The Latest Breaking News from Emanuel Chris Welch

CHICAGO — For the second year in a row, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing the state spend tens of millions of dollars on a witness protection program that went unfunded for the first nine years of its existence.

Based in Chicago until last year, the aerospace giant has given $50,000 to legislative leaders and other politicians since it admitted in 2021 it deceived regulators about a new aircraft that crashed twice overseas.

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon quoted both his late mother, who worried “that Springfield will change your notion of what the right thing is,” and former Chicago Police Supt. James Rochford, who once warned officers “If you lack integrity, get out — get out now.”

Illinois has outlawed automatic weapons amid a torrent of mass shootings including a 4th of July parade shooting that killed seven and injured 30

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Tuesday night a comprehensive measure that supporters called one of the nation’s toughest bans on military style firearms, immediately prohibiting their sale and giving current owners until Jan. 1 to register gun serial numbers with Illinois State Police.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois House gave final approval Tuesday to a comprehensive measure to ban military style firearms that was drafted by Democrats, which now awaits Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature even as gun rights advocates contend it is unconstitutional and vow a legal challenge.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Seeking to build on the successes of his four years in office, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker offered a second-term agenda Monday that called for a state constitutional right to abortion, making preschool available to every family and making public college free for children in working-class families.

The Illinois Senate voted 34-20 to approve the measure, which now must go back to the Illinois House for concurrence. Earlier, lawmakers heard audio that began with a high-pitched cry from a child at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade. “What is happening?” the child screams. “What is…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker released a statement saying the current language coming out of the Senate “falls short.” The House passed an assault weapons ban Friday. A Senate panel resumes debate Monday.

With Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker seated in the front row of the chamber, the Illinois House early Friday approved a sweeping ban on high-powered firearms about two hours after voting to shore up the state’s already expansive protections for abortion rights.

After a lengthy debate that stretched into Friday, the House voted 64-43 to pass the measure that would also ban “rapid-fire devices” that turn firearms into fully automatic weapons. It must still clear the Illinois Senate.