When Gov. JB Pritzker tells audiences how he became interested in politics, it often starts with stories about his mother. As a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pritzker often shares, he’d attend marches, rallies and protests with his mother in support of abortion, women’s rights and LGBTQ issues. Those experiences, Pritzker […]
Ben Szalinski
Ben joined CNI in November 2024 as a Statehouse reporter covering the General Assembly from Springfield and other events happening around state government. He previously covered Illinois government for The Daily Line following time in McHenry County with the Northwest Herald. Ben is also a graduate of the University of Illinois Springfield PAR program. He is a lifelong Illinois resident and is originally from Mundelein.
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Legislature kills bill that would have expanded resentencing for youth offenders
The Illinois House shot down legislation Thursday that would have allowed some people incarcerated for crimes they committed when they were under 21 to become eligible for release. In a rare rebuke of a Democrat-sponsored bill, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted against House Bill 3332, causing the bill to fail on a 49-51 vote. […]
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Trump administration blocks more than $400M in funding for Illinois health programs
President Donald Trump’s administration is pulling back $477 million from Illinois that was to be used to prevent infectious disease and treat mental health and substance abuse issues. The Illinois Department of Public Health announced this week the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking back $125 million allocated to IDPH and 97 […]
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Pritzker wants state to ban cellphones in classroom
Are cellphones a useful tool or a distraction in the classroom? According to Gov. JB Pritzker, they’re a distraction, and he has proposed banning them during classroom instruction. Pritzker proposed legislation during his State of the State speech in February that would call for banning cellphones during classroom learning time. However, his proposal would not […]
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Trump administration ends reimbursements for Illinois food programs
The Trump administration has stopped reimbursing Illinois for a program designed to help farmers and supply fresh food to Illinois food banks. The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that changes to federal funding mean Illinois is missing reimbursements for costs for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA, and can no longer run […]
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Trump to implement new tariffs on Illinois’ largest trading partners
As the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget Director Alexis Sturm warned a House committee that uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s economic and administrative policies could affect Illinois revenue, the president announced new tariffs will take effect next week on imports from some of Illinois’ top trading partners. After initially pausing implementing 25% tariffs on […]
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Trump tariffs could impact billions of dollars of trade in Illinois
President Donald Trump’s plan to implement tariffs on key United States trading partners could affect more than $100 billion worth of goods imported to Illinois from Canada, Mexico and China. The countries were Illinois’ top trading partners in 2023, according to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. A wide range of goods coming […]
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Lawmakers advance ‘Karina’s bill’ to remove guns from domestic violence situations
It’s been 18 months since Karina Gonzalez and her 15-year-old daughter Daniela were shot and killed on Fourth of July weekend at their Chicago home, allegedly by her husband. Gonzalez had filed for an order of protection from her husband just two weeks before her death. That order caused his Firearm Owner’s Identification card to […]
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Illinois’ minimum wage increases to $15 an hour
The minimum wage in Illinois has increased to $15 an hour as of Jan. 1, completing a six-year transition period since the increase was approved in 2019. Illinois workers making minimum wage will see wages rise by $1 and tipped workers will see their paychecks bump to $9 an hour. Youth workers under 18 who […]
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Nearly 300 new Illinois laws take effect in 2025
Time to study up, Illinois. When the clock hits midnight on New Year’s Day, 293 new state laws will take effect. Those include some of the defining bills of the 2024 legislative session and others that will change how people get IDs, evaluate job postings and even cancel gym memberships. In addition to the laws […]
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Illinois better prepared for recession now
State lawmakers will face a projected budget deficit and slowing revenue when they return to Springfield in January, but a new report shows fiscal decisions made in recent years have put Illinois in a better position to handle a recession than any time in recent decades. No state is immune from the negative effects of […]
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Judge dismisses biometric data privacy lawsuit
A clarification to Illinois’ biometric data privacy law made by state lawmakers earlier this year limits the size of damages that can be claimed in lawsuits over Biometric Information Privacy Act violations, a federal judge ruled last week. It’s an early indication that the courts are willing to apply a recent amendment to the biometric […]
