Capitol News

Capitol News Illinois WARNING: This story includes content related to suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988 or visiting the online chat at 988lifeline.org. In June 2021, Connie Kathary asked her mom to go on a walk. Though she knew…

Capitol News Illinois Two of the country’s largest collections of Native American human remains are held by museums in Illinois. To the director of one of the museums, the work to rebury those remains at the behest of a tribal nation or send them to the tribe is an emotional process necessary for correcting historic…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — On May 19, 1875, a Cook County jury handed down a verdict in a case concerning the health and welfare of Mary Lincoln, widow of the former president who had been assassinated a decade earlier. After listening to only a single day of testimony, the 12 men on the jury…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — A growing number of state lawmakers are moving to repeal a 2015 Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians. Amid concerns about Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, lawmakers in Springfield supporting human rights for Palestinians have increasingly signed on to legislation opposing the decade-old…

Capitol News Illinois Capitol News Illinois, a nonprofit news service, announced today that Beth Hundsdorfer has won a Driehaus Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting for her work covering the tragic Sonya Massey shooting. Hundsdorfer took home the celebrated Driehaus Award in the Small Newsroom Category, which is defined by newsrooms with editorial staffs of less…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — A Senate committee on Wednesday advanced a measure aiming to limit the circumstances under which tenants can be evicted due to local “crime-free housing” ordinances. The measure was backed by housing advocates who argued the crime-free ordinances have been used to evict people in instances where the actual residents of…

Capitol News Illinois With just over two weeks to go before their spring adjournment, lawmakers in Springfield are facing a tight deadline to pass major reforms to Chicagoland’s transit system — but officials have released few concrete details of the plan they say is taking shape. Influential lawmakers said one major element will be addressed:…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch made the extraordinary move of removing an appropriations committee chair on Wednesday with two weeks left in the legislative session and a tightening fiscal landscape. Speaking exclusively to Capitol News Illinois on Thursday, Welch, D-Hillside, said he removed Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, from the…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker’s office is now projecting state revenues to come in about a half-billion dollars below the baseline projections assumed during his February budget address. The latest downward revision comes as lawmakers are entering the final two-week stretch to approve a budget before their May 31 deadline amid increasing…

Capitol News Illinois By Sidnee King Pineda, Illinois Answers Project Sidnee King Pineda reported on eviction policies in Illinois as part of The Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship. Photographs by Jamie Kelter Davis. Catherine Lang was evicted from her apartment outside Chicago after the police saw her swerving in traffic and charged her with driving drunk.…