Illinois

As the cost of housing continues to rise, Illinois realtors are pushing legislation to make it easier for first-time homebuyers to save for a down payment

A Will County jury found a former landlord guilty of the 2023 Plainfield Township hate crime murder of a 6-year-old Muslim child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother. A sentencing hearing is slated for May 2.

Advocates of the family of a Muslim child who was killed in 2023 in Plainfield Township say the convicted killer was radicalized by unfounded and dehumanizing claims about Palestinians in media coverage of the Gaza war.

Illinois officials are warning of a tollway phishing scam involving textws claiming people have to pay up unpaid tolls or could face consequences.

Public transportation reform in the Chicago area is at the top of state lawmakers’ to-do list this spring, but exactly what that reform will look like remains unclear

As tickets for spring and summer concert tours, festivals and sporting events begin to go on sale, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul cautioned about ticket scams.

The city of Joliet plans a detection 'blitz' with rate of water loss at 29%. $68 million to be spent in 2025 to replace 30 miles of water mains.

A former Plainfield Township landlord charged with killing a child by stabbing him 26 times and attempting to kill his mother based on their Islamic faith decided not testify at his trial on Thursday.

DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick is skipping a potential third term as the county’s top cop and setting his sights instead on the governor’s mansion.

To accommodate the demand for REAL IDs, the Illinois Secretary of State has increased the number of daily appointments at the appointment-only licensing facilities in Chicago area.

Illinois is highly dependent on oil and gas from Canada, meaning consumers could be in line for higher energy and gas prices due to tariffs. About 72% of Illinois’ imports, or $47.4 billion, from Canada in 2023 was oil and gas

Mya Tinajero of Joliet was 10 when she died in 2017 from neuroblastoma. Her parents formed a nonprofit and raise money for toys for children with cancer.

State Sen. Patrick Joyce writes about all of what his office has done for area residents this month.

The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program covered noncitizen adults age 55 to 64 and was later expanded to cover those as young as 44. It cost $485.3 million over its first two years, roughly 284% more than the combined original estimate for both programs

Pritzker also warned this week that as many as 770,000 Illinoisans stand to lose Medicaid health care coverage under a Republican-backed budget resolution that cleared the U.S. House Tuesday

A pair of health care programs that benefit noncitizens far outstripped its original estimated price tag and cost the state of Illinois $1.6 billion through last summer, according to a new audit of the programs

Gov. JB Pritzker accused the Trump administration this week of continuing to withhold almost $1.9 billion from Illinois state agencies, nonprofits and small businesses

A Crete man has been charged in Will County court with threatening to shoot Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in the face.

The ex-wife of a former Plainfield Township landlord on trial for the hate crimes murder of a Muslim child said he was withdrawn, quiet and fearful that his tenant’s friends would harm him in the wake of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The Illinois State Board of Education is not telling schools to stop any diversity, equity and inclusion lessons or programs, the state’s education chief told a House committee this week

To critics’ ears, however, Pritzker’s speech signaled he has his eye on the White House in 2028

A Muslim woman from Jerusalem testified in Will County court Tuesday about how her landlord attacked her and killed her 6-year-old son in what prosecutors called an anti-Muslim hate crime.

The mother of a child killed in what Will County prosecutors called an anti-Muslim hate crime spoke with FBI agents about the incident but federal officials are still not saying much about the investigation. 

As of 2024, according to the Illinois Report Card, 6.4 percent of teachers in the state were Black, with African American men making up less than half of that number

The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a pair of cases from abortion opponents who say laws limiting anti-abortion demonstrations near clinics violate their First Amendment rights

Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday for the trial of a former Plainfield Township landlord who stands charged with the 2023 killing of a 6-year-old boy based on his Islamic beliefs.

Jury selection is expected to take place on Monday for the hate crime murder trial of a former Plainfield Township landlord after a judge allowed the admission of his statements to a sheriff’s deputy.

Illinois lawmakers are considering legalizing a controversial medical practice that proponents say could ease suffering for the terminally ill

Joliet Junior College has put its support behind Gov. JB. Pritzker's plan to expand Illinois Community Colleges' offering to include bachelor's degree programs.

The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees approved a resolution declaring they have lost confidence in a trustee who’s accused of violating the board’s code of conduct.

Without solidified legislation, funding is in limbo. Farmers rely on crop insurance funding from the farm bill, which protects farmers from losses in crop yields and revenue due to disasters like drought and severe weather events

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Joliet mayor against two former police officials and others that alleged he was the victim of an alleged conspiracy in 2020 to subject him to criminal charges. 

Most businesses are awaiting consequences, but not all are forecasting doom and gloom

With a deadline approaching for U.S. citizens to obtain Real IDs, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is urging Illinois residents to “Get Real.”

“If you come to the table looking to spend more, I’m going to ask you where you want to cut,” Pritzker said during his budget address

An improved revenue forecast is helping ease pressure on state finances as Gov. JB Pritzker calls for tightened spending to balance the budget without tax increases on everyday Illinoisans

The governor's proposal would eliminate a health care program for low-income noncitizens aged 42-64 who are in the U.S. without legal permission

One of the major issues facing Illinois is growing electricity demand from data centers, large facilities that run computers for artificial intelligence companies, stock exchanges and other high-tech enterprises

Gov. JB Pritzker will propose a statewide ban on cellphones in classroom during his combined State of the State/Budget address

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will propose a statewide ban on cellphones in classroom during his combined State of the State/Budget address Wednesday

The goal, according to the governor’s office, would be to make four-year degrees more accessible to working adults, particularly those who don’t live near a public university

An Illinois Senate committee advanced a bill on Tuesday that would strictly limit police’s ability to search a vehicle after smelling cannabis

A day ahead of Gov. JB Pritzker’s annual budget address Wednesday, Senate Republicans said they want budget negotiations to include cuts to noncitizen spending while bringing in “transparent accounting.”

A sensory playground in Plainfield has been dedicated to the memory of a Muslim child who was stabbed to death in 2023 in Plainfield Township.

Will County has been issued its final 2024 property assessment equalization factor. The “multiplier” - as it is often called – is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments across counties.

A private investigator contracted by a Chicago law firm will handle the internal affairs investigation of a Will County sheriff’s lieutenant fatal shooting of a hostage taker.

Defense attorneys once again seek to have a neuropsychologist evaluate a former Bolingbrook police sergeant who wants his murder conviction vacated.

IDPH recently created rapid tests that will be able to individually identify both strains of the bird flu. The IDPH director said this week said the virus is “not an active risk” to humans in Illinois because no human-to-human spread has been recorded

Starting Thursday, Feb. 20, early voting for the April 1 election will begin, with polling locations around Illinois open for business. Here's what to know for voting in Lee County.

“U.S. soybean farmers lose one of their best tools to expand their markets and U.S. standards globally,” said Peter Goldsmith, the University of Illinois-based director of the Soybean Innovation Lab