SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The governor of Illinois has activated the State Emergency Operations Center as flooding affects parts of the state after heaving weekend rains. Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday morning said rivers are swelling with water in some Illinois communities, causing flooding. Activating the operations center means that state agencies will be ready…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The Illinois Department of Corrections has withdrawn its plan to lay off 124 nurses while continuing to negotiate with the state employees’ union. Corrections spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said Thursday the department had informed the Illinois Nurses Association that it would not remove the nurses June 15. She says prison officials are…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Don’t toss the grammar-school composition paper yet. The Illinois House approved legislation 67-48 Wednesday requiring elementary and high schools to teach cursive writing. The sponsor is Chicago Democratic Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch. He says it’s important that tech-savvy children to retain cursive writing to read historical documents, write personal notes and…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois officials are poised to consider the status of the pension Dennis Hastert receives for the time he served in the state’s General Assembly. The Illinois General Assembly Retirement System’s board of trustees is scheduled to consider the former U.S. House Speaker’s $28,000 annual pension on Wednesday morning during a meeting…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois lawmakers are returning to the Capitol this week to resume work on trying to end the budget stalemate that has eluded them for almost two years. The State Journal-Register reports that just before lawmakers’ two-week spring break, the House approved another stopgap spending bill that would give more than $800…
BREESE, Ill. (AP) – A southern Illinois sheriff says a suspect is in custody in the beating death of a high school senior at a party. Clinton County Coroner Phillip Moss says 18-year-old Jacob J. Arter died early Sunday at a hospital in Breese. The Belleville News Democrat reports Arter was a football player at…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Democrats are pushing an ambitious minimum wage hike despite opposition from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. A House proposal would lift the state’s rate from $8.25 to $15 over five years. The change would be a more accelerated leap than previous adjustments, and it’s already tied up in Illinois’ electoral politics.…
( KTRS ) The last person in a gang that robbed a Saks Fifth Avenue store in St. Louis has been charged. 22 yr old Dejuan Wingard of Chicago pleaded guilty yesterday in St. Louis to a charge of interstate transportation of stolen property. The smash and grab took place last November in Frontenac. At…
CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois officials say the state’s unemployment rate fell .5 percentage points to 4.9 percent in March. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday that the jobless level is now below 5 percent for the first time in a decade. But Illinois’ unemployment rate is still higher than the national unemployment rate…
Chicago (AP) Moody’s Investors Service says it will review most of Illinois’s public universities for potential credit downgrades over the next three months. The bond credit rating business made the announcement today, the same day it bumped Northeastern Illinois University’s credit down two levels. Moody’s made the change citing “weakened cash flow” due in part…