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Mario Treto Jr., secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, testifies before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in April 2024 about the final adoption of rules to implement the 2021 Illinois Community Reinvestment Act. (Peter Hancock / Capitol News Illinois)

Banks, credit unions and mortgage companies will soon have to report to state regulators about how many loans they make in low-income, high-minority neighborhoods. That's the result of a state law passed in 2021 as part of the Legislative Black Caucus' social and economic reform agenda.

Karen Conn, president of Conn’s Hospitality Group in Springfield, speaks at a news conference April 3, 2024, at the Capitol. She said she will have to raise prices and cut employees’ hours and benefits if the state eliminates a tipped wage credit. (Cole Longcor / Capitol News Illinois)
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Current Illinois law allows employers to pay their tipped workers 60% of the state’s minimum wage. That amounts to $8.40 hourly, compared to the minimum wage of $14 per hour. If their wages plus tips do not equal minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

A cannabis cultivation facility. (WTTW News)

Nearly two-and-a-half years after recreational cannabis became legal to sell in Illinois, state Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) says Illinois has failed to live up to the promise of the law.

The South Shore community lies just south of Jackson Park along Lake Michigan – which is also a point of concern for residents.  (WTTW News)
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The Obama Presidential Center announced Thursday that a number of its spaces will be named for historic human and civil rights figures. But as that center marches closer toward its opening date, one neighboring community has concerns about the center’s impact on longtime residents.

Now that he’s no longer fighting a gun charge, state Rep. Curtis Tarver is considering suing the Chicago Police Department for violating his rights.