With three full days before adjournment, negotiators of a gambling bill at the capitol are optimistic something can get done with six new casinos and sports betting by Friday night.… MORE
![Lawmakers pushing to pass a gambling bill, three days before adjournment](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/389/2019/05/28154512/Bob-Rita.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
With three full days before adjournment, negotiators of a gambling bill at the capitol are optimistic something can get done with six new casinos and sports betting by Friday night.… MORE
By next Memorial Day, that beer you’re sipping could be more expensive.… MORE
Illinois lawmakers have endorsed steeper fines for drivers who pass a school bus when they’re dropping off or picking up kids.… MORE
It could soon be against the law to smoke in the car if kids are present. … MORE
Illinois State University President Larry Dietz is asking former students to reach out and lobby state lawmakers for a capital bill as the spring legislative session comes to a close.… MORE
Once and for all, the state of Illinois vows to get it right on the Department of Children and Family Services. Gov. Pritzker, in a news conference in his office Wednesday, had some tough talk.… MORE
The artists, who sued the Town of Normal and a building developer to protect the mural they painted at Uptown Circle, should welcome and support the town’s plans to spare the artwork from demolition. That’s the town government’s position in court papers filed in Peoria federal court prior to a scheduled court hearing on Monday.… MORE
We’ll never know how close State Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) came to being another Semaj Crosby, A.J. Freund, or Ta’naja Barnes.… MORE
Public health advocates and anti-smoking lawmakers hope aiming for smokers’ wallets can raise money and / or curb smoking.… MORE
Rain again dominates the USDA crop report.… 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…