By MAGGIE DOUGHERTYMedill Illinois News [email protected] SPRINGFIELD — The Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that adds new anti-bias education requirements for providers of maternal health services. The measure is aimed at combating maternal mortality in marginalized groups. If signed into law, it would mandate providers receive one hour of training prior to renewing a…… MORE
Millions of Americans may soon lose food assistance program benefits as the reconciliation bill moves through Congress, while local food pantries are already seeing a lot of new faces.… MORE
A bill that bans carbon sequestration over, under or through portions of the Mahomet Aquifer passed out of the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday.… MORE
By REILLY COOK & GRACE FRIEDMAN Medill Illinois News Bureau [email protected] SPRINGFIELD — A bill to ban the sale of firefighter protective gear containing “forever chemicals” is gaining momentum in the Illinois General Assembly, as lawmakers, union leaders and firefighters themselves warn that the very equipment designed to save lives may be silently endangering them.…… MORE
In June 2021, Connie Kathary asked her mom to go on a walk. Though she knew she’d be accepted, it took the then 14-year-old more than 20 minutes to work up the courage to tell her mom that she’s transgender.… MORE
A growing number of state lawmakers are moving to repeal a 2015 Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians.… MORE
By BRIDGETTE FOX Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Two of the country’s largest collections of Native American human remains are held by museums in Illinois. To the director of one of the museums, the work to rebury those remains at the behest of a tribal nation or send them to the tribe is an…… MORE
On May 19, 1875, a Cook County jury handed down a verdict in a case concerning the health and welfare of Mary Lincoln, widow of the former president who had been assassinated a decade earlier.… MORE
A growing number of state lawmakers are moving to repeal a 2015 Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians.… MORE
A Senate committee on Wednesday advanced a measure aiming to limit the circumstances under which tenants can be evicted due to local “crime-free housing” ordinances. … MORE
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.” …
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…
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…
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…