New high school graduation requirements that were part of an omnibus education bill passed during the lame duck session are drawing criticism from some members of the Illinois State Board of Education.
All high school sports – including the higher-risk football, basketball and wresting – may now be played in three regions of Illinois as the state continues to loosen restrictions amid the pandemic.
KANKAKEE — When David Love was around 8 years old, his tech-savvy dad introduced him to coding, a type of language used to create computer programs.
A bill endorsed by Gov. JB Pritzker that would eliminate expanded federal tax deductions for businesses created under the CARES Act, failed to pass in the lame duck session.
Only one of the state’s 11 COVID-19 mitigation regions remains at the highest level of restricted activity Thursday as the statewide case positivity rate continues to decline.
The state’s COVID-19 seven-day average case positivity rate dropped to 5.7 percent Tuesday, the lowest it has been since Oct. 23.
SPRINGFIELD — The 101st Illinois General Assembly took historic action by passing legislation to end cash bail prior to electing a Black House Speaker for the first time in the 102nd General Assembly.
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois children can showcase their artistic talents and consider the importance of art in our lives, thanks to a statewide art contest sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois State Board of Education.
DANVILLE – In celebration of the life and legacy of late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Western Governors University (WGU) has announced it will award $100,000 in scholarships to those who have dreamed of furthering their education but have faced challenges in their lives th…
Gov. JB Pritzker announced revisions to his COVID-19 mitigation tiers Friday that would allow earlier indoor dining, but no regions have thus far met the requirements.
DANVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Officials in an eastern Illinois city are still hopeful their community can land a casino, despite delays in the state's application process caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. JB Pritzker has activated 250 members of the Illinois National Guard amid FBI warnings of potential armed protests at the 50 U.S. state capitols in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate passed a criminal justice omnibus bill early Wednesday morning after a grueling 20 hours of politicking during Tuesday’s lame duck session. The House followed suit Wednesday morning, clearing the way for the bill to head to the governor.
SPRINGFIELD – Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch made history Wednesday by becoming the first Black person elected speaker of the Illinois House, succeeding Rep. Michael Madigan, who leaves the job after serving for 36 of the past 38 years.
Rep. Emanuel "Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, will be the next speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives after days of closed-door meetings with fellow Democrats.
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker took questions on a massive criminal justice omnibus bill backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus on Monday, noting he was generally “in favor of the process and the work that the Black Caucus has done overall.”
SPRINGFIELD – A House committee on Monday advanced a bill that would end the system of hiring private insurance companies to manage the state’s Medicaid program at the end of their current contracts and replace it with a standard fee-for-service payment system.
SPRINGFIELD – House Speaker Michael Madigan announced he would suspend his campaign for House Speaker of the 102nd General Assembly on Monday, but his statement made clear he was not withdrawing from the race.
Illinois House lawmakers were back in the capital city Friday for the first time since May, kicking off a five-day “lame duck” legislative session.
Illinois reported 9,277 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Friday, including 126 additional deaths.
The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has introduced a sweeping criminal justice omnibus bill that aims to heavily alter the state of policing in Illinois.
Hours after rioters seeking to block the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s November election victory first began storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker called on Congress to impeach and remove sitting President Donald Trump.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois quoted Adolf Hitler in a speech Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol, comments that drew swift criticism from fellow Republicans.
SPRINGFIELD – State Rep. Ann Williams officially threw her hat into the ring Wednesday to become the next speaker of the Illinois House, making her the third Democrat to announce they were challenging embattled Speaker Michael Madigan.
Illinois lawmakers will return to the capital city on Friday for a “lame duck” session that is expected to focus on the state’s COVID-19 response, a nearly $4 billion budget deficit and a host of social issues being advanced by the Legislative Black Caucus.
Gov. JB Pritzker issued 9,219 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions on Thursday, New Year’s Eve, while announcing the Illinois State Police had expunged all eligible records at the state level for marijuana related arrests.
SPRINGFIELD — The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and average case positivity rate remain below second-wave highs while public health officials in Illinois continue to caution residents that a post-holiday surge could materialize.
