A state board would decide what the right price to pay for your prescriptions would be, under a bill introduced at the Capitol.… MORE
Category Archives: Politics
New policy has Illinois sheriffs hot under the collar
Statehouse Republicans and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association are mad about prisoners who have done their time NOT being deported.… MORE
Increased snow from cloud seeding, study featuring University of Illinois researcher finds
Scientists, including one from the University of Illinois, have for the first time been able to quantify the effects of seeding clouds with silver iodide to produce more snow using sophisticated radar technology.… MORE
ISU Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts prepares for $52 million project
Administrators of the Wonsook College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University have been planning for a huge renovation project for years and now they have $52.3 million to get it done.… MORE
With federal funding at stake, Illinois officials work to prevent Census undercount
Illinois officials are focused on ensuring everyone is counted in the coming U.S. Census in part because each uncounted Illinois resident means federal funding left on the table. … MORE
Workers get to keep their tips under new Illinois law
When a 2018 Department of Labor rule threatened to allow employers, managers or supervisors to collect and keep a portion of employees’ tips, members of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United found their organization advocating harder than ever. … MORE
Measures to increase speed limit to 75 mph sent to Illinois Senate committee with no members
A state Senator is seeking additional support for his measures to raise the speed limit on some Illinois’ highways to 75 mph, but the measure has been sent to a sub-committee with no members.… MORE
Calls for audits, paper trails emerge during listening session on Illinois automatic voter registration program
A problem with Illinois’ automatic voter registration program that led to hundreds of people who said they weren’t U.S. citizens being registered to vote took center stage at a listening session hosted by a central Illinois congressman in Springfield on Monday.… MORE
Pair of Bloomington council members want downtown parking deck torn down
Bloomington’s proposed $230.3 million budget for the next fiscal year includes a money to repair a downtown parking garage that at least two city council members would like to see torn down.… MORE
Officials discuss automatic voter registration program
Now it’s time for the federal government to look into the problems with Illinois’ automatic voter registration program. Hundreds of non-citizens were registered to vote. Only one did vote, but everybody at a hearing in Springfield agrees: that’s one too many.… MORE
Blogs
Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
Is federal mobilization the answer?
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…