In Illinois, next year’s legislative leaders are the same as this year’s, which is a cause of concern for some. The Senate already chose legislative leaders ceremonially, and they will stay the same as they are now for both the...

Three communities in the Rockford area have landed at the top of a list of healthiest housing markets in the state. Rockton, Machesney Park, and Roscoe took three of the top four spots on the list produced by financial company...

The Illinois Department of Public Health has launched an antibiotic awareness campaign to get people to think twice before taking the commonly overused medication. While antibiotics can save lives, people tend to use them when they’re not needed. As much...

Two Illinois lawmakers are calling for a closer look at the financial ties between the state-run Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the private foundation that supports it. Central Illinois Republican State Sen. Jason Barickman and state Rep. Tim...

Illinois is a step closer to giving more legal protection to illegal immigrants. The idea behind the plan approved by the Illinois Senate is to give people who are not in this county legally some legal protection when they go...

An Illinois teen won't face felony eavesdropping charges for recording a talk with a school principal after prosecutors decided to drop the matter Thursday after the case got national attention. Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe dismissed the charges against...

With Democrats firmly in control of all Illinois branches of government, the future of the state’s private school scholarship program – and the thousands of students that are using it – is uncertain. As part of last year’s sweeping school...

Illinois deer hunters have been in the field for over a month, but the state's most popular deer season begins this weekend. The first weekend of shotgun deer season will bring thousands and thousands of hunters out across the state...

A group of Illinois lawmakers are promoting legislation that would use a combination of state, local and federal funds to put metal detectors in every school in the state, but some school leaders say it’s simply not feasible. State Rep....

It’s easy to criticize longevity in politics. “Career politician” is a pejorative for a reason. But there’s a big difference between persistent public service and a political machine. Unfortunately, the latter has won out in the Illinois General Assembly. Senate...

Municipal leaders across Illinois face cutting services or hiking taxes to pay for growing police and fire retirement contributions as pension costs continue to increase. The Carterville City Council <a href="https://www.visitcarterville.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/City-Council-Agenda-November-13-2018.pdf">voted Tuesday</a> to approve a 30 percent property tax increase...

Lawmakers in the House could soon decide to raise the age limit for buying tobacco products to 21 despite a veto from the governor. The Senate approved the bill Wednesday with enough votes to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto. It...

At least two floors of the Illinois Capitol were evacuated Wednesday afternoon on the second day of the fall veto session after an apparent bomb threat. The third and fourth floors of the building were evacuated. The House was called...

Picketers rallied outside a Chicago Target store this week, protesting the retail giant's decision to close two stores on the city's South Side. That's their right, but perhaps these picketers also should have rallied outside of City Hall – and...

Believe it or not, Illinois is one list away from its final Top 200 list. The voting at IllinoisTop200.com is almost complete. Bicentennial best-of voters last week picked Abraham Lincoln as the state's best leader. That was the second-to-last list....

What makes a state a great place to live? A new report narrows it to three factors and ranks Illinois in the middle of the pack at number 21. The financial and opinion website 24/7 Wall St. used three socioeconomic...

Illinois lawmakers, encouraged by car rental companies facing competition from startups, are gathering the needed votes to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill that would tax and regulate the emerging peer-to-peer car sharing industry. Startups say their established...

It's that time of year again, time to get ready to drive in the snow and ice. AAA's Beth Mosher said anyone who's driven in Illinois has heard winter weather driving advice before. But she said it bears repeating. November...

A federal judge said the Illinois Department of Corrections has failed to meet the needs of mentally ill prison inmates. The finding comes two years after the state reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by former inmates. That 2016...

J.B. Pritzker, Illinois' next governor, promised higher taxes on the wealthy would provide for new state revenue to spend on everything from roads to schools, but some tax experts say other states have sometimes had trouble collecting from wealthier residents...

More than 100 Illinois schools reported half of their students were chronically absent. Statewide, Illinois schools reported slightly more absenteeism than the national average. Some individual schools reported alarming rates of kids missing class. When a child is missing for...

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner marked Veterans Day by telling Illinois vets that the state can never repay them for their service. Governor Rauner spent Veterans Day talking to vets in Chicago. He simply told them: Thank you. "We are the...

