Ben Szalinski

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch says this spring’s election-year legislative session will be squarely focused on tackling Illinois voters’ priorities. “We’re going to focus on things that help folks in their household budget,” Welch told Capitol News Illinois. “We’re going to focus on things that help create good jobs, wage growth and opportunity. We’re going […]

Some of Illinois’ top Democrats say they’re open to considering targeted changes to Illinois’ controversial SAFE-T Act this spring if a forthcoming judicial report says they’re needed. Both Gov. JB Pritzker and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, say the changes — if ultimately deemed necessary — would be narrow despite Republicans’ desire to see […]

While sitting for his second Fox News interview of 2025 in late October, Gov. JB Pritzker made a plain observation about President Donald Trump, who earlier that day derided Illinois’ billionaire chief executive as “weak” and “pathetic.” “It seems like I live rent free in his head,” Pritzker told host Bret Baier on one of […]

Illinois’ statewide 1% grocery tax will go away on Jan. 1, though many people will continue to pay it at the local level. Data compiled by the Illinois Municipal League shows that 656 municipalities — a little more than half of the state’s municipalities — have passed an ordinance establishing their own grocery tax. Those communities […]

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is once again at odds with other prominent Illinois Democrats over a vote that set in motion a plan to end the record-long federal government shutdown. Durbin, who is not seeking reelection in 2026, was one of eight members in the Senate Democratic caucus to join Republicans in supporting a procedural […]

Illinois lawmakers are sending a bill to Gov. JB Pritzker that makes a pair of changes to Illinois’ tax code in response to new federal tax provisions that could reduce state revenue. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget projected last month that Illinois is on track to run a $267 million deficit in fiscal […]

Illinois joined 24 other states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump administration over plans to stop funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Saturday as the federal government shutdown continues. About 1.9 million people in Illinois, and about 42 million people across the country, depend on SNAP benefits, otherwise known as food […]

Nearly 2 million people in Illinois could lose federal food benefits ahead of Thanksgiving if Congress can’t agree on a budget by the end of the month. The Illinois Department of Human Services announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture has told states that Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will not be funded beginning Nov. 1 […]

The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to send 100 military troops to Chicago, according to Gov. JB Pritzker, who assailed the move as the Trump administration’s latest — yet not unforeseen — push to consolidate power. “What he plans to do with that power now or during the 2026 elections should worry all of […]

The Trump administration cannot withhold federal emergency funding from Illinois because the state refuses to participate in federal immigration enforcement, a Rhode Island federal judge ruled on Wednesday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January requiring the Department of Homeland Security and agencies under its command, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to stop […]