Politics
CHICAGO – In more than two weeks of his obstruction of justice and perjury trial, one fact about the longtime chief of staff to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan came up time and again: Tim Mapes was detail-oriented. Mapes not only served as Madigan’s top aide for more than 25 years, but he also…
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SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director John J. Kim announced Tuesday a third funding opportunity of $10 million to assist communities in meeting the requirements outlined in the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act. The Lead Service Line Inventory grant program offers grants to local government units ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 to fund…
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Communities across Illinois that lack access to nearby stores that sell high quality food may soon see that change. Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed a bill that sets up a program to distribute $20 million for grants and technical assistance for grocery stores as well as funding research into food insecurity. The grants will go to…
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CHICAGO – In the fall of 2018, then-state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, thought he might have been in line for a big promotion in the Illinois House of Representatives. He’d unexpectedly run into a stumbling block earlier in the year when a woman publicly accused him of sexual harassment, but the allegations had been thin…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Nearly six months after former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was forced to fire his longtime chief of staff, those in the speaker’s inner circle were once again realizing just how much they’d come to rely on Tim Mapes. It was late November 2018, and Democrats had just won big in the general…
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The Missouri State Board of Education unanimously approved an exemption for 19 districts and one charter school to measure student achievement using alternative assessments instead of the state’s prescribed methods. Students in these districts will begin to see changes this fall as districts in the Success Ready Students Network implement their plan. “Progress monitoring during the school…
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The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the convictions of two single mothers who were charged with violating the state’s compulsory attendance law after their children missed school without a documented illness. Oral arguments in May focused on what “regular attendance” means and whether the state law was too vague. Ellen Flottman, a public defender representing…
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Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday vetoed a measure that would have granted existing utilities in downstate Illinois, notably Ameren Illinois, the “right of first refusal” for transmission line construction. This would have given Ameren, the electric utility that serves much of downstate Illinois, authority to build new transmission lines without going through a competitive bidding…
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SPRINGFIELD – A gun trade association has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Illinois law that restricts how gun dealers and manufacturers market their products. The Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation filed the suit in the Southern District of Illinois on Monday, just two days after Gov. JB Pritzker signed it into law. “The…
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SPRINGFIELD – A new law in Illinois restricts the way gun dealers and manufacturers can market and sell their products and subjects them to civil penalties for violations. Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday signed House Bill 218 into law. Labeled the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, it took effect immediately. “We hold opioid manufacturers accountable. Vaping companies accountable.…
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CHICAGO – In early 2018, longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was facing a sexual harassment scandal that his closest advisors worried could doom his political future. A 28-year-old Democratic campaign operative named Alaina Hampton had publicly accused Madigan of mishandling complaints that another top political staffer within the speaker’s close orbit had made unwanted…
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Former House Speaker Michael Madigan has long been known as “The Velvet Hammer” for the way he quietly wielded power. But in a federal courtroom Monday, the man once considered Illinois’ most powerful politician may have been given a new moniker: Don Madigan. Testifying in the perjury trial of Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim…
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SPRINGFIELD – The state’s ban on high-powered weapons and high-capacity magazines passed a state constitutional test Friday as it awaits a potentially more daunting challenge on the federal stage. In a split decision, the Democratically controlled Illinois Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the law characterizing dozens of firearms as “assault weapons” and preventing their manufacture…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Taking occasional notes – a habit hard-wired after more than 25 years as Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff – Tim Mapes sat and listened to opening statements in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial in a federal courtroom on Wednesday. Mapes allegedly lied to a grand jury in 2021…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — When Barry Louderman, launched his mayoral campaign Wednesday afternoon in front of the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, he said he had a reason. Louderman said St. Elizabeth’s “was once the jewel of Hannibal.” He told the group his late wife Betty worked there in the wound and diabetic center for Hannibal Regional…
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CHICAGO – In the summer of 2018, Tim Mapes’ name had only recently faded from unflattering headlines after he was forced to resign from three top jobs he held under powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Mapes, who’d served as Madigan’s chief of staff for more than two decades, had been accused of sexual harassment…
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QUINCY — U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) hosted a rural health care roundtable discussion Monday with leaders of local Quincy-area medical institutions to discuss the challenges that patients and providers in rural communities face. Durbin spoke about the new “Roadmap to Grow Illinois’ Rural Health Workforce,” a partnership with hospitals, community health centers,…
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BARING, Mo. — Volunteers from all over the United States have been landing in Baring following the devastating tornado that destroyed the tiny Knox County, Missouri town this weekend. The volunteers are from Weaverland Disaster Services, a Mennonite disaster response ministry that has responded to everything from New Orleans hurricane damage to Joplin. Locally they…
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Dozens of state employees across multiple agencies are under investigation by a state watchdog for claims they fraudulently obtained payments from a federal pandemic-era loan program, Capitol News Illinois has learned. Neil Olson, general counsel at the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General, confirmed that “OEIG has been investigating allegations of Paycheck Protection Program…
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QUINCY — Members of the Adams County Circuit Clerk’s office are meeting Thursday night with Eighth Circuit Chief Judge Frank McCartney about the issue of mold in the Adams County Courthouse. An inspector with the Illinois Department of Labor replied to a complaint regarding the mold put forth by the Machinists Union, which represents the…
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DECATUR – Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, TCCI, Richland Community College, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) on joined local leaders and partners to break ground on TCCI’s new electric vehicle (EV) Innovation Hub in Decatur. A global leader in electric compressors for commercial, heavy-duty, and automotive specialty markets, TCCI’s EV Innovation Hub is…
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As another of Illinois’ border states is set to enact a near-total abortion ban this week, Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday announced several new programs to help address the influx of out-of-state abortion seekers the state has seen in the 13 months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Indiana joined Missouri and…
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CHICAGO – So-called crisis pregnancy centers can now face lawsuits if they engage in “deceptive acts” aimed at deterring women from seeking abortions under a new law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday. Crisis pregnancy centers are facilities often affiliated with anti-abortion, usually religious, organizations. CPCs range from volunteer-run outfits that can’t offer much…
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The Illinois Supreme Court on July 18 ruled as constitutional a new law making Illinois the first state to eliminate cash bail, and giving local law enforcement a Sept. 18 start date. The Pretrial Fairness Act portion of the SAFE-T Act originally suffered from conflicting and layered standards for detaining suspects before trial, but was amended to…
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In the predawn hours of July 29, 1993, I sat with Earl Buck outside his New Franklin mobile home as the Missouri River rose two inches an hour on a sandbag levee he built with help from neighbors and volunteers. After three days of stacking, there were no more bags. In the darkness, when water…
Read Full Article November 13, 2024
DAILY MUDDY: QUINCY HOBBY CENTER CLOSING AND EFB COFFEE TALK
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