Urlacher Brother, Now Mayor Of Northwest Suburb, Eyes State Senate Seat
CBS 2's Brad Edwards pays a visit to Mettawa, Illinois, for the story.
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CBS 2's Brad Edwards pays a visit to Mettawa, Illinois, for the story.
Senate Democrats bucked Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto Wednesday in instituting a law to fight heroin abuse in Illinois, but ran into predictable Republican derision when they approved spending $3.8 billion to fund a variety of programs from breast cancer screenings to lottery prizes.
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) planned to call for a vote on a $2.3 billion one-month budget to avoid the shutdown, but Gov. Bruce Rauner's office has indicated he would veto any such measure.
It's a race against the clock in Springfield, with lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner facing a midnight deadline to reach a deal on the state budget so no state services are interrupted.
The Illinois General Assembly makes what has become its weekly return to Springfield with a state budget still unresolved and only eight days before it's due.
The idea is to turn snow days – or days off school due to extreme cold, or heavy snow – into so-called "e-learning days," when school districts could provide online instruction to students.
Even though Democrats control the House and Senate, and approved a budget plan that is more than $3 billion in the red, state Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago) wasn't prepared to say his party shares in the blame for the budget cuts.
The state has banned happy hour drink specials since 1989, in an effort to cut down on drunk driving, though bars and restaurants were still allowed to designate "happy days," when they could offer discounted drinks on a specific day of the week.
The Illinois House has approved a plan to make the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum its own agency but scuttled the governor's proposed privatization of business development in the state.
On Wednesday, an Illinois Senate committee voted down the governor's proposed changes to workers' compensation laws, and on Thursday the Judiciary Committee debated Rauner's plan to overhaul the state's civil court system – specifically, lawsuits seeking financial damages.
Chicago would get a city-owned casino and be allowed to keep all revenue for seven years to help make ballooning pension payments, and new casinos would be added throughout the state under legislation expected to be introduced Thursday in the Illinois Senate.
Illinois Democrats agreed to give some of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's priority reforms a platform Wednesday but still voted them down in an exercise that could further fuel a politically charged standoff that's expected to extend the summer.
Proposals addressing workers compensation, changes to the civil legal system and a freeze on property taxes are on the agenda Wednesday in Senate committees.
Victims of campus sex assaults in Illinois would have confidential university advisers to help guide them through the legal and medical systems under a legislative proposal that has passed the state House.
Hoping to lift any possible legal hurdles to building either Barack Obama's presidential library or filmmaker George Lucas' proposed museum on park property, Illinois lawmakers swiftly approved legislation to make sure the Emanuel administration has the authority critics claim it lacks.
In an early major test of Illinois' newly divided government, the Senate passed a compromise plan Thursday to plug a $1.6 billion hole in this year's budget and avert shutdowns of state programs and services.
Legislation proposed by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and backed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner passed the House early Tuesday afternoon with bipartisan support, including 46 of the chamber's 47 Republicans.
Illinois residents could possess or grow a small amount of marijuana without fear of criminal charges, if a bill in the state Senate becomes law.
House and Senate Democrats will seek to protect their own interests and constituencies in eventual negotiations with Rauner. While he speaks of the need for steep budget cuts, they'll likely seek to protect social services, state workers and Medicaid recipients.
A conservative Republican lawmaker from Wheaton has teamed up with a liberal Democrat from Chicago in an effort to make Illinois a "right to try" state.
The head of the agency that oversees children who are wards of the state told state lawmakers Wednesday that a revolving door at the top is partly to blame for abuses that have plagued the department for decades.
The Illinois Senate has passed legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage.
Illinois lawmakers face a number of issues as they wind down their fall veto session but won't consider increasing the state's minimum wage. Votes could come Wednesday on an expanded election law and a state health-insurance exchange.
State lawmakers who have predicted huge property tax hikes for suburban homeowners under a measure to overhaul funding for public schools have invited the public to provide input on the plan Tuesday night in Arlington Heights.
Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard, who made two attempts at Illinois governor, officially resigned from the Legislature after more than two decades in office to become chairman of the Chicago-area's Regional Transportation Authority, Senate Republican officials announced Monday.
