Category: State News

By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – About an hour before sunrise on a mid-January morning in 2019, two FBI agents arrived at the home of Fidel Marquez’s mother, where the longtime executive of Commonwealth Edison had been staying. The agents played a series of recordings of wiretapped phone calls for Marquez, featuring […]

By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate approved a measure on Thursday that would lift a 1980s-era moratorium on nuclear power plant construction. Senate Bill 76, sponsored by Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, was approved on a 39-13 vote. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration. “The […]

By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – In the weeks following then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s forced ouster of his longtime chief of staff following allegations of sexual harassment, a high-ranking Commonwealth Edison official was considering how to help the disgraced Madigan ally. Tim Mapes had served as Madigan’s chief of staff for […]

By NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois nschoonover@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Rosenberg Moon Habitat was named 2023’s “Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” Wednesday in a contest hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. The habitat is manufactured by Ingersoll Machine Tools in Rockford, in collaboration with the Institut auf dem Rosenberg of Switzerland. At a height of […]

By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A measure spurred by reports of abuse at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday and will head to the House. The bill would prohibit health care workers who have been the subject of a substantiated claim of “material obstruction” of an […]

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that gives financial protection to children whose parents make money posting videos of them on social media. Those children are known as “influencers” because the videos, known as vlogs, are intended to generate interest in things like products […]

By HANNAH MEISEL  Capitol News Illinois  hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com  CHICAGO – Longtime Commonwealth Edison contract lobbyist Jay Doherty thought he was merely reminiscing and giving advice to a colleague and friend in a February 2019 meeting set up by ex-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez.  But Marquez was wearing a hidden camera, having just a few weeks prior agreed […]