To many Statehouse types, some of last week’s news out of Washington, D.C., felt eerily familiar.

It was televised by two networks and was not even close to a sellout, despite ticket prices as low as $6. It was thrown together in 26 days. And it had an unwieldy name. 

The Illinois legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability recently released an eye-popping actuarial analysis of a union-backed pension reform plan.

It was supposed to be a fun-filled weekend in Chicago for deserving students from the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville. The whirlwind schedule included a visit to a museum, a basketball game, and a stay in a luxury hotel. Then it went horribly wrong. 

Few toys capture the imagination like Lego bricks. There’s even a day on the calendar to celebrate them.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan should’ve known better than to have ever worked with then-Chicago Alderman Danny Solis. He brought all this on himself.

During the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, many of the largest – and bloodiest – demonstrations were in the South. A series of violent clashes in Illinois in 1966, however, surprised even Martin Luther King Jr. himself.

Every now and then you get a story that helps explain the Statehouse power dynamic. The saga of the “intoxicating hemp” regulation bill is one of those stories.

Winter in Illinois can bring fast, sharp drops in temperature. None, though, were ever like the “sudden change” of 1836.