Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO – It’s been a month since the jury in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s federal corruption trial last heard the name of star government witness Danny Solis during opening statements. The government’s brief explanation that the ex-Chicago alderman agreed to cooperate with the FBI after “abusing his own office” – […]
Category: State News
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Aqua Illinois customers to see bill increase in the new year
Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Following almost a year of legal battles and fierce public opposition from many customers, water utility Aqua Illinois is set to raise its rates in 2025. The privately owned water utility has not released an estimate of the exact impact the increase will have on customer bills in 14 northern […]
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Lawmakers return to Springfield as projected budget deficit looms
Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers returned to Springfield Tuesday for the first time since May following news earlier this month that they’re facing a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The news didn’t surprise Republicans, who condemned “drunken spending” policies, but the Senate’s top Democratic budget […]
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‘This is the way things are done in Illinois’: Defense attorneys begin cross-examining star witness
Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO – The former chief lobbyist for electric utility Commonwealth Edison has spent the last week telling a federal jury how he bent over backward to accommodate hiring requests from former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Led by the prosecutor questioning him, ComEd exec-turned-cooperating witness Fidel Marquez repeatedly said he and other […]
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Carbondale faces legal battle over protest restrictions outside abortion clinics
Capitol News Illinois The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade turned Carbondale into a critical medical hub: Following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, three clinics offering abortion services opened in the small, liberal university town in conservative rural southern Illinois. It’s now the closest place for people across a huge […]
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Plan to ban carbon injections near aquifers stalls in Senate
Capitol News Illinois An Illinois Senate committee hit pause on a bill to ban carbon sequestration injections near aquifers after more than an hour of debate Wednesday. Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, asked that the Senate Executive Committee to wait to act on Senate Bill 3968, which would have banned the practice, until lawmakers […]
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‘You agreed to wear wires against your ComEd family’: Star witness in Madigan trial grilled on cross-examination
Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO – Before the sun rose on a cold Wednesday morning in January 2019, Fidel Marquez agreed to a life-altering assignment as a cooperating witness in a criminal case the government was building against his colleagues at electric utility Commonwealth Edison and powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Marquez agreed to the […]
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Families, providers of early intervention services seek $60 million in new state funding
Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO – Early childhood intervention advocates are calling on the state to increase funding by $60 million to better support children with developmental delays and disabilities who are on long waiting lists for the critical services and care. “Babies can’t wait” is the rallying cry for Raising Illinois, the coalition championing the […]
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Illinois medical debt relief program erases $72M of debt thus far
Capitol News Illinois A state pilot program designed to erase medical debt for 300,000 Illinois residents has already helped thousands eliminate $72 million of debt, the governor’s office announced Thursday. The Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program launched on July 1 – the start of the state’s 2025 fiscal year. Since then, it has erased debt […]
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Judge weighs whether to acquit ex-AT&T boss after hung jury in corruption case
Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO — Paul La Schiazza, the ex-boss of AT&T Illinois accused of bribing a powerful politician, could be a free man next month. After three hours of oral arguments on Thursday, a federal judge is now weighing whether to grant the former telecom exec’s request for acquittal following a high-profile mistrial earlier […]