Springfield News

  • Approximately $10 million in state money paid tuition for students to attend for-profit colleges last year via Illinois’ Monetary Award Program grants, according to a report filed Friday from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  •  

    [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
    Mayor Rahm Emanuel put pressure on lawmakers aand Gov. JB Pritzker Sunday to support a bill that would ban the sale of tobacco products to those younger 21. Meanwhile, opposition to a minimum wage hike is mobilizing as a bill to raise Illinois’ minimum wage promises to move quickly this week through the Senate.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • The Chicago-based Center for Racial and Gender Equality gave lawmakers overall a “D” grade as part of its Racial Justice Scorecard for the 100th General Assembly, but highlighted several new laws that the group said advanced the push for equality.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration direct the state’s Department of Public Health and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to spend all of the money — $1.2 million — earmarked for for HIV prevention.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • Gov. JB Pritzker speaks to reporters in his ceremonial Springfield office on Jan. 14 — his first full day as governor. [Hannah Meisel/The Daily Line]
    Gov. JB Pritzker announced another round of appointments to his administration Thursday, bringing the group of publicized early picks to 33.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) speaks with reporters on May 30, 2014. [Hannah Meisel/The Daily Line]
    Attorneys for House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) asked a federal judge on Thursday to keep the photographs taken during an inspection of Madigan’s political offices earlier this week sealed from public view.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • The Sexual Harassment Task Force launched in the wake of sexual harassment allegations in the Capitol at the beginning of the #MeToo movement issued its final report Wednesday after more than a year’s worth of work.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • While the call for a $15 minimum wage has been echoing in Springfield — and across the country — for several years, Democrats are confident that a bill to raise the wage in Illinois finally has the right political conditions to become reality.
    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) speaks with reporters on May 30, 2014. [Hannah Meisel/The Daily Line]
    With the General Assembly back in session, there was action across the Capitol on a host of issues — as the revelation that House Speaker Mike Madigan was caught on tape by the FBI was the topic of the day.

    To Read More Please Login or Join
  • Gov. JB Pritzker talks to reporters in Springfield last week. [BlueRoomStream]
    Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said he supports Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s effort to review the 81-month sentence handed down earlier this month to former Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke for the second-degree murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014. The Pritzker administration also said Monday that AFSCME members who had been denied step increases since 2015 will begin seeing their pay rise starting April 1. Meanwhile, the new head of the Department of Agriculture shares Pritzker’s desire for an expansion of broadband service in Illinois, calling it a top priority.
    To Read More Please Login or Join