SPRINGFIELD -- Longtime resident Merlin Calhoun compared LaSalle County to an apple that has been repeatedly bruised – bruised by mining.
BEARDSTOWN – A plan to remove trees from the Beardstown harbor has prompted a local woman to start a petition drive to save the trees, which she says provide habitat for wildlife.
SPRINGFIELD Downstate school districts could pay more toward their teachers' pensions by negotiating more frugal contracts with teachers, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton told The State Journal-Register editorial board on Monday.
SPRINGFIELD -- Legislation to roll back steep penalties in cases where citizens make audio recordings of police officers on the job has been proposed in the Illinois House.
JACKSONVILLE -- Like many of the parents of Jacksonville Developmental Center residents, Earnest Jones saw the tough transition his son, Carl, 48, had to make when he was moved to Jacksonville from the Lincoln Developmental Center when that facility closed 10 years ago.
To some in the tea party movement, endorsing state Sen. SAM McCANN, R-Carlinville, in his primary run in the new 50th Senate District was a no-brainer.
SPRINGFIELD -- One local school superintendent predicts that massive teacher layoffs will be the result if legislators decide to shift the cost of paying for teacher pensions from the state to local districts.
SPRINGFIELD -- Demanding raises that Gov. Pat Quinn has canceled, dozens of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees rallied Thursday in front of the governor's office, causing a brief confrontation with Secretary of State police officers.
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn called Wednesday for additional tax cuts and education spending, but avoided any details about how the state would pay for the initiatives or otherwise resolve its ongoing financial problems.
SPRINGFIELD -- State government employees and retirees would get hit in the pocketbook if the General Assembly adopts recommendations from the Chicago-based Civic Federation designed to avoid a financial meltdown.
SPRINGFIELD -- To save the environment, would you eat a piece of it?
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn will deliver his State of the State speech Wednesday, an address expected to focus on past accomplishments and lay out an agenda for job growth and economic development in Illinois.
SUE SCHERER, the first-grade teacher from Decatur who is backed by the organization of House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, for the Democratic nomination to the Illinois House from the new 96th House District, got an infusion of help recently from Madigan’s political committee.
SPRINGFIELD -- Doctors said Thursday that U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk remains in serious but stable condition after doctors removed two destroyed pieces of brain tissue Wednesday.
It’s great to hear that U.S. Sen. MARK KIRK, R-Ill., is making good progress as he recovers from a stroke suffered over the weekend. Doctors say he is expected to make a full mental recovery, but could lose some movement ability — his left arm, for instance, was affected by the stroke.
SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Supreme Court will announce Tuesday a policy allowing cameras and audio recording devices in trial courts on a "limited, experimental" basis, according to court spokesman Joseph Tybor.
SPRINGFIELD -- State Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Springfield, is calling for the creation of a new constitutional office to get “partisan politics” out of Illinois’ five pension systems.
SPRINGFIELD -- Lawmakers, industry groups and Gov. Pat Quinn’s office are exploring ways to expand gambling in Illinois without putting slot machines at horseracing tracks, possibly including a casino subsidy of the racing industry.
SPRINGFIELD -- Robin Ebersohl left her job at a Wal-Mart in Montgomery County to drive back to her home in Livingston.
When a perennial candidate filed last week as a write-in seeking the Democratic nomination for Sangamon County circuit clerk, it fed into fears that this was a setup to prevent Democrats from naming a viable candidate later to take on incumbent Republican Circuit Clerk TONY LIBRI.
