SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Senate members have approved a measure that would reopen the state museum and use donations to pay for needed repairs to state fairgrounds. GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner closed the Illinois State Museum in Springfield and its satellite sites in October due to the state budget impasse. Bill sponsor Democratic Sen. Andy…
( KTRS ) The Illinois Department of Transportation says it is halting road construction in many areas of the state during the Memorial Day weekend. Work will be suspended beginning at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, through Tuesday morning. IDOT is asking motorists to remain alert and to continue to use caution in work zones. Work…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration says it will spend the next six years trying to maintain and improve a deteriorating transit system. The $11.2 billion, six-year program released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Transportation is actually rosier than expected. Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn reported that a newly approved federal highway plan…
WASHINGTON PARK, Ill. (AP) – A man sought in the fatal shooting of a woman during a carjacking in which the suspects threw an infant from the vehicle has been shot and killed by police in Illinois. Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Mark Doiron says the 21-year-old man was killed by federal marshals and a…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The prospects that Illinois’ nearly yearlong budget stalemate will soon end are quickly diminishing even though Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner says he’s still “hopeful” for a deal. Legislative leaders were meeting with Rauner Thursday afternoon. But Democrats have so far ignored Rauner’s calls for compromise. House Democrats have approved their own…
( KTRS ) Illinois public schools could receive a $700 million increase to battle poverty under a budget plan proposed by the House majority leader. Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie’s legislation includes more than $5 billion for K-12 education. $700 million of that has been designated for “equity grant” funding. The spending plan would force Republican…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The Democratic-led Illinois House passed a budget for next year in defiance of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s wish for pro-business legislation he wants. Republicans howled in protest Wednesday after Democrats stopped debate on the budget plan and voted to pass it 63-53 vote. The state has been without a spending plan…
( KTRS ) Illinois lawmakers are considering a measure that would require a lawyer to be present when police question juveniles younger than 15 in murder or sex offense investigations. Illinois currently mandates legal representation for children younger than 13 in those cases, even if they’re not the targets of the criminal probe. Juvenile interrogations…
CHICAGO (AP) – A plan allowing automatic voter registration in Illinois is advancing through the Legislature despite concerns from the leading state election authority that would have to implement it. Backers want Illinois to join Oregon, California and West Virginia in modernizing voter registration. They say it cleans up voter rolls and boosts civic participation.…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois’ top corrections official says an overhaul has begun of prison mental health programs following a settlement in a class-action lawsuit. Illinois Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin tells The (Bloomington) Pantagraph (http://bit.ly/1XK6Fgi) he wants the state to be a national model. Baldwin says Gov. Bruce Rauner is committed to making…