The Illinois General Assembly usually tries to adjourn by the end of May. That hasn’t worked out too well the past few years as partisan bickering, the state’s huge budget problems and the]]> Enough, already. The Illinois General Assembly is planning to return to Springfield next week. The idea is to change state law so that Gov. Rod Blagojevich cannot appoint Barack ]]> From the very beginning, Gov. Rod Blagojevich sought to centralize the operation of state government as much as possible in his office. A cadre of deputy governors have overseen daily agency operati]]> As you probably know already, Moody’s slapped Illinois with its worst credit rating of any state in the nation earlier this month.But while Moody’s report was damaging, S&P’s rat]]> The nasty and brutish Statehouse war is officially over for everyone but House Speaker Michael Madigan. The House Republicans made a big stink last week. It was totally expected. T]]> Addison Township was once king of the state's Republican hill. The Illinois Senate President (James 'Pate' Philip), House Republican Leader (Lee Daniels) and state attorney general (Jim Ryan) all l]]> In all the years I’ve covered Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, he has never allowed his chamber’s Republican minority leader to best him. A minority leader might score a win here an]]>