by Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois May 20, 2025 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 […]
Author: Capitol News
Native ancestors’ return to rest: A paperwork-laden process underway in Illinois
by Bridgette Fox and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois May 19, 2025 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 […]
After 150 years, Mary Lincoln’s ‘madness’ still haunts American psyche
by Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois May 16, 2025 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 […]
Governor’s office cuts revenue projection by $500M in latest downward estimate
by Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois May 14, 2025 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 […]
Illinois seeks to prevent feds from tying funding for states to immigration enforcement
by Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois May 13, 2025 Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 19 other Democratic attorneys general filed a pair of lawsuits Tuesday against Trump administration policies designed to block federal funding to states that don’t carry out U.S. immigration enforcement. According to the lawsuits, recently enacted […]
State on track to end health coverage program for immigrant adults
by Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois May 13, 2025 SPRINGFIELD — State officials are on track to shut down a program at the end of June that provides publicly funded health care coverage to more than 30,000 non-U.S. citizens in Illinois, including many who are in the country without legal […]
Consumer advocates tell regulators to slash rate hike requests from Ameren, Nicor
by Andrew Adams, Capitol News Illinois May 14, 2025 Natural gas customers in the Chicago suburbs and downstate Illinois are likely to see an increase in their monthly bills next year, but it’s up to state regulators to decide how big a hike, if any, to approve. Nicor Gas, which […]
Department of Education Terminates Key Grant for PBS Children’s Programming
The U.S. Department of Education has abruptly terminated the long-standing “Ready To Learn” grant, a move that will strip $23 million in funding from PBS children’s shows and educational initiatives nationwide. The decision, announced last week, is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce or eliminate […]
What Trump’s cuts to federal climate research could mean for Illinois
by Isabella Schoonover and Medill Illinois News Bureau, Capitol News Illinois May 9, 2025 CHICAGO — The Trump administration took the unprecedented step of halting work on the next National Climate Assessment last week, dismissing all 400 volunteer scientists who were tasked with writing the new version of the report. […]
Illinois regains access to $77M in federal education funds following judge’s order
by Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois May 7, 2025 A federal judge in New York issued a preliminary order Tuesday blocking the Trump administration from cutting off states’ access to hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds for public schools, including more than $77 million for Illinois. U.S. […]