The Latest Breaking News from Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republican state lawmakers, outnumbered and looking to boost their relevance, had one goal for the election-year legislative session — to paint majority Democrats as soft-on-crime and anti-police.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois lawmakers early Saturday approved a $46.5 billion budget that includes $1.8 billion in largely temporary election-year tax relief and a $1 billion deposit into the state’s rainy day fund.

Coronavirus cases have increased in Chicago by 27% since last week. And for the first time in about a month, four southern Illinois counties have hit the “high transmission” threshold set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning masks are recommended for people gathering…

But Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a longtime Chicago resident, says it’s an undercount that could hurt Native American communities.

The bribery count leveled against Solis in a one-page, lightly detailed document at least confirms that Solis will face public charges. A lengthy investigation into his own alleged misdeeds prompted him to turn on some of the state’s most powerful politicians.

On March 28, Judge John F. Kness of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed an Illinois teacher’s lawsuit claiming that, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, public-sector unions are obligated to inform prospective members of their right not to join…

In their 16-minute news conference, Pritzker and the Democratic leaders never mentioned the amount of overall spending called for in the budget plan, which had not yet been filed. Late Thursday, the governor’s office said they expected it to fall between $46 billion and $47 billion.

The state of Oregon has sued an Illinois-based COVID-19 testing company, saying its owners took millions of dollars in federal funds and insurance money for themselves and boasted about buying a mansion and expensive sports cars

A Republican-sponsored measure to protect patient visitation rights during a pandemic is headed to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk after receiving unanimous approval in the state Senate Wednesday.