State & Local News Headlines

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Corrections announced the closure of the Clayton Work Camp on Tuesday, transferring 27 prisoners in custody to Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling and reassigning all 41 employees to the WICC. IDOC announced the planned closure Wednesday as part of a broader move to deactivate two work…

On this week’s Muddy River News This Week, brought to you by Prairie State Bank & Trust, Bob Gough sits down in our studio with Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey as he discusses his campaign and his second bid to unseat Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November. From the issues shaping the race to why he’s…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Legislation sponsored by State Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) and Senator Erica Harriss (R-Glen Carbon) to strengthen standards for Illinois assisted living facilities was signed into law Friday. House Bill 3392 updates the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act by improving the admission process for new residents, modernizing care standards and strengthening accountability…

“Chicago has utilized this program far more than any other major American city,” said Juan González, a senior research fellow with the Great Cities Institute. “Over the decades, the program morphed into a runaway development tool with little accountability to the public. … Instead of reducing the city’s historic economic inequities, it has exacerbated them."

This is the sixth decree signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson this year, and the 26th of his term, as he turns to his executive power pen to avoid divisive political battles with a City Council majority that increasingly distrusts Johnson. “We certainly cannot rely upon a body of government when you have some members who […]

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 25 states, argues that the Postal Service’s rule violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections, and upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures. The lawsuit argues the rule is inconsistent with the Postal Service’s governing statutes, ignores the Postal […]

"I'm starting to realize life's too short to try to build in places that people don't appreciate what you're bringing," president and co-founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin III said. He suggested Buc-ee's would increasingly consider the politics of state and local leaders when choosing where to expand. When recently asked about expansion into Illinois, Buc-ee's representatives said […]

He pointed to the work of the city’s Youth Commission, which has paid more than 40 teens a stipend for their ideas. “We actually pay young people to develop activations, safe spaces for them to participate, because the last thing that they want is a 50-year-old mayor of Chicago to tell young people what’s fun, even […]

"More fundamentally, it also just strikes me as a terrible idea for our pension funds to double down on investment strategies – like a Chicago-specific infrastructure fund – whose risks and returns are highly correlated with the success of the city itself. If those investments don’t pan out, it’s probably because Chicago is struggling in […]

The bill allows Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs to invest in the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (AFL-CIO HIT), which focuses on building and preserving affordable and workforce housing, creating union construction jobs and generating returns for investors. AFL-CIO HIT has nine projects under construction in Illinois that will add 1,466 housing units, nearly two-thirds of which […]

"The exoneration of killers like Solache and Reyes, then making them rich through lawsuits, is the lifeblood of the modern radical Democratic Party, having originated in Chicago but now spreading across American cities like a cancer."

"The city has trailed the nation under every mayor from Richard M. Daley onward. Compounded, the U.S. economy grew 64 percent over that stretch. Ours grew only 25 percent."

Attorney General Kwame Raoul also filed a lawsuit against TikTok in 2024 for addictive features, harmful business practices targeting children and alleging the company also deceived the public about the platform's dangers. And, he recently joined other states in suing xAI, which owns social media platform X and its AI chatbot Grok, over AI-generated nonconsensual […]