Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) leads a news conference in Springfield on Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Lawmakers and advocates are continuing to push for Illinois to enact a child tax credit as a critical anti-poverty measure. But in a year with new budget pressures and many requests for tax credits, the lawmakers and advocates behind the proposal faced questions about whether the state can afford it.  

Illinois Manufacturers’ Association CEO Mark Denzler speaks at a news conference in Springfield on Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Illinois lawmakers need to do more to position the state as a leader in research and development and new carbon capture and sequestration technologies, according to the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.  

Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) holds a news conference in Springfield on Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) has had enough of hearing horror stories from parents about the effects of social media on their children. She’s pushing legislation she believes needs to be passed at the state level to rein in how social media companies target children through advertising and algorithms. 

Lawmakers and advocates call for eliminating the tipped minimum wage at a rally outside the Illinois Capitol on Tuesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Advocates want to extend a new Chicago ordinance eliminating the tipped minimum wage to the rest of the state to boost wages for employees who receive tips as part of their income.  

Gov. JB Pritzker delivers the 2023 state of the state and budget address last February. [Blue Room Stream] 

State revenue remains around the same level as this time last year, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s (CGFA) January report — the last before Gov. JB Pritzker presents his Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal on Feb. 21.

Members of various Illinois business associations speak at a news conference in Springfield on May 19, 2023. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]  

After hitting a wall at the end of the 2023 spring session, Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) is making a new proposal to reform the state’s biometric privacy laws that he hopes businesses will be on board with.  

Illinois Farm Bureau President Brian Duncan and a group of state lawmakers present an estate tax reform plan at the Illinois Farm Bureau in Bloomington last week. [Blue Room Stream]   

A bipartisan group of lawmakers representing rural communities is hoping to move forward a plan this week that raises the trigger level for the estate tax for farms to provide Illinois farming families more certainty about the future of their business.  

Darren Bailey, left, and U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), right, are competing in the 12th Congressional District Republican primary in 2024.     

The final quarter of 2023 allowed incumbent members of Illinois’ congressional delegation to widen their fundraising leads over primary challengers, according to reports filed on Wednesday with the Federal Elections Commissions — the last reports ahead of the March 19 primary.  

Gov. JB Pritzker criticized the Chicago City Council’s resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. And the Department of Healthcare and Family Services began implementing co-pays to reduce state costs in a healthcare program for undocumented residents.  

From left to right, Geary Yonker, Dave Nayak, Graciela Guzman and Sen. Natalie Toro (D-Chicago) are running in the 20th Senate District Democratic primary.    

It’s one of the most expensive primary races of the year and one that will weigh the influence of a powerful teachers’ union, legislative leader and history of progressive community involvement as four candidates fight for the Democratic nomination in the 20th Senate District on the Northwest Side of Chicago.