State News

By HANNAH MEISEL & JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Illinois’ first-in-the-nation law that allows residents to sue companies over the improper collection of their biometric information will be slightly less punitive after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new law late last week. Lawmakers this spring amended the Biometric Information Privacy Act in response to…

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – When Illinois high school students sit down to take their annual state assessments next year, they will take a different exam than in recent years. The Illinois State Board of Education recently announced that starting next spring, it will use the ACT exam rather than the…

By ALEX ABBEDUTO, COLE LONGCOR & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois [email protected] A bill eliminating the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities failed to pass the General Assembly ahead of its May adjournment, although sponsors say they hope to pass it when lawmakers return in the fall. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938…

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House gave final passage Thursday to a bill establishing a new cabinet-level state agency whose mission will be to provide a kind of one-stop shop for services focusing on early childhood development and education. By the time it’s fully operational in 2026, the new…

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that a state law restricting where previously convicted child sex offenders can live is constitutional, although it left open the possibility that it was improperly applied to one individual. In a 6-0 decision, the court found the residency restriction “does…

By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] The pictures that are said to depict the condition of the embalming room of the Moran Queen-Boggs Funeral Home in Centralia are shocking. Eight photographs and one video taken late last year purported to show the conditions of the funeral home depict piles of dirty sheets, a dead…

By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – After suddenly pleading guilty as his federal corruption trial was wrapping up this week, former state Sen. Sam McCann won’t be released to await sentencing, U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless ruled Friday. McCann has been held at Macon County Jail since last Friday, when Lawless ordered…

At least 80 families have received wrong remains, according to coroner By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] The wrong cremains were buried in a national cemetery. Bodies cremated under the wrong name. The wrong ashes returned to families from coast to coast. An investigation into the mishandling of human remains has affected at least…

By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois [email protected] CHICAGO – The relationship between Chicago and the state of Illinois remains a focal point in the ongoing debate around the influx of migrants from the southern U.S. border. Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said the state’s response to the tens of thousands of migrants that have come…

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Elections will be asked to decide Tuesday whether former President Donald Trump is barred under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from having his name appear on Illinois’ March 19 Republican primary ballot. It’s a question being asked in several…