Capitol News Illinois by Alex Nitkin for ILLINOIS ANSWERS PROJECT CHICAGO — For most new parents, finding last-minute child care usually means an afternoon of frantic phone calls and around $100 dropped on a trusted babysitter. For Brian and Fiona Peterman, it means walking across their backyard. In 2021, Fiona’s mother, Louise D’Agostino, was scanning…

Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO — Transit agency officials in Chicagoland met this week and formally began the process of planning for next year’s budget, including drawing up plans for major service cuts and potential layoffs. It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing fight between public transit officials and state lawmakers over funding. Public transportation agencies’…

Capitol News Illinois UPDATED: This story has been updated with a historical overview of Illinois corruption cases, new character letter details, and photos. CHICAGO — The number of years former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan spent in Springfield has often been used as shorthand to explain his outsized impact on state government and politics. His…

Capitol News Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will tell a congressional committee Thursday that America’s immigration problems are a result of a bipartisan failure to reform the country’s immigration system and secure the country’s borders. In more than five pages of written testimony submitted by the governor to the U.S. House Oversight Committee ahead of hours…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – In a year when many state agencies received little or no funding increase, state lawmakers this year approved an increase of $15.7 million, or 22.4%, for general operating expenses in Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office. That General Revenue Fund increase is significantly more than some other constitutional officers received for…

Capitol News Illinois CHICAGO — The state of Illinois is investigating an automatic license plate reader system used in a northwest suburb after a Texas sheriff accessed the system to look for a woman who recently had an abortion. This and hundreds of other searches, according to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, violated Illinois law.…

Capitol News Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker spent hours Thursday defending his governing record and Illinois’ immigration policies as he was peppered with questions from members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee. Pritzker and Democratic governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota were summoned to Washington, D.C., by committee Chair James Comer,…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – Under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature, certain insurance plans would have to cover hippotherapy and other forms of therapeutic horseback riding in Illinois. Hippotherapy is a type of physical, occupational and speech therapy where the movement of a horse is used to treat a patient’s specific disability or disorder.…

Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Public employees hired since 2011 must continue to wait for pension reform after Illinois lawmakers declined to take up the issue during the spring session. Lawmakers and labor unions have both expressed concern that benefits for Tier 2 employees – those who entered the public sector after 2011 – are…

Capitol News Illinois Gun rights advocates once again are asking a federal appeals court in Chicago to overturn Illinois’ ban on assault-style firearms and large-capacity magazines in a case that may be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. In briefs filed Friday with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys representing plaintiffs challenging the law…