Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) speaks on the House floor Tuesday. [Blue Room Stream] 

Businesses could face a stiffer punishment in wrongful death lawsuits under a bill approved by the House on Tuesday.

Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-Batavia) speaks on the House floor Friday. [Blue Room Stream]

After targeting high-powered rifles earlier this year in hopes of curbing mass shootings, House Democrats have set their sights on keeping guns away from people accused of domestic violence crimes.  

Parents and children who receive the Invest in Kids Scholarship wearing blue shirts wait outside the Illinois House of Representatives to meet with lawmakers on Thursday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Thousands of Illinois private school students could lose their scholarships if lawmakers don’t act to renew a controversial program that provides scholarships to help families afford private education.   

The Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit program passed by state lawmakers in 2017 is set to expire at the end of the year and advocates in favor of the program have descended on the state capitol for months asking lawmakers to renew their support for the program that opponents call a voucher program.    

Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) speaks to the House Ethics and Elections Committee Friday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

An incumbent public official could be prohibited from holding public office again under a proposal approved by the House Friday that aims to close a loophole in state law.  

Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn), in pink, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, seated, listen to debate Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

House Democrats advanced Illinois’ latest package of abortion legislation Wednesday responding to last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, including the year’s most controversial bill targeting crisis pregnancy centers.  

The House passed a bill that could subject gun manufactures to lawsuits under the state’s consumer protection laws. The Senate passed a bill creating a hotline to recover stolen cars in Cook County. And Michael McCuskey was granted another term as the Legislative Inspector General.  

Gov. JB Pritzker receives his first COVID-19 vaccine in March 2021.   

It started on January 24, 2020: An Illinois woman returned from Wuhan, China with the second confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19. Two months later, Illinois and the country were locked down in hopes of slowing the spread of the then-largely unknown virus as quickly as possible.   

Over three years later, following 4.1 million confirmed cases and over 36,000 deaths in Illinois, the state’s COVID-19 disaster declaration ends Thursday.   

“It’s a significant indicator of the progress that’s been made of getting past the worst parts of the COVID pandemic and the fact that Illinois is one of the most vaccinated sates in the Midwest and that we’re in decent shape moving forward to keep people safe from this deadly disease,” Gov. JB Pritzker told The Daily Line. 

Gov. JB Pritzker and Comptroller Susanna Mendoza celebrate a bill’s signature at the Capitol in Springfield Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Chicago police officers and firefighters who had their career ended by a debilitating case of COVID-19 will receive full line-of-duty disability benefits under a new law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker Wednesday.  

On the left are proposed school board districts for the north half of Chicago and on the right are proposed school board districts for the south half of Chicago. [Illinois Senate Democrats] 

Several Chicago residents spoke out against proposed maps for the Chicago Elected School Board at a Senate hearing Tuesday night saying lawmakers ignored requests for a map that represented the city’s minority community.  

Former Gov. Pat Quinn speaks at a news conference in Springfield Tuesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Former Gov. Pat Quinn is calling on Gov. JB Pritzker and the legislative leaders to convene a special session to pass ethics reform following the guilty verdict last week against ComEd associates.