Illinois state law bans the use of public funds to promote a ballot initiative as well as a constitutionally-elected officer from “campaigning for any elective office or for or against any referendum question.”

The Daily Herald Editorial Board crit...   < read more >

A street festival unlike any other will be held in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood this weekend: a daylong celebration of weed.

Saturday is April 20, or 4/20, a day that has evolved into a nationwide celebration of marijuana. In the cannabis community, the term 420 is a slang reference to smoking weed. The term reportedly dates back to the 1970s, when a group of North...   < read more >

Sometimes parents send their kids to kindergarten at the relatively advanced age of 6 because they hope their children will enjoy an athletic or academic advantage over younger classmates. Sometimes the goal simply is to give a child who is lagging developmentally a chance to catch up.

Now this popular practice — sometimes called academic redshirting — is unde...   < read more >

Politicians spearheading the effort to legalize recreational marijuana say revenue isn't the driving force. It's about promoting criminal and social justice for people of color who have been unfairly targeted by the war on drugs. But, prominent activists from minority communities question whether these lofty goals are possible.

Listen Listening... Listen to the story.  < read more >

Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, spent more than a year holding hearings and overseeing negotiations which eventually produced SB 1829, a massive omnibus bill on sexual harassment.

The proposal would do everything from limiting non-disclosure agreements that could prohibit disclosure of sexual harassment, to preventing unions from representing both an accuser and an allege...   < read more >

The meeting will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Lake in the Hills Village Hall, 600 Harvest Gate.

State Reps. Steve Reick of Woodstock, Dan...   < read more >

Springfield Ward 5 Ald. ANDREW PROCTOR won a second four-year term on the City Council on April 2, but eight days later, he lost his state job as chief legislative liaison for the Illinois Department of Labor.

The $80,000-a-year position is at-will, Proctor is a Republican and new Gov. J.B. PRITZKER is a Democrat.

“It was somewhat expected,...   < read more >

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has named an attorney he recently appointed to the Illinois Commerce Commission as chairman of the agency.

Carrie Zalewski, who formerly sat on the Illinois Pollution Control Board, succeeds Brien Sheahan. Sheahan, an appointee of former Gov. Bruce Rauner, had run the ICC since 2015 and will stay on the commission for now. His term expires next year.  < read more >

Legislation unanimously passed on April 10, 2019 by the Chicago City Council has just made Chicago the largest city in the United States to commit to 100 percent clean energy. By so doing, Chicago, a metropolis of 2.7 million, has committed to enabling the metropolis to power its buildings on clean and renewable energy by 2035. Even the Chicago Transit Authority, the countryR...   < read more >

People with developmental disabilities and the caregivers — like me — who work with them need Illinois to adopt Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal for a fair Illinois income tax, which would ensure that the wealthiest pay more than ordinary working families.

Most people with developmental disabilities are served by nonprofit community agencies like where I wo...   < read more >

Anyone who pays attention to state government knows Illinois’ fiscal system is a hot mess. Illinois has a huge — as in $8 billion plus — accumulated deficit in its General Fund. Not good, considering over $9 out of every $10 of spending on services goes to the four core areas of education, health care, social services, and public safety. On top of that, Illinois is also one of...   < read more >