Stories by Ben Szalinski — Capitol News Illinois

The state is partnering with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which can buy debt from collection agencies, hospitals and similar entities for just a few cents per dollar. Every $1 collected translates into $100 of debt relief by the nonprofit, which partners with governments on debt forgiveness programs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give President-elect Donald Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.

Subscription packages will start at $19.99 per month for one team or $29.99 per month for full access to Chicago Sports Network, including all three teams’ live games. CHSN launched in October to replace NBC Sports Chicago, the longtime former home of the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox.

Michael Broadway, 51, died in June while in custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. A new lawsuit alleges IDOC and Wexford Health Sources ignored Broadway’s requests for medical attention.

The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced the layoffs of about 2.5% of its workforce in an internal message. The laboratory's director acknowledged the difficult impact of the decision, stating that change is necessary to position Fermilab for the future, despite some employees saying they were assured all jobs were safe earlier this year.

“I must remind you that the consent decree is not optional,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote to Mayor Brandon Johnson. “The City of Chicago must deliver on its consent decree obligations.”

What residents on Chicago’s South Side think about reparations. An effort to document Illinois’ connections with the Underground Railroad. And a new opera explores a family’s grief and journey to healing.

“Blue” follows a Black family after they lose their son to police violence, all while the father serves as a police officer. The production explores injustice and finding healing through faith and community.

A recent report from the Chicago Urban League and the South Side Community Reparations Coalition focuses on 10 neighborhoods: Douglas, Englewood, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Oakland, South Shore, Washington Park, West Englewood and Woodlawn.

President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet choices are provoking backlash from the two Illinois Democrats whose positions give them power to take part in approving, or denying, Cabinet appointments.

“Too many in Illinois believe we need to travel to the East Coast to visit locations on the Underground Railroad, unaware of the enormous activity that took place in their own backyards here,” task force member and Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman said.

Illinois public workers who began their positions before 2011 are in Tier 1, which offers better benefits. Those hired after Jan. 1, 2011, are in Tier 2. They have to work longer and upon retirement receive a smaller payout.

Trump also announced that he had tapped Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state. And he selected Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, to serve as his director of national intelligence.

The Illinois Nurses Association represents 1,700 nurses at UI Hospital who have been in contract negotiations since June. Nurses at the hospital system initially went on strike for one week when their contract ended in August. For the current strike, the nurses’ union did not give hospital leadership a strike end date.

Board members said improved communication will be key to the agency’s survival as it faces down a projected $539 million fiscal cliff in 2026, after the CTA runs out of pandemic-era relief funding that’s been keeping its operating budget afloat in the first quarter of that year.

European food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com is selling Grubhub for $650 million, a fraction of the billions it spent to buy the U.S. platform just three years ago.

Pushback to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to hike property taxes. And efforts in Illinois to “shore up” protections ahead of a second Trump presidency.

Democratic leaders — who kept their veto-proof majorities in both the state House and state Senate — are discussing what, if any, actions Illinois may take to “shore up” protections ahead of a second Trump presidency.

State Sen. John Curran at a press conference Tuesday called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to pledge not to raise taxes, either on individuals or businesses.

Mayor Brandon Johnson used a Tuesday afternoon news conference to cast the City Council’s apparent refusal to hike property taxes by $300 million as evidence of his collaborative approach to governing in Chicago, and not a rebuke of his leadership.

The city aims to deliver 3,000 compost bins to residents throughout Chicago's 50 wards. The city initially allocated 20 compost bins to distribute in each ward but increased it to 60 bins per ward due to demand.

“We will not bend or break,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Our values will remain strong and firm. We will face likely hurdles in our work over the next four years but we will not be stopped and we will not go back.”

The board is set to meet outside of its typical monthly schedule Thursday in a special meeting where it will take up only a small handful of matters, including a resolution to maintain the seven charter schools Acero plans to close.

Prosecutors on Tuesday wrapped up their direct questioning of former ComEd exec turned government mole Fidel Marquez — who spent his fourth day on the witness stand — allowing McClain’s defense attorney Patrick Cotter to begin his cross examination.

The Chicago Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday, hoping to shake up a unit that ranks among the worst in the NFL.