Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) has pledged to tackle pension reform this summer. [Blue Room Stream]   

The House Personnel and Pensions Committee will hold its first public meeting this summer on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Chicago, two months after House pension leaders announced plans to tackle pension reform during the summer recess.  

Illinois Supt. Tony Sanders speaks at a news conference at Streamwood High School in U-46 on March 3. [Gov. JB Pritzker/Facebook] 

Illinois State Board of Education Supt. Tony Sanders admits the job as the state’s top education official is a little different than what he expected. Sanders has gone from overseeing the bustling halls of Illinois’ second largest school district, U-46 in Elgin, to rotating between a quiet Chicago high rise office and another in Springfield.   

“I knew this was always the dream job for me, to become the state superintendent,” Sanders said in an interview with The Daily Line.   

Sanders follows in the footsteps of his dad who also served as Illinois superintendent of education. And now instead of working to solve one district's challenges, he faces challenges for all Illinois schools on teacher shortages, learning loss, funding and the growing politicization of education.  

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias speaks at a news conference last month promoting a bill. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias hit the ground running in January not just on improving driver's services for residents but on pushing legislation he felt was important to his office’s mission.  

Rep. Brad Fritts, a Republican from Dixon, is the youngest person ever elected to the General Assembly. [Rep. Brad Fritts] 

New college graduates in their early 20s face a lot of questions: when should they live on their own, how do they get into a promising job, what sort of payments should they make on loans, insurance or a fun weekend?   

For Rep. Brad Fritts (R-Dixon), he’s tasked with answering the state’s most pressing issues on behalf of thousands of constituents who picked him to be their state representative.  

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Fiscal Year 2023 budget into law at Chicago State University in April 2023. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Illinois closed Fiscal Year 2023 bringing in more revenue than last year’s record, according to a report from the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA).  

Natalie Toro is sworn in as the 20th District’s newest state Senator at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse on July 10, 2023. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

Democratic Party officials appointed Natalie Toro, a kindergarten teacher and former county board candidate, to an open state Senate seat representing the Northwest Side of Chicago following panel interviews at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Monday evening. 

Toro received more weighted votes than runner-up Graciela Guzman, a progressive who had the backing of many public attendees and multiple progressive groups. They were the only two of eight candidates to receive votes from local Democratic committeepersons. 

Illinois Secretary of State Omar Osman speaks at Illinois Department of Transportation headquarters in Springfield Friday. [Gov. JB Pritzker/Facebook]   

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) announced a new six-year construction plan Friday totaling nearly $41 billion as Illinois begins year five of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. But as the state reaches that milestone, it’s not clear if the project is on track or behind schedule.  

A Metra train is parked above the Rock River in Rockford Monday. [City of Rockford/Facebook] 

Rebuild Illinois will bring passenger rail service back to Rockford for the first time in more than 30 years, Rockford and Illinois officials announced Thursday.  

The new taxing district for the Central Illinois Regional Airport would include all of McLean County. [Google Maps] 

More McLean County residents could be facing a slight tax increase under a bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk. 

Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade was abruptly ended when seven people were killed and dozens were injured by a rooftop shooter with an assault weapon. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

“I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun violence… I’m furious because it does not have to be that way, yet we as a nation, we continue to allow this to happen,” Gov. JB Pritzker said on the afternoon of July 4, 2022 just hours after seven people were killed and dozens were injured in a mass shooting at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade.  

Nearly six months to the day after the shooting, Pritzker signed legislation making Illinois the ninth state to ban assault weapons. But supporters of the legislation say there’s still much more work to do to respond to gun violence.