A pair of health care programs that benefit noncitizens – one of which is already on Gov. JB Pritzker’s budgetary chopping block – far outstripped its original estimated price tag and cost the state of Illinois $1.6 billion through last summer, according to a new audit of the programs published Feb. 26. The report also […]
Hannah Meisel (CNI)
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Judge orders prison officials to relocate Stateville population by Sept. 30
A federal judge is ordering Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration to move the vast majority of those incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet out of the aging prison by the end of September, citing health and safety concerns posed by the facility. The Illinois Department of Corrections had previously stated its intention to close Stateville […]
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Illinois GOP chair announces resignation weeks before Republican National Convention
Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on June 19 announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in a two-page letter that cited intraparty […]
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Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse was rampant in state-run juvenile detention centers
Rampant sexual abuse occurred unchecked for decades at Illinois’ juvenile detention centers, a new lawsuit filed on behalf of 95 former detainees alleges, citing hundreds of incidents over more than two decades. The plaintiffs were boys between 12 and 17 years old when the alleged abuse occurred and are now adults. The alleged perpetrators were […]
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Lawmakers pass bill aimed at modernizing professional licensing in Illinois
As Illinois faces shortages of health care practitioners and mental health professionals, the state agency in charge of licensing for those and more than 100 other industries has struggled to keep up. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has failed to meet its goals to speed up both initial licensing and renewals in […]
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In perjury trial, Madigan’s top aide will test limits of loyalty
CHICAGO – As the perjury trial of Tim Mapes began in Chicago this week, followers of Illinois politics marveled at the fall from grace experienced by this once powerful aide to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. In the summer of 2018, Mapes’ name had only recently faded from unflattering headlines after he was forced […]
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Illinois to invest more than $23 million in abortion access
As another of the states bordering Illinois is set to enact a near-total abortion ban this week, Gov. JB Pritzker on July 31 announced several new programs to help address the influx of out-of-state abortion seekers the state has seen in the 13 months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. On Tuesday, […]
