Archive for May 2025

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers approved measures limiting AI instruction at community colleges, requiring seat belts on school buses, and mandating food handlers receive certain allergen training among dozens of bills Wednesday. The Illinois Senate gave its approval to a bill that would prohibit community colleges from using artificial intelligence programs instead of human…

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 SPRINGFIELD — A bill to ban the sale of firefighter protective gear containing “forever chemicals” is gaining momentum in the Illinois General Assembly, as lawmakers, union leaders and firefighters themselves warn that the very equipment designed to save lives may be silently endangering them. House Bill 2409, co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly,…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — A long-awaited bill to reform the Prisoner Review Board will soon go to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk after receiving approval in the legislature Tuesday. The House voted 74-37 to approve Senate Bill 19, which contains a series of reforms designed to include victims’ participation in Prisoner Review Board decisions. The…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — A bill that bans carbon sequestration over, under or through portions of the Mahomet Aquifer passed out of the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday. The bill has been a point of contention in the Statehouse during this year’s legislative session, after it was found that a leak occurred during carbon…

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 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 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 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 – 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…