Politics
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — On Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 3062 into law, which requires any constitutional challenge to state laws to be filed in either Cook or Sangamon counties, a measure supporters say is intended to put a stop to what they describe as “venue shopping.” This was one of the final bills…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers passed 566 bills through both chambers of the General Assembly in the recently concluded legislative session – all but one of them in May. It sets the table for an approximate three-month bill-signing season for Gov. JB Pritzker. That’s because the state’s constitution gives legislative leaders 30 days from a bill’s…
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QUINCY— Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker stopped by John Wood Community College Monday afternoon to discuss the state’s recently passed budget and a large increase in Monetary Award Program for higher education. MAP grants, which do not need to be repaid, are available to eligible Illinois residents who attend approved Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need, based on the information provided…
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Todd Maisch: A Man Proud of the Place in Which He LivedBy State Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) President Abraham Lincoln had an inspirational quote that, for me, epitomizes the life and career of Illinois Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Maisch, and what he meant to our state and its many businesses. I like…
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SPRINGFIELD – The 2023 spring legislative session came to an end in the early hours of Saturday morning after the Illinois House gave its approval to a $50.6 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1. The 73-38 party-line vote came around 2:30 a.m. after lengthy debate during which Democrats called the budget…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House is planning to work until the early hours of Saturday morning to finalize a $50.6 billion state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That announcement came early Thursday evening, more than 24 hours after Gov. JB Pritzker and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly announced…
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UPDATE: The budget was filed as a 3,409-page amendment to Senate Bill 250 late Wednesday evening. This story has been updated to reflect the latest developments as of Wednesday night. SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic leaders announced Wednesday they’ve agreed to a framework for next year’s roughly $50 billion state spending plan, even as negotiations continued…
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri legislative session for 2023 ended at 6 p.m. May 12, the day and time as required by law, with a number of bills left unheard. Two senators filibustered to protest bills that were not being passed. Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, read aloud from a biography of Ronald Reagan,…
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SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers didn’t finish their spring legislative session by Friday’s scheduled adjournment as negotiations over the state budget remain in flux. The May 19 end to the General Assembly’s spring session had been on the calendar for months, but it’s not a deadline; lawmakers still have until the end of May before a constitutional…
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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate on Thursday passed an amended version of a bill that would allow businesses and public institutions to provide multi-occupant all-gender bathrooms if they choose to do so. House Bill 1286 would change current state law, under which single-occupancy bathrooms are automatically designated for all genders, but multi-occupancy bathrooms must be designated…
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In a Columbia parking lot on Wednesday afternoon, there was a reminder of Christmas. It wasn’t leftover decorations or early preparations for a summer “Christmas in July” sale. It was the temporary tag on the back of a Jeep Cherokee that expired on Christmas Day. Handed out by an auto dealer at the time of…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ ban on assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines will remain in force, at least for the time being. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant a temporary injunction to block enforcement of the law, known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, pending an appeal of five consolidated lower court decisions…
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SPRINGFIELD – As the General Assembly prepares to wrap up its spring legislative session this week, Democratic lawmakers are advancing a bill that would mandate job postings to include a salary range in a move they say would promote equity within the workplace. Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill designed to make transferring to a public university…
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey terminated his emergency rule on gender-affirming care Tuesday — less than a week after the state legislature sent a ban on minors starting treatment to the governor’s desk. The ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in late April seeking to block Bailey’s emergency rule, alleging the attorney general didn’t have the authority…
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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court is now deciding whether the state’s recently enacted assault weapons ban violates certain provisions of the Illinois Constitution. In March, a circuit court judge in Macon County sided with a group of plaintiffs led by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, and declared the law unconstitutional. The state appealed directly…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Quincy couple received two years’ probation Tuesday on misdemeanor charges stemming from the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Christina Gerding and Jason Gerding pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating and picketing inside the Capitol building. They could have received up to six months in jail and up to…
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CHICAGO — Exelon, the parent company for Commonwealth Edison, has been paying the legal fees for two now-convicted former Edison executives who were part of a conspiracy to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, WBEZ has learned. The move has created an unusual dynamic. On one hand, the company’s subsidiary, ComEd, is cooperating with federal investigators…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers are considering further legislation restricting the possession and marketing of firearms, even as state and federal courts are weighing the constitutionality of an assault weapons ban passed in January. On Wednesday, the Illinois House passed a bill that would subject firearms manufacturers and dealers to the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois would become one of the first states to make so-called crisis pregnancy centers subject to the same consumer fraud standards as car dealerships, retailers and service-based businesses under a bill that will soon head to Gov. JB Pritzker. Upon the measure becoming law, crisis pregnancy centers could be sued under the Illinois…
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The Missouri Senate held itself together longer than most had expected. But on Friday, hours before the constitutionally mandated adjournment, it went off the rails. Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican running for governor next year, attempted a procedural move to force a vote on personal property tax cut legislation. Instead, the chamber voted…
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CHICAGO — In 2007, Reginald Lane shot and killed Jwonda Thurston, his pregnant girlfriend. For the murder, he was sentenced to life in prison, following state statute for someone who is found guilty of killing “more than one victim.” On Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments in Lane’s case, specifically around whether Lane was…
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SPRINGFIELD – A measure that would ban the use of electronic cigarettes inside of public buildings in Illinois needs only a signature from Gov. JB Pritzker to become law after it received final approval from lawmakers this week. House Bill 1540 passed the Senate on a 42-11 vote this week after passing the House 85-22 in March,…
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CHICAGO — State officials suspended the legislative pension of former lobbyist Michael McClain after his conviction May 2 alongside the ‘ComEd Four’ on bribery charges, but the suspension may only be temporary. McClain, a former Illinois House representative and ComEd lobbyist with longtime ties to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, was found guilty on nine counts of conspiring and falsifying…
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SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers are considering creating a grant program that would send state dollars to grocers in Illinois communities that have few options for buying food. Senate Bill 850 would direct the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or DCEO, to establish the “Grocery Initiative,” a program that would study “food deserts” in Illinois and…
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SPRINGFIELD – In the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. JB Pritzker recalls being handed a report from researchers at the University of Illinois. The analysis was written by scientists and mathematicians who were trying to estimate how many deaths and hospitalizations would occur under different scenarios – one if the state took no…
Read Full Article November 13, 2024
DAILY MUDDY: QUINCY HOBBY CENTER CLOSING AND EFB COFFEE TALK
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