Springfield News

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    Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) speaks at a news conference at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood Wednesday with Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

    Days after a teenager was detained by police while in possession of a so-called ‘ghost gun' following the murder of a 16-year-old boy at Millennium Park in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill to make Illinois the first state in the Midwest to ban the sale and possession of guns that lack serial numbers.

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    Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines), left, and Deputy Secretary of Transportation Becky Locker, right, speak during a House Transportation Committee meeting Wednesday. [Blue Room Stream]

    Three years into the state’s 2019 Rebuild Illinois capital plan, lawmakers are expressing concerns about how fast the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is allocating money to complete projects.

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    Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), left, and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, right, appear to be the front runners in the Republican primary. [Blue Room Stream & Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

    Most Illinois voters will become eligible on Thursday to vote early in the June 28 primary. Some races remain without a clear frontrunner six weeks before the votes will be counted as candidates ramp up spending on advertisements and continue searching for cash.

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    Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock), left, and Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) speak during a news conference Tuesday.

    House Republicans have seen enough of Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director Marc Smith and are calling on Smith to resign or for Gov. JB Pritzker to find a new department head after an audit released last week revealed the depth of problems at the agency.

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

    Illinois lawmakers should be more transparent about how they use federal pandemic relief funds and ensure the money is mostly being used for one time-expenditures, according to a new report from the Volcker Alliance.

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    Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) speaks at a news conference in Aurora for Richard Irvin’s campaign on May 9. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

    A week after an auditor general report found the Illinois Department of Public Health did not take a November 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veteran’s Home seriously, Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris), who represents the home, wants lawmakers to consider legislation she says will address some of the issues found in the audit.

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    Gov. JB Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul show the bill Pritzker signed at Water Tower Place in Chicago Friday. [Blue Room Stream]

    Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill Friday that retailers hope will reduce smash-and-grabs and organized retail thefts at Chicago-area businesses by targeting people who lead crime rings.

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    Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith speaks during a House committee in January. [ILGA] 

    A new audit two years in the making confirmed what many advocates in Illinois already believed to be true: the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is failing to properly care for all children under its care.

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    The Illinois Supreme Court meets on Wednesday.

    Two former state senators want the Illinois Supreme Court to order Comptroller Susana Mendoza to pay back wages they lost from a years-long salary freeze, arguing the freeze they voted into place was unconstitutional.

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    Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at a Planned Parenthood location in Fairview Heights Wednesday. [Gov. JB Pritzker/Facebook] 

    Gov. JB Pritzker called on members of the U.S. Senate to pass legislation codifying a national right to abortion at a news conference Wednesday morning ahead of a Senate vote on a measure.

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