State & Local News Headlines

GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey will be attending his first campaign event since the tragedy of losing his son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and grandson in a helicopter crash on Oct. 22. This event will also be attended by Bailey’s running mate, Aaron Del Mar and other candidates currently running for local and statewide offices. The event…

This story was originally published by the Illinois Answers Project Chicago-area housing advocates are bracing for many of the 8,500 formerly unhoused people whose residences are subsidized by the federal government to lose their homes after the Trump administration announced it was drastically changing its funding rules and slashing the money available to subsidize long-term housing…

Illinois Associaton of School Boards polls members this weekend at Chicago meeting QUINCY – Quincy Public School Board members approved Rachael Petty as their delegate at this weekend’s conference of the Illinois Association of School Boards, or IASB, where a vote is scheduled on a resolution regarding a state law passed earlier in 2025 that…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R-15, Illinois) took to social media Monday professing her continued support of mass deportations. “Illegal aliens are crushing our housing market and draining our federal resources,” Miller posted to her official Facebook page. “Nearly 60% of illegal alien households use at least one welfare program,while hardworking Americans are…

McClain’s serious medical conditions, including prostate cancer, require a specific placement QUINCY – Judge Manish Shah has granted lobbyist Michael McClain until December 29 to report for his two-year prison sentence as part of the Commonwealth Edison conspiracy case. “It’s not like we’re begging for more time,” defense attorney Patrick Cotter said. “The Bureau of…

"Similarly, Chicago’s poor governance today did not come from the heavens. Our problems are manmade. And that is a blessing. Because so, too, are the solutions."

Belvidere’s city council voted unanimously to opt out, citing concerns about burdening residents already facing inflation. “The city of Belvidere is going to do just fine without it,” said Mayor Clint Morris. “And, you know, I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Union leaders were one of the main proponents of stricter public school Covid measures. Their goal, in the words of American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, was justice. “Justice is our middle name. It is the lens through which we do all of our work. Climate justice is racial justice. It is worker justice. It […]

"Too much demand for appropriations and too little supply of revenue to appropriate are setting the stage for another budget scrum, where it’s every lobbyist for himself."

McHenry County has filed suit against ICE, trying to get the federal government to pay for potential liability for allegedly making immigrant detainees do forced labor. The court battle pits conservative McHenry County, which once fought in court for the ability to hold accused immigrants in the U.S. without legal permission in its jail, against the […]

"When I first introduced legislation to allow adult adoptees to access their original birth certificates, I knew it would not be easy. The bill took 14 years to pass: 14 years of hearings, negotiations and emotional testimony from adoptees, birth parents and adoptive families alike."

A document called Chicago Public Schools' Attendance Coding for Safety Concerns Related to Federal Representative Activity, obtained by education watchdog Defending Education, affirms that illegal immigrant students can be marked as "excused" if a parent conveys to the school a fear of federal immigration authorities.

Based on an analysis of states with clean energy and renewable energy mandates have sought 32 percent higher rate increase requests since 2020 than states without mandates—and mandate states have higher electricity prices as a result, which are growing at almost double the rate as no mandate states. Mandate states with the highest rate increase […]

"Instead of addressing the Windy City’s $1.2 billion budget deficit by cutting wasteful spending, he is doubling down on taxing everything in sight."