State & Local News Headlines

MACOMB/MOLINE, Ill. — In conjunction with the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA), Western Illinois University will host two community listening sessions for the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s (IHDA) 2027 Illinois Housing Blueprint development process. The sessions will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, on the Macomb campus and 1 p.m. Thursday, May…

Article Summary This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. Trust in U.S. elections is eroding. Between skepticism about redistricting, fear about immigration agents at the polls, and unproven claims about widespread election fraud, Americans are losing confidence in the accuracy and security of their elections. But many local…

Before the House passed the megaprojects bill last month, we were told that the drafters didn’t want to just do some symbolic or “token” property tax relief. After the chamber passed the bill, we were told the property tax component will provide meaningful statewide relief for homeowners. Well, the governor’s office ran the numbers on the…

Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) discussing honoring officers on this solemn occasion.

More than a year ago, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget was projecting a $3.2 billion deficit for what is now the current fiscal year. Part of the problem was that existing revenues were flat while spending was growing, according to the budget office.  This is a recurring problem in Illinois. The previous fiscal year’s…

The courts offer an alternative to incarceration, but outcomes depend heavily on local services. Bloomington native Shayla Woodworth had struggled with mental illness and addiction since she was a teen and spent time in jail in three states. She’d heard of mental health courts before but didn’t know much about them, and assumed they were…

“We’re almost there” on a Bears stadium bill, Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) told some sports radio hosts on a Friday morning before the House returned to Springfield for three days of session last week. “We’re very close.” Asked if the rumor spread by sports business pundit Marc Ganis earlier that week was true about House…

“Where you bank, where you shop for your groceries. I mean, it's everything that they look at. They look at your patterns of life. And they try and say your patterns of life don't portray that you're a resident,” said Roy McCampbell, a former school administrator and attorney. In one mother's case, Alsip Hazelgreen Oak Lawn […]

"When monetary bail existed, we had people who posted monetary bail who went out and committed atrocious offenses. It happened. It happened frequently. We no longer have monetary bail. We have other factors. Those things are still happening, right? That is the nature of a system that is designed with the presumption of innocence," Cook […]

“Didn’t we do that already? I believe the Emanuel administration made the same argument, right? And here we still are. Why are we continuing to ask working people of this city to embrace the same policies of old that continue to fail us?” Johnson asked Thursday during a wide-ranging interview to mark the end of […]

State Sen. Rachel Ventura said House Bill 4044 would prohibit retailers from requiring that people accept store credit instead of a refund on unopened or unused products.

All of these plans are locked in the House Rules Committee.

Compared to earlier projections, which guided Governor JB Pritzker’s recommended spending plan released in January, officials said reasons for the downward shift included the economic impact of tariffs, rising living costs, and flattening excise‑tax revenue – such as from marijuana.

The POWER Act is the primary vehicle for regulations that address concerns about the effects data centers have on communities, but it hasn’t seen any action beyond subject matter hearings since it was introduced in February. Republicans have called for regulations on data centers, but they don’t want restrictions to interfere with data centers’ economic […]

William Cheaks Jr. has spent a lifetime in city government, working his way up the ladder from laborer to manager of major infrastructure projects. He’ll need that experience to run the $1.83 billion Chicago Department of Transportation, which touches all 50 Chicago wards.

State Sen. Sally Turner said Illinois has not changed the wind tax law since 2006 and solar property tax laws since 2018, when the industries were first starting. “These are now well established industries operating on some of the most valuable farmland in Illinois, yet they're still being taxed using an outdated, antiquated, artificially low valuation,” […]