Illinois lawmakers passed legislation in 2018 to allow the commercial production of hemp, the same year Congress legalized hemp nationwide through the 2018 Farm Bill.

The budget passed 27-23, with just 18 days to spare, averting an unprecedented shutdown of city government.

The spending plan still calls for a host of other taxes and fees to rise by an additional $165.5 million, including increases in the taxes levied on software licenses, cloud services and other digital goods as well as subscriptions to streaming and cable television services.

Federal agencies are facing intense pressure to give the public more details on unexplained drone sightings in the New York City metropolitan area that have been going on for weeks over residential neighborhoods as well as restricted sites and critical infrastructure.

Why the mayor called off a budget vote. Pritzker pushes back on mass deportations. And calls for a crackdown on unregulated hemp.

The mayor’s decision to delay the budget vote is an acknowledgment that the spending plan that would hike property taxes by $68.5 million and increase a host of other taxes and fees by an additional $165.5 million does not have enough votes to pass the Chicago City Council.

The investment could reach tens of millions of dollars, IBM President and CEO Arvind Krishna said, and comes with an initial commitment of 50 permanent jobs that he expects will be paired with fellowships, internships and partnerships with other local firms.

Tom Homan — President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming so-called border czar — said it’s time for Chicago to come to the table when it comes to mass deportations or “get the hell out of the way.”

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district enacted a “comprehensive response” to protect its students, families and staff when President-elect Donald Trump’s first term began in 2017, and CPS officials are planning to take similar steps before Trump’s inauguration next month.

Rita Crundwell infamously charted a new chapter in Illinois’ storied corruption saga by committing what the FBI believes to be the largest theft of public funds in U.S. history. She’s among the 1,500 “non-violent offenders” whose sentence was commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden, in the nation’s largest single-day act of clemency.

While banks have cut back on overdraft fees in the past decade, the nation’s biggest banks still take in roughly $8 billion in the charges every year, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and bank public records. Currently, there is no cap on the overdraft fees that banks can legally charge.

No state is immune from the negative effects of an economic downturn, but Illinois is more prepared today than it was for the Great Recession of 2007-2009 or the COVID-19 recession of 2020, according to a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal.

The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released.

Approximately 76,375 people in Chicago experienced homelessness during 2022, according to a new report from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, which relies on the most recent available data.

If the verdict is upheld, it would nearly equal city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.

Witnesses told police that James McIntyre, 33, of Chicago, shook Mace’s hand in an “exaggerated, aggressive” manner after approaching the South Carolina Republican in the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday evening, according to a police affidavit.