Stories by Ben Szalinski — Capitol News Illinois

Illinois lawmakers are fed up with the state Department of Corrections after another audit found it has ignored state spending rules and failed to fix many mistakes that have languished for years.

Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that could allow drivers with suspended licenses to continue driving with a speed control device in their car. The device would limit the car’s speed to the road’s stated speed limit.

JB Pritzker’s budget proposal calls for reducing the amount of revenue from income taxes that goes to local governments, therefore keeping funding for the Local Government Distributive Fund flat in fiscal year 2027.

“No, I have never, had never met Jeffrey Epstein,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday. “I was never on Jeffrey Epstein's plane. I was never on any plane with Jeffrey Epstein or with Ghislaine Maxwell. Never met her.”

The bill would give local governments power to negotiate with the Chicago Bears — and other “megadevelopments” — over property tax payments.

Progressive lawmakers want the governor to raise taxes on corporations and billionaires, while Republicans are hoping to keep spending flat in fiscal year 2027.

Gov. JB Pritzker had directed agencies to “identify immediate spending reductions, including efficiencies that will result in reduced spending” in a September executive order.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed more than 50 lawsuits seeking to block various actions by the Trump administration to cut off federal funding or conduct aggressive immigration enforcement.

Both Gov. JB Pritzker and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, say the changes — if ultimately deemed necessary — would be narrow despite Republicans’ desire to see the law drastically overhauled.

Reporters found the 60-year-old governor did roughly 100 one-on-one media interviews in 2025, his most of any year in his tenure as governor. Of those, 81% were with national media outlets, podcasters, social media influencers or television entertainment hosts — a major uptick from early in his tenure.

President Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency disbanded less than a year into Trump’s second term and appeared to have caused more chaos than actual savings to the federal government.

Bears president Kevin Warren claimed in a letter to fans last month that the team, which Forbes valued at $8.2 billion, was “told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026.” Welch did not dispute the claim.

Nearly 300 new Illinois laws will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

Advocates said the measure and a new Chicago-area leadership board created by it will reimagine the role public transportation plays in the state’s economy and people’s lives.

The three top Democrats vying to become the party’s nominee for U.S. senator in Illinois have released proposals detailing how they plan to make life more affordable for Americans.

Staff at the elections board fined Don Harmon’s campaign $9.8 million earlier this year following a Chicago Tribune report that it improperly accepted $4 million more than was allowed during the 2024 election.

While Senate Bill 2111 was widely covered for the $1.5 billion it drives to transit throughout Illinois and its governance reforms in the Chicago region, the more than 1,000-page bill outlines a new approach to public transportation.

The RTA held a special meeting to approve new funding projections for 2026 through 2028 based on revenue estimates from new funding sources for public transportation. Those were approved by the General Assembly last week, which Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign.

State lawmakers approved new funding for public transportation agencies without large statewide tax increases previously proposed.

The once-every-two-year spectacle is the formal kickoff to campaign season, with candidates for state, federal and judicial offices filing hundreds to thousands of signatures to secure their place on the March 17 primary ballot.

The federal government has been without a budget since Oct.1, making virtually no progress in negotiations over health care issues causing the stalemate.

Illinois’ Republican primary for governor is growing expensive as the party's 2022 nominee works to rebuild his campaign fund while another candidate receives support from one of the state’s wealthiest Republican donors.

The summaries offer a glimpse into the billionaire governor’s finances, although the campaign did not disclose the total income of trusts benefiting his family. Pritzker does not take a salary from the state and placed his assets in a “blind” trust when he became governor.

Violent protests, legally questionable immigration raids and the deployment of National Guard troops without the governor’s approval will be at the forefront of state lawmakers’ minds when they return to Springfield on Tuesday.

Bailey began the campaign in downstate Carterville before taking a helicopter owned and piloted by his son to Bloomington, then departing for his opening rally in suburban Oak Brook later in the evening.

The recommendation bucks new and murky guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommend vaccines only for people ages 65 and older.