News in brief: House approves voting expansion bill; Pritzker extends income tax filing deadline 

Madeleine Doubek and Jay Young testified before the Senate Redistricting Committee on Wednesday during a meeting that featured partisan squabbling between Sen. Omar Aquino and Sen. Jason Barickman.

Illinois lawmakers formally kicked off a months-long redistricting process Thursday as a Senate committee received a primer on the basics of remapping, witnesses called for increased transparency and public involvement and lawmakers engaged in partisan squabbling over the type of data that will be used.

During a more than two-and-a-half hour meeting, Democrats on the Senate Redistricting Committee offered assurances to their Republican colleagues and several concerned witnesses that the remapping process, still in its early stages, would be transparent and ultimately lead to a “fair” map that reflects the diversity of Illinois.

News in brief: Pritzker elaborates on forthcoming reopening plan; House Republicans launch new platform

News in brief: Pritzker elaborates on forthcoming reopening plan; House Republicans launch new platform 

News in brief: Energy bills headed to House floor; Pritzker announces funding for park renovation projects 

COVID-19 outbreaks subside at veterans’ homes as investigations continue 

No staff or residents are currently positive for COVID-19 at any state-run veterans’ facilities, officials told lawmakers Tuesday. 

Meeting for the first time since former Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs director Linda Chapa LaVia resigned, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee convened for an update on the aftermath of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak that hit the LaSalle Veterans’ Home last year.  

Phase 4½? Pritzker set to release plan to relax COVID-19 mitigations, Ezike says 

Gov. JB Pritzker is set later this week to announce a plan would allow Illinois to further relax COVID-19 mitigations, according to his top health official. 

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike told members of the Senate Health Committee on Monday that the state was “getting close” to moving from the current Phase 4, which limits gatherings to 50 people or less, to Phase 5. 

News in brief: National Guard return to Illinois; Mendoza offers relief for low, moderate income taxpayers

News in brief: Pritzker signs hospital transformation bill; Pritzker amendable to Biden’s May COVID-19 vaccine goal 

Legislative redistricting process set to kick off this week as committees take shape 

After months of little public action on redistricting, Illinois lawmakers are set this week to begin the months-long process of drawing new legislative and congressional boundaries. 

Starting Wednesday, lawmakers will begin holding redistricting-related meetings, with a looming June 30 deadline set by the state Constitution. Unlike in previous remapping efforts, this year’s process is complicated by the delayed release of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.