The state of Illinois’ reparations commission, known as the African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission, is hard at work on a daunting mission.

Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, has spent years denying news media reports that he was the legislator-turned-cooperating witness described in charging documents made public after the arrest of ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo in October of 2019.

The bill came in response to a flurry of lawsuits filed in recent years in courthouses throughout the state challenging such things as Pritzker’s COVID-19 mitigation orders, a law that would end cash bail, and, most recently, the state’s ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines.

James Weiss stands accused of bribing two Democratic lawmakers in an effort to shield his fledgling business from threatened bans at the state and local levels.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch joined “Chicago Tonight” for a one-on-one conversation about the spring legislative session, recently passed $50 billion state budget and asylum seekers.

Backers of a new state budget say they've passed a balanced plan crafted in cooperation. Many Republicans, however, say the measure largely ignores their input and sets the state up for obligations it won’t be able to meet.

Illinois’ legislative session is wrapping up in earnest, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker will soon face the task of deciding whether to crystalize legislators’ ideas by signing them into law. 

The $50.6 billion spending plan (SB250) passed the Illinois Senate late Thursday night, with only the support of Democrats who drafted it.

Legislators and environmental activists alike say they were caught off guard by fast-tracked proposals that would pave the way for a private entity to own a piece of an expanded I-55. 

A more than $50 billion dollar budget agreement Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the leaders of the legislature trumpeted on Wednesday afternoon isn’t a done deal yet.

Passing a budget is arguably the single must-happen task for lawmakers and it was supposed to have been done by Friday, but that self-imposed deadline came and went without any budget action.

Two new measures give victims the ability to bring a civil lawsuit against an alleged perpetrator — a step that has raised alarm from civil liberties advocates and media groups like motion picture and cable organizations.

Illinois Democrats have the ranks to pass a new state budget, but an inability to agree on spending figures means they blew past Friday’s deadline and will return to the capitol next week in another attempt to get the job done.

State legislators are responsible for drawing the 20 districts that will comprise Chicago’s elected school board. Advocates were dissatisfied with the General Assembly’s first attempt and say a revised draft made public Wednesday isn’t much of an improvement.

Illinois lawmakers will miss their self-imposed Friday deadline to pass a budget, with no spending plan having surfaced by Thursday night. They are also working to pass an array of measures regulating everything from bathrooms to generic drug pricing and Native American studies.

One roadblock to the passage of a state budget this week has been a set of programs in which Illinois provides health care coverage to green-card holders and undocumented residents.