State Sen. Heather Steans knows how to get things done in Springfield, but her confidence that Illinois’ pension crisis is a “solvable problem” is worrisome given the ideas Democrats have floated.

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Other than that, it's a great place to live.

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In June, the U.S. Supreme Court disappointed Americans who yearn for an end to partisan gerrymandering — the drawing of legislative and congressional district lines to favor the party in power. The court admitted that these maps “are incompatible with democratic principles.” But it said it had no right to interfere.

The decision seemed to close off judic...   < read more >

The governor's top budget people sent a memo last week to agency directors giving them a head's up about what will be required in their annual budget request submissions. They are not easy-peasy asks.

This fiscal year's budget was originally supposed to be austere, but then a $1.5 billion flood of unexpected revenue poured in during April and eliminated the need for drast...   < read more >

Illinois’ chief fiscal officer has a “clear duty” to pay lost wages to all members of the General Assembly affected by two statutes a Cook County judge ruled were unconstitutional, the attorney for two former Democratic state senators wrote in a court filing.

 One law freezing cost-of-living increases and another implementing furlough days violated ...   < read more >

A coalition of advocacy groups and lawmakers from both parties unveiled a bill Friday that would phase out emissions of a cancer-causing gas in densely populated areas and near schools or day cares by 2022.

The measure, House Bill 3888, was announced at a Chicago news conference and is the latest step in a highly publicized series of legislative and advocacy efforts to re...   < read more >

DeSantis recently told the Enterprise Florida board about the recruitment effort. He the deep pension debt in Illinois and Chicago make them unattractive places for businesses.

“Warren Buffett said recently to be wary of investing in states like Illinois...   < read more >

Gambling generated a record $1.4 billion for the state over the last year, but that’s despite a seventh straight year of declining returns from Illinois’ 10 existing casinos. Six more casinos in the pipeline could ‘exacerbate’ the problem, a state commission found.

Statewide gambling tax revenue is at an all-time high, but the percentage of those funds coming fro...   < read more >

In the final moments of his life, Robert Zulauf administered CPR to his nephew and ordered bystanders to move away from the deadly power line that arced and bowed just a few feet from a Circle K parking lot.

Flames danced around Jordan Zulauf as thick black smoke billowed and his uncle worked to save him. Above the men, a Commonwealth Edison line crackled and hummed so lo...   < read more >

College enrollment has dropped for years in Illinois, from a high of more than 930,000 students in 2010 to just under 768,000 in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available.

Multiple factors have contributed to this decline. The number of high school-age children in the Midwest is dwindling, a demographic shift borne out in other regions of the country.

As Illinois embarks on a massive gambling expansion of up to six new casinos and the addition of slot machines and table games at horse tracks, revenue from the state’s 10 existing casinos last year dropped more than 3% , continuing a decadelong slide.

The loss in revenue from casinos, however, was more than offset by a continued increase in the state’s take f...   < read more >

In the years after the Great Recession, Illinois legislators repeatedly cast votes to freeze their salaries. What martyrs they were. And what hypocrites some of them are. How many of them? We may soon learn.

At the time, many lawmakers who voted to nix their own cost-of-living raises and imposed unpaid furlough days on themselves boasted of their self-sacrifices. In a May...   < read more >

Health concerns bring uncertainty to an industry poised for growth. Would vapers turn to joints, or just turn away?