By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com Each year in February, Illinois’ governor must propose to lawmakers a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The General Assembly will then spend the next several months negotiating which proposals to include and which to scrap before sending the budget back to the governor […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Two bills aimed at relieving the state’s teacher shortage, at least in the short term, advanced out of a Senate committee Tuesday. The Senate Education Committee unanimously endorsed two bills that would allow retired teachers to work as substitutes more days in a […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker will propose a roughly $1 billion package of tax relief measures aimed at mitigating the impact of inflation on Illinois consumers when he gives his budget address Wednesday. The “Illinois Family Relief Plan,” as it is being called, would suspend […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – School officials across Illinois say a shortage of teachers and substitutes is forcing them to cancel course offerings, move them online or fill open positions with people who are not fully qualified. Those are the findings of the latest survey by the Illinois […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The 2022 session of the Illinois General Assembly will be even shorter than originally planned due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Democratic leaders announced. The session was originally scheduled to start this week with three meeting days – Tuesday, Wednesday and […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A three-judge federal court panel has upheld the legislative redistricting plan that state lawmakers approved during a special session last summer, thus leaving in place the new maps that will govern state legislative elections for the next 10 years. In their 64-page opinion, […]
By Beth Hundsdorfer Capitol News Illinoisbhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com Local hospitals and health departments will get help from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to meet the healthcare demand during a COVID-19 surge, adding staffing to provide medical care and provide vaccines and testing. The state will […]
By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – One day after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that children between the ages of 5 and 11 receive the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech, the Illinois Department of Public Health adopted the same recommendations Wednesday. That vaccine […]
By PETER HANCOCK& JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House late Wednesday gave final passage to a bill that repeals the state’s Parental Notice of Abortion Act, clearing the way for Gov. JB Pritzker to sign it into law. The bill narrowly passed out of the Senate on Tuesday […]
By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate joined the House on Thursday in approving a change to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act that was requested by the governor and attorney general, putting it one signature away from becoming law. The HCRC Act currently prohibits discrimination […]
