Illinois legislators this week approved a bill to restructure an oversight board in charge of distributing state money to courts that provide prison alternatives, while other criminal justice measures introduced throughout the session remain stalled.

Starting in July, Illinois would ban the sale of any hemp-derived THC, or delta-8, from being sold, except at state-licensed cannabis dispensaries. That means those products would no longer be sold at breweries, gas stations and specialty lounges and stores. 

The law put an end to the long-standing Illinois practice of letting a political party slate candidates for the general election in contests that are open because no one from that party ran in the primary election.

The bill would ban the practice of holding wildlife contests that reward participants with cash, prizes or inducements for killing fur-bearing animals. Much of the floor debate centered on contests that award the killing of coyotes as a method of population control.

The bill would authorize the state to hand over what is now Shabbona Lake and State Park to the tribe for $1. It also allows the tribe and the Department of Natural Resources to enter into a land management agreement under which the land would remain open to the public for recreational use for an unspecified period.

Advocates who have been pushing to eliminate statewide what is called the subminimum wage acknowledged Tuesday that their efforts to pass the measure during the General Assembly’s spring session won’t move forward.

Seven months after Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch advanced a measure that would allow legislative staff to unionize, members of his own staff on Tuesday blasted the speaker for allowing the bill to languish.

Carbon capture and sequestration technology is used to take carbon dioxide — a powerful greenhouse gas — and move it through pipelines before storing it deep underground. Several groups are pushing for a bill that would regulate the emerging technology at the same time some companies are pitching pipeline projects to state regulators.

The nursing home industry is still reeling from COVID-19, which exacerbated pre-existing challenges in long-term care — difficulties hiring and retaining staff and a population more reliant on government-funded care chief among them.

Lawmakers passed more than 200 bills this week ahead of their scheduled May 24 adjournment. Many of the measures will soon head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, including a bill that changes how damages accrue under Illinois’ first-in-the-nation biometric data privacy law.

In 2022, the General Assembly created a task force to research the state of journalism in Illinois. Data from Northwestern University showed one-third of local outlets have closed since 2005, creating an 86% decline in newspaper jobs over that span.

In the middle of Mental Health Awareness Month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton hosted a panel in Springfield at which he pledged to expand the state’s behavioral health services.

“Illinois cannot simply hope that its remaining fiscal challenges will disappear on their own,” the Civic Federation says in a new report. “They will not until they are addressed head on.”

The juxtaposition of a popular program with how to pay for it highlights the tensions Illinois lawmakers face with weeks left before the end-of-month deadline to pass a new state budget.

With two weeks left before the General Assembly’s spring session is set to adjourn, negotiations continue on a labor union-backed initiative that would allow Illinoisans to skip religious and political work meetings without reprimand.

Top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections testified in front of a key panel of state lawmakers. Gov. J.B. Pritzker previously announced a plan to close Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.