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 […]
Category: State News
Posted inBourbonnais, Bradley, Kankakee, Manteno, Monee, State News
Haas Honors Frank’s Appliance Center & Sleepsource
State Rep. Jackie Haas continued to recognize small businesses around her district. Her last local business of 2022 was Frank’s Appliance Center and Sleepsource in Bradley. Rep. Haas presented owners Mark and Joanne Keen, and their daughter Stephanie, with an official certificate of recognition from the Illinois House of Representatives, to note their contribution of […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
Illinois Democrats push to further expand abortion, gender care access
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 […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
House advances assault weapon ban, Senate giving it ‘extensive review’
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 […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
Supreme Court sets March timeline for oral arguments in cash bail appeal
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 […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
Bills target pawnbrokers for tighter rate limits
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 […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
UPDATED: Supreme Court stays cash bail provisions statewide after Kankakee County ruling
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the Illinois Supreme Court has stayed the SAFE-T Act’s cash bail provisions statewide. SPRINGFIELD – A Kankakee County judge ruled Wednesday, Dec. 28, that lawmakers overreached their constitutional authority in passing a measure to abolish cash […]
Posted in1-Draft, State News
UPDATED: Judge invalidates cash bail reform in some counties; Supreme Court appeal pending
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A Kankakee County judge ruled Wednesday that lawmakers overreached their constitutional authority in passing a measure to abolish cash bail in Illinois, while other provisions in the wide-ranging SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform were not affected by the ruling. The ruling by Judge Thomas W. Cunnington […]