GOP, advocacy groups submit changes to legislative district maps in court
CHICAGO — Plaintiffs in three lawsuits challenging the new legislative district maps that Democrats pushed through the General Assembly earlier this year have submitted their proposed changes, which would create more Latino- and Black-majority districts in Cook County and the Metro East region. The latest filings, submitted to a three-judge federal court panel Wednesday night, […]
Democratic Leaders Seek To Dismiss Redistricting Lawsuits
SPRINGFIELD – Lawyers for Illinois’ Democratic legislative leaders last week filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from Republicans and a Mexican American advocacy group regarding newly drawn legislative maps, calling the challenge “purely speculative” until full U.S. Census data is released. The motion, filed Friday, was an expected move following a Wednesday, July 14, […]
GOP Leaders Sue Over New District Maps
SPRINGFIELD – Republican leaders in the Illinois House and Senate filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of the new legislative district maps that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law June 4. Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, filed the suit in U.S. District Court […]
Lawmakers Gear Up For Ethics Debate
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate is gearing up for a debate over a package of ethics reforms, possibly as early as this week, but it’s one that Republicans say doesn’t go far enough. Senate Bill 4, which moved out of the Senate Ethics Committee on April 21, is a package written largely by legislative Democrats […]
What’s In Store For Businesses In A Post-COVID Illinois? Legislature’s ‘Four Tops’ Weigh In
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ economy was humming along last winter, a few years removed from the state’s two-year budget impasse in which Illinois’ unpaid bill backlog climbed to nearly $17 billion, and finally experiencing the kind of growth that had eluded the state for years after the Great Recession. But then COVID-19 hit. Gov. JB Pritzker […]
Pandemic, Social Unrest, Statehouse Scandals Top 2020 Stories
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. It was a year when face masks and hand sanitizer became ubiquitous items of everyday life and when […]
State Senate GOP Outlines Ethics Package
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Senate Republicans unveiled a package of ethics proposals Thursday which they say is targeted to stop the type of corruption that has led to the indictment of four legislative Democrats in recent months. “Today we’re introducing a legislative package that targets corruption by focusing on two distinct areas: enhancing the state’s ability […]