Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) speaks at a news conference on Thursday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

It’s been nearly a year since the Morgan County coroner discovered major issues with misidentified and mishandled human remains at a Carlinville funeral home, which quickly led to dozens of families around the country learning the cremated remains they received from Heinz Funeral Home weren’t actually the remains of their loved ones.  

Investigations into what happened at the funeral home and identifying the correct remains for about 80 families around the country continues, especially for Sangamon Coroner Jim Allmon who had to exhume a fifth set of misidentified remains from Camp Butler Cemetery in Springfield on Thursday before he attended a news conference at the State Capitol.

Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Caledonia) speaks at a news conference earlier this month. The graphic on the right shows which counties in Illinois are most deprived of local news, according to the task force report. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

More than 200 newspapers and 86 percent of journalism jobs in Illinois have disappeared since 2005. Some counties don’t have any sources of news. The decline of journalism is leaving residents across Illinois more uninformed about what is happening in their local governments and that’s a problem the General Assembly should consider fixing, according to a report from a state task force. 

Rep. Marua Hirshaurer (D-Batavia) speaks at a news conference in Chicago on Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

With two headline-grabbing domestic violence shootings in the last week, lawmakers and advocates are renewing calls for a bill to close what they believe is a loophole in state law that has allowed accused domestic abusers to keep guns even after an order of protection is issued.  

The State Board of Elections  

Just like how members of the Electoral College in each state officially elect the President of the United States, presidential nominees are voted on by delegates from each state when they meet at the party’s convention in the summer.  

Delegates for presidential candidates in Illinois will file to run for office on Thursday and Friday alongside the presidential candidates themselves.

The Illinois Capitol   

Study up — Illinoisians will have 318 new laws to follow when they ring in 2024. The laws include new prohibited activities such as vaping indoors and having video calls while driving and new requirements for units of government to solve carjackings and uphold abortion access. 

The Illinois Capitol   

Illinois business groups are sending letters to federal officials worried about the economic effects from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) decision to close two rail crossings into Texas to reduce illegal entries into the United States.  

From left to right: Geary Yonker, Dr. Dave Nayak, Graciela Guzman, and Sen. Natalie Toro (D-Chicago).  

A crowded Democratic primary in the 20th Senate District is emerging with Sen. Natalie Toro (D-Chicago) and opponent Graciela Guzman distancing themselves from their opponents in the fundraising race with the help of big financial backers.   

But new self-funding efforts by Dr. Dave Nayak lifted contribution limits in the race on Monday, setting the stage for an even more expensive race.