Capitol News Illinois

Leah is a 13-year-old girl under Department of Children and Family Services care who lives in a psychiatric ward in a Chicago hospital. Capitol News Illinois is using a pseudonym to protect her identity, but has confirmed she’s been held for months behind locked doors, despite a doctor saying she was well enough to leave […]

A pair of bills on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk would expand a state roadway camera monitoring program to 21 additional counties while also expanding the number of crimes the cameras can be used to investigate and the number of parties that can prosecute them. The measures – House Bill 260 and House Bill 4481 – […]

Legislation allowing pharmacists to administer or dispense preventive HIV medication and fentanyl testing strips were among health-related measures passed by the Illinois General Assembly during its final week of session earlier this month. House Bill 4430 allows pharmacists to order and conduct testing and dispense pre- and post-exposure HIV medications to individuals who are at […]

One year after being named speaker of the Illinois House, Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch says he is proud of the accomplishments he and his colleagues achieved and he looks forward to building on that record. “I actually thought 2021 was one heck of a year,” the Hillside Democrat said during a recent interview. “You know, […]

A state program aiming to take a “comprehensive approach to ending Illinois’ firearms violence epidemic” will be expanded under a law signed Dec. 10 by Gov. JB Pritzker. The Reimagine Public Safety Act became law in June, but the expansion signed Friday clarifies guidelines in the original bill and gives the Illinois Department of Human […]

The Illinois House late Wednesday gave final passage to a bill that repeals the state’s Parental Notice of Abortion Act, clearing the way for Gov. JB Pritzker to sign it into law. The bill narrowly passed out of the Senate on Tuesday night on a 32-22 vote, with three Democrats voting no and six Democrats […]

Illinois’ first congressional remap draft is out but changes could be in store as lawmakers returned to Springfield this week for the first of their final two weeks of scheduled session in 2022. It’s customary for lawmakers to meet each fall to consider overriding or accepting any of the governor’s vetoes or amendatory vetoes of […]

A railway improvement project intended to improve traffic congestion between St. Louis and Chicago reached a milestone Tuesday, Oct. 12, as work began on a multimodal transportation hub in the capital city. Gov. JB Pritzker was joined at a groundbreaking ceremony by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with several state lawmakers and […]

CAIRO – Anyone who has driven America’s interstate highway system is familiar with those standard blue signs near major exits indicating the services available ahead – fuel, food and lodging. Driving south on Interstate 57 in Illinois, approaching the city of Cairo at the state’s southernmost tip, most of the images on those blue signs […]