Politics
Water resources bill, which includes $3.5 million for North Street project in Hannibal, passes House
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 that was passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives authorizes $50 million for wastewater and stormwater projects in North Missouri — including $3.5 million for the North Street Project in Hannibal, Mo. A section of downtown Hannibal’s stormwater system collapsed in 2019, nearly flooding part of…
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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…
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CHICAGO — Machinery manufacturer Caterpillar will move its approximately 230 corporate employees to Irving, Texas, beginning this year, while the move won’t affect approximately 17,000 other employees of the company who work in Illinois, according to coverage from Bloomberg. The corporate offices are currently in Deerfield, having moved there from Peoria in 2017. Peoria is still the…
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QUINCY — Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said the city will learn the details of former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Quincy area on Wednesday. Speaking after Monday’s meeting of the City Council, Troup said he believes Trump, the nation’s 45th president, will arrive at Quincy Regional Airport on Saturday, June 25. The likely location…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, a bipartisan bill that will improve ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other water resources infrastructure throughout the United States. Congress has regularly approved bipartisan WRDA legislation every two years since 2014 to authorize…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A new system for reporting armed intruders may be coming to Missouri school districts by the fall semester. The process for implementing the system is on hold until Gov. Mike Parson signs off on Missouri’s budget. $1.9 million of state money was set aside to assist school districts in implementing a new app…
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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…
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The Southern Baptist Convention on Thursday released a once-secret and lengthy list of accused sex abusers — several of whom are in the Midwest — within the denomination. The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and other church workers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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QUINCY — Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said “a breakdown of our culture…a breakdown of the home” is to blame for this week’s school shooting in Texas. “Our country is founded on Judeo-Christian values,” Miller said before taking a tour of the John Wood Community College Workforce Development Center on Friday morning. “We’re not perfect, but…
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QUINCY — Five-term U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis said he was “heartbroken” for the families involved after learning of the deaths of 19 students and two teachers in a Tuesday shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Incidents like that, however, bring back grievous memories of his own. Preparing for a Congressional baseball game to…
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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…
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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…
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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 November 12, 2024
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