Illinois

Republican lawmakers put forward a proposal to expel students who sexually assault another student at school.

With prescription drug costs soaring, Illinois lawmakers announced legislation this week reviving efforts to create a prescription drug affordability board with the goal of capping the growing cost of medication.

The Joliet City Council will consider approving the donation of land with a value of about $377,000 from NorthPoint for the construction of a future water tower.

It was a well-known aphorism during former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s record 36 years in power that while others in the state’s political realm were merely playing checkers, the longtime Democratic powerbroker was playing chess.

When shortform video platform TikTok shut down service earlier this month, the move surprised some Illinois politicians who use the app to educate, reach constituents and follow trends.

Jurors hearing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s trial are finally scheduled to begin deliberations Wednesday afternoon more than three months after testimony in the case began.

Democrats continue to hold a supermajority in the Illinois House thanks to illegally gerrymandered House districts, House Republicans allege in a new lawsuit filed with the Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday.

Will County schools, cities, and hospitals were dealt a surprise blow on Tuesday as President Donald Trump issued an order freezing all federal grant funding. The action is now on hold by court order but local officials are working to see what's next.

Order stops federal spending on grants, loans, Medicaid. Illinois attorney general says he will join lawsuit to free up funds. Freeze called unconstitutional.

“Democrats and Republicans alike will be affected by this pause in funding,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said

Other projects include a new restaurant and bar near Sublette and construction of another building at HA International’s manufacturing plant near Oregon.

Hours before President Donald Trump’s administration was due to put a freeze on federal grants and loans, agencies in Illinois were unable to access federal funding sites, including Medicaid

Illinois lawmakers kicked off their spring legislative session roughly three weeks ago, but lawmakers in the House have already filed more than 1,800 bills that could be acted on before the General Assembly adjourns in May.

As former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s defense lawyers began their closing arguments last week, his attorney said when people asked for help, Madigan tried to help them.

A Will County sheriff’s lieutenant who is being sued over claims that he wrongfully killed a hostage taker in 2022 at a Romeoville bank will face no charges over the incident.

For two decades, Dave Joens has led the Illinois State Archives, the government agency tasked with preserving official government documents with historic value.

The city attorney for Lockport will become a Will County circuit court judge in February. She will replace John Anderson, who was elected last year to the appellate court.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a case centered on whether a state law passed in 2023 violates the due process rights of Illinoisans outside Sangamon and Cook counties.

A Will County judge issued a $525,070 default judgment against a company that operated a now-shuttered Joliet nursing home in a unpaid wage lawsuit case but it’s unclear whether former employees will ever see a dime.

The University of Illinois Extension says its new Four Seasons Gardening webinar series will begin on Feb. 11 with two new winter sessions.

Over 5,000 preschool seats have opened for low-income families in Illinois through Smart Start Illinois in the past year

Federal prosecutors continued their closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, accusing the longtime Democratic powerbroker of using Chicago Ald. Danny Solis’ positions of power “to gain private benefits.”

Will County schools, agencies respond to President Donald Trump's executive order declaring the Department of Justice will investigate or prosecute agencies which do not comply with immigration enforcement officers.

The Illinois State Board of Education is encouraging local school districts to adopt clear policies spelling out how and when their staff should cooperate with federal immigration officials carrying out enforcement actions or seeking information from school officials.

Kwame Raoul's guidance reaffirms the limitations set by the Illinois TRUST Act and the Illinois Way Forward Act, which restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said gun violence is "a public health crisis that requires public health solutions" in announcing the launch of the agency's new dashboard to track violent deaths and gun injuries.

As prosecutors began their closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, they accused the longtime Democratic powerbroker of lying to the jury when he testified in his own defense earlier this month.

A Will County judge allowed the jail release of a Plainfield man facing charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child after ruling there were conditions that could mitigate his danger to the alleged victims.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said he saw no evidence in Trump’s executive orders that the president was following through on campaign promises to lower costs for Americans

The “unimaginable loss” of a Joliet family who were killed in a mass shooting one year ago continues to be “felt deeply within our department and across our community,” said Joliet’s police chief.

A Lockport woman who partially blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for her role in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot is among five people from Will County who’ve been pardoned for their crimes.

Immigrant communities around Illinois braced Tuesday for threatened mass deportations. But the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, facing subzero temperatures, saw little foot traffic and no anticipated raids as of Tuesday afternoon.

Can you please show your ID? Illinoisans can anticipate whipping out their iPhones to display driver’s licenses instead of digging into their wallets later this year.

Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed a long-awaited bill to stop Illinois organizations from paying less than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities.

The Illinois State Police have announced that data from 2024 shows a decrease in shootings on Illinois interstate roads for the third year in a row.

Sixty percent of rural Americans live in child care deserts — regions with too few licensed slots for children. In rural Illinois, that number rises to nearly 70%.

Sangamon County, its sheriff’s office and its central dispatch system on Thursday announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve an investigation spurred by the shooting of Sonya Massey.

Representatives from the Illinois Treasurer’s Office will be available to assist residents with claiming any unclaimed property they may have. 

The Illinois State Police reports recovering 245 stolen and/or hijacked vehicles from October through December.

Amid multiple recent challenges to state gun control laws, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments this week concerning the constitutionality of concealed carry licenses and open carry bans

An appellate court upheld the pretrial detention of a former Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club member who for a second time is facing charges of killing a woman and hiding her body.

When state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch was sworn in for another term as speaker of the Illinois House this month, he called on his colleagues to “rise to the occasion” and confront the moment that faced them.

Attorneys for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan rested their case Thursday, marking the beginning of the end of the longtime Democratic powerbroker’s corruption trial.

Under the Ethics Act, a high-level state employee can’t take a job with an organization that was subject to certain contracts, licensing or regulatory decisions from the state within one year of leaving their government position

Before Madigan’s attorneys put their defense case to bed, they questioned final witnesses and put final bits of evidence into the record, including a sort of message from Gov. JB Pritzker

The Illinois State Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve a budget request for the upcoming fiscal year of nearly $11.4 billion, a 4.6% increase over this year’s budget

Revenue returns remain on track halfway through Illinois’ budget year, though it’s next year that is causing concern in the Capitol

After Michael Madigan spent several hours facing blistering cross-examination in his federal corruption trial, the former Illinois House speaker made a rare candid remark about the yearslong investigation that landed him on the witness stand in a Chicago courtroom

State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, joined Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and other lawmakers Tuesday to introduce legislation that could raise the age of mandatory road tests in Illinois to 87.

Amid a $770 million budget gap facing Metra, Pace and the CTA, and a proposal to merge the three into a supersized agency, Regional Transportation Authority leaders have issued their own transit rescue plan.