Category: State News

By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker was sworn in to his second term Monday with the state’s other constitutional officers, promising a bold and ambitious agenda for the next four years. The ceremony was held at the Bank of Springfield Center, the same venue that for several months served as a makeshift […]

By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Officials at the highest levels of state government will receive substantial pay raises this month after the House and Senate passed a budget bill that also advances a $400 million business incentive fund proposal pushed by Gov. JB Pritzker.  Under the bill, lawmaker salaries will increase […]

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Negotiators in the Illinois House and Senate have reached agreement on a bill to ban the purchase, sale and manufacture of semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines while still allowing people who already own such weapons to keep them. The deal came together Monday as Gov. […]

By NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois nschoonover@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker was sworn in to his second term Monday with the state’s other constitutional officers, promising a bold and ambitious agenda for the next four years. The ceremony was held at the Bank of Springfield Center, the same venue that for several months served […]

By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Officials at the highest levels of state government appear set to receive substantial pay raises this month after the House and Senate passed a budget bill that would also advance a $400 million business incentive fund proposal pushed by Gov. JB Pritzker.  Under the bill, lawmaker […]

By HANNAH MEISEL For Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Six months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent providing for legal abortion, Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly have their eye on once again expanding access to reproductive health care as the state solidifies its position as a “haven” for […]

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A bill that would ban the sale and manufacture of assault weapons in Illinois advanced out of the state House on Thursday and now awaits action in the Senate. The bill was prompted in large part by the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park during […]

By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – An appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of a state law that would end cash bail appears to be at least three months away from resolution under a new timeline approved by the court Thursday.   Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed the agreed […]

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus are pushing legislation to put pawnbrokers under the same interest rate caps as payday lenders and other small-dollar, short-term lenders, but the pawn shop industry says the proposed caps would effectively put them out of business. On the first […]