It was a day of déjà vu at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Tuesday as veteran Statehouse lobbyist Mike McClain sat at a defense table listening to opening statements in his second corruption trial in 19 months and prosecutors called their first witnesses.… MORE
With less than three weeks remaining before voting ends in the 2024 election, polls have been showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump running virtually neck-and-neck, especially in “battleground” states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.… MORE
On a late October day in Springfield nearly five years ago, then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan exited a private caucus meeting and strode up to a group of waiting reporters in one of the state Capitol’s vast marble halls. … MORE
As the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office led a multi-county pursuit last month that ended in the death of a 43-year-old Kansas man, Illinois State Police directed troopers not to participate.… MORE
Public transit agencies in downstate Illinois are joining Chicagoland rail and bus operators in asking the state for help balancing their budgets. … MORE
The jury that will determine the fate of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is nearly complete after three slow days of jury selection this week. … MORE
A top Illinois Republican wants to make it more difficult for non-citizens – intentionally or not – to register to vote.… MORE
Lawmakers in Illinois are asking voters to weigh in on three hot-button issues on their ballots this year: election interference, income taxes and reproductive health care. … MORE
A celebration of the Biden’s administration’s designation of the Springfield race riot site as a national monument had a local lawmaker paraphrasing Charles Dickens.… MORE
Capitol News Illinois is suing Sangamon County and Sangamon County Central Dispatch system after a denial of a Freedom of Information Act request related to a multi-county chase that resulted in the death of a Kansas man last month.… MORE
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…