook County jail will now be given a state ID card upon release in a new pilot program announced Monday by Sheriff Tom Dart and Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Inmates released from Illinois prisons have been receiving state IDs at no charge since late 2020 when state leaders launched…
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Over the years, Carrie Ward’s organization, the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, has worked with law enforcement agencies and attorneys across the state on how to better understand the complexities of sexual violence cases. But one part of the criminal justice system has been largely absent from that training: judges.
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Gun owners face a Jan. 1 deadline to register their assault weapons with the state under Illinois’ assault weapons law. But between lawsuits and ongoing policymaking, the exact guns, accessories and ammunition covered under the Protect Illinois Communities Act remain unclear to many gun rights advocates, who point out that the ban includes some of the most…
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Pratt sees opportunity for 'new challenge' as he files to run for state's attorney in Hancock County
QUINCY — Christopher Pratt, an attorney in the Adams County Public Defender’s Office since 2016, filed last week to run for state’s attorney in Hancock County. Pratt, who was promoted to deputy chief public defender in 2020, filed as a Republican. He will face incumbent Bobi James in a primary on March 19. No Democratic…
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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that automobile insurance policies must cover people against uninsured motorists and hit-and-run accidents, even if the person covered by the policy is not in a vehicle at the time of the accident. The case involved a 14-year-old Chicago boy, Cristopher Guiracocha, who was struck by a hit-and-run…
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By the end of the month, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey expects to complete work on the mountain of public records requests submitted to the office last year. That will allow the five-person team working through the Sunshine Law backlog to finally turn its attention to the nearly 300 pending requests filed since Bailey took…
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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that people may obtain records about their own Firearm Owners Identification cards, but they may not use the state’s Freedom of Information Act to do so. In a 7-0 ruling, the court said the Illinois State Police acted properly when it denied FOIA requests from individuals who…
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The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the state’s strongest-in-the-nation biometric information privacy law does have an exemption: health care workers who use fingerprints or similar scans to access things like medication, materials or patient health information. The nurses alleged their hospitals’ use of these medicine cabinets violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by not…
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QUINCY — There was not baton or torch involved, but State Representative Randy Frese (R-Quincy) certainly made it clear he wants former Quincy mayor Kyle Moore to take his place in the Illinois Statehouse. “Over the course of the past eight years in, in my duties as a state representative, I’ve had the opportunity to…
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SPRINGFIELD – A group of temporary staffing agencies and their trade associations are asking a federal court to block enforcement of a new state law that governs how day laborers and temp workers are managed and paid. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Chicago, challenges several changes enacted this year to the Illinois Day and…
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QUINCY — Two Adams County countywide elected officials filed to run for re-election in 2024 on the first day of filing along with one other prospective office holder and a number of precinct committeemen and County Board candidates. Circuit Clerk Lori Geschwandner filed for re-election as a Democrat and Coroner Scott Graham filed as a…
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Monday morning marks the official beginning of the 2024 election cycle in Illinois, opening up the week-long period when candidates for local, state, congressional and judicial races are required to turn in the signatures they’ve spent the last two months collecting to get on the ballot. The first day of petition filing has traditionally taken…
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Missouri could be the first state with a near-total abortion ban to use the initiative petition process to restore access. But time is running short, with a May deadline to collect enough signatures looming and court battles over ballot summaries still plodding along. And while voters in Ohio became just the latest to overwhelmingly back abortion rights on…
Read Full Article The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a case alleging the state’s 2019 law that consolidated nearly 650 individual police and firefighter pension funds actually hurt retirees by diluting their voting power. The nearly three-dozen pensioners and 17 individual pension funds that sued over the law have already lost twice in lower court.…
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SPRINGFIELD – Officials at the Illinois State Board of Education say they’re receiving more requests for increased funding for next year than the state could possibly afford, and they’re bracing for the possibility that budgets will start to tighten in the near future. “It does appear that revenue will be a little bit tighter in…
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QUINCY — State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said the Pritzker Administration should not be diverting millions of taxpayer dollars to non-citizens – especially without any input from Illinois lawmakers. On Nov. 16, Gov. JB Pritzker announced he is re-allocating $160 million from the Illinois Department of Human Services to help assist Chicago with its influx…
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CHICAGO – As winter quickly approaches, Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday announced plans for the state to spend an additional $160 million to aid and house a sustained influx of migrants sent to Chicago from the nation’s southern border. The administration sold the plan as a three-phase approach: “welcome, shelter, independence” – aimed at meeting…
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The high-stakes nature of one of this year’s biggest public corruption trials became clear Wednesday when a defense attorney predicted an ominous argument from prosecutors: That federal guidelines call for life sentences for four people convicted of conspiring to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
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This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois. In late December, a teenage boy with a broken arm was left to suffer alone in his cell at a youth lockup in rural southern Illinois. Staff were aware he’d been seriously injured; he told them he was in pain and…
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SPRINGFIELD — Illinois received another credit upgrade Tuesday, the same day a legislative committee once again scrutinized Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration for its handling of unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. The upgrade came from Fitch Ratings, the last remaining holdout of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies to advance the state’s status to…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers adjourned their fall veto session Thursday afternoon without renewing a controversial program that provided indirect state support for students attending private and religious schools. The Invest in Kids program will sunset as scheduled on Dec. 31, meaning donors to six state-approved private school scholarship funds will no longer be able to…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal voters chose Barry Louderman as the Hannibal Mayor Elect by a margin of 238 votes on Tuesday. Louderman had a total of 1,484 votes in Ralls and Marion County. Candidate Kristy Trevathan had 1,246 votes and Steve Colyar had 25 votes. In an interview following his victory, Louderman said he is…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. – On Tuesday Hannibal voters will head to the polls to decide on only two issues. The Nov. 7 election will not only decide who will replace and finish the term of former Mayor James Hark who resigned in June, but voters will also decide if the city manager will be required to…
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In a 2-1 ruling Friday, a federal appeals court ruled that Illinois’ assault weapon ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution, setting up a likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. “The Second Amendment to the Constitution recognizes an individual right to ‘keep and bear Arms.’ Of that there can be no doubt,” the majority opinion began,…
Read Full Article November 14, 2024
FRANKIE SAY: ASHLEY BURNETT
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