Clockwise from the top left, Justice Mary Kay O’Brien, Mark Curran, Justice Michael Burke, and Judge Elizabeth Rockford are running for two seats on the Illinois Supreme Court.  

As TV advertising ramps up in the two races for the Illinois Supreme Court, a group of judicial organizations are condemning the partisan attacks displayed in the ads and reminding voters judges are supposed to be independent on issues while they are sitting on the bench.

Rep. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights), left, and Republican challenger Jack Vrett, right. [Campaign websites]  

Rep. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights) first joined the House in 2009, riding former President Barack Obama’s coattails into office. Two years later, the conservative Tea Party movement swept him out of office before he was reelected in 2018 during the Democrats’ blue wave.

Now he is working to withstand a rumored red wave and a challenge from Republican Jack Vrett of Arlington Heights.

Gov. JB Pritzker, left, and Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) meet in a debate Thursday at Illinois State University. [WGN News]  

Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican challenger Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) met for their first televised debate Thursday at Illinois State University in an hour-long back and forth filled with interruptions, partisan accusations and few answers on their visions for the next four years.

Solar panels

Global business leaders are embracing Illinois’ transition to clean energy and are preparing their companies to meet the goals set forth in the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), but they also want to make sure new energy sources will work.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) speaks during a news conference Wednesday. [Blue Room Stream] 

Republicans have raised many concerns about public safety and the SAFE-T Act, but are now pointing to potential property tax increases as another reason the law should be repealed.

Sen. Darren Bailey’s (R-Xenia) running mate Stephanie Trussell, left, and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, right. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

The governor’s race features a match up between a Chicago billionaire in Gov. JB Pritzker and a downstate state farmer Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia). While on the surface their running mates appear to be more similar as they are both Black women from Chicago, their views are as far apart as Bailey’s and Pritzker’s.

Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) speaks during the Crime Reduction Task Force meeting Tuesday. [Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority]

Illinois leaders held the first meeting Tuesday of the Crime Reduction Task Force that was created by a bill passed in the spring as lawmakers sought to come up with solutions to violent crime in Illinois and Chicago. 

From left to right, Health News Illinois reporter Ryan Voyles, University of Chicago Medicine infectious disease expert Dr. Emily Landon, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, Cook County health department Chief Operating officer Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra during a Health News Illinois presentation Tuesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

The biggest challenge facing public health departments is misinformation not unlike the kinds of hoaxes and half-truths that spread rampantly during the pandemic, Illinois’ top health officials said Tuesday.

The Illinois Supreme Court.  

Despite opposition, including from many state’s attorneys, the SAFE-T Act’s Pretrial Fairness Act is set to take effect Jan. 1, overhauling the state’s criminal justice system by eliminating cash bail.

An Illinois Supreme Court task force is enlisting the help of independent experts to help counties prepare to make changes to their pretrial processes.

Gov. JB Pritzker makes a bus tour stop in Chicago. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

There’s only about one month left in the 2022 campaign and despite few signs of momentum for Republican candidates, Gov. JB Pritzker is boosting support for Democrats in races up and down the ballot, including his own, with millions of dollars in contributions to Democratic candidates or organizations at the end of September.

SAFER Foundation senior director of external affairs and community partnerships Kevin Brown, left, and Live Free Illinois Executive Director Ciera Bates-Chamberlin, right, speak to the House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force Thursday. [Blue Room Steam]

The next step to improve public safety should be improving help for people recently released from prison so they can return to society as productive members, advocates told members of the House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force Thursday.

House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) speaks at the City Club of Chicago Wednesday. [City Club of Chicago]

With about six weeks before Election Day, House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) is calling for politicians to tone down their rhetoric and focus more on having civil and productive political discussions rather than spreading misinformation about policies they disagree with.

A poll commissioned by WGN News and conducted by Emerson College found Gov. JB Pritzker holds a 15-point lead on Republican challenger Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) and shed light on which issues are most important to voters this November. And a protestor interrupted a news conference by Republican attorney general nominee Tom DeVore in an altercation that turned physical.

Gov. JB Pritzker speaks to reporters in Chicago Tuesday. [Blue Room Steam]

Illinois’ unemployment insurance trust fund deficit is now a little lighter as stakeholders continue to work out an agreement to pay down the remaining balance before a Jan. 1 deadline.

Alison Shih from Every Town for Gun Safety, left, and Ed Sullivan from the State Rifle Association, right, speak during the House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force Thursday. [Blue Room Stream] 

As advocates call on Illinois lawmakers to tighten up the state’s gun laws following a mass shooting in Highland Park and an ongoing problem with gun violence in Chicago and other cities, opponents of gun regulations argue putting more restrictions on firearms and gun owners will not improve public safety.

From left to right, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Gov. JB Pritzker, and Director General Johnson Chiang of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago sign letters of intent Friday. [Gov. JB Pritzker/Facebook]

Illinois and Taiwan are partnering for a second multi-billion-dollar trade agreement for the state to export corn and soybeans to the Pacific island nation in a move officials praised as an agreement that will greatly benefit both Taiwan and Illinois.

Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Frankfurt), left, and Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), right, are both facing calls to resign.

Pressure is mounting for two Illinois Senators accused of misconduct to give up their positions as lawmakers after Gov. JB Pritzker issued a statement Thursday morning calling on Sens. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago) and Michael Hastings (D-Frankfurt) to resign.

The Illinois Supreme Court deliberates in Noland v. Mendoza in May. [Illinois Supreme Court]

A pair of former state lawmakers who hoped to claw back lost wages from a pay freeze will not be getting back pay, the Illinois Supreme Court announced in a decision released Thursday.

Paddock Publications, the parent company of the Daily Herald, will no longer allow political publications published by radio host Dan Proft to use Paddock’s mailing permit after Gov. JB Pritzker’s campaign announced they would not participate in a Daily Herald. And House Republicans introduced a bill to crack down on fentanyl trafficking to oppose a separate bill Democrats passed last year.

Gov. JB Pritzker, left speaks at an endorsement event in Chicago Wednesday, and Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) speaks at a restaurant in Crystal Lake Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

Another indictment of an Illinois lawmaker hangs over the election season after federal investigators Tuesday slapped Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago) with charges of bribery and lying to the FBI.