Illinois lawmakers finished a two-day special session June 17 by passing some important legislation but without reaching agreement on the one issue they had hoped to resolve – an energy bill that would phase out all carbon emissions from power plants over the next 30 years. “I think a very successful legislative session got a […]
Peter Hancock
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Lawmakers pass $42.3 billion budget
Illinois lawmakers worked into the early hours of Tuesday morning, June 1, to pass a $42.3 billion state budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year that Democrats say would fully fund K-12 education and the state’s pension obligations while also paying down a sizeable portion of the state’s debt. Lawmakers have been working on the […]
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Pandemic hit hotels hard
The Illinois economy shrank by 4 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on many of its sectors, although there were signs of a recovery taking place late in the year. Those preliminary numbers, released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), showed that the leisure, hospitality […]
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Education bill to revamp social studies
This story is part of an ongoing “Lame Duck Look Back” series in which Capitol News Illinois is following up on the major bills that passed both chambers of the General Assembly in the Jan. 8-13 lame duck session. Social studies classes in Illinois public schools are about to get a major overhaul, with more […]
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House moves bill to end Medicaid managed care
A House committee on Monday, Jan. 11, advanced a bill that would end the system of hiring private insurance companies to manage the state’s Medicaid program at the end of their current contracts and replace it with a standard fee-for-service payment system. The bill also calls for a three-year moratorium on any hospital closures or […]
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Education reform heads to governor
A bill aimed at improving racial equity throughout the state’s K-12 and higher education system passed both houses of the General Assembly on Monday, Jan. 11, while another bill, to address economic inequities received House approval Tuesday night. Both bills were part of an agenda being pushed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, which called […]
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Butler files GOP ‘fair maps’ legislation
Republicans in the Illinois House said Tuesday, Jan. 5, that they hope to use legislation, instead of a constitutional amendment, to change the way state legislative and congressional district lines are redrawn every 10 years. The so-called “fair maps” proposal would authorize the General Assembly to set up an independent, nonpartisan commission to redraw the […]
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Barriers to Black business
Black-owned businesses in Illinois face significant barriers to growth and opportunities that would enable them to compete with their white-owned counterparts, a problem that many Black leaders say is directly tied to Black unemployment rates and the deterioration of Black neighborhoods. That was the message state lawmakers heard Oct. 8 when three Senate committees held […]
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Lower compulsory school age to 5?
Illinois lawmakers may soon consider legislation to lower the state’s compulsory attendance law to include 5-year-olds, a measure advocates see as a way to expand access to early childhood education opportunities, especially among Black and low-income families. That was just one of the issues discussed Sept. 24 during a virtual joint hearing of the Illinois […]
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Child welfare officials cope during pandemic
Child welfare officials in Illinois told a panel of state lawmakers Sept. 14 that the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered but not completely prevented their efforts to monitor children at risk of abuse or neglect. “Without question, the pandemic has been and continues to be extremely challenging for all of us, both personally and professionally,” Marc […]
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Madigan hearings to begin next week
A special investigative committee of the General Assembly will begin meeting at the Capitol next week to decide the fate of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and the longest-serving legislative speaker in U.S. history, was implicated in a bribery scheme in July when officials from the utility giant Commonwealth Edison admitted […]
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State investing $40M in Cairo river port
The state of Illinois is about to invest $40 million into developing an inland river port that officials hope will produce thousands of new jobs and turn the small town of Cairo into a major shipping hub. Gov. JB Pritzker traveled to Cairo Aug. 4 to announce the project, calling it “a game-changing investment for […]