Sustainable farming practices in Illinois designed to improve water quality also face a financial test. Through emerging projects like Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, farmers are working to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels in their soil to prevent runoff into what...

Most of the election dust has settled, and lawmakers are headed back to the capitol on Tuesday to address some of the 78 bills that outgoing Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed over the summer. Rauner lost reelection last week to Democrat...

State representatives have conflicting goals headed into an Illinois House tourism committee hearing about a hat the private Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Foundation bought and then sought tax dollars to foot the bill. More than a decade ago,...

Most employers in Illinois will see reduced payroll taxes in 2019 as unemployment continues to decline. The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced lowering unemployment insurance taxes for more than 90 percent of employers in 2019. Nearly 300,000 businesses will...

Small businesses in Illinois and across the country can't find enough workers to fill open positions. That’s the word from a recent national survey from the National Federation of Independent Business in which nearly 90-percent of respondents reported few or...

Illinois' bicentennial best-of voters are looking for Illinois' best leader of the past 200 years, and it's tough. There are four presidents on Illinois' latest Top 200 list. Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Former First Lady,...

It’s no secret that Illinois is losing population, but a new report found that one Illinois town is losing its educated people at a faster clip than every other town in the nation except one. Local officials say the report...

Illinois officials and religious leaders are hoping the National Donor Sabbath this weekend will convince people to look past some of the common misconceptions about organ donation. The National Donor Sabbath runs this Friday through the weekend. Illinois officials use...

Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker said he wants to legalize marijuana for recreational use soon after taking office, but even advocates say it won't fix the state’s budget problems. Michigan voters approved a referendum Tuesday to legalize recreational marijuana use. State Rep....

In a measure of how much property owners pay in taxes, Illinoisans pay more than all but just a couple states in New England. In their annual <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/ranking-property-taxes-on-the-2019-state-business-tax-climate-index">business tax climate index</a>, the nonprofit Tax Foundation put’s Illinois at fifth...

In addition to giving Illinois a new governor, Tuesday's election gave Illinois a new political balance. Illinois' regional political balance has been slowly changing for years. Professor John Jackson with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University...

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan is about to see two things he’s never seen before. And given he’s been in the Statehouse since 1971, that’s saying something. The first is the strength of his majority. Democrats have never held more...

Illinois Democrats have returned to what experts call a “trifecta government” that can push through policies with little more than protest votes from a marginalized Republican Party. Democrats defeated Gov. Bruce Rauner and all other statewide Republican candidates. In addition,...

The incoming administration inherits a fiscal mess that some experts have said is beyond repair. “One metaphor that comes to mind is some people have the best seats on the Titanic,” said Bill Bergman, research director at Truth in Accounting....

As if Illinois taxpayers didn't have enough meaningful concerns heading into Tuesday's midterm election, they'll have new ones come January. Now that the votes are counted and the races decided, the threat of an idea shortage at the top of...

Voters in Illinois showed up yesterday in a way that they hadn’t since they were voting for Jim Edgar’s first term. The final vote tallies won’t be locked in until December 3rd, but preliminary voting totals show 54 percent of...

Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker has selected his transition team. The team includes a former governor, a union leader, a social services professional and others. “I am honored to be chairing the transition committee with a remarkable group of leaders who represent...

Voters handed Gov. Bruce Rauner a decisive rebuke Tuesday, turning the governor's mansion to Democrat J.B. Pritzker and giving Democrats even more power in Springfield. Democrat J.B. Pritzker rode the wave of significantly higher turnout, with many pollsters calling the...

Illinois farmers are dealing with the effects of a retaliatory tariff imposed by China on soybean imports. A 25-percent Chinese tariff on American soybeans was imposed by the country in response to the Trump administration’s steel tariffs on China. For...

Illinois' new attorney general is talking about his role both in and outside of the state. In his victory speech Tuesday night, State Sen. Kwame Raoul spoke about his new job as Illinois Attorney General not just being limited to...

It’s not just all the statewide constitutional offices that Democrats now control. They also maintain control of the Illinois General Assembly. Preliminary numbers were still being crunched into the night Tuesday, but Democrats are expected to maintain a majority, if...