SPRINFIELD — As Illinois’ COVID-19 hospitalization and case numbers have stabilized since the second-wave highs last month, the governor’s office announced 126,211 vaccinations were administered throughout the state, including Chicago, as of Tuesday evening.
SPRINGFIELD – It was a year like no other, and one most Americans would just as soon forget, but 2020 is sure to last in the history books as one of the most tumultuous in modern history.
When a new year begins in Illinois, there typically are dozens if not hundreds of new laws going into effect.
Illinois reported its third consecutive day with more than 100 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday. Meanwhile, most statistics the state uses to measure progress in combatting the coronavirus ticked up slightly.
While the number of new COVID-19 cases and people hospitalized in Illinois continue to decline, the state’s coronavirus death toll has surpassed 16,000.
In early July, a judge in downstate Clay County voided Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive orders in a sweeping order that he applied to the entire state, at the request of a southern Illinois lawmaker who sued Pritzker over his response to the pandemic.
The U.S. Congress reached an agreement on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief package that extends unemployment benefits, provides stimulus checks to Americans within a certain income bracket and funding to small businesses, but it fell short of providing direct funding to state and local governments.
The top public health official in the United States said Tuesday that the COVID-19 trends in Illinois are improving and he urged the public to get vaccinated as soon as the doses become available to them.
Two lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow the General Assembly to meet and vote remotely during a pandemic or other emergency that makes in-person meetings dangerous.
SPRINGFIELD — Lawyers for a Kane County restaurant are asking the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that found the governor’s indoor dining ban was lawfully imposed.
Four weeks after the Thanksgiving Day weekend, the so-called “surge upon a surge” in COVID-19 cases has not materialized and, in fact, infection rates and hospitalizations from the disease have continued to decline.
Coronavirus vaccinations from the state’s National Strategic Stockpile were delivered Thursday to 77 hospitals in 45 counties throughout the state, Gov. JB Pritzker announced at his daily briefing.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced more than $700 million in spending cuts on Tuesday, calling it a “first step” in closing a $3.9 billion revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year’s budget.
Five health care workers at a hospital in Peoria became the first people in Illinois to receive a COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, marking what Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike called “the beginning of the end” of the pandemic.
SPRINGFIELD – The first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration arrived in Illinois Monday, but officials said there’s still a need for social distancing, face coverings and other mitigations as a full rollout could take months.
The first COVID-19 vaccinations have arrived in Illinois as virus metrics continued to trend in a direction that indicates the spread of the virus is slowing.
Illinois’ presidential electors officially cast their 20 ballots Monday for the Democratic ticket of Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris, marking the all-but-final step in a bitterly contested presidential election that incumbent President Donald Trump has refused to concede.
SPRINGFIELD – A longshot legal challenge to overturn the results of the presidential election in four swing states — which was opposed by 23 Democratic attorneys general, including Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul — was rejected Friday evening by the U.S. Supreme Court.
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ presidential electors officially cast their 20 ballots Monday for the Democratic ticket of Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris, marking the all-but-final step in a bitterly contested presidential election that incumbent President Donald Trump has refused to concede.
Two Democratic lawmakers this week introduced legislation to reduce state payments to the insurance companies that manage Illinois’ Medicaid program, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in excess profits for the insurers.
SPRINGFIELD – The COVID-19 death toll surpassed 14,000 on Friday as the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 190 additional deaths in people from their 20s to over 100 years of age.
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined onto a legal brief, along with a coalition of 22 other Democratic attorneys general, that is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit brought by the Texas Attorney General seeking to overturn the presidential election result…
SPRINGFIELD – Two Democratic lawmakers this week introduced legislation to reduce state payments to the insurance companies that manage Illinois’ Medicaid program, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in excess profits for the insurers.
More than 107,000 Illinois workers filed first-time unemployment claims last week, a 45-percent increase over the week before as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the state and national economies.
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DANVILLE - Carl M Calton, 80, of Danville, passed away at 11:08 a.m. Thursday, January 21, 2021 at OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center in Danville, IL. He was born on April 16, 1940 in Milwaukee, WI, the son of Marion and Irene Cooper Calton. Survivors include: 1 son, Patrick Calton of Danville;…
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