Stories by Peter Hancock — Capitol News Illinois

The announcement came in the middle of a legislative session in which Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing sweeping changes in state regulation of the health insurance industry.

Those elected to serve on their LSC will be tasked with approving their individual school’s budget, selecting their principal, renewing school contracts and approving their school’s academic plans.

Two firms are set to get licenses to keep their 3,000 scooters speeding through Chicago until June 2026. And for the first time since shared e-scooters hit Chicago streets five years ago, city rules will allow the motorized two-wheelers to be ridden between midnight and 5 a.m.

The $3.6 billion Red Line Extension project will carry the Red Line 5.6 miles south from its current terminus at 95th Street down to 130th Street. Nearly $2 billion in funding is slated to come from the federal government.

Wildlife officials are reporting that the season’s first Great Lakes piping plover, known as YibBee, has returned to his breeding grounds at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Will arrivals in Chicago be far behind?

COPA in a statement said preliminary evidence “appears to confirm” that Reed fired first before officers responded by firing 96 shots in a matter 41 seconds. The agency has recommended to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling that four of the officers involved be relieved of their police powers during the pendency of this investigation.

Police body camera footage is released in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Dexter Reed. We hear from Reed’s family and the head of the police oversight agency.

Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten wrote in a letter to Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling that her agency has “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”

Expo Chicago is back for its eleventh anniversary this week and organizers are celebrating with a slew of programs, initiatives and digital events to engage the public both at Navy Pier and throughout the city. 

The price of spot gold reached $2,364 per ounce Tuesday after hitting record highs for seven straight sessions and trading at $2,336 per ounce Monday. Year on year, gold is up 16.5%.

Under the decision, a long-dormant law that predates Arizona’s statehood would take effect. It provides no exceptions for rape or incest, but allows abortions if a mother’s life is in danger. Enforcement can take effect in 14 days.

Justice Cynthia Kern’s ruling was the second time in as many days that the state’s mid-level appeals court refused to postpone the trial, set to begin next week, further narrowing any plausible path to the delay that Trump’s legal team has repeatedly sought.

Instead of trashing those vital eclipse glasses, recycle them at any one of dozens of Chicago locations.

Crowds gather across the country for the celestial show of the year. And how to have conversations across political divides.

Nearly 2,000 people gathered at Triton College in west suburban River Grove to view the solar eclipse Monday afternoon.

Joe Walsh, former Republican congressman for Illinois, and Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety advocate whose daughter Jaime Guttenberg was murdered in the Parkland school shooting in 2018, have come together for their ‘Two Dads Defending Democracy' tour.

As the Bears and White Sox are on the hunt for taxpayer cash to fund new stadiums, Quinn says it’s once again time to ask the voters what they think.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Adler Planetarium in downtown Chicago for a viewing party. People brought telescopes, cameras and the necessary protective eyeglasses.

It promised to be North America’s biggest eclipse crowd ever, thanks to the densely populated path and the lure of more than four minutes of midday darkness in Texas and other choice spots. Almost everyone in North America was guaranteed at least a partial eclipse, weather permitting. 

It is not clear when Mayor Brandon Johnson will make his pick from among 15 people nominated by members of Chicago’s police district council members and send those seven names to the City Council for confirmation to serve four-year terms.

Anthony Robinson, 31, is set to be released from custody Monday after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office agreed to vacate his conviction in the 2013 killing of Kelvin Jemison and dismissed all charges against him.

President Joe Biden said Monday that college graduates would see “life-changing” relief from his new plan to ease debt burdens for more than 30 million borrowers, the latest attempt by the Democratic president to make good on a campaign promise that could buoy his standing with young voters.

Yarbrough was elected as clerk in 2018 and previously served as a state representative and Cook County’s recorder of deeds.

A total solar eclipse is set to move across the United States Monday afternoon with the path of totality sweeping from Texas up to Maine. Watch as it unfolds with NASA scientists. 

According to the Chicago Police Department, 23 people were shot between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

A federal judge is set to decide whether to force changes to CPD’s proposed mass arrest policy as the city prepares for the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19-24.