With two weeks left before the General Assembly’s spring session is set to adjourn, negotiations continue on a labor union-backed initiative that would allow Illinoisans to skip religious and political work meetings without reprimand.
Politics
Advocates are upset that new leaders of public transit agencies don’t regularly ride the CTA. And what came of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s trip to the state Capitol.
Top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections testified in front of a key panel of state lawmakers. Gov. J.B. Pritzker previously announced a plan to close Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.
Pride Parade supporters had reportedly called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to rescind plans to cut the number of parade entries down from nearly 200 last year to 125 this year due to safety and logistical concerns.
Illinois State Police on Friday announced that Gabrielle Williams, 23, had been taken into custody and is currently being held in the Sangamon County Jail pending a pre-trial detention hearing.
Illinois is preparing to dedicate an entire state agency to matters affecting children in their earliest years. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced in October his intent to move disparate services under the umbrella of a new state agency: the Department of Early Childhood.
The Biden administration will seek to partially end the 27-year-old court supervision of how the federal government cares for child migrants traveling alone, shortly after producing its own list of safeguards against mistreatment, an attorney involved in the case says.
Making future military aid to Ukraine contingent on the country participating in peace talks with Russia. Banning Chinese nationals from buying property within a 50-mile radius of U.S. government buildings. Filling the national security sector with acolytes of Donald Trump. A new book lays out potential priorities.
In meetings with state lawmakers and the governor, Mayor Brandon Johnson made his case for additional support for the city, including about $1.1 billion more in funding for Chicago Public Schools.
Heidi Mueller was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February. She is the 13th director in 14 years.
The former Chicago detective has banked more than $1.4 million in pension payments since he retired, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Pharmacy benefit managers have received growing scrutiny on both a state and national level for the effect many claim they have on driving up drug prices. Local pharmacy owners testified at recent committee hearings that they are being squeezed through the price of acquiring drugs wholesale and dispensing them.
Popular shops, bakeries and wellness brands that sell delta-8 THC and other hemp derivatives that have proliferated without the weight of government oversight are now actively seeking state intervention.
The Rev. Ira Acree, the politically connected pastor of the Greater St. John Baptist Church on the West Side, faced unusually pointed questions from alderpeople, who are under increasing pressure to make significant changes to the CTA, which has yet to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot.
CTA President Dorval Carter said the agency will use the report as “a major foundational point for our overall advocacy of the transit system,” an effort to get Springfield lawmakers to address the fiscal cliff facing transit when billions in federal COVID-19 relief funding runs dry.
