Capitol News

Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO — Gia Biagi made her name building parks. Now, she’s leading the department that oversees more than 145,000 miles of roads, 7,000 miles of railways, 1,000 miles of waterways and 26,000 bridges. In December, Gov. JB Pritzker tapped Biagi to replace former Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. Biagi took…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — The relative ease of budgeting following the pandemic thanks to federal aid and strong tax revenue surpluses for the state appears to be over. Gov. JB Pritzker will present his seventh budget proposal Wednesday as the state faces a projected $3.2 billion revenue shortfall for fiscal year 2026, which begins…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – As the Trump administration has begun enacting mass deportations in recent weeks, activists and public officials in Chicago have been scaling up protections for immigrants. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have both vowed to leverage state law to limit such arrests, leading the Trump administration to…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers voiced a wide range of reactions Wednesday following former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s conviction on multiple federal corruption charges. Republicans, who have long complained about his style of leadership, amplified their call for broader ethics reform in the Capitol while Democrats tried to put the Madigan era behind…

Capitol News Illinois Wednesday would have been Sonya Massey’s 37th birthday. Instead, it was the day her family’s lawyers announced a $10 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Sangamon County and Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office. The Sangamon County Board approved the settlement on Tuesday, seven months after a deputy shot the unarmed woman…

Capitol News Illinois This story will continue to be updated. CHICAGO – Former Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history, has joined the list of Illinois political figures who’ve been convicted on public corruption charges after a federal jury Wednesday found him guilty on 10 of 23 counts. But…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker made a “special announcement” on Friday: Illinois is renaming Lake Michigan to “Lake Illinois” and annexing Green Bay, Wisconsin, “to protect itself against” the Green Bay Packers. The video shared by his campaign “was intended to inject some humor at a moment when I think people…

Capitol News Illinois by Grace Hauck, Illinois Answers Project   CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – An Illinois Answers Project investigation into the use of restraint chairs in county jails raised questions about how Champaign County documents, tracks and reports use of the devices. Now, the facility has updated its record-keeping practices and is submitting required reports to…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced this week he has joined yet another multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration, this time over its decision to slash funding for university research grants through the National Institutes of Health. It was at least the fourth such multistate lawsuit Raoul has joined in…

Capitol News Illinois President Donald Trump on Monday granted a full pardon to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on 18 corruption counts, including for his attempt to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat in 2008 – and who holds the distinction of being the state’s only impeached governor. Trump’s pardon comes…