Politics
MACOMB, Ill. — The Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce will be the host of a legislative luncheon, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, on Monday, Oct. 23, at the Park Place, 127 E. Carroll. Check-in/social begins at 11 a.m. with a buffet lunch served at 11:30 a.m. The noon featured speakers will include State Senators Mike Halpin…
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SPRINGFIELD – Unions representing nurses in Illinois are pushing for legislation that would impose mandatory staff-to-patient ratios in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. But lobby groups representing hospitals and nursing homes say they are steadfastly opposed to the legislation, arguing that a nationwide nursing shortage makes it impossible to comply with such…
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey expects to finally complete work on public records requests submitted to the office under his predecessor by the end of the year. A review by The Independent of the massive Sunshine Law backlog — which stood at 315 pending requests on Friday — found inquiries from reporters and political operatives, as well…
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Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday condemned the deadly attacks on Israel over the weekend by the militant group Hamas, telling those gathered outside a synagogue in Chicago’s north suburb of Glencoe that Illinois “unequivocally stands” with the people of Israel. The governor, who himself is Jewish, was one of a handful of elected officials and…
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There is $60 million at stake on the meaning of two words in the Missouri Constitution. On Thursday, a Cole County judge said he will provide the definition as soon as possible. The money, from the state road fund, would mean significant raises for thousands of employees in the Department of Transportation. The question Circuit…
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Marc Smith is one of 3 state agency leaders to announce end-of-year departure plans Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will resign effective Dec. 31, he told colleagues in an all-staff town hall meeting Wednesday morning. For years, critics had called on Smith to resign or be fired, amid legislative hearings,…
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CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker was in Hyde Park Tuesday at the University of Chicago’s library to discuss Illinois’ fight against book bans. The university is building a collection of every book that has been banned in the U.S. and is partnering with the Digital Public Library of America to make books more accessible where…
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ROCKFORD — In 2016, before Donald Trump’s presidency paved the way for the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade, Democrats in Illinois passed what would become the first in a series of laws shoring up reproductive rights in the state. That law altered Illinois’ 1970s-era Health Care Right of Conscience Act – a statute passed in…
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias last week filed administrative rules that would increase the age at which a driver is required to pass a driving test when they renew their license, raising it from 75 to 79. The rules – proposed by Giannoulias to the legislative Joint Committee on Administrative Rules – would keep…
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QUINCY — The historic 1993 flood of the Upper Mississippi River caused billions of dollars in damages, displacing more than 74,000 people from their homes and disrupting the region’s transportation and economy. The Upper Mississippi River watershed has experienced more frequent flooding with higher river stages with major floods happening in 2008, 2013, 2014 and…
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SPRINGFIELD – Six months before the next presidential primary elections in Illinois, county clerks and other local election authorities are asking for the public’s help in stopping misinformation campaigns before they get started. Officials from 25 counties scheduled a series of news conferences Tuesday in Tazewell, McLean and LaSalle counties. At the Tazewell event, the…
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Ameren Missouri announced plans Tuesday to burn more natural gas in the coming years, though it claims the decision doesn’t undermine pledges to reduce its carbon emissions. The St. Louis-based utility, which serves more than 1.2 million Missouri customers, says it is still planning to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Ameren announced its plans…
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SPRINGFIELD – In 1946, the Illinois Supreme Court heard a case that would eventually become a landmark in American legal history. The public school district in Champaign, like many other districts in Illinois at the time, allowed a group of local religious leaders to use their schools to teach elective classes in religion and openly…
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QUINCY — Former Quincy mayor and current president and CEO of the Great River Economic Development Foundation Kyle Moore is the first to throw his hat in the ring to succeed Randy Frese in the Illinois House of Representatives. Frese announced on Wednesday he would not seek re-election after serving 10 years in the statehouse.…
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PALOMA — Republican State Representative Randy Frese will not seek another term for the 99th Illinois House District seat. “It has been both an honor and a privilege to represent the fine people of West Central Illinois for the past eight and a half years,” Frese said in a press release issued Wednesday. “The job…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinoisans who own weapons that can no longer be purchased or sold in the state under its new assault weapons ban can soon register those weapons so they can legally keep them. The law, officially known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, bans the sale and possession of firearms defined as “assault weapons” as…
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Illinois on Monday will become the first state to fully abolish cash bail through an act of the legislature — a major criminal justice overhaul spurred by the advocacy of a progressive faction of the Democratic Party that’s grown increasingly powerful in recent years. The reform goes into effect after nearly three years of brutal…
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Missouri lawmakers greeted a proposed $300 million increase to the formula that funds the state’s public schools with questions Wednesday, with some believing the figure seemed appropriate and others wondering if a change to the state’s accountability system drove estimates too high. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education unveiled its proposed budget for fiscal…
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias was in Washington, D.C. this week to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee regarding a new state law aimed at deterring book bans. Giannoulias, whose position also includes the title of “state librarian,” this spring championed legislation allowing his office to withhold state money from public libraries if they ban…
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The Illinois State Fair – a multi-million dollar annual agriculture festival in Springfield – reported a nine-year attendance record this year. The state Department of Agriculture, which hosts the fair each year, reported on Tuesday that about 708,000 people attended the fair, an 11 percent increase from 2022. Department officials attributed the increase to good…
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Gov. Mike Parson prevailed on all his vetoes Wednesday when the state Senate refused to consider any of the 14 budget overrides approved by the Missouri House. The House achieved two-thirds votes to override vetoes on 10 budget lines providing raises for the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Capitol Police Department. The other successful override votes were on…
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Democrats in Missouri, like their counterparts nationally, will use 2024 to test a new system for determining the party’s presidential preference now that the public primary for all parties has been abolished. Instead of reverting to a caucus-only system, the process used in most elections prior to 2000, the Missouri Democratic Party is seeking comment on a…
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A new battery manufacturing plant is set to open in northern Illinois next year after the state offered more than $330 million in tax incentives to make it happen. Gotion, a Chinese battery manufacturing and development company, announced on Friday that it will build a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Manteno, about 50 miles south…
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A group of businesses filed a complaint with state regulators last week alleging that Chicago electric company Commonwealth Edison improperly raised customer bills this summer. The complaint – centered on a portion of the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act that allows utilities to recoup carbon mitigation investments – alleges the utility failed to follow the proper…
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QUINCY — City Treasurer Linda Moore took advantage of the public forum at the beginning of Monday’s Quincy City Council meeting to chastise aldermen for tabling the vote on a resolution to adopt a pledge of civility at their Aug. 28 meeting. “We were elected by the people to lead them as elected officials,” Moore…
Read Full Article December 22, 2024
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