Many Illinois residents will be able to use the IRS Direct File service to electronically prepare and file their 2024 federal tax returns for free.… MORE
Category Archives: State News
Illinois Shelter Alliance calls for $100M state funding boost to fight homelessness
With homelessness increasing in Illinois, a coalition of shelter providers and advocates is calling for a $100 million increase in state funding to prevent homelessness and provide shelter to people without homes. … MORE
In contentious cross-examination, prosecutor accuses Madigan of not telling ‘the whole truth’
For nearly three months, government lawyers in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s federal corruption trial have tried to drill home the amount of control the longtime Democratic powerbroker wielded in Springfield.… MORE
Former IDPH head fined $150K, issues statement for ethical violations
Illinois’ former public health chief was fined $150,000 after admitting she violated the state’s Ethics Act by taking a job with a company that did business with the state.… MORE
Lawmakers ease requirements for those seeking to change their name
A measure awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature will help protect transgender people and victims of domestic violence who seek to change their names, according to its proponents. … MORE
Bills addressing warehouse quotas, nursing homes, prostitution pass in session’s final days
Lawmakers in Springfield approved a measure that aims to protect warehouse workers whose workdays center on hitting quotas. … MORE
Lawmakers give small boost to renewable developments, delay broader reform
Lawmakers this week passed a bill aimed at boosting the development of renewable energy generation, but its proponents said the final measure was a “skinny” version of what they had hoped to pass. … MORE
Potawatomi land transfer clears General Assembly
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Nearly two centuries after losing its reservation in Illinois in a land sale that most people now concede was illegal, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation could soon get its land back. In the final hours of a lame duck session Tuesday, the Illinois House gave final approval to…… MORE
Jurors to hear tape of Madigan saying ComEd contractors ‘made out like bandits’
Throughout his five-decade career in politics, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan received hundreds of requests for job recommendations from a wide range of people he encountered.… MORE
New General Assembly sworn in as House, Senate take different tones
A new Illinois General Assembly was sworn in for the next two years on Wednesday, with the House and Senate ceremonies taking two starkly different tones. … 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…