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.

Jesse Jackson Jr. served in Congress for 17 years until he resigned in 2012 amid a criminal investigation. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud his reelection campaign of $750,000 over a span of 10 years. Now, he's drawing attention to President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker frustrated several of his counterparts by trying to get them to sign on to a group he started postelection to push back on Trump, but only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed on as a co-chair. Pritzker has his staff exploring ideas such as blocking GPS tracking on apps for women who may be traveling to the state to get abortions. 

Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen. It’s been in place for decades and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa who plans to return to their home country.

A federal judge in Texas rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding for the conspiracy theory platform as flawed as well as how much money families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting stood to receive.

The four-year driver's license for noncitizens features a standard red banner and replaces “Not Valid For Identification” with “Federal Limits Apply.” Noncitizens who are unable or choose not to drive also have the option to obtain a standardized ID.

Two key Chicago City Council committees voted Tuesday to send Johnson’s $17.3 billion spending plan for 2025 to the full City Council for a final vote. The two-step process is set to start Wednesday, with a final vote scheduled for Friday.

The Illinois Flag Commission chose the 10 finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions in a contest that closed in October. The fate of Illinois’ official banner will ultimately be up to lawmakers and the governor.

A judge has rejected a request from defense attorneys in the corruption trial of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan after they claimed federal prosecutors could not prove their case in one of the alleged bribery conspiracy schemes after opting not to call a key witness to testify.

“The level of compliance is unsatisfying to the public,” U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said. “I am determined that we will be seeing good progress ... in 2025. Let’s accelerate the progress.”