Politics
Decatur native will become first Black woman on Illinois Supreme Court SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court announced Tuesday that 4th District Appellate Justice Lisa Holder White has been appointed to succeed Justice Rita Garman, making her the first Black woman to serve on the state’s high court. “Being appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court is…
Read Full Article First downstate female judge has served on high court since 2001 SPRINGFIELD – Republican Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman announced Monday that she will retire on July 7, marking the end of a long legal career that has included 48 years as a jurist. She would have been up for retention this year, but…
Read Full Article Missouri lawmakers are poised to require schools test and, potentially, filter drinking water to prevent lead poisoning, making the state one of just a handful that require administrators to meet standards stricter than federal regulations. The state offers grants for schools to pay for water testing, but there is no requirement to test, and only a…
Read Full Article A St. Charles County Circuit Court judge dismissed Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s lawsuit Thursday against the local school district’s now-rescinded mask mandate, leaving few cases from Schmitt’s legal blitz remaining. The City of St. Charles School District was one of 47 districts Schmitt sued earlier this year over mask mandates, and it was one of only three…
Read Full Article ST. LOUIS — If you signed a petition to help put U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois) on this June’s primary ballot, there’s a chance a man convicted of luring a child for sex was the one who asked you to sign those campaign documents. Miller is facing new questions about her relationship with Brad Graven,…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – Teachers and other education professionals are urging the Illinois State Board of Education to reduce the amount of time students spend on standardized tests each year and to adopt a new testing system that produces more useful information to help teachers improve their instruction. “One thing that we’re saying and that our members…
Read Full Article A record state operating budget that a top legislative Republican said “has a little bit of something for everyone” is heading for final votes in the Missouri General Assembly as tax revenue continues to pour into the treasury in historic amounts. Final figures weren’t available Wednesday, but the spending plan that emerged from a day of negotiations…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined a multistate coalition of eight attorneys general urging President Biden to fully cancel federal student loan debt owed by every federal student loan borrower in the country. The coalition urges the president to immediately exercise his authority under the Higher Education Act to cancel the more than…
Read Full Article Illinois has 6,032 local governments, the most in the nation by a wide margin – and that excludes 859 school districts. It’s the main reason Illinoisans pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes. You’d expect a state with fewer people after eight consecutive years of population loss would need less government. Wrong: Illinois has more government than any…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The two incumbents running for Illinois’ 15th District made their pitches to the Quincy Tea Party Tuesday night at the Town and Country Inn. Republicans Rodney Davis and Mary Miller are now running for the redistricted seat that represents much of the I-72 corridor of Illinois, including Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock Counties.…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Congressmen Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Sam Graves (R-MO) spent time at a Quincy business to talk about how government can assist with the logistics and transportation of small businesses. Officials with Kohl Wholesale gave the legislators a tour of Kohl’s facilities on Illinois 57, including their distribution center, which opened in 2018, and…
Read Full Article U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL) released the following statement after news reports of a draft U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion striking down the Roe v. Wade abortion decision was leaked: “As a Pro-Life lawmaker, I’ve long advocated for an end to the ‘Roe’ decision. It was wrong from the beginning, and I hope the Court’s pending decision empowers states…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Governor Pritzker today condemned the reported Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to enact even more restrictive anti-choice laws that would deny woman’s access to reproductive health care. Early in his term, Governor Pritzker signed the Reproductive Health Act to protect Illinois women in anticipation of a conservative Supreme Court overturning Roe. “The terrifying implications…
Read Full Article Two bills on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk could expand Illinois highway camera monitoring program to cover 6,600 more miles of road across 22 counties as the General Assembly looks to crack down on expressway crime before November elections. House Bill 260 and House Bill 448 – passed alongside 80 other proposals in the final dayof the legislative session – would see…
Read Full Article Amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation pushed nationwide, the Missouri House passed a pair of bills Thursday that would limit transgender students from participating on the sports teams that match the gender they identify with. One bill, which originally dealt with school transportation, would restrict transgender students to only participating on high school sports teams of…
Read Full Article Gov. J.B. Pritzker defended his mandate that gas stations owners post stickers at the pump announcing his delay of a gas tax increase or pay $500 daily fines. “There’s no political speech involved there, at all,” Pritzker said April 27. “And, here’s what we’re doing. We’re lowering the impact on people of the rise in prices of…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a package of bills Wednesday aimed at easing the state’s shortage of teachers and other education professionals, even as a new report shows Illinois just added a record number of new teachers to its ranks. Speaking in the library of Springfield High School just blocks from the Capitol, Pritzker…
Read Full Article Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) says eliminating student loan debt is “morally wrong” and is supporting legislation to block President Joe Biden from permanently extending student loan forbearance that has been in place since almost the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The debt isn’t just magically eliminated with the stroke of a pen,” Davis said. “It…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Congresswomen Mary Miller (R-IL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) will be in Quincy on Saturday as part of a “Defend the Second Amendment Rally”. Miller is running in the June 28 15th District Republican primary against Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) as both were lumped in the same Congressional District following redistricting controlled by Illinois…
Read Full Article JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri has recovered more than 95 percent of the jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Missouri Chamber’s latest quarterly economic report. Missouri is among states leading in job recovering after adding back 357,200 of jobs lost, according to Ted Abernathy, managing partner of Economic Leadership LLC. “Ten states have made it back…
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